China and East Asian Energy - Prospects and Issues Volume II Part I

This collection of papers in two volumes is the second in a series on China and East Asian Energy, a major project which is an initiative of the East Asia Forum in conjunction with the China Economy and Business Program in the Crawford School of Economics and Government at the Australian National University (ANU). The first volume was published in April 2007. The research program is directed at understanding the factors influencing Chinas energy markets. It also involves high-level training and capacity building to foster long-term links between policy thinkers in China and Australia. It provides for regular dialogue with participants from the energy and policy sectors in the major markets in East Asia and Australia. The backbone of the dialogue is an annual conference, the location of which has thus far alternated between Beijing and Canberra. The objective is to advance a research agenda that informs and influences the energy policy discussion in China, Australia and the region. This special edition of the Asia Pacific Economic Papers brings together papers presented at the second conference in the series. Due to their number and length, papers from that second conference are published across two volumes of the Asia Pacific Economic Papers. This volume includes the first half of the papers, while the next volume includes the second half. The third conference in the project is scheduled for July 2008.China, Energy, East Asia

Energy and sustainable urban transport development in China: Challenges and solutions

This paper presents an overview of urban road transport development and challenges in energy consumption in China. It relates sustainable urban road transport development with energy consumption and environmental management. It analyzes the main challenges related to urban road transport development: energy security, low efficiency in energy utilization, and unsustainable environmental management. It also discusses necessary technological and policy initiatives to deal with these challenges: e.g., promoting the development and dissemination of cleaner vehicle technologies, substitution of LPG, CNG, LNG and biofuels for gasoline and diesel, strengthening regulations on vehicle emissions, expediting public transport development, and the effective management of the soaring private car

Air Pollution Control Policies in China: A Retrospective and Prospects

With China’s significant role on pollution emissions and related health damage, deep and up-to-date understanding of China’s air pollution policies is of worldwide relevance. Based on scientific evidence for the evolution of air pollution and the institutional background of environmental governance in China, we examine the development of air pollution control policies from the 1980s and onwards. We show that: (1) The early policies, until 2005, were ineffective at reducing emissions; (2) During 2006–2012, new instruments which interact with political incentives were introduced in the 11th Five-Year Plan, and the national goal of reducing total sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions by 10% was achieved. However, regional compound air pollution problems dominated by fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ground level ozone (O3) emerged and worsened; (3) After the winter-long PM2.5 episode in eastern China in 2013, air pollution control policies have been experiencing significant changes on multiple fronts. In this work we analyze the different policy changes, the drivers of changes and key factors influencing the effectiveness of policies in these three stages. Lessons derived from the policy evolution have implications for future studies, as well as further reforming the management scheme towards air quality and health risk oriented direction

Air Pollution Control Policies in China: A Retrospective and Prospects

With China’s significant role on pollution emissions and related health damage, deep and up-to-date understanding of China’s air pollution policies is of worldwide relevance. Based on scientific evidence for the evolution of air pollution and the institutional background of environmental governance in China, we examine the development of air pollution control policies from the 1980s and onwards. We show that: (1) The early policies, until 2005, were ineffective at reducing emissions; (2) During 2006–2012, new instruments which interact with political incentives were introduced in the 11th Five-Year Plan, and the national goal of reducing total sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions by 10% was achieved. However, regional compound air pollution problems dominated by fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ground level ozone (O3) emerged and worsened; (3) After the winter-long PM2.5 episode in eastern China in 2013, air pollution control policies have been experiencing significant changes on multiple fronts. In this work we analyze the different policy changes, the drivers of changes and key factors influencing the effectiveness of policies in these three stages. Lessons derived from the policy evolution have implications for future studies, as well as further reforming the management scheme towards air quality and health risk oriented direction

A roadmap for China to peak carbon dioxide emissions and achieve a 20% share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy by 2030

As part of its Paris Agreement commitment, China pledged to peak carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions around 2030, striving to peak earlier, and to increase the non-fossil share of primary energy to 20% by 2030. Yet by the end of 2017, China emitted 28% of the world's energy-related CO2 emissions, 76% of which were from coal use. How China can reinvent its energy economy cost-effectively while still achieving its commitments was the focus of a three-year joint research project completed in September 2016. Overall, this analysis found that if China follows a pathway in which it aggressively adopts all cost-effective energy efficiency and CO2 emission reduction technologies while also aggressively moving away from fossil fuels to renewable and other non-fossil resources, it is possible to not only meet its Paris Agreement Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) commitments, but also to reduce its 2050 CO2 emissions to a level that is 42% below the country's 2010 CO2 emissions. While numerous barriers exist that will need to be addressed through effective policies and programs in order to realize these potential energy use and emissions reductions, there are also significant local environmental (e.g., air quality), national and global environmental (e.g., mitigation of climate change), human health, and other unquantified benefits that will be realized if this pathway is pursued in China

How Green Public Procurement Contributes to Sustainable Development in China: Evidence from the IISD Green Public Procurement Model

