Search

The three challenges with the greatest bearing on Australia's security and prosperity each came to a head in 2020, viz. climate change; a novel coronavirus pandemic; and China. The world has become poorer, more dangerous and more disorderly. As we emerge from this crisis year, Australia's ability to project itself globally will start with its strength and vitality at home. Its favourable geography gives it the potential to become a leader in renewables. Given our geopolitical challenges, this is a strategic imperative. Yet, for now, the gap between reality and expectations has never been greater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a conceptual and analytical framework of states' legitimacy-seeking to comprehensively investigate the motivation behind China's climate and environment policy. While previous research has largely overlooked political factors that underlie China's climate policy, this paper argues that these factors are crucial in understanding China's policy changes, which are evident at both domestic and international levels. By examining sources such as government documents, leaders' speeches and authoritative literature, this study contends that China's climate change initiatives are part of a broader effort to enhance domestic and international legitimacy. The issue of climate change has become highly politicised in China under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, and it serves as a crucial test of the ruling party and the state's capacity to govern effectively. As such, legitimacy-seeking is the key driver that links China's domestic measures and international commitments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Dechen (Bde chen) County, Yunnan Province, a Tibetan county of the People's Republic of China, prominent lay Buddhist practitioners work to resist and mitigate the impacts of agrochemical pollution and climate change on sacred landscapes. In this region of northwest Yunnan officially renamed and dubbed "Shangri-La" by the local and national state for tourism purposes, and in alignment of this name with the term Shambala, a place of divine serenity in Tibetan Buddhism, the protagonists in this paper insist that chemical futures and pollution are only adding to the creation of a "fake" Shangri-La, and that more than human- and nature-centric views are necessary in building a more ecologically sound future. This paper ethnographically analyses these activities and motivations in the context of ecocentric views surrounding indigenous Tibetan more-than-human spirit worlds. I ask what drives rural Tibetan grape-growers to pursue an ecologically friendly agenda. Motivations include observation of chemical degradation on land, Buddhist ethics, local land worship, and conceptions that being a local Tibetan should revolve around the preservation of sacred landscapes and mountain gods and spirits rather than purely economic profit and development. A critical variable, however, is that lay Buddhists holding these beliefs are exceptions, with most villages showing more concern for the economic benefits of new cash agricultures over sacred landscapes and spirits. I argue that while many villagers are willing to ignore the long-term vitality of the sacred landscape in favour of economic prosperity and view new economic activities as morally acceptable within Tibetan spirituality, some individuals insist that preserving the local landscape is paramount to a sustainable future both locally and across Greater China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adaptive farming behavior is a key strategy for farmers to cope with climate change. This paper aims to explore the potential impacts of climate change information sources on farmers’ adaptive farming behavior. This paper clarifies the internal mechanism of three typical information sources, namely government departments, scientific research institutions and neighborhood communication, affecting farmers' adaptive farming behavior. Based on the sample data of 1200 farmers in the main wheat producing areas of Shaanxi Province, the theoretical conjecture is empirically tested. The results showed that the climate change information from government departments and scientific research institutions has a significant positive impact on farmers' adaptive farming behavior, but in the case of considering the three sources of information at the same time, the information source of scientific research institutions has the strongest positive impact on farmers' adaptive farming behavior. After farmers have access to climate change information exchanged by government departments, scientific research institutions and neighbors, their differences in climate change adaptive farming behavior mainly depend on their climate change cognition rather than subject trust factors. Formally organized climate change information represented by government departments and scientific research institutions has a more significant positive impact on farmers' adaptive farming behavior, but this impact depends largely on whether the information obtained by farmers can improve their climate change awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Henan Province is the birthplace of Chinese civilization and one of the earliest human settlements, which means that the area has an important national cultural heritage. Traditional villages are an important facet of this cultural heritage, and studying their spatiotemporal characteristics in different periods has important theoretical and practical significance for the sustainable development and protection of cultural heritage in the region. This paper takes the traditional villages of the Yellow River basin in Henan Province that were formed before 1919 as the research object. Information on the ancient river was obtained through a literature search as well as via field research, and the important tributaries of the Yellow River in different periods were mapped using ArcGIS 10.0 software. The nearest neighbor index, kernel density estimation, standard deviation ellipse and other methods were adopted to analyze the spatiotemporal characteristics of the traditional villages. The factors that influenced the evolution of traditional villages were explored in depth by combining changes in the course of the river and water conservancy projects. The results show that the formation of traditional villages along the Yellow River in Henan Province has experienced a historical track of growth, contraction, growth and prosperity and stability. The traditional villages along the Yellow River in Henan Province generally show a clustered pattern, forming a dense concentration of traditional villages in the middle reaches of the Yellow River. The center of gravity shows a migration trend from southeast to northwest. In terms of influencing factors, the spatiotemporal evolution of the relationship between villages and their distance to water is closely related to climatic fluctuations, changes in channel, water conservancy projects and social and cultural factors. This paper deepens our understanding of the relationship between traditional village evolution and watersheds by improving the consistency between village spatial distribution and historical geography and provides a useful theoretical reference for the sustainable development of China's traditional villages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The politics of international finance for coal power plants have intensified since the 2015 Paris climate agreement was negotiated. Over the past few years, Japan and South Korea have signaled their intent not to fund new coal projects overseas, leaving China and its Belt and Road Initiative as the 'financier of last resort.' In September 2021, China too announced its intent to stop providing finance for overseas coal projects. What accounts for their decision to cease financing overseas coal projects despite prominent differences in political systems, degree of internationalization of their financial systems, and economic size? Drawing on datasets of coal projects and financing supplemented by case material and interviews, this paper explores the dynamics of coal export finance and how the combination of international reputational pressures and declining demand for coal finance diminished the domestic support for incumbent coal exporters in all three countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States (U.S.) and China are key to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement and reaching carbon neutrality by around mid-century. Despite differences, carbon neutrality will be met more rapidly if the two countries coordinate and facilitate synergies in carbon-neutral technologies and policy development and implementation. Building on long-term pathway models in the U.S. and China, current emissions trends and sources, and a policy analysis, this paper puts forward a novel framework for U.S.