


































Economics, Law and Policy 
ISSN 2576-2060 (Print) ISSN 2576-2052 (Online) 

Vol. 8, No. 2, 2025 

www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elp 

64 
 

Original Paper 

Research on the Rule of Law Construction of the Operating 

Mechanism of China’s Energy Market Access System Under the 

“Dual Carbon” Goal 

Xuefeng Yan
1
 

1
 Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China 

 

Received: June 6, 2025        Accepted: June 19, 2025       Online Published: June 20, 2025 

doi:10.22158/elp.v8n2p64               URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elp.v8n2p64 

 

Abstract 

The energy market access system refers to the conditions that energy enterprises need to meet when 

entering the market. Under the “dual carbon” goals, China’s energy is gradually transitioning 

towards low-carbonization, and the promulgation of the Energy Law provides a basic guiding path for 

energy market access. However, at present, China’s energy market access system is confronted with 

problems such as insufficient legal support, unclear division of responsibilities, and unsmooth incentive 

mechanisms. To adapt to the requirements of the “dual carbon” goals, it is necessary to start from the 

perspective of the rule of law and build a modern energy market system that is unified, open, and 

orderly in competition. This requires us to clarify the guiding ideology and basic principles of the 

energy market access system, including promoting the low-carbon transformation and sustainable 

development of energy, ensuring the fairness and transparency of the market, and taking into account 

multiple dimensions such as energy security, energy efficiency, clean and low-carbon, and energy 

justice. By improving the market access process, strengthening market supervision, and standardizing 

market exit procedures, we can stimulate market vitality, promote technological innovation and 

industrial upgrading, and establish a more complete and efficient operation mechanism for the energy 

market access system, providing a solid legal guarantee for achieving the “dual carbon” goals, 

ensuring national energy security, and promoting the sustainable development of the economy and 

society. 

Keywords 

The “dual carbon” goals, energy market access, operation mechanism, legal system construction 

 

 



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1. Introduction 

As global climate change intensifies, the necessity and urgency of addressing climate change have 

increasingly become a global consensus, requiring countries to work together to reduce emissions. The 

vision of the “dual carbon” goal has become an important guide for achieving harmonious coexistence 

between man and nature in the modernization process in the coming period. 

The improvement of the energy access system can promote the optimization of the energy structure, 

reduce the proportion of fossil energy, and increase the utilization of clean and renewable energy. It is 

of great significance for ensuring energy security and sustainable development, and achieving the “dual 

carbon” goal. However, the current legal system of energy market access in China is insufficient, which 

cannot provide effective reference for energy market access in various industries. This has led to 

significant differences in energy utilization and access standards among various industries, which not 

only affects fair competition in the energy market, but also increases the compliance costs of 

enterprises. The unclear division of responsibilities in the energy regulation process makes it difficult 

for law enforcement personnel to grasp the scale in the implementation process, leading to low 

regulatory efficiency and disputes, which affect market order and public interests. The poor incentive 

mechanism makes the enterprises lack the motivation in energy technology innovation and 

transformation, and the traditional energy mode with high energy consumption and high emissions is 

difficult to be effectively replaced, which hinders the realization of the “dual carbon” goal. 

In view of this, it is necessary to clarify the internal relationship between the energy market access 

system and the “dual carbon” goal, build a market-driven mechanism for the low-carbon transformation 

of the energy structure, and form an energy access system framework that meets the “dual carbon” goal 

by analyzing the functional requirements of the energy market access system at different stages of 

access, regulation, and exit, as well as the coordination between the energy supply side and demand 

side. 

 

2. The Purpose and Functions of the Energy Market Access System under the “Dual Carbon” Goal 

2.1 The Energy Market Access System Responds To the “Dual Carbon” Goal 

The energy market access system refers to the process by which collectives and individuals, other than 

the state, acquire rights to explore, develop, and utilize energy resources through the energy industry 

market access mechanism. By conducting basic extraction and reasonable processing, they obtain 

ownership of energy products (Zheng, J. N., 2014, pp. 121-123). The “dual carbon” goal refers to 

China’s commitment to achieving carbon peak by 2030 and striving for carbon neutrality by 2060. The 

realization of this goal hinges on the low-carbon transformation of the energy structure, and the energy 

market access system plays a crucial role in this transformation process. 

There is an intrinsic connection between the energy market access system and the “dual carbon” goal. 

The key to achieving the “dual carbon” goal lies in the low-carbon transformation of the energy 

structure, which requires market mechanisms as the driving force. The energy market access system 



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serves as a crucial normative core for the operation of these market mechanisms. The low-carbon 

transformation of the energy structure necessitates the establishment of specialized market mechanisms 

to regulate governance models and potential market risks during the transformation process. A 

well-developed energy market access system acts as an important constraint mechanism and regulatory 

tool to maintain market order stability and risk prevention. 

