13 Items

Journal Article - Nature Climate Change

Targeted Opportunities to Address the Climate–trade Dilemma in China

    Authors:
  • Steven J Davis
  • Kuishuang Feng
  • Klaus Hubacek
  • Sai Liang
  • Bin Chen
  • Jingru Liu
  • Jinyue Yan
  • Dabo Guan
| 2015

International trade has become the fastest growing driver of global carbon emissions, with large quantities of emissions embodied in exports from emerging economies. International trade with emerging economies poses a dilemma for climate and trade policy: to the extent emerging markets have comparative advantages in manufacturing, such trade is economically efficient and desirable. However, if carbon-intensive manufacturing in emerging countries such as China entails drastically more CO2 emissions than making the same product elsewhere, then trade increases global CO2 emissions.

Journal Article - Nature

Steps to China's Carbon Peak

| June 18, 2015

China is the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide, accounting for one-quarter of the global total in 2013. Although the country has successfully lowered the rate of emissions from industry in some cities through improved technology and energy-efficiency measures, rapid economic growth means that more emissions are being added than removed. Without mitigation, China's CO2 emissions will rise by more than 50% in the next 15 years.

A coal-fired power plant a few miles norh of Xuzhou, seen from the Beijing-Shanghai railway, January 26, 2011. Since 2000, large-scale investments have been made in energy-intensive industries such as coal-fired electricity generation.

Wikimedia CC 3.0

Journal Article - Nature Climate Change

Determinants of Stagnating Carbon Intensity in China

    Authors:
  • Dabo Guan
  • Stephan Klasen
  • Klaus Hubacek
  • Kuishuang Feng
  • Kebin He
  • Yong Geng
  • Qiang Zhang
| 2014

China committed itself to reduce the carbon intensity of its economy (the amount of CO2 emitted per unit of GDP) by 40–45% during 2005–2020. Yet, between 2002 and 2009, China experienced a 3% increase in carbon intensity, though trends differed greatly among its 30 provinces. Decomposition analysis shows that sectoral efficiency gains in nearly all provinces were offset by movement towards a more carbon-intensive economic structure.

Chinese workers lay gas pipes at the 2nd West-to-East Natural Gas Transmission Pipeline site in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, 12 July 2012. China is speeding up construction of the pipeline to meet the growing demands for energy its east.

AP Photo

Journal Article - Applied Energy

Measuring the Energy Consumption of China's Domestic Investment from 1992 to 2007

    Authors:
  • Hongtao Liu
  • Karen R. Polenske
  • Zheng Li
| Forthcoming February 2013

The key findings derived from this study improve the understanding of the effects of China's domestic investment on its energy consumption expansion and reflect the fact that China's rapid urbanization and industrialization processes are among the main reasons for the large amount of energy consumption in China. The authors provide some quantitative information for further determining the energy-saving potentials of China's economy during these processes.

Wind turbines generate electricity at the Qiyueshan Wind Farm in Lichuan city, central China's Hubei province, 7 December 2010.

AP Photo

Journal Article - Energy Economics

The Price of Wind Power in China During its Expansion: Technology Adoption, Learning-by-doing, Economies of Scale, and Manufacturing Localization

| May 2012

Using the bidding prices of participants in China's national wind project concession programs from 2003 to 2007, this paper built up a learning curve model to estimate the joint learning from learning-by-doing and learning-by-searching, with a novel knowledge stock metric based on technology adoption in China through both domestic technology development and international technology transfer. The paper describes, for the first time, the evolution of the price of wind power in China, and provides estimates of how technology adoption, experience building wind farm projects, wind turbine manufacturing localization, and wind farm economies of scale have influenced the price of wind power.

A Chinese worker recharges an electric taxi at an EV charging station in Beijing, China, Jan. 9, 2011.

AP Photo

Journal Article - Energy

Integrated Energy Strategy for the Sustainable Development of China

    Authors:
  • Linwei Ma
  • Pei Liu
  • Zheng Li
  • Weidou Ni
| February 2011

The authors of this article propose, summarize, and present strategic ideas as policy implications for China's decision-makers. In conclusion, they determine that China should enhance strategic planning and regulation from a life cycle viewpoint of the whole society, prioritize energy saving, continuously improve incumbent energy, and rationally develop alternative energy.

A man stands beside his house as smoke is seen billowing from a thermoelectric power plant in Changchun, China on April 12, 2010. China still faces challenges in the transition to a low-carbon economy and needs integrated solution systems.

AP Photo

Journal Article - China Environment Series

Advancing Carbon Capture and Sequestration in China: A Global Learning Laboratory

| 2010/2011

China's dependency on coal fuels the country's phenomenal economic growth but at a major cost to the country's air and water quality, ultimately threatening human health and the country's continued economic growth. The Chinese government's efforts to put China onto a cleaner, low carbon development path have been substantial; however China's pollution and greenhouse gas emissions continue to grow. In an attempt to develop its own advanced coal generation technologies to improve the country's air quality and energy efficiency, the Chinese government is investing heavily in gasification and other technologies that can be employed in carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) applications. This investment has turned China into a global laboratory for CCS pilot projects, attracting foreign governments, multilateral institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and business partners.

A passerby looks at a coal power plant chimney between two office buildings at the Central Business District in Beijing, Feb. 6, 2009. China, which is heavily dependent on coal to fuel its growing economy, rivals the U.S. in GHG emissions.

AP Photo

Journal Article - Energy Policy

Catalyzing Strategic Transformation to a Low-carbon Economy: A CCS Roadmap for China

| January 2010

China now faces the three hard truths of thirsting for more oil, relying heavily on coal, and ranking first in global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Given these truths, two key questions must be addressed to develop a low-carbon economy: how to use coal in a carbon-constrained future? How to increase domestic oil supply to enhance energy security? Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) may be a technological solution that can deal with today's energy and environmental needs while enabling China to move closer to a low-carbon energy future. This paper has been developed to propose a possible CCS roadmap for China.

Trucks are seen transporting coal at the Shaer Lake coal field in Shanshan county, Turpan, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, 13 Feb. 2009.

AP Photo

Journal Article - Energy Procedia

Driving Carbon Capture and Storage Forward in China

| February 2009

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), as an option in the portfolio of mitigation actions to combat climate change, is expected to have far-reaching implications for China. This paper (1) explores the strategic significance of CCS for China by making an extreme scenario analysis of Chinese power sector in 2030; (2) provides an overview of the recent CCS activities in China; and (3) identifies the major challenges with respect to CCS development in China and put forwards immediate strategies.