Countermeasures Against Global Warming in China

Abstract

Economic growth and the increase in population lead to remarkable increase in energy consumption. China, whose population is more than 20% of the world population, is the 2nd biggest electricity consumption country of the world in 1999. The environmental problem related to energy consumption in China, which cannot be ignored, is that the huge amount of coal is used as an energy source. As the carbon content per unit calorific value in coal is 30% higher than in oil, therefore the carbondioxide emissions has increased, which is the main factor for global warming. The contents of the paper include four parts: the literature review and objective, quantitative analysis of carbon tax in China while considering the introduction of a green energy (wind power and solar power), conclusion and policy proposal, and future works. In this paper, we propose a policy mix, imposing carbon tax in China for CO2 emission curtailment and introducing the green energy. The main point of this paper is to form a carbon management policy that will lead to greening of the existing energy system in China, using our multi-sectoral macro-economical model including I-O table, then we derive the optimum carbon tax rate endogenously by running simulation model under CO2 emission restrictions. © 2003, JAPAN SECTION OF THE REGIONAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL. All rights reserved.