-China coordination on carbon neutrality. The analysis reveals similar technology and policy pathways, policy gaps, and shared milestones for decarbonization in 2030, 2040, and 2050-2060. The main technological pathways focus on reductions in energy demand and non-energy-related CO2 emissions, decarbonization of electricity and fuels, and increases in electrification rates and CO2 sequestration. Given existing domestic policies and opportunities for further action, areas for coordination on carbon neutrality include common policy milestones; dialogue and technical exchange; research, development, and demonstration (RD&D); and international climate leadership. Despite escalated tensions between the U.S. and China, and challenges for climate cooperation, coordination between both countries on carbon neutrality is both possible and necessary. Carbon neutrality will be met more swiftly if the U.S. and China coordinate and facilitate synergies in carbon-neutral technologies and policy. Despite the rise in geo-political tensions between the U.S. and China, coordination on carbon neutrality is both possible and necessary. An analytical framework for U.S.-China coordination on carbon neutrality, includes technology and policy pathways, and common milestones of key sectors' decarbonization for 2030, 2040, and 2050-2050. The two countries could coordinate on common policy milestones, dialogue and technical exchange, research and development, and international climate leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban areas mediate climate transformations and generate new forms of climate urbanism. Looking at climate action in the twelve fastest-growing cities in China with under one million people, this paper proposes a perspective on urban climate politics 'from elsewhere' that foregrounds the potential role of smaller urban areas in mediating climate transformations. The analysis reveals three climate action strategies that reflect practical, institutional, and personal spheres of climate transformations. Planning action in the personal sphere provides opportunities for urban transformations. A perspective 'from elsewhere' calls for greater attention to planning for diverse change strategies for climate transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influences of human activity on regional climate over China have been widely reported and drawn great attention from both the scientific community and governments. This paper reviews the evidence of the anthropogenic influence on regional climate over China from the perspectives of surface air temperature (SAT), precipitation, droughts, and surface wind speed, based on studies published since 2018. The reviewed evidence indicates that human activities, including greenhouse gas and anthropogenic aerosol emissions, land use and cover change, urbanization, and anthropogenic heat release, have contributed to changes in the SAT trend and the likelihood of regional record-breaking extreme high/low temperature events over China. The anthropogenically forced SAT signal can be detected back to the 1870s in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau region. Although the anthropogenic signal of summer precipitation over China is detectable and anthropogenic forcing has contributed to an increased likelihood of regional record-breaking heavy/low precipitation events, the anthropogenic precipitation signal over China is relatively obscure. Moreover, human activities have also contributed to a decline in surface wind speed, weakening of monsoon precipitation, and an increase in the frequency of droughts and compound extreme climate/weather events over China in recent decades. This review can serve as a reference both for further understanding the causes of regional climate changes over China and for sound decision-making on regional climate mitigation and adaptation. Additionally, a few key or challenging scientific issues associated with the human influence on regional climate changes are discussed in the context of future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon neutrality is an important policy in the current global response to climate change and has been widely recognized by various industries. In the process of promoting carbon neutrality, new energy plays a pivotal role. In this study, the definition and connotation of new energy and its role and specific operation in the energy transition of carbon neutrality are firstly explained. Promoting new energy development requires significant green and low-carbon investments. Taking China as an example, this paper analyzes the opportunities brought by the carbon neutral process to the field of green finance and analyzes the main features and development trends of green finance in China at present. Then this paper proposes policy recommendations to strengthen the development of green finance in China in terms of improving the green financial policy system, enhancing the supply capacity of green financial services, and optimizing the supporting environment for green financial development. Finally, this paper analyzes the measures and experiences of the United States in promoting low-carbon development and proposes countermeasures for China's low-carbon development on the basis of the five major relationships that need attention in China's carbon-neutral process. That is, strengthen the top-level design and improve the regulatory policy system; optimize the energy structure and increase the proportion of clean energy; optimize the industrial structure and reduce energy consumption in key industries; build a complete low-carbon technology system and promote low-carbon technology research and development and demonstration applications, and encourage local conditions to explore low-carbon development paths. The development of green finance can contribute to the advancement of new energy technologies, thus contributing to the achievement of carbon neutrality goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The balance between agricultural development and maintenance of agro-ecological environment becomes a huge challenge because of global climate changes. Existing literature on the low-carbon pilot policy proposed by the government of China and whether the problems of agricultural development and agricultural environmental protection can be solved or not have not been reviewed. This paper analyzes the impact of low-carbon pilot policies on agricultural eco-efficiency by using SARAR model based on the data of 281 cities in China. Results show the spatial spillover effects between low-carbon pilot policies and agricultural eco-efficiency. The implementation of low-carbon pilot policy can improve agricultural eco-efficiency. Although restrained by agricultural economic development, this policy has disequilibrium effect on agricultural eco-efficiency, has a relatively large impact on agricultural eco-efficiency in western China and other poor areas, and promotes the reduction of agricultural carbon emission. The effect of the implementation of low-carbon pilot policy is affected by the initial agricultural economic development and urban economic conditions. This research aims to improve the agricultural eco-efficiency and enforce the green development of the agricultural economy via the perspective of the low-carbon pilot policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change has a significant impact on agriculture so it is necessary to adapt to climate change to promote agricultural transformation and sustainable development. The key to achieving such a goal is to promote the development of climate smart agriculture (CSA) against the background of climate change. The paper first uses official statistical data to evaluate the effect of climate smart agricultural technology project, and then uses the statistical method of questionnaire survey to further investigate and statistically analyze the implementation effect of climate smart agricultural technology project in the pilot area. Further, semi-structured interview method is employed to conduct more in-depth investigation and analysis on some main topics on the basis of preliminary investigation and statistical analysis. The interviews focus on the environmental and economic effects of project practice, the difficulties of smallholder farmers' technology extension, and the farmers' willingness to participate. The study indicates that to promote climate smart agriculture technologies is an effective way to solve agricultural problem in practice under the background of climate change, and can achieve at least three benefits. The first is to reduce production costs, which can be reduced by 10% to 15% in terms of fertilizers and pesticides alone. The second is to improve productivity, and preliminary results show that food production can be increased by more than 5%. Finally, it has carbon sequestration capabilities and can significantly reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Therefore, the promotion of climate smart agriculture (CSA) technologies helps to solve the problem of agricultural transformation and sustainable development. To this end, it is necessary to drive the transformation and optimization of regional agricultural ecological environment and production system, and promote the innovation and extension of CSA technology. In addition, some soft conditions (e.g., talent, system and technology, etc.) and hard conditions (e.g., modern agricultural supply chain, agricultural big data and the Internet of Things, etc.), must be created, too. