Researchers at Zhejiang University have assembled 7,295 Chinese energy-transition policy texts into a dataset spanning 2000–2024. The resource connects national, provincial and prefecture-level policymaking, offering a broader view than collections focused mainly on central government.
Published in Scientific Data, the study uses exact matches for seven selected terms in official policy titles to retrieve documents from PKULaw. Each record contains 14 structured metadata fields, providing a consistent framework for organizing material across administrative tiers.
Policies are classified by their objectives and instruments. The framework includes four objective categories with 16 sub-objectives, alongside three instrument categories with nine subdivisions. Documents can receive multiple labels, reflecting overlapping goals and approaches.
The project addresses a governance question also explored in discussions of decentralized energy: how decisions at different levels shape technological change. It also connects with the broader case for treating structured data as a public research resource, rather than leaving information fragmented across institutions. Such comparisons concern both the design of energy systems and the institutions that govern them.
The authors intend the collection to support studies of policy combinations, coordination across government tiers and regional or company-level energy outcomes. It is a research resource, not evidence that any particular policy caused emissions reductions. Because selection depends on titles, the inventory should not be read as a complete record of every relevant policy.