China
Implementing Life Cycle Carbon Emissions Standards in Urban Development
The construction and operation of buildings account for nearly 40 percent of global CO2 emissions. As the urgency of the climate challenge increases, efforts to address carbon emissions in the buildings and construction sector is shifting from a focus almost exclusively on operations to the full life cycle of…
Bringing Electricity Markets to China: Adapting International Experience in Power Sector Deregulation to Fit China’s Economy
Introducing competitive electricity markets to China could reduce global emissions by 0.4 percent. The world’s second-largest economy is moving away from its centrally planned roots and is undertaking systemic power sector reforms. Chinese regulators’ motivations are not all that different than those of regulators in the West: they are trying…
Shenzhen: A City Miles Ahead
Two weeks ago, The Washington Post called Shenzhen, the tech hub in Southern China, a “pacesetter,” when reporting on how it became the first city in the world to turn nearly all of its buses and taxis electric. But it is not just public and for-hire fleets electrifying in…
Transforming the Global Comfort Cooling Market: China’s Opportunity for Economic and Climate Leadership
Cooling is becoming a hot topic in discussions related to mitigating climate change as it is possibly the single largest end-use risk to our climate goals. With temperatures rising due to global warming, compounded by rapid urbanization and increasing income levels, exponential growth in demand for comfort cooling shouldn’t come…
Highlights of China’s Energy Transition and Carbon Reduction Efforts in 2018, Part 2
The year 2018 was a challenging one for the global energy transition and carbon reduction. Global carbon emissions were projected to rise more than 2 percent in 2018, mainly due to solid growth in coal consumption and sustained increases in oil and gas use. Even so, countries around the world,…