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As researchers suggested, there is no way back for transatlantic politics; it has suffered severe setbacks that cannot be undone in recent years. Although the Biden win promises opportunities for EU-US cooperation, the EU's drive for strategic autonomy would not turn a halt given that the great leap forward for European policymakers and strategists would be to acknowledge that Europe's "autonomy" is actually in the transatlantic interests. Nevertheless, the transatlantic partnership is torn from a "thickening" tie that has bound the US and EU together for decades. Consequently, President Biden's transatlantic strategy to retie would undoubtedly pose challenges for European relations with China. The United States is increasingly intent on decoupling its economy and its technology sector from China as part of the new cold war cliché between the two. Nevertheless, the EU-China partnership has been working closely for the past few decades, and China's market has a great appeal to the world. The time has come for the EU to consider how to survive the turmoil of US-China decoupling caused by the two superpowers' agendas. This paper analyzes the critical transformation in light of not only the politics of today but also the structural trends in the global balance of power between the US and China. And explains the reasons why the pitfalls of US-China decoupling shape the dynamics of European ties with China in the last decade. This paper focuses on the issues: i) The EU's alterations of the EU-China partnership dealing with an increasingly assertive China; ii) US and China on the path to inevitable economic decoupling; iii) The EU drives for strategic autonomy aiming at enhancing the competitiveness in the high tech sector; iv) EU's ambition of safeguarding and reinvigorating cooperation over climate change and global health through the engagement of EU-China Investment Agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the underlying forces of China's climate governance, and assessing the effectiveness of China's climate institutions, are critical to the global climate governance architecture. This paper reviews the evolution of China's climate governance system over the past three decades, and examines how factors such as socioeconomic transitions, cognitive shifts associated with climate change, as well as international climate politics have influenced China's climate institutions. We argue that the evolution of climate governance is influenced by the varying dynamics between climate change and Chinese state's quest for performance legitimacy. The positive co-benefits between climate change, energy conservation and environment quality triggered the creation of a dedicated climate agency, which then become an anchor to China's Five-Year Plan and a centerpiece of climate policy communities. The announcement of a climate neutrality target marked a new moment for China as climate change become a new source of performance legitimacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been increasing interest in whether low carbon cities developed under Chinese institutional arrangements can facilitate a transformative change. Unlike their western counterparts, Chinese low carbon cities are mainly developed through a top-down approach characterized by strong regulatory influences and centrally-led pilots. Inspired by insights from institutional theory, this paper assessed the progress that has been made in Chinese low carbon cities through understanding urban actors' willingness and capacity to pursue more radical changes. Based on semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis, it is found that due to the low recognition of the intrinsic value of carbon reduction, low carbon transition was largely represented as a practical discussion around national binding targets and local economic development. Following this, it is suggested that any attempt to speed up urban low carbon transition should consider strengthening incentive structures for cultural or paradigm change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The election of Donald Trump brought disarray to the climate change regime. The changes in what was up to then a promoter of the liberal international order (LIO) exacerbated existing tensions while creating new ones. This paper investigates how that challenge impacted the behaviours of Brazil, China and the European Union (EU) by comparatively analysing their dissimilar positions with respect to three indicators before and after Trump's coming into power. These indicators are individual pledges and climate-related policies; approaches to climate finance; and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR-RC). The analysis first shows how the US started eroding the broader LIO and the climate change regime to then delve into the behaviours of the three respective key players concerning climate talks. I sustain that the EU, despite its inner divisions, is already counteracting Washington, whereas China is combining a pro-status quo position based on a rhetorical condemnation of the United States. Brazil, in turn, had a transition towards a climate-sceptic government, shifting from being a cooperative actor to abdicating hosting the COP25. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although ski tourism in China is experiencing a boom, and the number of operating ski areas has significantly increased, the influence of climate change on the future development of China's ski industry has so far largely been overlooked. This paper addresses this important gap by applying the ski season simulation model SkiSim 2.0 at 116 ski areas. Four main indicators of climate change impact were examined: ski season length, operational ski days in economically important season segments, technically produced snow and snowmaking requirements. For all ski resorts in China and all climate change scenarios, average ski seasons are projected to shorten (− 4 to − 61% RCP 4.5; − 6 to − 79% RCP 8.5 in the 2050s) while snowmaking needs increase (27 to 51% RCP 4.5; 46 to 80% RCP 8.5 in the 2050s). The results indicate that high regional differences in climate change vulnerability exist. The implications for altered competitiveness and development potential of the ski industry in China are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Most existing studies on environmental regulations and the location dynamics of pollution-intensive industries regard new environmental procedures as an incremental development process, and neglect the influence of sudden changes in environmental regulations triggered by a pollution crisis. Using the drinking water crisis in the Taihu Lake Watershed (TLW) in 2007 as an example, this paper examines the spatial behavior of pollution-intensive firms across the TLW, and pays special attention to the regional differences in the effectiveness of enforcing environmental regulations. We find that the pollution haven hypothesis works efficiently in the short term after an unexpected pollution crisis because of the immediate strengthening of environmental regulations by local governments under pressure from the central government and the public. However, the effect of strict environmental policies was compromised by differences in the effectiveness of policy enforcement across the watershed. Specifically, when other regions (for example, Huzhou) were compared with Wuxi (the site of the crisis in the present study), these