Both the term and the concept of shiye danwei 事业单位 are difficult to translate into English. I have heard them described as “government-affiliated,” “pseudo-government,” and “quasi-government;” they are supporting institutions / think thanks that carry out basic scientific research, policy development and drafting, economic scenario analysis, etc., and may or may not have some regulatory authority (for example, to issue compliance certificates). When and if I can determine a further classification system for China’s many shiye danweis, I will update the map accordingly.

Debbi Seligsohn over at WRI has posted some good initial questions about the practical role of the new NEC. How will its authority and responsibility be balanced with those of the multiple other government institutions with some influence over energy and climate policy?

I am specifically interested in the institutional relationships of these multiple government and government-affiliated energy and climate change groups. As I was updating the Chinese Government Map for National Energy and Environmental Policy to include the NEC, I realized that China’s institutional structure for energy and climate change is now even more confusing.

According to the State Council, the National Energy Agency will undertake the specific work of the NEC (”国家能源委员会，具体工作由国家能源局承担“), while the NEA is managed by the NDRC (”国家能源局由国家发展和改革委员会管理“). Meanwhile, the NDRC maintains its own Energy Research Institute and Department of Climate Change, and undertakes the work of the National Leading Working Group on Addressing Climate Change, Energy Saving, and Emission Reduction (国家应对气候变化及节能减排工作领导小组，具体工作由国家发展和改革委员会承担“).

This is how I’ve mapped it. It’s circular and messy, but it’s all I can come up with. (Click on the image to go to the full map). Comments?

Several months ago, I launched a personal project to map out the organizational relationship between all Chinese government and government-affiliated institutions with influence over national energy and environmental policy. I showed a first draft, tailored for fuel quality policy creation, at a presentation I gave in April (slide 16). It received such a positive response that I set out to expand and release something publicly via this blog.

I’m very happy now to introduce version 1.0 of the Chinese Government Map for National Energy and Environmental Policy. Here’s a partial screen capture; click to go to the map itself:

Version 1.0 is functionally static (with the exception of pop-up names), although I intend to update it regularly. Accordingly, I need your feedback, particularly on identifying which institutions are missing. To make a suggestion, please either leave a comment below or e-mail me at livefrombeijing at gmail dot com. When suggesting an organization, please provide as much information as possible, including acronym, Chinese and English names, website, and evidence that it is an influential national government or government-affiliated institution. I would also appreciate it if you would pass along any related research reports or diagrams.

I look forward to hearing your feedback, and hope that you find the map to be a useful tool.