Political Economy of China’s Climate Policy (Research Series on the Chinese Dream and China’s Development Path)

This book covers major advances in China’s climate policy over the past decade and presents theoretical approaches to climate justice and low-carbon transformation from a Chinese perspective. It analyzes the political economy of China’s climate policy, and subsequently addresses the following major aspects: carbon emissions and human rights, equity and carbon budgets, economic analysis of low-carbon transformation, economics of adaptation to climate change, and international climate regime building. Series Preface Contents Part I Carbon Emissions and Human Rights 1 Welfare Dimensions of Climate Change Mitigation 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Cost Effectiveness and Distributional Equity 1.3 Welfare Analysis of Climate Change Mitigation 1.4 Nonclimate Policies for Climate Change Mitigation 1.5 The Need to Include Welfare Impacts for a Low Carbon Future References 2 A Conceptual Framework and Empirical Data for the Analysis of Human Development—With Global Demand for Carbon Emissions as an Example 2.1 The Connotation of Human Development 2.2 The Developmental Philosophy of Neoclassical Economics 2.3 The Developmental Outlook of Post-welfarism 2.4 Differences and Resource Needs for Human Development 2.5 Carbon Emission Needs of Developing Countries 2.6 Conclusions and Discussions 3 Emissions Rights and Their Transferability: Equity Concerns Over Climate Change Mitigation 3.1 Introduction 3.2 International Equity Considerations: Focuses on Economic Implications Across Nations 3.3 Intra-national Equity Concerns 3.4 Emissions Rights and Their Transferability 3.5 Relevance of Allocation and Transferability of Emissions Rights in Climate Policy Making and International Negotiations 3.6 Conclusions References 4 China’s Balance of Emissions Embodied in Trade: Approaches to Measurement and Allocating International Responsibility 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Accounting for Greenhouse-Gas Emissions 4.3 China’s Emissions Embodied in Trade 4.4 Allocating Responsibility for Emissions 4.5 Conclusion References Part II Equity and Carbon Budget 5 The Concept and Theoretical Implications of Carbon Emission Rights Based on Individual Equity 5.1 Theoretical Background and Basic Concepts 5.1.1 Human Development and Carbon Emission Needs 5.1.2 Definition of Concepts 5.1.3 Interpretation of Key Concepts 5.2 Analysis of the Carbon Emissions Per Capita of Major Countries 5.2.1 Carbon Emissions Kuznets Curve 5.2.2 Comparative Analysis of the Carbon Emissions Per Capita and Economic Development of Major Countries 5.3 Analysis of the Cumulative Carbon Emissions Per Capita of Different Countries 5.3.1 Theoretical Implications of the Cumulative Carbon Emissions Per Capita 5.3.2 Comparison of Historical Cumulative Emissions and Historical Cumulative Emissions Per Capita of Major Countries 5.3.3 Cumulative Emissions and Cumulative Emissions Per Capita of Major Countries in the Future 5.3.4 Comparison Between the National Cumulative Emissions Rate and Cumulative Emissions Per Capita Rate 5.4 Conclusions and Policy Implications References 6 Carbon Budget Proposal: An Institutional Framework for an Equitable and Sustainable World Climate Regime 6.1 Basic Idea of the Carbon Budget and Equity Implications 6.2 Overall Carbon Budget and the Initial Allocation 6.3 Carbon Budget Adjustment and Transfer Payment 6.3.1 Adjustment to the Initial Carbon Budget Based on Natural Conditions 6.3.2 Transfer Payments of the Carbon Budget Based on Actual Demand 6.4 Does the Carbon Budget Proposal Have Preferences for Specific Countries? 