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As a component of China’s strategic emerging industries, green lighting is an important industry supporting the high-quality and high-efficiency development of China’s economy, and is also an important way to achieve energy conservation and emission reduction. At present, China has basically established a policy framework to promote the development of green lighting industry, but there is no empirical evidence on the performance of existing policies on energy conservation and emission reduction. Based on the development status of China’s green lighting industry, this paper sorts out the milestones of China’s green lighting industry policy and the current status of the framework of the existing green lighting industry development policies, constructs a policy performance evaluation model for China’s green lighting industry based on the difference-in-difference (DID) model, and evaluates the implementation effects of green lighting industry policies in China from the perspective of energy conservation and emission reduction. The empirical results of China’s 85 cities show that the implementation of green lighting industry policies has significantly promoted regional energy conservation and emission reduction. Finally, this paper puts forward targeted policy recommendations to provide policy support for the transformation of China’s green lighting industry from “large” to “strong”.

Access to electricity for every South African citizen, including rural dwellers, is a human right issue guaranteed by the government’s laws and policies. However, many remote rural areas still suffer from a lack of this very important amenity, due to the expensive prospect of connecting them to the central national grid. The feasible approach to connecting the rural communities to electricity supply is suggestively through the use of microgrid solutions. The microgrid technology is a very recent and viable option for the energy revolution. Microgrids result from the incorporation of energy storage systems, distributed generators, and localized loads. The application of this technology requires deliberate and extensive work on the operational architecture and the policy framework to be adopted. The energy storage devices form an integral part of the microgrid configuration or architecture to make sure more maintainable and constant operation is attained. This paper presents a review of the architectures of the existing microgrid systems, as well as the policy framework for implementable solutions. The various architectures display the peculiarity of the systems based on the increased grid performance, stability, quality of electricity, and other comparative advantages. The microgrid architectures are fundamentally recognized according to their AC, DC, or hybrid distribution buses and the complexity inherent to them. In the Policy And Development Section, the problems are treated as ‘a search for the truth’—a truth being revealed by close and objective examination. The core of the problem to be solved is revealed clearly, thereby giving the basis for simplifying and solving it. The policies encourage the accomplishment of a zero-carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions, energy security attainment, the meeting of the electricity demand, and, lastly, the promotion of access to electricity in rural areas. It is established that the returns through charges of the consumers are very insignificant. Although returns on investment always come in conflict with the human right demands of the local indigenes, the policy framework would be explicit on the mode of returns for the government, private partners, and the communities—a return that can be short, medium, or long term. Policymakers would be keen on the exhaustive analysis of issues, leading to optimal decision making.

Avoiding irreversible climate change as effectively as possible is one of the most pressing challenges of society. Carbon pricing that is uniformly valid on a global and cross-sectoral basis represents a cost-efficient policy tool to meet this challenge. Carbon pricing allows external costs to be allocated or internalized on a polluter-pays principle. It is shown that a global emissions cap-and-trade system is the most suitable market-based instrument for reducing global emissions levels, in line with the temperature goal set by the Paris Agreement. A proposal for its design is presented in this paper. This instrument encourages worldwide measures, with the lowest marginal abatement cost, according to a pre-defined reduction path. Thereby, it ensures compliance with a specified remaining carbon budget to meet a certain temperature limit in a cost-efficient manner. Possible reduction paths are presented in this paper. Weaknesses in the design of existing emissions trading systems (ETS), such as the EU ETS, are identified and avoided in the proposed instrument. The framework solves several problems of today’s climate change policies, like the free rider problem, carbon leakage, rebound effects or the green paradox. The introduction of a global uniform carbon pricing instrument and its concrete design should be the subject of policy, especially at the United Nations climate change conferences, as soon as possible in order to allow for rapid implementation. If a global ETS with a uniform carbon price could be introduced, additional governmental regulations with regard to carbon emissions would become obsolete.