Going Green: Are Chinese Cities Planting the Seeds for Sustainable Energy Systems?

• Published in: Policy File 2019
• Main Author: Voita, Thibaud
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Subjects: Energy; Environment; French Institute of International Relations

The Global Climate Action Summit held in September 2018 in California has highlighted the importance of cities for promoting clean energy solutions and for combatting climate change. While energy policies in most countries depend primarily on national governments, cities have the possibility to develop and implement innovative solutions and ambitious policies. Chinese cities should be at the core of these developments, as they are confronted with many energy and climate challenges, often at an unprecedented scale: notably air quality, traffic congestion, energy security and massive consumption of building materials. For instance, outdoor air pollution in China has reportedly caused 1 million premature deaths in 2016, and in 2014 only 8 out of 74 Chinese cities would meet the national standards in terms of air quality. The challenges are daunting and China's institutional framework may not generate incentives that would foster city-level innovations in the technology or policy fields. The Chinese political system is very centralized: the national leadership sets up objectives and plans that have to be implemented by local entities. However, there are plenty of national policies aiming at addressing energy challenges in cities: these include plans to fight pollution, energy and climate intensity objectives, technology plans to promote clean vehicles, or rating and labelling systems to promote building efficiency. Some cities have taken advantage of the national policy frameworks and even set more ambitious targets and policies. Programmes and policies fostering sustainable cities in China are being developed at large scale, with several large cities surpassing centrally-planned policies and pioneering to become carbon neutral.