Carbon emission trading scheme to reduce emission in the built environment of china

Abstract

Carbon emission trading has achieved some notable results and created many business opportunities in western countries, and most importantly, it does help to reduce the emission in a moderate approach favored by both political and business sectors. The theoretical framework supporting the operation of carbon emission trading scheme is relatively comprehensive in western countries, however, these western based instrument and approach dealing with economic - environmental conflict are barely examined in the context of developing countries, for instance, China. This paper examines the theory of ecological modernization and economic instrument, establishing the link between theory (sustainability) and practice (carbon emission trading), synthesizing the considerations of carbon trading in the field of environmental, economic and social sustainability. This paper concludes that, there is a good potential for carbon emission trading could to be feasible and effective in the context of China, to contribute to the emission reduction in the built environment. © 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.