The People's Republic of China spent more than CNY 1.6 trillion (USD 252 billion) on procurement in 2013, accounting for 11.7 per cent of all national spending (Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China, 2014). In light of these numbers, the potential environmental, social and economic multipliers of greening government purchases become evident. The benefits of a comprehensive and efficient green public procurement (GPP) policy are not limited to the green products and services the public sector buys, but will have a ripple effect that encourages green consumption nationwide. The significant purchasing power of the government will provide the much-needed incentives in order for businesses to invest and innovate in green products and services to meet the government's guaranteed long-term and high-volume demand. Additionally, GPP is in line with China's national plans to pioneer "eco-civilisation" and with the upcoming 13th Five-Year Plan (FYP), which underlines the importance of GPP.This paper is the second and final component of IISD's contribution to greening public procurement in China. Our discussion paper Green Public Procurement in China: Quantifying the Benefits, published in April 2015, analyzed China's GPP landscape, taking a closer look at current practices, actors at different levels of government and the underlying legal framework. In addition, the paper introduced the IISD GPP Model, discussing its potential for quantifying and communicating the benefits of GPP, while providing a high-level overview of the modelling approach used and of the scope of the model envisioned. Building on the results of the IISD GPP Model, consultations with stakeholders and an extensive literature review, this paper provides targeted recommendations addressing the development areas identified to improve GPP in China. The recommendations follow a multiphase approach offering more immediate solutions as well as more ambitious, larger-scale overhauls of the GPP framework for the long term. The results of the IISD GPP Model will be shared for the first time as part of this paper, making the case for green procurement through analyzing five product categories: air conditioners, lighting, cars, paper and cement. These categories were selected because they represent significant financial flows in procurement, have notable environmental impacts and domestic production, and have sufficient data available to facilitate their analysis. A detailed overview of the key elements of the modelling approach will be provided, in addition to an explanation of the model setup and the range of externalities monetised for each product category. Finally, we will look at how to use the model at the different levels of government as well as how its scope can be extended and customised in order to leverage its potential under a wider range of circumstances and areas of procurement

Electric Vehicles in China: Emissions, Health Impacts, and Equity

E-bikes in China are the single largest adoption of alternative fuel vehicles in history, with more than 100 million e-bikes purchased in the past decade and vehicle ownership about 2× [time] larger for e-bikes as for conventional cars; e-cars sales, too, are rapidly growing. Electric vehicles (EVs) in China are being considered as a strategy to improve air quality, energy efficiency, and reduce health impacts due to transport emissions. Because EVs have different pollution sources, namely electric generating units (EGUs), quantitative analysis for health impacts requires understanding the exposure efficiency of related pollution sources. In this dissertation, EVs will be analyzed in the context of the impacts on the environment, the differences in exposure efficiency of pollutants, the impacts on health, and the distribution of those impacts among different sectors of the population. This study compares emissions (CO2 [Carbon Dioxide], PM2.5 [Particulate Matter], NOX [Nitrogen Oxide], HC [Hydrocarbon]) and environmental health impacts (primary PM2.5) from the use of conventional vehicles (CVs) and EVs in 34 major cities in China. CO2 emissions (g km-1) vary and are an order of magnitude greater for e-cars (135–274) and CVs (150-180) than for e-bikes (14–27). PM2.5 emission factors generally are lower for CVs (gasoline or diesel) than comparable EVs. However, intake fraction is often greater for CVs than for EVs because combustion emissions are generally closer to population centers for CVs (tailpipe emissions) than for EVs (EGU emissions). For most cities, the net result is that primary PM2.5 environmental health impacts per passenger-km are greater for e-cars than for gasoline cars (3.6× on average), lower for e-cars than for diesel cars (2.5× on average) and equal between e-cars and diesel buses. In contrast, e-bikes yield lower environmental health impacts per passenger-km than the three CVs investigated: gasoline cars (2×), diesel cars (10×), and diesel buses (5×). In addition, adoption of EVs could cause environmental equity problems in China at this time, since a vast majority (\u3e83%) of pollutant emissions inhaled and subsequent health effects due to urban EV use could be distributed to communities whose incomes are lower than the cities where EVs are promoted. The findings highlight the importance of considering exposures, and especially the proximity of emissions to people, when evaluating environmental health impacts and equity concerns for EVs

Quantification of CO2 Emissions by Top-down Method of Manaus Public and Private Transport Fleet

Air pollutants emitted by motor vehicles make a major contribution to air pollution in large urban centers, accounting for about 75% of emissions. The estimation of GHG emissions by the “Top-down” method used in the National Energy Balance - BEN, provides for the conversion of all fuel consumption measures to a common unit. Thus, the study aimed to guide the monitoring and monitoring of the concentrations of pollutant gases emitted by diesel combustion vehicles, comparing CO2 emissions in 2018, in two public and private transport fleets in the city of Manaus. - AM Based on the application of the Top-Down methodology generating the data in the comparative table of public and private transport companies, it is evident that CO2 emissions for both fleets present a high air pollution index suggesting the adaptation of the vehicle fleet. by adopting similar fuel with lower pollutant content. The data obtained in the study show that fuels with low emission factors should be used in urban public transport vehicles