6.5 Design of Related International Mechanisms 6.5.1 Market Mechanism 6.5.2 Mechanism 6.5.3 Compliance Mechanism 6.6 Conclusions and Discussion References 7 Carbon Budget Management on the Road to New-Type Urbanization 7.1 Carbon Budget for Protecting the Global Climate 7.2 Carbon Constraints for the Quality of Urbanization 7.3 Low-Carbon Opportunities from the Development of Urbanization 7.4 Strategic Management of the Carbon Budget in New-Type Urbanization Part III Economic Analysis of Low-Carbon Transformation 8 Low Carbon Transformation 8.1 Introduction 8.2 China’s Emissions Pathways 8.2.1 Overall Trend of Emissions in Aggregate 8.2.2 Changes in China’s Per capita Emissions 8.2.3 China’s Cumulative Emissions 8.2.4 Future Trend of Emissions 8.3 Major Drivers for Emission Increases 8.3.1 Increase in Size of the Economy 8.3.2 Economic Structure 8.3.3 Energy Mix 8.3.4 Urbanization 8.3.5 Prospects for Medium and Long Term Future 8.4 China’s Determination to Pursue a Low Carbon Development Path 8.4.1 China’s Strategic Need for Addressing Climate Change 8.4.2 Major Initiatives Promoting Low Carbon Development 8.4.3 Efforts Made to Emission Reductions and Energy Savings 8.4.4 The Need to Accelerate Low Carbon Transformation 8.5 Challenges and Opportunities in the Process of Low Carbon Transformation 8.5.1 Global Energy Consumption and Emission Pattern 8.5.2 Overcoming the Barriers to Low-Carbon Development 8.5.3 Policy Instruments 8.6 Conclusions and Policy Implications References 9 From Industrial Civilization to Ecological Civilization 9.1 Human Rights and Development: The Developmental Agenda Expanding the North–South Divide 9.2 The Struggle Over Environmental and Developmental Issues on the United Nations’ Agendas 9.3 From the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 9.4 Transformation Development in the New Millennium Goals 9.5 The Goal System for Transformation Development 9.6 Orientation Towards Ecological Civilization in the “Post-2015 Agenda” Report 10 Research on the Regional Variation of Carbon Productivity in China 10.1 Estimation and Analysis of Regional Carbon Emissions 10.1.1 Method for Calculating Carbon Emissions 10.1.2 Estimation and Difference Analysis of Regional Carbon Emissions 10.2 Estimation and Difference Analysis of Regional Carbon Productivity 10.2.1 Estimation of Regional Carbon Productivity 10.2.2 Difference Analysis of Regional Carbon Productivity 10.3 Conclusions and Countermeasures References 11 Clarification of the Concept of a Low-Carbon Economy and the Analysis of Its Core Elements 11.1 Concept and Connotation of a Low-Carbon Economy 11.2 Core Elements of a Low-Carbon Economy 11.2.1 Resource Endowment 11.2.2 Technical Progress 11.2.3 Consumption Mode 11.2.4 The Stage of Economic Development 11.3 Removal of Misunderstandings About a Low-Carbon Economy 11.4 Conclusions References Part IV Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change 12 Adapting to the Carrying Capacity, Ensuring Ecological Safety 12.1 Changing the Manner of Consumption, Reducing the Ecological Footprint 12.2 Conforming to Nature, Preserving the Productivity of the Ecosystem 12.3 Respecting Nature, Adapting to the Carrying Capacity of the Ecosystem 12.4 Protecting Nature, Increasing the Level of Ecological Safety Reference 13 Scientific Planning as the Key to New-Type Ecologically Friendly Urbanization 13.1 The Pattern of Urbanization Driven by Industrialization—An Imbalance of Gravitational Centers 13.2 Identifying the Development Boundary—Adapting to the Carrying Capacity of Resources in the Environment 13.3 Balanced Allocation of Public Resources—The Efficiency Basis for Planning 14 Climate Capacity: The Measurement for Adaptation to Climate Change 14.1 Introduction 14.2 The Concept of Climate Capacity and Its Implications 14.2.1 The Concept of Climate Capacity 14.2.2 Implications of Climate Capacity 14.2.3 Climate Capacity and Population Carrying Capacity 14.2.4 The Threshold Value of Climate Capacity and Applications 14.2.5 Characteristics of Climate Capacity 14.2.6 Measures to Increase Climate Capacity and Guiding Principles 14.3 Case Studies on Climate Capacity 14.3.1 Constraints of Climate Capacity and Ningxia’s Relocation Program 14.3.2 Climate Risks of Coastal Cities 14.4 Implications for Policy Making on Climate Capacity 14.5 Conclusions References 15 From Climate Change Vulnerability to Adaptation Planning: A Perspective of Welfare Economics 15.1 Introduction 15.2 Construction of a Framework for the Analysis of the Social Welfare Function 15.2.1 Economic Welfare and Its Risk Assessment 15.2.2 China’s