regions were found to be relatively insensitive to the effects of the pollution incidents and the environmental regulations that were triggered. Highlights • This paper examines spatial behaviors of pollution-intensive firms across the Taihu Lake watershed in response to the water crisis. • The paper pays special attention to the regional difference in enforcement effectiveness of environmental regulations. • Pollution haven hypothesis works efficiently in the short run. • The effect of stringent environmental policies was compromised by differences in policy enforcement effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A number of empirical methods have been developed to study China's sectoral carbon emissions (CSCE). Measuring these emissions is important for climate change mitigation. While several articles have reviewed specific methods, few attempts conduct a systematic analysis of all the major research methods. In total 807 papers were published on CSCE research between 1997 and 2017. The primary source of literature for this analysis was taken from the Web of Science database. Based on a bibliometric analysis using knowledge mapping with the software CiteSpace, the review identified five common families of methods: 1) environmentally-extended input-output analysis (EE-IOA), 2) index decomposition analysis (IDA), 3) econometrics, 4) carbon emission control efficiency evaluation and 5) simulation. The research revealed the main trends in each family of methods and has visualized this research into ten research clusters. In addition, the paper provides a direct comparison of all methods. The research results can help scholars quickly identify and compare different methods for addressing specific research questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To mitigate climate change and achieve sustainable development, Chinese governments have introduced "1+N" "dual-carbon" policy system aimed at reducing CO 2 emissions, transforming energy structures and controlling pollution. An effective policy mix and synergy is crucial for achieving the emission reduction targets and for ensuring the effectiveness of the policies, and it is therefore of great practical importance to provide a pathway for policy synergy based on assessing policy effectiveness. This paper selects three policies, namely the carbon Emission Trading System (ETS), Coal Control and Clean Utilization (CCCU), and Green Financial Reform and Innovation Pilot Zone (GFPZ), sets up ten scenarios, adopts difference-in-differences (DID) models to evaluate the impact, and give a pathway for policy synergy. The results show that ETS, CCCU, and GFPZ policies have significant positive effects on carbon emission reduction, energy structure transformation, and industrial environmental pollution control, respectively; CCCU has synergistic effects with ETS and GFPZ policies in controlling coal consumption and increasing the completion of industrial pollution control investments, respectively; while GFPZ policies have conflicting effects with CCCU and ETS in reducing carbon emissions and coal consumption, the GFPZ policy has conflicting effects with CCCU and ETS in reducing carbon emissions and controlling coal consumption. Finally, the study proposes a phased policy support system around carbon emission reduction in the power generation industry, energy structure transformation, and industrial environmental pollution control before 2030 and from 2030 to 2060. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper matched the data for all non-financial listed firms in China from 1990 to 2017 with weather data and used temperature and precipitation to represent climate change. Using daily temperature and daily precipitation data, we constructed temperature bins and precipitation bins. This study presents a potential first empirical analysis that applies the risk perception theory to comprehensively examine the impacts of daily temperature and daily precipitation on firms' debt financing costs. Compared to a day with a suitable temperature, a day with temperatures above 30 °C increases firms' debt financing costs by 0.2411%. Compared to a sunny day, a day with torrential rain increases firms' financing costs by 0.2697%. Approximately $122.13 million and $20.49 million in extra costs were incurred across all firms in 2017. We conducted a series of heterogeneity tests. We found that the negative impacts of climate change on debt financing costs are greater for firms that investor considers more vulnerable. Finally, we found two possible mechanisms. First, from the firm's subjective initiative perspective, firms that respond proactively during seasons of high temperatures and heavy rains can reduce the negative impacts. Second, adverse weather caused by climate change may also increase firms' debt financing costs by blocking travel. These results enrich the literature on firms' debt financing costs and contribute to the understanding of climate change's impact on firms. [Display omitted] • An extra high-temperature day increases firms' debt financing cost by 0.2411%. • An extra heavy-rain day increases firms' debt financing costs by 0.2697%. • The negative impacts will be greater for those firms that investor considers more vulnerable. • Firms' response proactively can reduce the negative impacts. • Climate change also may increase firms' debt financing costs by blocking travel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Average start of the photosynthetic period in China was on the 123rd day of the year. • The average start of the photosynthetic period advances at a rate of 4.3 d (10 a)−1. • 64% of the region is temperature controlled, others are precipitation controlled. • Importance of temperature and precipitation determined by pre-season precipitation. • Climate change increases NPP by advancing the start of the photosynthetic period. In the context of global warming, the advancement of spring phenology in northern and temperate regions due to increased temperatures has been widely reported. Early and delayed start of the photosynthetic period (SOP) directly affects the vegetation net primary productivity (NPP). However, the interrelationship between climate change, the SOP, and the NPP is unclear. In this paper, we use the dynamics of decadal daily solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence data to calculate the response of Chinese vegetation photosynthetic phenology to climate change and its impact on the NPP over the last 20 years. The results found that over the last 20 years, the average SOP in China was on the 123rd day of the year, and the SOP has advanced at an average rate of 4.3 d (10 a)−1, with a faster trend of SOP advancement in highland and high-altitude areas. 64% of SOP in China is controlled by temperature; 36% of the SOP in China is controlled by precipitation, and the relative importance of temperature and precipitation was reversed as the precipitation gradient decreased, with SOP dominated by temperature when pre-season precipitation ≧300 mm, and SOP dominated by precipitation when pre-season precipitation ≦300 mm. Finally, we find that climate change indirectly increases vegetation NPP by advancing SOP. Our study emphasizes the importance of precipitation on phenology. It provides a scientific basis for understanding and predicting the response of spring photosynthetic phenology to climate change and the contribution of spring phenology to carbon estimation in terrestrial ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a growing focus on uncertainty as a distinct concept in the risk literature. This paper is concerned with how those involved in the design and implementation of climate change policy conceptualize risk and uncertainty. Based on interviews with policy and industry elites in Australia, China and the UK, it finds that participants did not distinguish between "risk" and "uncertainty" in their conceptualization of climate threats. For the majority of them, politics was the most significant source of risk and uncertainty in climate policy, but delegation of otherwise political decisions to the market was seen as the best solution. The conclusion suggests that the conceptual distinction between risk and uncertainty is less important, for policy and industry elites, than the need to develop mechanisms that account for both persistent scientific uncertainties as well as interpretive and moral ambiguities in climate policy design and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dengue Fever (DF) has become one of the most serious infectious diseases in China. Dengue virus and its vector ( Aedes mosquito) are known to be sensitive to