Energy conservation is a long-term strategic policy in China to support its economic and social development. This strategy is important for saving resources, protecting the environment, and ensuring a secure supply of energy. However, energy conservation often involves large amounts of investment and may also have dampening impacts on some local and regional economies. Moreover, energy conservation has many features of a public good. Therefore, government policy will have to play a strong role to foster local efforts and interregional cooperation on this issue. This paper analyzes a promising policy instrument - an interregional energy conservation-quota trading system. An operational model is developed to simulate the workings of this policy instrument for a variety of quota allocations among regions. The results indicate that a tradable quota system can help China achieve its conservation target in a cost-effective way and in accordance with its regional development strategy.
AgarwalA.NarainS. (1991). Global Warming in an Unequal World: A Case of Environmental Colonialism. New Delhi: Centre for Science and Environment.
2.
BohmP.LarsenB. (1994). “Fairness in a Tradable-Permit Treaty for Carbon Emission Reductions in Europe and The former Soviet Union.” Environmental and Resource Economics4: 219-239.
3.
CaiY.L. (2007). “Regional Environmental Protection Inspection System: Today and Future.” Sina News (in Chinese), http://finance.sina.com.cn/economist/jingjiguancha/20070720/17203806186.shtml.
4.
ChichilniskyG.HealG.StarrettD. (2000). “Equity and Efficiency in Environmental Markets: Global Trade in Carbon Dioxide Emissions.” InChilchiniskyG.HealG. eds., Environmental Markets: Equity and Efficiency. New York: Columbia University Press.
5.
CoaseR. (1960). “The Problem of Social Cost.” Journal of Law and Economics3: 1-30.
6.
Development Research Center of the State Council (DRCSC). (2005). China's National Comprehensive Energy Strategy and Policy. http://www.efchina.org/resources.cfm#155
7.
DOE/EIA.(2006). International Energy Outlook2006. http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/ieorefcase.html
8.
DOE/EIA. (2008). International Energy Outlook2008. http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/ieorefcase.html
9.
FanJ.SunW.RenD.M.. (2006). “Renewables Portfolio Standard and Regional Energy Structure Optimization in China.” Energy Policy33(3): 279-287.
10.
Fisher-VandenK.JeffersonG.H.LiuH.M.TaoQ.. (2004). “What is Driving China’s Decline in Energy Intensity?” Resource and Energy Economics26(1): 77-97.
11.
HaitesE. (1998). “Emissions Trading for Greenhouse Gases in Canada.” Policy Options19(4): 2024.
12.
IEA (International Energy Agency). (2004). World Energy Outlook2004. http://www.worldenergy-outlook.org/free.asp.
13.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). (2004). China Energy Databook Vol.6.0.
14.
LiJ. (2008). “Environment Exchanges Waiting for Trading.” China Daily News. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2008-09/15/content_7027955.htm.
15.
LinX.N. (1996). China's Energy Strategy: Economic Structure, Technological Choices, and Energy Consumption. Westport, CT: Praeger.
16.
LinX.N.PolenskeK.R.. (1995). “Input-output Anatomy of China’s Energy Use Changes in the 1980s.” Economic Systems Research7(1): 67-84.
17.
LoeschelA.ZhangZ.X.. (2002). “The Economic and Environmental Implications of the U.S. Repudiation of the Kyoto Protocol and the Subsequent Deals in Bonn and Marrakech.” Weltwirtschaftli-ches Archiv - Review of World Economics138(4): 711-746.
18.
People’s Daily.(2002). “China to Quadruple GDP in 2020 from 2000.” http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200211/08/eng20021108_106504.shtml
19.
RoseA. (1992). “Equity Considerations of Tradable Carbon Emission Entitlements.” in Combating Global Warming: Study on a Global System of Tradable Carbon Emission Entitlements. New York: U.N. Conference on Trade and Development.
20.
RoseA. (1998). “Global Warming Policy: Who Decides What is Fair?” Energy Policy19(1):1-3.
21.
RoseA.LinS.. (1995). “Regrets or No Regrets - That is the Question: Is Conservation a Costless CO2 Mitigation Strategy?” Energy Journal16(3): 67-87.
22.
RoseA.StevensB.. (1993). “The Efficiency and Equity of Marketable Permits for CO2 Emissions.” Resource and Energy Economics15: 117-146.
23.
RoseA.StevensB.. (1998). “A Dynamic Analysis of Fairness in Global Warming Policies: Kyoto, Buenos Aires, and Beyond.” Journal of Applied Economics1: 329-362.
24.
RoseA.TietenbergT.. (1993). “An International System of Tradable CO2 Entitlements: Implications for Economic Development.” Journal of Environment & Development2(1): 1-36.
25.
RoseA.ZhangZ.X.. (2004). “Interregional Burden-Sharing of Greenhouse Gas Mitigation in the United States.” Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change9: 477-500.
26.
RoseA.PetersonT.D.ZhangZ.X.. (2006). “Regional Carbon Dioxide Permit Trading in the United States: Coalition Choices for Pennsylvania.” Penn State Environmental Law Review14(2): 203-229.
27.
RoseA.StevensB.EdmondsJ.WiseM.. (1998). “International Equity and Differentiation in Global Warming Policy: An Application to Tradable Emission Permits.” Environmental and Resource Economics12: 25-51.
28.
ShaneM.GaleF. (2004). China: A Study of Dynamic Growth. WRS-04-08, USDA/ERS Report.
29.
SintonJ.E.SternR.E.AdenN.T.LevineM.D.. (2005). “Evaluation of China’s Energy Strategy Options.” Working Paper of China Energy Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
30.
State Planning Commission (SPC). (1997). Energy Conservation in China. Beijing: State Planning Commission.
31.
State Statistics Bureau of China (SSBC). (2005). Statistic Yearbook of China, 2005. Beijing: China Statistical Publishing House.
32.
State Statistics Bureau of China (SSBC). (2006). Statistic Yearbook of China, 2006. Beijing: China Statistical Publishing House.
33.
StevensB.RoseA.. (2002). “A Dynamic Analysis of the Marketable Permits Approach to Global Warming Policy: A Comparison of Spatial and Temporal Flexibility.” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management44(1): 45-69.
34.
TietenbergT. (1985). Emissions Trading: An Exercise in Reforming Pollution Policy. Washington, DC: Resources for the Future.
35.
Tsinghua University, The Compiling Team of China’s Energy Outlook. (2006). China Energy Outlook 2004. Beijing, China: Tsinghua University Press.
36.
United Nation Population Division (UNPD). (2005). World Population Prospects: The 2004 Revision. http://esa.un.org/unpp/.
37.
Xinhua (2003). “World Bank Says China Is Poverty Reduction Model.” http://www.china.org.cn/english/2003/Feb/56694.htm.
38.
YeungY.M.ShenJ.F.. (2004). Developing China' West: A Critical Path to Balanced National Development. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press of Hong Kong.
39.
ZhangT.T. (2006). “Environment Supervision Centers to Open.” China Network News. http://www.china.org.cn/english/2006/Jul/175744.htm.
40.
ZhangZ.X. (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 Economics25: 625-638.
41.
ZhangZ.X. (2008). “Asian Energy and Environmental Policy: Promoting Growth While Preserving the Environment.” Energy Policy36(10): 3905-3924.
