SMH, shaking my head, is an apt moniker for this one…

The recommendation is literally to let the people suffer now, and for many years into the future, to achieve some arbitrary, fantasy-laden future goals, against all known reasoning and common sense.

Note the horrifically euphemistic line that reeks of the Big Leap Forward: “as hard as the restrictions were for some companies and workers”

Translation: “we acknowledge that with freezing winter temperatures these measures will likely kill many thousands of people and ruin millions of other lives.”

ARTICLE / SOURCE:

A desperate China is turning its lights off, but could there be a long-term gain? – Sydney Morning Herald

KEY QUOTE:

Ms Zhang said as hard as the restrictions were for some companies and workers, the measures were the first signs of a structural energy transformation in the Chinese economy. If the Chinese government can see it through, businesses and the public will have to wear short-term pain for long-term gain.

“In a long-term strategic sense, requiring end-users to pay more for power, particularly coal power, is a positive step for China’s decarbonisation goals,” said Ms Zhang. “More expensive coal-fired power motivates end-users to invest in energy efficiency, reduce energy intensity, and build onsite generation and storage.”

Mr Shi said: “The PRC’s recent power crisis is likely to provide strong incentives for the country to further expedite the uptake of stable-cost clean energies, in order to reduce its exposure to coal price fluctuations as well reduce emissions.”

To get to the other side, China will have to rapidly escalate its investment in renewable energy. At the moment, it does not have enough renewable baseload dispatchable power to keep factories operating. The shortcomings in China’s renewable network were also exposed this year by poor weather conditions.”