climate condition. Climate impacts DF through affecting three essential bioecological aspects: DF virus, vector (mosquito) and DF transmission environment. Weather-based DF model, mosquito model and climate model are the three pillars to help the prediction of DF distribution. Through a systematic review of literature between 1980 and 2017, this paper summarizes empirical evidences in China on the impact of climate change on DF; it further reviews the related DF incidence models and their findings on how changes in weather factors may impact DF occurrences in China. Compared with some well-known research projects in the western countries, there is a lack of knowledge in China regarding how the spatiotemporal distribution of DF will respond to climate change. However, being able to predict DF distribution is key to China's efforts to prevent and control DF transmission. We conclude this paper by recommending four focused areas for China: promoting more advanced research on the relationship between extreme weather events and DF, developing regional-specific models for the high risk regions of DF in south China, encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration between climate studies and health services, and enhancing public health education and management at national, regional and local levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terrestrial vegetation plays pivotal roles on land-atmosphere interactions, and even global climate change. However, limited attempts have been taken to elucidate the responses of vegetation activity to weather-related drivers (e.g., droughts, floods). This is especially in China with vast area and changeable meteorological conditions. In this paper, the performance of two satellite-based indices, namely vegetation condition index (VCI) and vegetation health index (VHI) were analyzed to detect the vegetation responses to weather-related variations. The dynamics of vegetation activity in China were further examined for the period 1982–2013. We found widely-distributed vegetation stresses in the entire country for a long period (about an average of two months per year) from the VCI and the VHI. In addition, both the two indices indicated increasing vegetation activities over most parts of China during 1982–2013. However, there is no consensus between the two indices at spatial pattern and regional totals. This discrepancy can be due to the negative-correlation assumption of the VHI between the VCI and bright temperature. However, we found that the relationship between the VCI and temperature could be changeable in different regions, especially in China with complex topography, diverse climate conditions and different vegetation types. The findings of this paper highlight the necessity to account for dominant controls on vegetation growth when using the VCI and the VHI to analyze vegetation activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effects of prenatal exposure to extreme temperatures on birth outcomes—specifically, the log of birth weight and an indicator for low birth weight—using a nationally representative dataset on rural China. During the time period we examine (1991–2000), indoor air conditioning was not widely available and migration was limited, allowing us to address identification issues endemic in the climate change literature related to adaptation and location sorting. We find substantial heterogeneity in the effects of extreme temperature exposure on birth outcomes. In particular, prenatal exposure to heat waves has stronger negative effects than exposure to cold spells on surviving births. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change poses a potential risk to coastal infrastructure, thus threatening the economics or even the safety of human beings. Thus, a better understanding of the attitude of port organizations toward climate adaptation and mitigation is essential. This paper addresses this research gap by investigating 18 port organizations in China. The questions include the impediments and the impact of context, systems, and other factors on the implementation of adaptation strategies. The results indicate that port organizations are generally aware of climate change impacts and agree that some further steps are needed. However, policy support serves as a key factor in implementing adaptation plans. Apart from offering important insight on the attitude of port organizations, the study also serves as a platform for further research on climate adaptation planning in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has achieved a great success in control and elimination of key parasitic diseases. In 2007, the elimination of lymphatic filariasis was verified by WHO. The schistosomiasis incidence and snail-distributed areas have reduced to the lowest level in the history. The transmission and disease burden of echinococcosis have been contained largely, and the populations infected with soil-transmitted trematode and food-borne parasites have also shown a significantly declining trend. Because of rapid globalization and climate changes, however, many new challenges have arisen. In his paper, the 2020-2030 roadmaps towards the control and elimination of these key parasitic diseases are described. Moreover, China is actively implementing its global health strategy, and will be more and more engaged into global health affairs, in which a series of China-Africa health cooperation projects have been in planning with a wish of making a greater contribution to the SDGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Cryogenian is a critical period in the history of the Earth. It is marked by multiple extreme climate changes that caused alternating global glacial and interglacial intervals. These dramatically changed the sedimentary system, and metal ores and source rocks distributed widely during this period. Therefore, studying the Cryogenian stratigraphic framework and sedimentary basins is important to improve the stratigraphic resolution for metal mineral and hydrocarbon prospecting and exploration in China. This review paper firstly divides three tectonic‐stratigraphic regions in China in the Cryogenian, including the tectonic‐stratigraphic regions of Great South China, Xingmeng‐Tarim, and North China. Secondly, geochronologic data and geological records are combined to clearly depict the Cryogenian sedimentary sequence of continental blocks and micro‐continental blocks in different tectonic‐stratigraphic regions. The results were used to propose a new comparison scheme of stratigraphy for the Cryogenian in China. Finally, according to differences of sedimentary evolution and tectonic evolvement, sedimentary basins and their lithofacies paleogeography are identified and summarized, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the world's largest carbon emitter, China is under great pressure to cut down carbon emissions. Understanding the evolution of carbon emissions across Chinese cities is important for policymakers when allocating carbon emission quota among these cities. This paper draws upon the Open-source Data Inventory for Anthropogenic CO2 to calculate city-level per capita carbon emissions in China from 2001 to 2016. Overall, we find that per capita carbon emissions of Chinese cities have been generally on the rise during the 2001–2016 period. However, there has been on average a modest decline in per capita carbon emissions of cities in China's Yangtze River Delta region and Pearl River Delta region from 2011 to 2016, after a remarkable increase during the 2001–2011 period. Besides, the average north-south gap has been enlarged, with northern cities having a relatively higher level of per capita carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small community businesses bear the brunt of climate change impacts. Studies of the vulnerability and resilience of such businesses predominantly focus on firm-level characteristics and organizational issues. This paper addresses the lack of individual-level considerations. It explores an analytical approach that draws upon the concepts of social capital and sense of place for understanding community businesses' resilience to extreme weather. An empirical study was conducted to investigate whether and how the attributes of these concepts are related to adaptation practice. This study is based on a structured questionnaire survey of community businesses at various locations around the Pearl River Estuary that are exposed to storm surges. The findings partially support the hypothesis that action is more likely to be taken when social capital is strong. Community businesses are more likely to adopt