Article 8 of the Energy Law stipulates that the state shall establish and improve the energy standard 

system to ensure energy security and green low-carbon transformation, promote the development of 

new energy technologies, industries, and business models, laying a theoretical foundation for the 

reform direction of the energy market access system. From a market perspective, it is necessary to 

establish and improve the energy market standard system under the premise of ensuring energy security, 

formulate unified standards and norms for energy entities entering the market to adapt to the 

development of the new energy industry and the optimization of the energy structure. The “Opinions on 

Improving the Market Access System” points out the need to refine the market access system, 

thoroughly dismantle market access barriers, and include the new energy industry as a new area in the 

optimization of the market access environment (The General Office of the CPC Central Committee and 

the General Office of the State Council issued the “Opinions on Improving the Market Access System”, 

2024, p. 24). It is evident that the current basic direction of China’s energy development is low-carbon 

development with new energy as the mainstay. The energy market is in a phase where new energy is 

gradually replacing traditional energy, necessitating a transition from fossil fuels to clean energy as the 

primary source, achieving green and low-carbon transformation and development (Zhang, G. Y., 2009, 

pp. 5-9). Since the transition from traditional to new energy is a long-term process, the coexistence of 

traditional and new energy will undoubtedly require the strict implementation of the traditional energy 

market access system while also formulating and improving the new energy market access system. 

2.2 The Functions of the Energy Market Access System under the “Dual Carbon” Goal 

The market access system is an institutional arrangement through which the government utilizes market 

mechanisms to conduct macroeconomic regulation and control of market behaviors. Its characteristics 

are embodied in the values and functions of “positive protection” and “anti-competition” (Zheng, J. N., 

2011, pp. 123-131, p. 160). The “positive protection” function refers to the role of energy market 

access in protecting the interests of market entities, maintaining market order, and promoting the 

low-carbon transformation and sustainable development of energy. The “anti-competition” function 

refers to the restrictive role of energy market access in preventing unqualified entities from entering the 

market and participating in competition, which could otherwise lead to the deterioration of the market 

environment. 

The “positive protection” function of the energy market access system is reflected in its ability to 

protect the competitive interests of entities already in the market by setting barriers. Through 

establishing unified access thresholds and technical standards, the energy market access system 

prevents market failures and unfair competition, ensuring that market entities conduct transactions in a 



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fair and transparent environment and promoting the optimal adjustment of the energy consumption 

structure (Jiang, S. L., & Chen, L. X., 2024, pp. 189-202). It also provides opportunities for new energy 

enterprises to enter the market. By introducing new energy sources, reliance on traditional energy can 

be reduced, carbon emissions lowered, and the low-carbon transformation of energy achieved. It 

leverages market mechanisms to revitalize energy development and utilization activities, supporting the 

implementation of the “dual carbon” goal in the energy sector (Zhang, Z. T., & Zhang, Y. D., 2024, pp. 

142-149). 

To a certain extent, the market access system also possesses an “anti-competition” function. It sets 

thresholds to restrict the entry of unqualified enterprises, ensuring that only entities meeting certain 

standards and conditions can enter the market and participate in competition. The new energy market 

has broad market prospects and significant competitiveness. If unqualified market entities are unable to 

provide high-quality products or services, or resort to unfair competition means to enter the market, 

they will undoubtedly squeeze the space of the new energy market, thereby hindering the development 

of the energy market. As part of the legal construction of the energy market under the “dual carbon” 

goal, it is necessary to collaboratively promote the construction of a modern energy market. By 

establishing a market mechanism that relies on open, fair, and orderly competition to promote “energy 

conservation, pollution reduction, and carbon emission reduction”, and enhance the level of energy 

services, it is therefore essential to utilize the “anti-competition” function of the energy market access 

system to clear obstacles for the development of new energy (Yang, X. J., 2022, pp. 55-65). 

 

3. The Rule Outline of the Energy Market Access System 

3.1 The Operation Mechanism of the Energy Market Access System 

The energy market access system is an important part of the market economy law, which stipulates the 

conditions and procedures for natural persons and legal persons to enter the market to engage in 

business activities. The whole process of the operation of the energy market access system includes 

three parts: pre-access, in-process supervision, and post-exit. 

In the access link, the law stipulates the conditions that energy market subjects need to meet to enter 

the market, that is, they have independent legal personality, meet the national and local environmental 

protection standards, and meet the corresponding technical conditions, so as to ensure that enterprises 

can stably and safely provide energy services. The formulation of standards refers to formulating 

unified and standardized industry standards for different types of energy enterprises to promote the 

rational allocation, safe supply, and structural optimization of energy elements. Standards are the 

baseline for energy enterprises to provide energy products, requiring energy enterprises to provide 

energy products that meet the standard requirements, and at the same time, cooperate with the negative 

list system to restrict the entry of enterprises that do not meet the requirements, so as to improve the 

efficiency of pre-access qualification review (Luo, L. W., & Ma, Y. Q., 2023, pp. 85-96). After 

meeting the legal and standard provisions, enterprises that want to enter the market must also obtain a 



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license issued by the energy competent authority after review. For energy enterprises that meet the 

access requirements, a license is issued before they can enter the market (Zheng, J. N., 2012, pp. 

133-138). 

