Regional innovation and spillover effects of foreign direct investment in China: a threshold approach

Using a data set on twenty-nine Chinese provinces for the period 1985–2008, this paper establishes a threshold model to analyse the relationship between spillover effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) and regional innovation in China. There is clear evidence of double-threshold effects of regional innovation on productivity spillovers from FDI. Specifically, only when the level of regional innovation reaches the minimum innovation threshold will FDI in the region begin to produce positive productivity spillovers. Furthermore, positive productivity spillovers from FDI will be substantial only when the level of regional innovation attains a higher threshold. The double threshold divides Chinese provinces into three super-regions in terms of innovation, with most provinces positioned within the middle-level innovation super-region. Policy implications are discussed

Environmental impact assessments of the Three Gorges Project in China: issues and interventions

The paper takes China's authoritative Environmental Impact Statement for the Yangzi (Yangtze) Three Gorges Project (TGP) in 1992 as a benchmark against which to evaluate emerging major environmental outcomes since the initial impoundment of the Three Gorges reservoir in 2003. The paper particularly examines five crucial environmental aspects and associated causal factors. The five domains include human resettlement and the carrying capacity of local environments (especially land), water quality, reservoir sedimentation and downstream riverbed erosion, soil erosion, and seismic activity and geological hazards. Lessons from the environmental impact assessments of the TGP are: (1) hydro project planning needs to take place at a broader scale, and a strategic environmental assessment at a broader scale is necessary in advance of individual environmental impact assessments; (2) national policy and planning adjustments need to react quickly to the impact changes of large projects; (3) long-term environmental monitoring systems and joint operations with other large projects in the upstream areas of a river basin should be established, and the cross-impacts of climate change on projects and possible impacts of projects on regional or local climate considered. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.Xibao Xu, Yan Tan, Guishan Yan

Low carbon innovation in China: from overlooked opportunities and challenges to transitions in power relations and practices

This paper explores environmental innovation in the largest emerging economy – China - and its potential for contributing to global transitions to low-carbon, more sustainable patterns of development. It builds on earlier studies bringing alternative forms of low(er)-technology, ‘below-the-radar’, ‘disruptive’ and/or social innovation into its analysis. In addition, however, the paper develops our understanding of low-carbon innovation by paying particular attention to issues of changing power relations and social practices; theoretical issues that need attention in the literature generally but are notably absent when studying transitions in China. This shift in perspective allows four neglected questions to be introduced and, in each case, points to both opportunities and challenges to low-carbon system transition that are overlooked by an orthodox focus on technological innovations alone. These are briefly illustrated by drawing on examples from three key domains of low-carbon innovation: solar-generated energy; electric urban mobility; and food and agriculture

Circular Economy Policies in China and Europe

The idea of a circular economy (CE) has become prominent in both European and Chinese policy making. Chinese and European perspectives on a CE share a common conceptual basis and exhibit many similar concerns in seeking to enhance resource efficiency. Yet they also differ, and this article explores differences in the focus of CE policy in China and Europe. We present evidence on the differing understandings of the CE concept in Chinese and European policy discourse, drawing on qualitative and quantitative analysis of policy documents, media articles, and academic publications. We show that the Chinese perspective on the CE is broad, incorporating pollution and other issues alongside waste and resource concerns, and it is framed as a response to the environmental challenges created by rapid growth and industrialization. In contrast, Europe's conception of the CE has a narrower environmental scope, focusing more narrowly on waste and resources and opportunities for business. We then examine similarities and differences in the focus of policy activity in the two regions and in the indicators used to measure progress. We show differences in the treatment of issues of scale and place and different priorities across value chains (from design to manufacture, consumption, and waste management). We suggest some reasons for the divergent policy articulation of the CE concept and suggest lessons that each region can learn from the other

The governance of urban energy transitions: A comparative study of solar water heating systems in two Chinese cities