adaptation strategies when their owners or operators perceive a higher level of social expectation, but are less likely to do so when they have better relationships with the people around them. This study indicated the potential for moral hazard driven by good social relationships and supported the understanding of small community businesses as firms and social agents in responding to climate change impacts. There is a need for recognizing the social dimensions of small businesses' rationality in their adaptation and hazard adjustment, and strengthening their engagement with community-based adaptation through social institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change in the past one hundred years has brought important influence to the natural ecosystem and social - economic system of the world and China, The impact of future climate change is also long-term and huge, and many effects are negative or adverse. Therefore, from now on we must take measures adapting to climate change to overcome the adverse effects of climate change on social - economic - ecological system, In this paper, starting from the urgency of integrated climate change risk governance, the risk of natural disasters intensifying caused by climate change is briefly described, and engineering and non engineering measures of the integrated climate change risk governance in China's high risk region are proposed, as well as recommendations on integrated risk governance in the eastern, middle and western China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the climate emergency, it is necessary to model and forecast road transport emissions for implementing more effective climate policy. This paper fills an important research gap by quantifying the challenges, barriers and remedies of achieving road transport emission reduction and air quality improvement in developing countries. It contributes to the debate on top-down and bottom-up approaches to reconcile carbon and other transport related emissions. China and India are chosen as case studies. Using various official statistics and proxy variables, we estimate and compare the road transport carbon emissions of the two countries systematically from 2009 to 2020. Insights from detailed mode-specific estimations of the bottom-up approach are valuable for targeted policies and measures. An analysis of the major components of road transport carbon emissions points to strategies of promoting electric vehicles, reducing transport demand, accelerating modal shift to low-carbon modes, and cleaner electricity to achieve climate policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With important implications for global climate change mitigation, the development of a cap-and-trade emission trading scheme (ETS) in China is embedded in distinctive political, economic, and institutional contexts and has been attracting increasing attention in recent years. To offer a clear perspective on current research progress, this paper systematically reviews the recent literature on China’s ETS from three main aspects: mechanism design, policy and regional linkages, as well as impact assessment. The current research consensuses are summarized based upon detailed literature analyses and commentaries, and together with observations of international experience and China’s actual condition, the paper provides policy proposals for the development of China’s national ETS during 2016–2020. Finally, several important controversies in the current literature are discussed with regard to the practical demands of China’s ETS development. Five pressing topics that need to be further studied in the coming years are highlighted, including cap setting, allowance allocation among sectors and enterprises, carbon pricing, policy package and unified carbon market construction, as well as ex-ante and ex-post impact assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-level governance (MLG) theory has become the main explanation for how climate action is realized in polycentric, multi-sector, multi-actor policy landscapes. In this paper, we examine processes of climate change governance in a given city in China, Rizhao, and evaluate how MLG arrangements operate. We do so by examining primary data collected through in-depth interviews with local stakeholders. Our results show that the focus on multi-level – and in particular transnational – interactions obscures the ways in which urban low carbon transitions happen in three ways. First, in spite of Rizhao being a well-known case in environmental politics, there is an absence of international actors and non-governmental organizations operating on the ground. Second, the emphasis on opportunities of local authorities to build political agendas through participation in global networks conceals how structures of power, political-economic coalitions, and technological practices are firmly fixed in a local context. Third, the case study illustrates the enduring authority of formal top-down channels of control in this political system. Based on these results, we caution against the uncritical application of MLG theory to environmental politics in settings where deliberative democracy is lacking and the full benefits of multi-level interactions are unlikely to be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The increases of commuting CO 2 emissions are several times larger than the urban size, population, and economics' developments. • Metro services reducing commuting CO 2 emissions near the metro stations is not statistically significant, possibly because the proportions of car users near the metro stations are similar to the two cities' average levels, which is caused by their higher household income and the longer travel time using the metro. • In Beijing, there are the smallest commuting CO 2 emissions in the outer suburbs due to job-housing balances, short distance and large percentage of non-motorized mode uses while the largest commuting CO 2 emissions in the inner sprawl suburbs due to car trips with long distance. Abstract To understand the changing relationships between commuting CO 2 emissions (CCE), travel behavior and urban forms, this paper provides a comparative study between the typical Chinese cities of Beijing (more developed) and Xi'an (rapidly developing). Further, the effects of metro services on reducing CCE were explored, and comparative analysis on CCE between the inner sprawling suburbs and outer suburbs was conducted. It was found that: (i) the increases in CCE are several times larger than the increases in urban size, population, and economic developments; (ii) metro services reducing CCE near metro stations is not statistically significant, maybe because the proportions of car users near the metro stations are similar to the two cities' average levels, which is caused by their higher household income and the longer travel time using the metro; (iii) in Beijing, there are smallest CCE in the outer suburbs due to job-housing balances, short distance and large percentage of non-motorized mode uses while largest CCE in the inner sprawl suburbs due to car trips with long distance. These findings indicate that to cope with the rapidly increasing CCE, more attention should be paid to developing strong industry and real-estate simultaneously; the improvement in the feeder bus and public bicycle systems should also be reinforced to reduce the total travel time of metro users; and satellite cities with job-housing balance are greatly needed. The implications will benefit efforts to reduce CCE and mitigate global climate change, and they also provide empirical evidence and reference values for other global cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract With climate change and the over-exploitation of fossil fuels, the advantages of using bioenergy are becoming increasingly obvious and many countries and regions around the world are committed to building biogas plants to produce clean energy. This article examines Henan Province, which features agricultural production and biogas projects typical of China. The aim was to identify the problems associated with the use of current agricultural waste in biogas production and provide suggestions for future biogas developments via comparisons of the potential of agricultural wastes with biogas project construction. Straw and manure volumes were analyzed by using crop yields and livestock production to calculate the biogas potential and the status quo was reflected through biogas project data. Subsequently, biogas potential and projects were analyzed from quantitative and spatial perspectives and a benefit evaluation was conducted. The results indicate