Abstract
China’s energy policy and management are transitioning from scale expansion to systemic restructuring. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021–2025), renewables accounted for approximately 60% of installed capacity, and the Energy Law took effect. Entering the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026–2030), binding targets require non-fossil energy to reach 25% of primary consumption and 50% of electricity generation. Meanwhile, the management system is shifting from dual control over energy consumption to dual control over carbon emissions. This paper examines China’s energy governance transition across three dimensions: policy evolution, management challenges, and institutional restructuring. In terms of policy, the 14th Five-Year Plan saw accelerated green transition, while the 15th centers on carbon peaking, shifting from scale to structure-orientation, and from policy-driven to rule-of-law-based governance. In terms of management, four challenges emerge, including tensions among security, low-carbon, and economic objectives, bottlenecks in new energy integration, social costs of transitioning traditional energy roles, and governance hurdles in digital transformation, revealing structural barriers to policy implementation. In terms of institutional restructuring, rule of law, marketization, and systematization are advancing in parallel, shaping the institutional framework for governance modernization. Looking ahead, computing-energy coupling, zero-carbon industrial park experiments, and international governance dimensions are emerging as frontier issues. This paper argues that China’s energy transition is not merely technological or industrial, but a fundamental shift in governance logic. The modernization of governance capacity, rather than unidimensional gains in installed capacity or technical metrics, determines the transition’s success. The deep shift from scale expansion to systemic restructuring, and from administrative dominance to institutional governance, will shape the future of China’s energy development.