In the supervision link, it is mainly the continuous supervision and management of the business 

behavior of market subjects after they have entered the market. The main purpose of in-process 

supervision is to ensure that market subjects continue to meet the access conditions and operate in 

accordance with the law. According to the different specific contents of supervision, supervision can be 

roughly divided into two categories: economic supervision and social supervision (Zhang, Z. M., 2018, 

pp. 82-91). Economic supervision includes the inspection and supervision of the information 

authenticity, behavior legality, price rationality, of energy market subjects, focusing on establishing and 

maintaining the credit system of the energy market. For enterprises with good credit, certain policy 

preferences or market opportunities are given, while for enterprises with poor credit, they may face 

more strict supervision, and in severe cases, may face the punishment of market exit. Social supervision 

emphasizes risk management, requiring the government to strengthen monitoring and early warning 

mechanisms to deal with risks brought by market supply and demand fluctuations and price changes, 

which is mainly realized through random inspections, credit grading and classification. 

In the exit link, first, when market subjects decide to stop operating due to poor management, business 

transformation, market changes, etc., market subjects will orderly handle their assets, debts, and 

employee relations in accordance with relevant laws, regulations, and market rules to ensure the 

legality and stability of the exit process. Active exit is not only conducive to the rational allocation of 

resources of market subjects themselves but also can provide opportunities for other potential market 

entrants, promoting dynamic competition and survival of the fittest in the market. Second, when market 

subjects violate relevant laws, regulations, or market rules in the course of operation, their behavior 

may have a negative impact on the fair competition of the market. In order to maintain market order 

and consumer rights and interests, the regulatory authorities have the right to require these unqualified 

market subjects to make corrections or even force them to exit the market. 

3.2 The Legal Provisions of China’s Energy Market Access System 

Energy issues are related to the country’s economic development, social stability, and security. For 

energy production enterprises to enter the market, the state always imposes appropriate restrictions on 

their channels (Li, X. H., 2011). As far as China is concerned, the market access of the energy field is 

strictly restricted, both at the legal level and at the policy level. 

At the legal level, China has formulated a series of single laws for the energy industry to regulate the 

market access license of the energy market. In order to ensure the healthy and orderly development of 

the energy market, energy enterprises must obtain the approval of the energy competent authority in 

accordance with the law before carrying out relevant business, which is mainly realized by 

implementing the business license system. The energy competent authority will issue corresponding 

licenses to operators in key energy fields such as petroleum, natural gas, coal, and electricity in 



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accordance with relevant laws and regulations. In this process, the competent authority will strictly 

review the business qualifications, technical conditions, safety standards, and other aspects of the 

applying enterprises to ensure that only qualified enterprises can obtain the access qualification. In 

China’s current energy single laws, many laws have made clear provisions on the market access license 

of the energy market. For example, the Coal Law and the Electric Power Law and other laws have 

elaborated on the market access conditions, procedures, and regulatory requirements for specific fields 

such as coal mining and power production. These provisions not only constitute a legal right and 

qualification granted by the energy management organ to the management counterpart (i.e., energy 

enterprises) but also constitute an important means for the management organ to effectively restrict and 

supervise the energy market subjects. 

At the policy level, for a long period in the past, China adopted a development model dominated by 

public ownership for a series of strategically significant specific industries such as petroleum, natural 

gas, and electricity, out of the consideration of maintaining national security, protecting public interests, 

and ensuring the stable supply of key resources, and strictly restricted private capital from entering the 

relevant markets to prevent potential market fluctuations and risks and ensure national energy security 

and people’s livelihood needs. With the rapid development of the global economy and the increasing 

trend of privatization in the energy field, China’s policy orientation has begun to change, gradually 

relaxing the restrictions on private capital investment in the energy field, and encouraging and 

standardizing the orderly entry of private capital into the market through a series of reform measures. 

In order to ensure the smooth and orderly transformation process, the government has successively 

introduced a series of targeted policies and regulations to elaborate on the access conditions, operation 

specifications, and exit mechanisms of private capital in various energy industries. Taking the power 

industry as an example, the formulation of rules and regulations such as the Basic Rules for Medium 

and Long-Term Electricity Trading and the Trial Basic Rules for Electricity Spot Market not only 

provides a legal framework for the trading behavior of the electricity market but also specially sets up 

chapters on access and exit to ensure the legitimate rights and interests of market participants and 

maintain the fair competition and healthy development of the market. 

 

4. The Legal Construction Deficiencies of China’s Energy Market Access System under the 

“Double Carbon” Goal 

Driven by the “Double Carbon” goal, China’s energy pays attention to the low-carbon transformation 

to promote the institutional arrangement of high-quality energy development. In the market access, it is 

necessary to implement the needs of the “Double Carbon” goal for the low-carbon transformation and 

high-quality development of energy and form a perfect institutional system to adapt to the needs of 

energy transformation. However, China’s energy market access system still has a series of restrictive 

factors, and it is urgent to break the unfavorable factors restricting the high-quality development of 

energy from the level of overall layout and mechanism system. 