that Henan Province has abundant straw and manure resources with large biogas potential, and that making good use of these wastes would have a good emission reduction effect and economic advantages, but there are presently large differences between the actual production and biogas potential. This paper analyzes the possible causes of this discrepancy, including resource utilization and biogas project operations. Lastly, countermeasures were proposed, such as developing matching technologies, improving relevant policies, and improving ecological-economic benefits to enhance future biogas project development. Graphical abstract fx1 Highlights • We choose Henan Province which is typical of agriculture and biogas industries. • Straw and manure volume are used to calculate biogas potential. • There is a significant difference between biogas potential and actual production. • Resource use and biogas project management issues cause these inconsistencies. • Technology, policy, and ecological-economic countermeasures are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Renewable energy, as an important part of the world's energy system, is conducive to the harmonious development of humanity and nature. China has been paying considerable attention to renewable energy given the growing pressure of energy shortages and environmental deterioration. The legal framework of renewable energy in China has greatly contributed to the achievements already made in this field; however, it is still insufficient to integrate renewable energy into the national energy system. This paper, in light of the comparisons of various state practices, critically reviews the problems of China's renewable energy law and policy such as problems with fragmentation, obsolescence, and lack of operability. In addition to identifying the consequent disadvantages, this review also presents improvement recommendations. Highlights • The world is facing serious problems of energy shortage, environmental pollution and climate change. • China has established a relatively complete renewable energy law and policy system to promote renewable energy development. • Smooth development of renewable energy is inseparable from supportive legal framework. • Compared with other states, China's renewable energy laws and policies have some disadvantages to be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Energy/emission intensity indicators measure the relationship between economic development and climate change. These intensity indicators are preferentially used in assessment criteria for mitigation goals in places such as China. This paper investigates the driving factors of changes in the national CO 2 emission intensity and their contributions to reductions at the sector level in China from 2002 to 2012 using multiplicative structural decomposition analysis (SDA) and attribution analysis. Both Leontief and Ghosh input-output models are used in the study. The empirical results indicate: 1) the energy intensity effect is the main driver that decreases the aggregate emission intensity from both the demand and supply sides; 2) structural effects, such as the energy structure effect and domestic Ghosh structure effect, promote the increase in aggregate emission intensity principally; and 3) to a large extent, sector "smelting and pressing of metals", "manufacture of non-metallic mineral products" and "chemical industry" are the top three sectors that contribute to the negative energy intensity effect. Ultimately, several discussions and conclusions associated with the empirical results, result stability and research extensibility are presented. Highlights • Both Leontief and Ghosh models were adopted to study China's CO 2 intensity. • Multiplicative decomposition was applied to study the intensity changes in 2002–2012. • Energy intensity effect was the major drivers to reduce China's emission intensity. • The structural effects as a whole contributed to the increase of emission intensity. • The domestic allocation structure can be adjusted and optimized preferentially. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban areas and its evolution are important anthropogenic indicators and human ecological footprints, and play decisive roles in environmental change analysis, global geo-conditional monitoring, and sustainable development. China has the highest rate of urban expansion and has emerged as an urban expansion hotspot worldwide. In this paper, the progress of studies on Chinese urban expansion based on remote sensing technology are summarized and analyzed from the aspects of urban area definition, remotely sensed imagery applied in urban expansion, monitoring methods of urban expansion, and urban expansion applications. Existing issues and future directions of Chinese urban expansion are discussed and proposed. Results indicate that: 1) The fusion of multi-source remotely sensed imagery is imperative to meet the needs of urban expansion with various monitoring terms and frequencies on different scales and dimensions. 2) To guarantee the classification accuracy and efficiency and describe urban expansion and its influences on local land use simultaneously, the combination of visual interpretation and automatic classification is the tendency of future monitoring methods of urban areas. 3) Urban expansion data have become the prerequisite for recognizing the urban development process, excavating its driving forces, simulating and predicting the future development directions, and also is conducive to revealing and explaining urban ecological and environmental issues. 4) In the past decades, Chinese scholars have promoted the application of remote sensing technology in the urban expansion field, with data construction, methods and models developing from the quotation stage to improvement and innovation stage; however, an independent and consistent urban expansion data on the national scale with long-term and high-frequency (such as annual monitoring) monitoring is still lacking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract In order to reveal the environmental performance of China’s generation sector under the competitive power market, this paper first uses the Game cross-efficiency to evaluate the environmental efficiency. Furthermore, it employs the system generalized method of moments to explore the determinants of environmental efficiency. The result indicate that the east perform the best almost all over the study period while the northeast perform the worst over the period. Highlights • Game cross-efficiency approach is first used in generation sector analysis. • We investigate the environmental efficiency of China’s generation industry. • Generalized method of moments is used to study driving factors of efficiency. • Demand-supply situation is a main factor affecting environmental efficiency. Abstract China’s unbundling reform in 2002 aimed to introduce competitiveness into the power industry. With the increasing concern about the environmental issue and climate change, the ability to balance the reduction of carbon emissions with economic benefits may to a great extent determine the competitiveness of power generation sector. This study first adopts the game cross-efficiency approach to evaluate the environmental efficiencies of the generation sector in China’s 30 provinces. The results indicate that significant efficiency gap does exist among regions. It then employs a system generalized method of moments model to explore the determinants of their performance while eliminating the associated endogeneity issue. Considering the negative correlation between environmental efficiency and the thermal power ratio, the power mix should be adjusted gradually. The per capita regional GDP and capacity utilization rate are positive factors boosting the environmental efficiency. Accordingly, the incentive policies for clean energy development should be differentiated across regions according to their power mix, self-sufficiency ratio, and economic development situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the sensitivity of projected future climate changes over China to the horizontal resolution of a regional climate model RegCM4.4 (RegCM), using RCP8.5 as an example. Model validation shows that RegCM performs better in reproducing the spatial distribution and magnitude of present-day temperature, precipitation and climate extremes than the driving global climate model HadGEM2-ES (HadGEM, at 1.875° × 1.25° degree resolution), but little difference is found between the simulations at 50 and 25 km resolutions. Comparison with observational data at different resolutions confirmed the added value