Officials: Renewables need concerted efforts

China, the world's largest carbon emitter, has an excellent opportunity to reformits energy policy by switching to renewables, but the entire process may take some time to achieve, top energy officials said on Friday.

Zhang Guobao, former chief of the National Energy Administration, the nation's top energy planner, said during the 4th Asian conference of International Association for Energy Economics in Beijing that the pressure from the economic slowdown and fluctuating oil prices may prompt the government to switch to renewables, with the nuclear sector playing a big role in the shift.

China has set a target of having 15 percent of its energy from renewables by 2020, but the economic downturn makes it difficult for the nation to achieve that target, the former minister told China Daily.