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4.1 Insufficient Legal Support for the Energy Market Access System 

First, the “Double Carbon” goal emphasizes the low-carbon transformation and development of 

China’s energy structure. Under the guidance of this grand goal, the access system of the energy market 

urgently needs to adapt to and promote the green low-carbon transformation of the energy industry. 

However, at present, China has insufficient constraints on the low-carbon transformation of traditional 

energy, and there is no special law to clearly regulate and guide this transformation process. Although 

single legislations such as the Coal Law and the Electric Power Law have established a license system 

for energy market access and made a series of provisions on the conditions that energy enterprises need 

to meet to produce energy products, these provisions mainly focus on the initial access conditions of 

enterprises, and lack specific and detailed legal provisions on the low-carbon transformation, 

energy-saving and emission-reduction technology innovation, and exit mechanism of enterprises in the 

operation process. This leads to the fact that in practice, energy enterprises often ignore the long-term 

strategy of low-carbon transformation while pursuing economic benefits and lack sufficient motivation 

and pressure to implement energy-saving and emission-reduction measures. At the same time, although 

regulations and policies such as the Coal Industry Policy and the Basic Rules for Medium and 

Long-Term Electricity Trading have made certain provisions on the access and exit of the energy 

market, these documents mainly exist in the form of administrative regulations or policies, with 

relatively low legislative levels and insufficient authority, so it is difficult to form a strong legal 

constraint on the behavior of energy enterprises. In addition, these regulations and policies often focus 

on short-term market regulation and administrative management and lack the strategic planning and 

legal guarantee for the long-term low-carbon development of the energy industry. 

Second, although provinces (cities) have formulated management regulations for the energy market 

access of their administrative regions, such as Jiangsu Province, Gansu Province, and Chongqing 

Municipality, which have stipulated the access and exit system of the power industry, and the national 

energy competent authority has also issued management measures on the access and exit of power sales 

companies and natural gas pipeline facility shippers, they have all been invalid, and the new access and 

exit system has not been established. Moreover, the energy industry is now undergoing a low-carbon 

transformation, and the traditional energy market access mechanism is not suitable for the requirements 

of green low-carbon. It is necessary to carry out low-carbon transformation of high-energy-consuming 

industries, and the provisions in the previous management measures need to be combined with the 

needs of low-carbon transformation to achieve the function of carbon reduction. The low-carbon 

energy market is in a stage of rapid development, and new business models and technological 

innovations are emerging in an endless stream. However, the existing market access system is often too 

rigid to adapt to these new changes. For example, some legal provisions on the approval and filing 

processes of low-carbon energy projects are too cumbersome, leading to many difficulties for 

enterprises in the process of project promotion. This rigid system design not only reduces the 

investment efficiency of enterprises but also may inhibit the innovation motivation of enterprises, 



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which is not conducive to the long-term development of the low-carbon energy market. 

4.2 Inadequate Division of Responsibilities in the Energy Market Access System 

First, at the government management level, the management functions of China’s energy market access 

are dispersed among multiple departments, including energy authorities, environmental protection 

departments, safety supervision departments, and others. This multi-headed management has led to 

overlapping functions, resulting in fragmented policies, high coordination costs, and low management 

efficiency. For example, in terms of regulatory coordination, there is an issue where energy market 

regulatory agencies and antitrust enforcement agencies fail to effectively regulate enterprises in 

regulated industries that engage in acts prohibited by antitrust laws (Jiang, S., 2014, pp. 95-105). Due 

to the lack of clear authority demarcation, the approval process for energy market access is complex 

and opaque, leading to problems such as multiple approvals and insufficient law enforcement. This 

decentralized management model not only increases the burden on enterprises but also causes unfair 

competition and administrative monopolies in the energy market. 

Second, at the market operation level, there are phenomena of unclear access thresholds and imperfect 

exit mechanisms. In the energy market access system, the entry thresholds for enterprises often lack 

clear and unified standards. This leads to situations where some enterprises may be excluded due to 

unstated conditions, while others may blindly enter the market due to inaccurate understanding of 

access requirements. The ambiguity of market access thresholds also gives rise to disorderly and 

excessive competition. Some enterprises may adopt unfair means such as low-price competition and 

malicious competition to gain market share, thereby harming the overall market interests and legitimate 

rights of consumers. When energy enterprises exit the market, they often lack a sound exit mechanism, 

making it difficult for enterprises that cannot sustain operations due to poor management, backward 

technology, or other reasons to withdraw smoothly. This not only wastes market resources but also 

negatively impacts market order. 

4.3 Inefficient Incentive Mechanism in the Energy Market Access System 

First, from the perspective of economic incentives, the energy market access system lacks sufficient 

legal guarantees to provide effective economic incentives. Although China has introduced a series of 

laws and regulations to promote low-carbon economic development, such as the Energy Conservation 

Law, Renewable Energy Law, and Circular Economy Promotion Law, these laws still have obvious 

deficiencies in incentive mechanisms. The specific implementation rules for preferential policies such 

as tax reductions and subsidies are vague, making it difficult for enterprises to actually enjoy these 

benefits in practice. This legal ambiguity not only weakens the effect of economic incentives but also 

reduces enterprises’ willingness to invest in the low-carbon energy sector, thereby hindering the 

healthy development of the low-carbon energy market. The low-carbon transformation of the energy 

structure is a huge and lengthy systematic project. The inherent costs of energy development and 

utilization constrained by resource endowments, as well as compensation costs arising from differences 

in transformation capabilities, have increased the challenges faced by the low-carbon energy market 



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access system (Zhang, Z. M., & Zhang, Q., 2024, pp. 198-211). For regions or enterprises with weak 

transformation capabilities, the lack of effective compensation and incentive mechanisms may lead to 

difficulties due to high transformation costs, thus impeding the low-carbon process of the entire energy 

market. 

