Building Climate Resilient Utilities 2025

To ensure effective execution, China has continued to strengthen its institutional architecture. In 2024, the National Disaster Prevention, Reduction and Relief Committee was officially consolidated and activated. This body is tasked with unifying and coordinating disaster response across different government agencies and industries, breaking down bureaucratic silos to ensure a more coherent and rapid response to major climate-related events. This strategic framework is underpinned by a robust technological backbone for monitoring and early warning. Recognizing the inherent uncertainty in weather forecasting and the need for decisive disaster response, China has pioneered a “progressive” meteorological service model. This approach delivers increasingly precise, targeted and timely forecasts as a disaster evolves – akin to peeling an onion layer by layer. At each stage, information becomes more specific and emergency actions more focused, enabling local governments to make informed, science-based decisions.16 For instance, Fujian and Yunnan provinces have developed a “1262” model tailored to local climate and geography, which ensures context- specific responses: –12 hours ahead: identify key risk areas. –6 hours ahead: deploy rescue resources. –2 hours before disaster impact: evacuate at-risk populations. The “31631” model in Hubei and Guangdong provinces is similar: –3 days ahead: major weather forecasts and special reports. –1 day ahead: county-level warnings and emergency preparations. –6-3 hours before disaster impact: precise township-level alerts. –1 hour before impact: immediate village-level warnings and evacuation orders. These progressive, multi-tiered warning systems have proved highly effective in narrowing the “defence circle” around disasters, supporting rapid, coordinated action and minimizing losses. Implementation is both top-down and locally tailored. As of 2024, 30 provinces had issued provincial-level adaptation action plans and 39 pilot cities were actively exploring best practices for climate-adaptive urban development.17 In Shanghai’s Chongming District, for example, a system blending “ecological protection red lines” with climate adaptation indicators has been established. By including metrics such as the accuracy of severe weather warnings in official performance evaluations, it creates a closed-loop management cycle comprising “monitor-assess- act-feedback”, ensuring that national resilience goals are not just declared, but actively pursued and measured at every level of governance.18 Proactive protocols at the enterprise level At the industry and enterprise level, China’s approach to climate resilience is rapidly evolving from passive defence to proactive, systematic strengthening. The China Climate Change Adaptation Progress Report (2024) notes the significant enhancement of the power grid’s capacity to withstand extreme weather events as a result of national directives such as the Guidance on High-Quality Development of Distribution Grids. According to the report, in 2024, the national average power outage time per household decreased by 1.12 hours and the average supply reliability rate reached 99.924%. Behind these statistics lies a disciplined system of pre- disaster risk warning and post-disaster recovery, demonstrated by the successful management of 95 major natural disaster emergencies, restoring power to over 29 million households.19 The sophisticated management systems being deployed by leading utility companies such as China Resources Gas and China Huaneng Group are a good illustration of this more proactive approach. China Resources Gas, a major urban gas operator, illustrates a governance-led model which mitigates risk through a multi-layered framework that establishes clear accountability, a tiered risk- management system and collaborative mutual aid agreements with government and industry peers (see Case Study 1). China Huaneng Group, a key power and heat supplier, demonstrates an operationally integrated model with its “monitor-warn-act-recover” life-cycle framework to ensure critical service reliability. Its proactive approach includes hazard-specific protocols such as redundant heat sources and typhoon reinforcements, validated by dedicated rescue teams and regular emergency drills (see Case Study 2). At the industry and enterprise level, China’s approach to climate resilience is rapidly evolving from passive defence to proactive, systematic strengthening. Building Climate-Resilient Utilities: Lessons from China and Future Pathways 10