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Sustainable Energy Use in China
The specific contribution of
this long-term research area is intended to be a focus on policy implementation issues,
doing so in a way which draws extensively on international
experience yet is also fully cognizant of the specific Asian
context of implementation. This on-going research project is
currently based upon a
collaborative partnership between the Centre for Strategic Economic
Studies (CSES) and China’s National Development and Reform
Commission’s (NDRC) Energy Research Institute (ERI). ERI is China’s
leading energy researcher, playing a key role in shaping and
informing the government’s energy and climate change policies. For
the past 15 years, ERI has been engaged in modelling the Chinese
economy and its relationship to projected greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions with a particular focus on the potential of a low carbon
economy in decoupling the relationship between economic development
and increasing levels of carbon emissions. It is envisaged that,
through genuine cooperation, a significant contribution is being
made to the knowledge base for implementing effective energy
policies in China.
More Sustainable Energy Use In
China: Economic Structure and the Application of New Technologies
Project
Funded by the Australian Department of Climate Change,
Canberra
China’s top priorities in the Eleventh Five
Year Plan (2006-2010) include sharply reducing energy consumption
per unit of output and making energy production and use less
damaging to the environment, while maintaining rapid development.
This is a very complex task, given China’s rapid growth, the extent
of international engagement in China and its decentralised
development and governance model. The implementation challenges it
faces are great, especially in the context of renewed inflation and
the global financial crisis. The process is inevitably constrained
by limited knowledge of how specific policies might best be
implemented in China, of how successful they are likely to be and of
what this means for the choice of preferred policies.
The overall objective of this project is to
assist the relevant Chinese authorities to develop a stronger
knowledge base on these implementation issues. It will draw on a
systematic analysis of international experience, including that of
Australia, with particular policies and technologies, and on a
detailed review of the specific realities of China affecting the
outcome of a particular policy or the uptake of a specific
technology. It will address implementation issues in two areas:
changing economic structure from energy intensive sectors to those
that are more knowledge intensive and rely less on energy and other
resource inputs; and the adoption of advanced technologies in
particular sectors (air-conditioners and motor vehicles) and the
increased use of one cleaner form of energy (natural gas).
Download the full report
The Transition to a Low Carbon Economy:
Implementation Issues and Constraints within China's Changing
Economic Structure (PDF - 9270 Kb)
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