of the RCM and finer model resolutions in better capturing the probability distribution of precipitation. However, HadGEM and RegCM at both resolutions project a similar pattern of significant future warming during both winter and summer, and a similar pattern of winter precipitation changes including dominant increase in most areas of northern China and little change or decrease in the southern part. Projected precipitation changes in summer diverge among the three models, especially over eastern China, with a general increase in HadGEM, little change in RegCM at 50 km, and a mix of increase and decrease in RegCM at 25 km resolution. Changes of temperature-related extremes (annual total number of daily maximum temperature > 25 °C, the maximum value of daily maximum temperature, the minimum value of daily minimum temperature in the three simulations especially in the two RegCM simulations are very similar to each other; so are the precipitation-related extremes (maximum consecutive dry days, maximum consecutive 5-day precipitation and extremely wet days’ total amount). Overall, results from this study indicate a very low sensitivity of projected changes in this region to model resolution. While fine resolution is critical for capturing the spatial variability of the control climate, it may not be as important for capturing the climate response to homogeneous forcing (in this case greenhouse gas concentration changes). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In December 2015, China joined 190 plus nations at Paris in committing to the goal of limiting the rise in global average temperature to ‘well below’ 2°C. Carbon budget analysis indicates that goal will require not only that the European Union and US reduce their emissions by greater than 80% by 2050, but that China at least comes close to doing so as well, if any budget is to be left over for the rest of the world (RoW). Given that RoW emissions are, and will come from, low-income and emerging nations, China’s emission reduction potential is of no small consequence. In this paper, we use the Kaya identity to back out changes in the drivers of CO2 emissions, including gross domestic product (GDP), energy intensity (E/GDP) and the carbon content of energy (C/E), the latter two calculated to be consistent with China’s long-term GDP growth rate forecasts and specified 2050 CO2 emission reduction targets. Our results suggest that even achieving China’s highly optimistic renewable energy targets will be very far from sufficient to reduce China’s CO2 emissions from 9.1 Gt it emitted in 2015 to much below 3 Gt by 2050. Even reducing its emissions to 5 Gt will be challenging, yet this falls far short of what is needed if the world is to meet its ‘well below’ 2°C commitment. Key policy insights Under the Paris Agreement there is great pressure on China to very substantially reduce its emissions by 2050. While China has attached great importance to renewables and nuclear energy development, even achieving the most optimistic targets would not be sufficient to reduce China’s emissions from 9.1 Gt in 2015 to much below 3 Gt by 2050. China’s emission reduction potential falls far short of what is needed if the world is to meet its Paris ‘well below’ 2°C commitment, even if the EU and US reduce their emissions to zero by 2050. Emission cuts consistent with the Paris Agreement will require that China and the world give much greater weight to advancing research and development of scalable low-, zero- and negative-carbon sources and technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groundwater in China’s permafrost region is vital for humans and cold-climate ecosystems. Permafrost responses to global warming have significantly changed the spatio-temporal patterns and distribution of properties associated with the groundwater system. The main areas of current and past studies on permafrost hydrogeology in China include four aspects: groundwater distribution and dynamics in permafrost regions, interplay between groundwater and permafrost, the impact of permafrost degradation on groundwater, and the regional effect of groundwater changes on the environment in permafrost regions. Over the last 10 years, the development and use of coupled heat-transport and groundwater models have focused on the hydrogeology of permafrost, and on groundwater development and distribution in permafrost regions. Progress in groundwater-related research on issues surrounding permafrost regions of China are comprehensively summarized and discussed in this review paper, which should provide a theoretical basis for further study of the groundwater system and its effects on the ecological environment under climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because China has emerged as the largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter in total annual emissions, to accelerate the pace of GHG emission reduction in China is important to the success of global efforts in addressing climate change. Carbon trading is a market mechanism and key instrument in the mitigation of climate change. This paper explores the policy process and development state to date of China׳s carbon-trade market to understand the emergence and development of that market and to understand what barriers are hampering China׳s carbon-trade market development. To achieve this goal, this paper introduces and analyzes China׳s status in the international market, examines the factors driving carbon-market launching by the Chinese government, and traces the development of mandatory carbon-emission trading and voluntary emission trading. It is argued that China׳s carbon-trading market is confronted with challenges such as the absence of a functional carbon-trading market, inaccuracy of the quota allocation, an imperfect trading mechanism, and lagging legislation. At the present stage, shortcomings such as having no real-time carbon price and dominated spot transactions differentiate China׳s trade market substantially from a functional system. A quick market integration of China׳s carbon market appears remote. It is suggested that specific measures be taken to promote the development of the Chinese carbon-trading market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically analyses the construction of eco-cities as technological fixes to concerns over climate change, Peak Oil, and other scenarios in the transition towards 'green capitalism'. It argues for a critical engagement with new-build eco-city projects, first by highlighting the inequalities which mean that eco-cities will not benefit those who will be most impacted by climate change: the citizens of the world's least wealthy states. Second, the paper investigates the foundation of eco-city projects on notions of crisis and scarcity. Third, there is a need to critically interrogate the mechanisms through which new eco-cities are built, including the land market, reclamation, dispossession and 'green grabbing'. Lastly, a sustained focus is needed on the multiplication of workers' geographies in and around these 'emerald cities', especially the ordinary urban spaces and lives of the temporary settlements housing the millions of workers who move from one new project to another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines China's policy and position in relation to the evolving climate change negotiations in order to explain how China is dealing with the dilemma of meeting its growing development needs while reducing GHG emissions. It argues that global climate governance requires steering and leadership to deal with the interlocked political process; that the developing countries (DCS) right to develop is challenged by the need for ecosystemic standards especially as climate change is seen as a zero-sum game as the more one country emits the less another one can. This is especially problematic as Industrialized countries (ICS) appear to be both unwilling and unable to increase growth without increasing emissions. This explains China's policy of insisting on its right to develop, of demanding that ics reduce their emissions and that they fulfil their obligations under the FCCC, while expressing its willingness to take on a voluntary target. The paper argues that China's state-led transition has eight unique characteristics that may allow it to lead as it moves beyond a no-regrets policy to a circular and green economy, cooperating with other DCS and mobilizing conscious green values in citizens. The question remains--will the initial success and scale of state-led transition lead the global green transition to a sustainable world? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]