Narratives and pathways towards an ecological civilisation in contemporary China

Since the United States committed to withdraw from the UN Paris Agreement on climate change, international observers have increasingly asked if China can take the lead instead to raise global ambition in the context of a world leadership vacuum. Given the country's increasing economic and strategic focus on sustainable and low-carbon innovation, China might seem well placed to do so. However, much depends on the direction of governance and reform within China regarding the environment. To better understand how the government is seeking to make progress in these areas, this article explores key political narratives that have underpinned China's policies around sustainable development (kechixu fazhan) and innovation (chuangxin) within the context of broader narratives of reform. Drawing on theoretical insights from work that investigates the role of power in shaping narratives, knowledge and action around specific pathways to sustainability, this article explores the ways in which dominant policy narratives in China might drive particular forms of innovation for sustainability and potentially occlude or constrain others. In particular, we look at ecological civilization (shengtai wenming) as a slogan that has gradually evolved to become an official narrative and is likely to influence pathways to sustainability over the coming years

Solar PV and poverty alleviation in China: Rhetoric and reality

In 2014, China announced an ambitious plan to help alleviate rural poverty through deploying distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in poor areas. The solar energy for poverty alleviation programme (SEPAP) initiative aims to add over 10 GW capacity and benefit more than 2 million households from around 35,000 villages across the country by 2020. This working paper traces the emergence and implementation of the initiative through discourse analysis of policy documents. Then, through a case study in the remote and largely pastoralist county of Guinan, in Qinghai province on the Tibetan plateau, we illustrate the constraints on implementing SEPAP and contested local perspectives on the buildout of ostensibly low carbon infrastructure for electricity generation. The working paper illustrates the limits of a top-down energy infrastructure push without incentive mechanisms for non-state actors or independent oversight of a “command and control” system.ESR

[Editorial] Low carbon China: emerging phenomena and implications for innovation governance - introduction to the special section of environmental innovation and societal transitions

This special section of ‘Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions’ investigates emerging phenomena associated with low carbon transitions in contemporary China. It looks at supply and demand side dynamics, the changing role of citizens and a range of policy approaches characteristic of the Chinese context. The papers draw on diverse methods and frameworks, considering various sectors – such as energy, mobility, food and agriculture – to understand and explain these phenomena and to derive implications for innovation and transition governance

Low-Carbon Innovation in China: Prospects, Politics and Practices - Innovation

China’s potential transition to a low-carbon, climate resilient or ‘post-carbon’ society is a key concern for the world. There is an urgent need for better understanding of this process, posing major challenges for social science given the complex, systemic and emergent nature of the multiple processes involved in such a possible transition. This Working Paper is the first of a series of four 'China Low Carbon Reports' outlining the STEPS-Centre affiliate project 'Low Carbon Innovation in China: Prospects, Politics and Practice', led from Lancaster University. The project is designed around problem-led social scientific research involving partners from leading UK and Chinese institutions. It aims to assess the status of, and opportunities for, low-carbon transitions in China by going beyond existing technology-focused approaches to innovation. In particular, this involves a re-insertion and reconceptualisation of power within the processes of low-carbon transitions, conceived as processes of socio-technical systems, and with greater attention paid to everyday social practices of both ‘users’ and producers. Through this distinct approach, the project offers empirical, methodological and theoretical contributions to the study of (low-carbon) socio-technical transitions both in China and more broadly. The paper outlines the background to this project, the urgency of deeper and more productive understanding of the prospects of low-carbon transition in China, and the theoretical and methodological approaches adopted to do this

The Political Economy of State-led Energy Transformations: Lessons from Solar PV in Kenya and China

Amid talk of the need for a low carbon ‘clean energy revolution’ to address the challenges of energy poverty and climate change, there is growing academic and policy interest in understanding the role of key actors that are expected to enable transitions and transformations towards a low carbon economy in a pro-poor way. Within the socio-technical transitions literature, there has been increased interest in “the state” as the primary actor with the responsibility, authority and capacity to address these issues. But understanding the role of the state in energy transformations requires an appreciation of context: what is possible given enormous differences in capacity and resources, autonomy and uneven access to different energy sources and technologies. Which technologies and energy systems receive support, whose energy needs get prioritised and which actors are charged with the responsibility for meeting energy needs are a function of very different decision-making processes, political systems and political economies. Taking the case of support to solar PV in China and Kenya, we develop a political economy analysis of state-led energy transformations which seeks to explore how different aspects of statehood impact upon the nature and prospects of the sorts of transformations now urgently required of energy systems. We do so by examining political economy dynamics in relation to: (i) the organisation of the state; (ii) the political nature of the state; and (iii) the state in the global political economy. This raises questions about the viability and desirability of generic prescriptions for “managed transitions” in light of such diversity in state forms and functions, the different ways in which they interact with energy systems and the evident limits of the sorts of transitions and transformations that states alone can steer, manage or impose. It thus speaks to broader debates about the politics of “care” vs. “control” in transformations to sustainability.ESR

Solar PV and solar water heaters in China: Different pathways to low carbon energy.

This review paper examines pathways towards solar energy in China by examining two different solar energy technologies, namely solar photovoltaic (PV) and solar water heaters (SWH). The paper investigates these two case studies to understand how different pathways for low carbon innovation are promoted and challenged by China's changing financing and policy-making, and how they relate to changing practices among producers and consumers. The paper finds two distinct approaches to solar energy. Chinese solar PV is predominantly produced for the export market, relies on intellectual property-intensive technology and has received much financial and political support from the central and provincial governments. On the other side, solar water heaters are an indigenous Chinese technology that is found everywhere across China, especially in rural areas. They have developed from grass-roots levels to mass products with very little central government support. Although being largely absent from high-level discussions and policies, solar water heaters could contribute a lot to China's low carbon transitions that are driven at the local level

Sustainable maize production and consumption in China: practices and politics in transition

China provides a stark and globally significant illustration of how changing patterns of food production and consumption (especially related to increased intake of animal protein) are creating negative impacts on biodiversity, climate, nitrogen and phosphorous cycles and the use of freshwater. However, China's rapidly growing innovation capabilities and dynamic pattern of development also offer a unique opportunity for transitions towards more sustainable and resilient agri-food systems. Applying a ‘food practices in transition’ framework (Spaargaren et al., 2012), this paper discusses the technological, political and socio-cultural factors central to such systemic changes, with a focus on maize as a core case study. In particular it presents and discusses two contending (but not mutually-exclusive) pathways towards more sustainable maize production and consumption. One, which we call the ‘indigenous innovation’ pathway is framed by ‘systemic rationalities’ and characterised by a focus on R&D-intensive technologies for agricultural intensification, including the controversial use of transgenic phytase maize. The second, which we term the ‘alternative’ pathway, is framed by ‘lifeworld rationalities’ and focusses on improved management practices, shorter supply chains, agro-ecological and participatory research. The two pathways claim different environmental benefits and present different risks and political implications. This paper analyses the food practices in transition in each pathway, identifying links with shifting political conditions and pointing to the increasingly significant role of consumer agency in steering patterns of maize production and consumption in China