Second, from the perspective of technological incentives, the low-carbon transformation of the energy 

market access system also lacks sufficient legal guarantees to provide effective technological incentives. 

In the process of energy low-carbon transformation, technological innovation is the key driving force 

for market development. However, the existing market access system has obvious shortcomings in 

technological innovation. On the one hand, due to insufficient legal protection for intellectual property 

rights, enterprises’ innovative achievements in technological research and development are prone to 

being copied or imitated, reducing their enthusiasm for technological innovation. On the other hand, 

the existing market access system lacks guidance and support for technological innovation, causing 

enterprises to face numerous difficulties in funding, talent, and other aspects during technological 

research and development. This insufficient technological incentive not only limits the rapid 

development of low-carbon energy technologies but also affects the competitiveness and innovation 

capability of the entire industry. 

 

5. Legal Guarantee for the Access System of China’s Energy Market under the “Dual Carbon” 

Goals 

5.1 Guiding Ideology of the Rule of Law for the Energy Market Access System 

The world is currently in a critical historical period of transition from traditional fossil energy to clean 

energy. Clean energy sources represented by wind energy, solar energy, biomass energy, and green 

hydrogen will not only change the production - consumption structure of energy but also reshape the 

energy - technology power of countries and their interdependent relationships (Li, X. L., & Liu, X. N., 

2023, pp. 70-95, pp. 157-158). Every step of the development of China’s energy industry has been 

accompanied by changes in the energy industry, providing a powerful impetus for the development of 

China’s economy and society. Against the background of green transformation, the energy industry 

will also develop in a more diversified and cleaner direction (Lu, Q. X., Wang, L., & Wu, L., 2023).  

The energy market access system needs to achieve effective competition through market mechanisms 

and ensure the fairness, transparency, and predictability of the market through legal means. With the 

reform of China’s energy market, restrictions on the energy industry have been gradually relaxed, 

allowing more diverse market players to pour into the energy market to provide energy products, and 

the energy supply has shifted from extreme shortage to diversification. In this transformation process, 

the energy market access system not only needs to ensure that new and old enterprises can compete 

fairly under the same rules but also promote enterprises to achieve technological innovation and 

industrial upgrading and improve energy efficiency and sustainability. The strengthening of the rule of 

law, such as clearly defining property rights, strengthening anti - monopoly supervision, and improving 



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the information disclosure system, provides a clear legal framework for market participants, enhances 

investors’ confidence, and helps the energy market move steadily in a more open, efficient, and green 

direction, injecting strong impetus into the economic and social development. 

5.2 Basic Principles Followed by the Energy Market Access System 

The legal guarantee of the energy market access system aims to ensure the fairness, transparency, and 

predictability of the market, taking into account the multi - dimensional principles of energy security, 

energy efficiency, clean - low - carbon, and energy justice. 

The energy security principle requires screening out enterprises with safe production and stable supply 

capabilities to prevent energy supply disruptions or safety accidents caused by insufficient enterprise 

qualifications. The new energy security strategy of “four revolutions and one cooperation” - promoting 

the energy consumption revolution, supply revolution, technological revolution, and institutional 

revolution, as well as strengthening international cooperation in an all - round way - points out the 

direction and provides the fundamental guidance for energy development in the new era. Under the 

guidance of the energy security strategy, China’s energy market sets a series of clear, specific, and 

strict standards to ensure that all economic entities intending to enter the market have the necessary 

technological advancement, sufficient financial support, and efficient management capabilities in the 

production or provision of energy - related products and services. A solid barrier is built at the standard 

level, which greatly reduces the risk of production safety accidents that may be caused by sub - 

standard technology or management chaos and ensures the stability and safety of the energy market. 

The energy efficiency principle requires encouraging technological innovation and efficiency 

improvement, allowing high - efficiency and energy - saving energy technologies and products to enter 

the market, and promoting the transformation and upgrading of the energy industry. Improving energy 

efficiency is the key to achieving green - low - carbon development, and it is necessary to focus on 

strengthening the support for energy - saving technologies and the construction of the demand - side 

management system. In the demand - side management, policies such as finance, taxation, and price 

should be fully utilized to strengthen the management of energy and electricity consumption and 

promote the improvement of energy - use efficiency (Yu, W. X., 2022, pp. 44-51). In terms of 

emphasizing energy efficiency, the government participates in the whole process of the operation of the 

energy market access system. By setting clear market access conditions and standards, energy 

enterprises with sufficient strength and technical level are screened out to enter the market, thus 

avoiding disorderly competition and resource waste and ensuring that energy enterprises in the market 

can continuously provide high - efficiency and stable energy products and services. 

