Global Warming and Options for China: Energy and Environmental Policy Profile

Gan, L. (1990). Global Warming and Options for China: Energy and Environmental Policy Profile. IIASA Working Paper. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: WP-90-052

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Abstract

Climatic change is a topic shared by most of the scientific community. Energy systems emissions greatly contribute towards this phenomenon. This is the reason why the linkage between energy and climate is now the focus of many global and national studies. The adverse impacts of a climatic change on human activities caused by global/regional energy systems, as well as the requirements for restructuring these systems to reduce climatic impacts, are still uncertain. It is difficult to stabilize or reduce the atmospheric concentration of energy-induced emissions and, at the same time, keep energy as the driving force needed for social and economic progress in the developing world.

From this viewpoint China is the most controversial region, with an increasing population, an inevitable growth in energy demand, and ambitious plans for economic development and improvements in living standards. It lacks low-carbon fuels but is rich in coal, which, when burnt, will emit the maximum CO2 per unit of useful energy. Today China produces more coal than any other country. Its future coal production could increase manifold and reach the level of today's coal production worldwide. Therefore the present Chinese energy policy is of great interest for the analysis of the future energy situation on a global scale and its related impacts on the climate.

The author analyzes the energy-ecology situation of China and reviews the governmental policy toward reducing air pollution and environmental degradation, including a greenhouse gas induced climatic change. The paper fills, to some extent, the information gap on what is going on in Socialist countries, and particularly in China, with respect to energy and the environment.

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