IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v65y2014icp692-700.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

China's 2020 clean energy target: Consistency, pathways and policy implications

Author

Listed:
  • Yuan, Jiahai
  • Xu, Yan
  • Zhang, Xingping
  • Hu, Zheng
  • Xu, Ming

Abstract

China has proposed its 2020 clean energy target together with the climate change target of reducing CO2 intensity of the economy by 40–45% below the 2005 level. This article investigates the feasibility of these targets by testing their consistency under possible economic development scenarios. We analyse these targets from two perspectives: consistency with the overall economic growth and consistency with the international society's expectation on China's greenhouse gas (GHG) abatement responsibilities. The main findings are: under the recently announced 2020 target of gross domestic product (GDP) that is double the 2010 level, the adoption of a 15% clean energy target could result in excessive primary energy demand; and then with 40–45% GDP CO2 intensity reduction, CO2 emissions in 2020 could substantially exceed the International Energy Agency (IEA) 450ppm scenario for China. Thus we propose a 17% clean energy target that can reconcile the domestic plan with international expectation. Our article also outlines the pathways to realise clean energy development into 2020 and proposes policy recommendations.

Suggested Citation

  • Yuan, Jiahai & Xu, Yan & Zhang, Xingping & Hu, Zheng & Xu, Ming, 2014. "China's 2020 clean energy target: Consistency, pathways and policy implications," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 692-700.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:65:y:2014:i:c:p:692-700
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2013.09.061
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421513009853
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2013.09.061?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dai, Hancheng & Masui, Toshihiko & Matsuoka, Yuzuru & Fujimori, Shinichiro, 2011. "Assessment of China's climate commitment and non-fossil energy plan towards 2020 using hybrid AIM/CGE model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 2875-2887, May.
    2. Stern, David I. & Jotzo, Frank, 2010. "How ambitious are China and India's emissions intensity targets?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 6776-6783, November.
    3. Price, Lynn & Levine, Mark D. & Zhou, Nan & Fridley, David & Aden, Nathaniel & Lu, Hongyou & McNeil, Michael & Zheng, Nina & Qin, Yining & Yowargana, Ping, 2011. "Assessment of China's energy-saving and emission-reduction accomplishments and opportunities during the 11th Five Year Plan," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 2165-2178, April.
    4. Yuan, Jiahai & Xu, Yan & Hu, Zhaoguang, 2012. "Delivering power system transition in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 751-772.
    5. Michinori Uwasu & Yi Jiang & Tatsuyoshi Saijo, 2010. "On the Chinese Carbon Reduction Target," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 2(6), pages 1-5, June.
    6. Zhang, ZhongXiang, 2003. "Why did the energy intensity fall in China's industrial sector in the 1990s? The relative importance of structural change and intensity change," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 625-638, November.
    7. Yuan, Jiahai & Kang, Junjie & Yu, Cong & Hu, Zhaoguang, 2011. "Energy conservation and emissions reduction in China—Progress and prospective," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(9), pages 4334-4347.
    8. Steckel, Jan Christoph & Jakob, Michael & Marschinski, Robert & Luderer, Gunnar, 2011. "From carbonization to decarbonization?--Past trends and future scenarios for China's CO2 emissions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 3443-3455, June.
    9. Zhao, Xiaoli & Wang, Feng & Wang, Mei, 2012. "Large-scale utilization of wind power in China: Obstacles of conflict between market and planning," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 222-232.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yuan, Jiahai & Hou, Yong & Xu, Ming, 2012. "China's 2020 carbon intensity target: Consistency, implementations, and policy implications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(7), pages 4970-4981.
    2. Li, Ying & Lukszo, Zofia & Weijnen, Margot, 2015. "The implications of CO2 price for China’s power sector decarbonization," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 53-64.
    3. Ni, Jinlan & Wei, Chu & Du, Limin, 2015. "Revealing the political decision toward Chinese carbon abatement: Based on equity and efficiency criteria," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 609-621.
    4. Ma, Ben & Zheng, Xinye, 2018. "Biased data revisions: Unintended consequences of China's energy-saving mandates," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 102-113.
    5. Cui, Lianbiao & Li, Rongjing & Song, Malin & Zhu, Lei, 2019. "Can China achieve its 2030 energy development targets by fulfilling carbon intensity reduction commitments?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 61-73.
    6. Hu, Yu & Monroy, Carlos Rodríguez, 2012. "Chinese energy and climate policies after Durban: Save the Kyoto Protocol," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 3243-3250.
    7. Shahiduzzaman, Md. & Alam, Khorshed, 2013. "Changes in energy efficiency in Australia: A decomposition of aggregate energy intensity using logarithmic mean Divisia approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 341-351.
    8. Ke, Jing & Price, Lynn & Ohshita, Stephanie & Fridley, David & Khanna, Nina Zheng & Zhou, Nan & Levine, Mark, 2012. "China's industrial energy consumption trends and impacts of the Top-1000 Enterprises Energy-Saving Program and the Ten Key Energy-Saving Projects," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 562-569.
    9. Hübler, Michael & Voigt, Sebastian & Löschel, Andreas, 2014. "Designing an emissions trading scheme for China—An up-to-date climate policy assessment," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 57-72.
    10. Li, Kai & Qi, Shouzhou & Shi, Xunpeng, 2023. "Environmental policies and low-carbon industrial upgrading: Heterogenous effects among policies, sectors, and technologies in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    11. Yuan, Jiahai & Xu, Yan & Hu, Zhaoguang, 2012. "Delivering power system transition in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 751-772.
    12. Yuan, Jiahai & Xu, Yan & Hu, Zhen & Yu, Zhongfu & Liu, Jiangyan & Hu, Zhaoguang & Xu, Ming, 2012. "Managing electric power system transition in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(8), pages 5660-5677.
    13. Zhong, Sheng, 2018. "Structural decompositions of energy consumption between 1995 and 2009: Evidence from WIOD," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 655-667.
    14. Li, Na & Zhang, Xiaoling & Shi, Minjun & Zhou, Shenglv, 2017. "The prospects of China’s long-term economic development and CO2 emissions under fossil fuel supply constraints," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 11-22.
    15. Lo, Kevin & Wang, Mark Y., 2013. "Energy conservation in China’s Twelfth Five-Year Plan period: Continuation or paradigm shift?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 499-507.
    16. Yang, Fuxia & Yang, Mian & Nie, Hualin, 2013. "Productivity trends of Chinese regions: A perspective from energy saving and environmental regulations," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 82-89.
    17. Mehran Idris Khan & Yen-Chiang Chang, 2018. "Environmental Challenges and Current Practices in China—A Thorough Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-20, July.
    18. Zeng, Lin & Xu, Ming & Liang, Sai & Zeng, Siyu & Zhang, Tianzhu, 2014. "Revisiting drivers of energy intensity in China during 1997–2007: A structural decomposition analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 640-647.
    19. Junming Zhu & Marian R. Chertow, 2019. "Authoritarian but responsive: Local regulation of industrial energy efficiency in Jiangsu, China," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(3), pages 384-404, September.
    20. Zhang, Haiyan & Lahr, Michael L., 2014. "China's energy consumption change from 1987 to 2007: A multi-regional structural decomposition analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 682-693.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Clean energy development; CO2 emissions; China;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:65:y:2014:i:c:p:692-700. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.