This paper examines how urban energy transitions are unfolding in China, in relation to the deployment of solar water heating (SWH) systems in two Chinese cities, Rizhao and Shenzhen. Cities play a significant role in the energy transition in China. Scholarly efforts have looked into the translation of top-down visions into locally actionable policy. This article contributes to this body of research with an analysis of the urban governance of urban energy transitions in China, and how low carbon technologies are deployed in particular urban contexts. The comparative analysis of Rizhao and Shenzhen suggests that specific socio-spatial arrangements shape the evolutionary trajectories of urban energy transitions of SWH systems in both cities. In the case of Rizhao, policy approaches have been erratic. Nevertheless, governmental and civil society actors have worked to forge alignment among political visions, built environment constraints, and social practices. The proximity of an industrial cluster supporting SWH technology and the early uptake of this technology by households are two key factors that explain the rapid spread of SWH systems in Rizhao. In Shenzhen, the local government has promoted SWH systems through regulation and incentives in a top-down and coordinated manner. These programmes have been, however, abandoned, after they did not deliver the expected results. The two contrasting cases suggest that the urban energy transition in China is the result of the coordinated actions of multiple actors, and success depends on the fit between technologies and the urban development contexts, rather than on aggressive government-sponsored actions

Weakened growth of cropland‐N2O emissions in China associated with nationwide policy interventions

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41671464; 7181101181), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFD0800501; 2018YFC0213304), 111 Project (B14001), the GCP-INI Global N2O Budget and the INMS Asia Demo Activities. The input of P.S. contributes to the UK-China Virtual Joint Centre on Nitrogen ìN-Circleî funded by the Newton Fund via UK BBSRC/NERC (BB/N013484/1). We acknowledged Eric Ceschia, Kristiina Regina, Dario Papale, and the NANORP for sharing a part of observation data.Peer reviewedPostprin

A review of physical supply and EROI of fossil fuels in China

This paper reviews China’s future fossil fuel supply from the perspectives of physical output and net energy output. Comprehensive analyses of physical output of fossil fuels suggest that China’s total oil production will likely reach its peak, at about 230 Mt/year (or 9.6 EJ/year), in 2018; its total gas production will peak at around 350 Bcm/year (or 13.6 EJ/year) in 2040, while coal production will peak at about 4400 Mt/year (or 91.9 EJ/year) around 2020 or so. In terms of the forecast production of these fuels, there are significant differences among current studies. These differences can be mainly explained by different ultimately recoverable resources assumptions, the nature of the models used, and differences in the historical production data. Due to the future constraints on fossil fuels production, a large gap is projected to grow between domestic supply and demand, which will need to be met by increasing imports. Net energy analyses show that both coal and oil and gas production show a steady declining trend of EROI (energy return on investment) due to the depletion of shallow-buried coal resources and conventional oil and gas resources, which is generally consistent with the approaching peaks of physical production of fossil fuels. The peaks of fossil fuels production, coupled with the decline in EROI ratios, are likely to challenge the sustainable development of Chinese society unless new abundant energy resources with high EROI values can be found

Methodology and applications of city level CO2 emission accounts in China

China is the world's largest energy consumer and CO2 emitter. Cities contribute 85% of the total CO2 emissions in China and thus are considered as the key areas for implementing policies designed for climate change adaption and CO2 emission mitigation. However, the emission inventory construction of Chinese cities has not been well researched, mainly owing to the lack of systematic statistics and poor data quality. Focusing on this research gap, we developed a set of methods for constructing CO2 emissions inventories for Chinese cities based on energy balance table. The newly constructed emission inventory is compiled in terms of the definition provided by the IPCC territorial emission accounting approach and covers 47 socioeconomic sectors, 17 fossil fuels and 9 primary industry products, which is corresponding with the national and provincial inventory. In the study, we applied the methods to compile CO2 emissions inventories for 24 common Chinese cities and examined uncertainties of the inventories. Understanding the emissions sources in Chinese cities is the basis for many climate policy and goal research in the future