The clean - low - carbon principle requires encouraging the research, development, and application of 

clean energy and low - carbon technologies, restricting the entry of high - pollution and high - energy - 

consumption energy projects into the market, and promoting the optimization of the energy structure 

and the sustainable development of the environment. The clean - low - carbon principle encompasses 

“green priority” and reflects the internal logic of the integrated development of the environment and the 



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economy, that is, to achieve green - low - carbon development under the premise of “ecological 

priority” (Feng, S., 2024, pp. 67-75, pp. 210-211). This means that it is necessary to take ecological 

practical rationality as the approach, reflect the legal value of ecological priority, and construct a sound 

energy market access system. The new logic of energy legal control under the “dual carbon” goals 

determines that a series of clear, complete, and predictable low - carbon principles should be 

established and integrated into the specific energy regulation system to solve the coordination 

mechanism between energy security and low - carbon energy and prevent the conflict of interests with 

the traditional energy legal rules (Zhang, Q., & Zhang, Z. M., 2023, pp. 51-63). 

The energy justice principle requires ensuring the equal status and fair competition opportunities of all 

market entities in the energy market, preventing market monopolies and unfair competition behaviors, 

and ensuring the fairness and transparency of the energy market. The energy market access system 

ensures that all types of market entities can enter the market fairly by setting a unified market access 

threshold, thereby breaking monopolies and promoting market competition. By establishing a unified 

national energy trading market and a market - based price formation mechanism, the energy market 

access system improves the transparency of the market, making the energy price better reflect the real 

market value. The energy law also emphasizes the importance of energy - inclusive services, aiming to 

provide equal, affordable, and reliable energy services for everyone. 

5.3 Construction of the Legal Guarantee for the Operation Mechanism of the Energy Market Access 

System 

5.3.1 Market Access Link 

The market access link serves as the foundation for the rule of law in the energy market. It determines 

which enterprises and products can enter the market, as well as the conditions and standards for entry, 

and is a crucial link to ensure market order and risk prevention. Currently, China does not have a 

unified law governing energy market access. The realization of the “Double Carbon” goal has put 

forward higher requirements for the energy market access system, making it urgent to formulate a 

comprehensive law specifying market access for each energy industry, which can regulate the access 

system from two aspects: traditional energy and new energy, and establish differentiated market access 

standards. At the level of access standards, the access conditions of the electricity market can serve as a 

benchmark for formulating market access standards for each energy industry. Energy supply 

enterprises need to have valid licenses, meet environmental protection, safety and other requirements, 

have a certain installed capacity and regulation capacity, and establish a sound metering and settlement 

system. Energy sales companies need to obtain energy sales business qualifications, have stable sources 

of funds and professional operation teams, and establish a perfect customer service system. Energy 

users are divided into different categories according to the amount of energy used. Large users need to 

have a certain energy management ability and credit rating, while small users can participate in the 

market through collective means. At the specific implementation level, it is necessary to implement 

classified policies for traditional industries and new energy industries. For traditional energy projects, it 



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is necessary to strengthen environmental protection, energy efficiency and other requirements to 

promote their transformation and upgrading; for clean energy projects, the access threshold can be 

appropriately reduced to encourage their rapid development. 

The traditional energy industry needs to adapt to the requirements of low-carbon transformation and 

establish an efficient market access system to ensure the balanced development between clean energy 

use and energy supply. While guiding traditional energy enterprises to gradually reduce carbon 

emissions, it encourages and ensures the steady growth of clean energy, thus promoting the low-carbon 

transformation of the energy system from the source. The limited marketization of the traditional 

energy law regulation model shows that only by using energy marketization to break natural 

monopolies and encourage competition and openness can China's energy law operate in an orderly 

manner in building a market mechanism that conforms to national conditions and energy economic 

laws (Ma, J. J., & Gong, X. Q., 2007, pp. 147-155). Vigorously promoting the public-private 

partnership (PPP) model, guiding and supporting social capital to provide energy products, and 

participating in the low-carbon transformation of energy are paths to use the market’s own adjustment 

mechanism. The establishment and improvement of the carbon emission trading system is a model for 

incentivizing enterprises to reduce emissions through market mechanisms. Through the development 

orientation of green and low carbon, sharing energy transformation experience, and ensuring that 

China’s energy low-carbon transformation path is stable and far-reaching. 