Social Welfare Function Against the Background of Climate Change 15.3 Comprehensive Assessment of Climate Change Vulnerability 15.3.1 Indicator Design and Data Collection 15.3.2 Assessment Results and Analysis 15.4 Regionalization of Adaptation Based on Climate Change Vulnerability 15.5 The Assessment of China’s Economic Welfare Risk and Its Policy Implications 15.5.1 Estimation of Economic Loss and Welfare Risk 15.5.2 Adaptation Planning Design for Reducing Welfare Risks 15.6 Conclusions References Part V International Climate Regime Building 16 Climate Regime Building in a Changing World and China’s Role in Global Climate Governance 16.1 Introduction 16.2 Transition in Negotiating Mandate from Bali Roadmap to Durban Platform 16.3 New Pattern of Major Powers of Negotiations 16.4 Key Divergences Over Building Future International Climate Regime 16.5 New Situations of China’s Participation in Building International Climate Regime 16.6 China’s Role in the Participation of International Climate Governance References 17 Meeting Human Development Goals with Low Emissions: An Alternative to Emissions Caps for Post-Kyoto from a Developing Country Perspective 17.1 Introduction 17.2 Re-consideration of Emissions Target as a Goal 17.2.1 Kyoto Targets: From Berlin Mandate to Marrakech 17.2.2 Emissions Target as a Goal of Priority? 17.2.3 Dual Nature of Emissions 17.3 Emissions for Human Development 17.3.1 Final Consumption of Carbon Emissions 17.3.2 Development with Low Emissions 17.4 Commitments to Low Emissions for Human Development 17.4.1 Voluntary Commitments 17.4.2 Conditional Commitments 17.4.3 Obligatory Commitments 17.5 Reporting and Implementation 17.5.1 Quantification of Emissions Targets 17.5.2 Verification of Emissions Reductions 17.5.3 Incentives and Disincentives for Implementation 17.6 Evaluation of Environmental Effectiveness 17.6.1 Environmental Integrity 17.6.2 Uncertainties 17.6.3 Comparison with the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change 17.7 Discussion and Conclusions References 18 Road to Paris: What Has Changed and What Remains Unchanged in the System of International Responsibility 18.1 A Changing World Pattern 18.1.1 Developing Countries Have Enjoyed More Shares in the Global Economy 18.1.2 The Proportion of Emissions from Developed Countries Was Smaller Than that of Emissions from Developing Countries 18.1.3 Changes in the System of International Governance 18.1.4 The Diversity of International Organizations Paying Attention to Climate Change 18.2 The System of Responsibility Has Not However, Changed Fundamentally 18.2.1 Developed Countries Still Have the Main Share of Historical Emissions 18.2.2 Huge Differences Still Exist in the Amount of Per Capita Emissions 18.2.3 The International Economic Pattern Led by Developed Countries Remains Unchanged 18.2.4 No Change Has Occurred in the Situation Where Developed Countries Control Technologies and Set Standards 18.2.5 Poverty Reduction and Development Remain the Top Priorities for Developing Countries 18.3 Cooperative Building of an Equitable and Efficient International Cooperation Mechanism 18.3.1 The Convention Should Be Taken as the Main Channel for International Climate Governance 18.3.2 Developed Countries Should Continue to Assume the Main Responsibilities for Addressing Climate Change 18.3.3 Developing Countries Should Intensify Their Actions of Mitigation and Adaptation to Address Climate Change 18.3.4 An Equitable and Efficient Funding Mechanism Should Be Built More Quickly 18.3.5 The Promotion and Popularization of Technologies Should Be Deepened to Prevent the Lock-In Effect 18.3.6 Support for the Capacity Building of Developing Countries Should Be Increased 18.3.7 An Open and Cooperative International Trade System Should Be Built 18.3.8 Global Economic Growth and Climate Governance Should Be Pushed Forward in a Cooperative Way References 19 Post-Paris Process: A Transformational Breakthrough Is Still Needed 19.1 The Paris Climate Agreement: Starting a New Process 19.2 How Fast It Could Advance: Constraining Factors Still Exist 19.3 Enhanced Actions: A Transformative Breakthrough Is Urgently Needed