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Carbon Targets: No Need to Limit Energy Demand

Nov 02-2021   



To achieve carbon emission goals, it’s neither appropriate nor necessary for China to use administrative interventions to control its total energy demand, says Prof. Wang Min of the NSD, adding that a better way would be to rely on the market and pricing mechanisms. He’s associate professor and Assistant Dean of the NSD.

 

China’s energy demand grew at 9.4% annually from 2001 to 2011, largely due to the growth dividend of being a member of the WTO. The number dropped to 2.9% in the period 2012-2020. Prof. Wang says that the slowdown in urbanization and the decrease in population will further trim the figure down to less than 1% from 2030 onwards. Therefore, China can count on a relatively loose external environment to work on achieving its peak carbon emission target by 2030 and there’s no need to resort to movement-styled interventions, he says.

 

2030 onwards, the low (even negative) growth rate of energy demand will be complemented by rising proportions of renewable energies amid the energy mix and large-scale technological applications to capture, utilize and store carbon emissions, all of which will make the carbon neutrality target achievable by 2060, says Prof. Wang.

 

Over the last ten years, the synergistic effects of environmental conservation have borne fruition in China. Adding one trillion yuan in GDP now only generates 22 million tons of carbon emission, a sharp drop from 90 million tons in 2011.

 

To rein in carbon emission, efforts have been put into curtailing industrial output, whose proportion in China’s GDP shrunk from 46.5% in 2011 to 37.8% in 2020. Prof. Wang cautions against premature de-industrialization as a result of mandatory interventions by the government.

Carbon Targets: No Need to Limit Energy Demand

Nov 02-2021   



To achieve carbon emission goals, it’s neither appropriate nor necessary for China to use administrative interventions to control its total energy demand, says Prof. Wang Min of the NSD, adding that a better way would be to rely on the market and pricing mechanisms. He’s associate professor and Assistant Dean of the NSD.

 

China’s energy demand grew at 9.4% annually from 2001 to 2011, largely due to the growth dividend of being a member of the WTO. The number dropped to 2.9% in the period 2012-2020. Prof. Wang says that the slowdown in urbanization and the decrease in population will further trim the figure down to less than 1% from 2030 onwards. Therefore, China can count on a relatively loose external environment to work on achieving its peak carbon emission target by 2030 and there’s no need to resort to movement-styled interventions, he says.

 

2030 onwards, the low (even negative) growth rate of energy demand will be complemented by rising proportions of renewable energies amid the energy mix and large-scale technological applications to capture, utilize and store carbon emissions, all of which will make the carbon neutrality target achievable by 2060, says Prof. Wang.

 

Over the last ten years, the synergistic effects of environmental conservation have borne fruition in China. Adding one trillion yuan in GDP now only generates 22 million tons of carbon emission, a sharp drop from 90 million tons in 2011.

 

To rein in carbon emission, efforts have been put into curtailing industrial output, whose proportion in China’s GDP shrunk from 46.5% in 2011 to 37.8% in 2020. Prof. Wang cautions against premature de-industrialization as a result of mandatory interventions by the government.