For the new energy field, it shoulders the important mission of leading the energy revolution and 

accelerating the realization of the “Double Carbon” goal. To this end, it is necessary to break the 

original access barriers and attract many enterprises to enter the market with a more open and inclusive 

attitude to provide a variety of clean and low-carbon energy products. This can not only stimulate 

market vitality, promote technological innovation and industrial upgrading, but also effectively respond 

to the urgent needs of the “Double Carbon” goal and promote the fundamental change of energy 

production and consumption patterns. The breakthrough progress of subversive technologies, the rapid 

decline rate of technical costs, and the energy market choices under the strong guidance of the “Double 

Carbon” goal will all profoundly affect China’s medium - and long-term energy investment layout and 

the vigorous development of new business forms. These variables make the development path of the 

new energy field complex and changeable (Ji, Q., Sun, X. L., & Ma, Y. R., 2024, pp. 80-98, p. 244). It 

is particularly important to build and improve the incentive mechanism in the new energy field. The 

incentive system can be established in the form of legislation, and a variety of means such as tax 

reduction and exemption, loan support, price preferential treatment, and financial subsidies can be 

comprehensively used to actively advocate and steadily promote the participation of enterprises and 

individuals (Wang, F. B., 2011, pp. 90-99). The British government’s model of simplifying the access 

and management requirements for energy storage and demand response equipment, allowing demand 

response providers to transfer asset equipment, and obtaining superimposed benefits from the capacity 

market and auxiliary service market maximizes the protection of the interests of energy market entities, 



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which can provide experience for China’s incentive policies for new energy access to the market. 

5.3.2 Market Supervision Link 

Market supervision is an important means to ensure fair competition in the energy market and maintain 

market order. In terms of market supervision, the Energy Law emphasizes the establishment of an 

energy market system with multiple subjects, unified openness, orderly competition, and effective 

supervision, standardizing market order according to law, and equally protecting the legitimate rights 

and interests of various market entities. In order to achieve effective supervision, it is necessary to 

establish a market supervision system from two levels of economic supervision and social supervision 

to form a modern energy supervision system. 

The primary task of setting economic supervision is to clarify its functional positioning to ensure the 

healthy operation of the market mechanism and the construction of a fair competition environment. In 

the energy market, the primary function of supervision should focus on maintaining market order, 

protecting consumer rights and interests, and promoting sustainable development. The key to 

effectively regulating the problems caused by unclear market access thresholds and imperfect exit 

mechanisms for energy enterprises in the supervision link lies in establishing a sound regulatory 

framework and clear policy guidance. For the disorderly and excessive competition caused by unclear 

market access thresholds, referring to the American energy storage model, it is required that each 

energy industry independent operator (RTOs and ISOs) establish relevant market models and rules, 

including technical parameters, scale requirements for participating in the market, and qualifications, so 

that energy supply enterprises can participate in all energy markets operated by RTOs/ISOs. Increase 

the supervision and punishment of low-price competition, malicious competition and other behaviors, 

and maintain market order and protect consumer rights and interests through fines, market ban and 

other means. For the lack of exit mechanism of energy enterprises, it is necessary to build a set of 

perfect exit procedures and policy support systems. This includes setting up special funds to provide 

financial assistance and transformation guidance for enterprises that need to exit due to poor 

management or backward technology; formulating clear exit procedures and timetables to ensure that 

enterprises can exit the market in an orderly and efficient manner and reduce the impact on market 

order. In addition, an information sharing platform should be established to promptly release enterprise 

exit information to facilitate market participants to adjust strategies and optimize resource allocation. 

The core of social supervision in the energy market is to effectively manage risks and ensure market 

stability and safety. To achieve this goal, it is very important to strengthen the monitoring and early 

warning mechanism, which requires close cooperation and clear division of labor between 

cross-departments. First of all, the scope of responsibilities of each regulatory department should be 

clarified. The complexity of the energy market requires that a clear division of responsibilities must be 

established between different government departments. The energy competent department should be 

responsible for the formulation of energy policies and the overall supervision of the market, the 

environmental protection department should focus on the environmental impact assessment and 



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supervision in the process of energy development and use, and the safety supervision department 

should ensure the safe operation of energy facilities. Through a clear division of responsibilities, each 

department can focus more on its work and avoid regulatory blind spots. Secondly, it is necessary to 

establish a cross-departmental cooperation mechanism. Set up cross-departmental coordination 

agencies or joint meeting systems, hold regular meetings, share and analyze energy market monitoring 

data and risk early warning information, and jointly discuss response measures. This mechanism helps 

to break down departmental barriers, promote information sharing, and improve regulatory efficiency. 

All departments should strengthen communication in cooperation, jointly formulate regulatory policies, 

and ensure the consistency and coordination of policies. Finally, it is necessary to strengthen the 

construction of monitoring and early warning systems. Using modern information technology, integrate 

the data resources of various departments, and establish a unified energy market supervision 

information platform. The platform should have the functions of real-time monitoring, data analysis, 

risk early warning, etc., to provide strong support for cross-departmental cooperation, and facilitate 

each department to find market anomalies in a timely manner, jointly assess risks, quickly formulate 

and implement response measures, and effectively prevent energy market risks. 

5.3.3 Market Exit Link 

The legalization of the energy market access system is the key to ensuring the healthy and orderly 

development of the energy field. The market exit link in its institutional system construction is also 

important, and it is designed to ensure the dynamic balance of the market and the optimal allocation of 

resources through standardized procedures. The construction of this exit system needs to start from two 

core dimensions: active exit caused by poor management and passive exit caused by non-compliance 

with regulatory requirements, taking into account the convenience and efficiency of active exit and the 

strict supervision of passive exit. Through detailed legal provisions, clear procedural arrangements, and 

perfect interest protection mechanisms, it ensures the continuous and healthy development of the 

energy market and promotes the transformation, upgrading and sustainable development of the energy 

industry. 

