China's Climate Change Policies by Wang Weiguang & Guoguang Zheng & Pan Jiahua

Author:Wang Weiguang & Guoguang Zheng & Pan Jiahua [Weiguang, Wang & Zheng, Guoguang & Jiahua, Pan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Public Policy, Environmental Policy, Political Science
ISBN: 9781136345159
Google: juPY50S0psgC
Goodreads: 17578419
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2012-06-13T00:00:00+00:00

FIGURE 8.2 Initial allocation of carbon budget (1900–2050): Scenario A.

Adjustments to initial carbon budget based on natural conditions

Climate factor

The climate factor affects mainly energy consumption and commercial real estate emissions. In the mature economies of developed countries, the latter account for around one-third of total energy consumption. Energy consumption in heating and cooling is about 50 percent of building energy consumption. Therefore, about one-sixth of the initial global carbon budget can be assumed to require adjustment. Important indicators for measuring each country’s climatic conditions and population distribution are population-weighted heating and cooling degree days.14 Adjustments based on these indicators yield the following results: the emission budget for countries with a cold climate such as Russia and Canada and those with a hot climate such as Indonesia and India will register a positive change whereas countries with a mild climate such as South Africa, Australia, Mexico, and Brazil will receive a minor negative adjustment. The adjustment range is between –10 percent and +14 percent.

Geographical factors

Geographical conditions influence mainly transport energy consumption and carbon emissions. In general, energy consumption from the transport sector accounts for around one-third of total energy consumption in the mature economies of developed countries. Per capita travel mileage and transport distance are two factors that are closely related to geographical conditions. Therefore, about one-third of the global carbon budget can be assumed to require redistribution on the basis of geographical conditions. The most important indicator for measuring the geographical distribution of population is the national land area affected by human activities.15 Adjustments based on this indicator yield the following results: the emission budget would increase considerably for thinly populated large countries such as Australia, Canada, and Russia, and would decrease slightly for densely populated countries such as the Republic of Korea, Japan, and India. The range of adjustments is between –14 percent and +62 percent.

Energy resources endowment

The energy consumption structure of a country is, to some extent, subject to its resource endowment, especially its energy resource endowment. However, the developed countries can escape resource endowment constraints by virtue of their economic power. For instance, Japan, poor though it is in natural resources, consumes large quantities of petroleum imported from other countries. Developing countries, on the other hand, have an energy consumption structure heavily dependent on their energy resource endowment. In order to meet their energy demands, countries using coal as their main source of energy have higher carbon emissions. It is therefore necessary to make compensatory adjustments for these countries. However, compensation in this regard must be appropriate, otherwise it will discourage efforts to develop low-carbon or renewable energy. For this reason, we can assume that half of the global carbon budget is affected and that adjustments to the initial allocation in line with carbon intensity indicators of energy consumption are required for each country.16 The results show that the emission budget for a small number of countries with coal as their main sources of energy such as China, India, and South Africa would go up slightly, whereas

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