THE IMPACT OF SLOWING ECONOMIC GROWTH ON ITS ENERGY INTENSITY

The link between economic growth and energy intensity of an economy plays a vital role in providing insight into the specifics of the development of the variety of economies. It is generally assumed that economic growth slowing down is coupled with the decrease of the progress of technological development of the production of goods, investments in energy projects also experience a decrease. The energy intensity of the economy increases, its energy efficiency decreases. Conditionally fixed energy costs in projects also do not contribute to reducing energy intensity. Macrofactors, with increasingly dire impacts on the economy, overshadow the reduction of energy intensity. The paper reviews the contradictions between generally accepted trends and trends experienced by a particular economy (with the example of the Chinese economy). Despite the fact that a large number of foreign and domestic studies examine that link, it would be inappropriate to draw unequivocal conclusions. The author comes to the conclusion that the specifics of economic development have an overwhelming influence on the dynamics of energy intensity. The policy of the Chinese authorities uses rather adaptive mechanisms to adjust the future energy policy, which makes it possible to reduce energy intensity during the period of economic growth and when it slows down.