In terms of active exit, it mainly targets energy enterprises that are unsustainable due to fierce market 

competition, poor management, backward technology, or continuous decline in economic benefits. In 

order to encourage and standardize the orderly exit of such enterprises, a simple exit procedure should 

be applied. The information such as the intention to apply for simple cancellation registration and the 

commitment of all investors should be actively announced to the society through the “Simple 

Cancellation Announcement” column of the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System. 

Through fast liquidation processes, debt restructuring guidance, and employee resettlement assistance, 

the exit process is ensured to proceed smoothly and market shocks are reduced. The simple procedure 

does not mean that the exit of energy enterprises is not supervised by the energy competent department. 

In the exit process, they still need to follow the relevant energy management system. After being 

reviewed and approved by the energy competent department and the government, when the market exit 



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of the enterprise involves the responsibility of the enterprise’s statutory quota system, it is necessary to 

realize the stable transfer of the responsibility of the statutory quota system under the supervision of the 

government, ensure the safety needs of China’s energy strategy, realize the survival of the fittest, and 

ensure the efficient supply of energy (Shi, J. C., & Li, C. G., 2009, pp. 18-23). However, the simple 

exit procedure is not applicable to all enterprises. For example, enterprises involved in complex 

creditor-debtor relationships or with serious illegal acts may not be able to apply for this procedure. 

Therefore, from the perspective of government regulation, the exit of energy enterprises should also 

have restrictive conditions, and when a series of chain reactions are caused after the exit, a perfect 

interest protection mechanism should be established to alleviate the negative impact of the exit 

enterprises on the social economy. 

For energy enterprises that are ordered to exit due to violations of environmental protection standards, 

safety production regulations, market manipulation behaviors, or other regulatory requirements, the exit 

mechanism needs to be more strict and punitive. For energy enterprises that are ordered to exit due to 

violations of laws and regulations, their legal responsibilities shall be investigated in accordance with 

the relevant provisions of the Administrative License Law, including punishment for illegal acts and 

administrative sanctions for responsible personnel, etc. An information disclosure and blacklist system 

should also be established to increase the cost of violations and form an effective deterrent. In order to 

prevent the occurrence of market monopoly or unfair competition behaviors, the regulatory agency also 

needs to closely monitor the asset disposal process of the exiting enterprise to ensure that it does not 

carry out asset transfer or market manipulation at the cost of harming public interests when exiting. If 

an energy enterprise is ordered to exit due to violations of laws and regulations and cannot continue to 

operate, involving the liquidation of creditor-debtor relationships, asset disposal and other matters, 

referring to the relevant provisions of the Bankruptcy Law, the bankruptcy liquidation procedure can be 

initiated to fairly liquidate its creditor-debtor relationships and ensure that the interests of creditors are 

maximized. For enterprises that are forced to exit due to public interests such as public safety, 

industrial regulation, regional development, technical standards, and environmental protection, the 

government should provide necessary transformation support, such as financial subsidies, technical 

guidance, etc., to help them smoothly transition to new fields or new business forms that meet the 

requirements of new policies, so as to achieve the smooth transition of the market and the effective 

reuse of resources and ensure compliance with administrative supervision requirements. 

 

6. Conclusion 

The energy market access system plays a vital role in promoting the low-carbon transformation of the 

energy structure and achieving the “Double Carbon” goal. It is not only related to the healthy 

development of the energy industry but also a key legal tool to achieve energy security, efficiency, 

clean low carbon, and energy justice. With the acceleration of the global energy transition, China’s 

energy market access system needs to be in line with international standards and reflect the urgent 



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needs of domestic energy structure adjustment. 

The problems existing in China’s current energy market access system restrict the healthy development 

of the energy market and hinder the low-carbon transformation of the energy industry. Therefore, it is 

particularly urgent to build a more perfect and efficient energy market access legal system. In order to 

meet the requirements of the “Double Carbon” goal, the legal construction of China’s energy market 

access system should follow the guiding ideology of promoting the low-carbon transformation and 

sustainable development of energy and adhere to the basic principles of energy security, efficiency, 

clean low carbon, and energy justice. On this basis, a institutional system including market access, 

market supervision, and market exit should be constructed to ensure fair competition and healthy 

development of the energy market. By improving the energy market access system, promote the 

technological innovation and industrial upgrading of the energy industry, improve energy efficiency 

and sustainability, and ensure energy security and market order. This is not only conducive to 

achieving the “Double Carbon” goal but also the only way to promote the high-quality development of 

China’s energy industry. The legal construction of China’s energy market access system is a systematic 

project, which requires the joint efforts of policy makers, energy enterprises, and all sectors of society. 

Under the guidance of the “Double Carbon” goal, through continuous institutional innovation and legal 

improvement, it will contribute Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions to the realization of the green, 

low-carbon, and sustainable development of China’s energy industry and even the global energy 

transition. 

 

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