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China's growing influence on world energy and global environmental issues make it an important country for study. The purpose of this paper is to identify and measure the relative importance of factors driving China's past energy trends and to explore the implications of factors that are likely to drive China's energy future. China's rank as the second largest consumer of energy and the largest producer and consumer of coal in the world has been the result of the government's past promotion of heavy industry and the country's abundance of coal resources. China's transition to a market economy - which has spurred large efficiency improvements and a shift away from heavy manufacturing sectors to service-oriented and consumer products sectors-has resulted in a dramatic fall in the country's energy intensity over time; however, rapid economic growth as a result of these reforms has led to higher energy use, swamping these energy efficiency gains. China's energy intensity is likely to continue to fall and a shift from coal to other fuels (e.g., oil) is expected with the continued growth of the consumer products, transportation, and service sectors. However, China will continue to be a dominant energy consumer with coal as its primary source. This has serious implications for a number of environmental issues, including climate change, which will require China's involvement to address. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy sector matters the sustainable development directly and is sensitive to climate change. A few empirical studies concentrate on how climate change influences firm performance. Climate change brings higher production costs and lower efficiency on the supply side and leads to beneficial sale performance and improves profit. However, it is ambiguous to the relationship of supply–demand and revenue‐cost levels, and their change is not consistent. Using panel data of 99 China‐listed firms active in the energy sector over the period 2000–2020, this study aims to identify the causal relation between climate change and the profitability of energy firms while controlling for firm‐specific and energy market‐related factors. The quantile regression results show that temperature deviation (TDEV) positively impacts the profitability of energy firms, and this impact varies at different quantiles of the profitability distribution. These findings remain unchanged by four robustness checks. Moreover, mechanism results indicate that revenue and cost have different interaction effects on the causal relation. The findings of this study can provide forward‐thinking expectations and assess climatic adaptation and risks, particularly inspired stakeholder engagements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2015 Paris climate change negotiations represents the most ambitious worldwide effort to date to combat climate change. As the largest energy consumer and carbon emitter, China pledges 60–65% cut in carbon intensity below 2005 levels by 2030. To accelerate China's climate efforts, China has also committed to cap its primary energy use at 4.8 billion tons of coal equivalent in 2020. This paper proposes an equitable and efficient scheme to disaggregate this national goal among provinces. A three-step disaggregation procedure is proposed which takes into account the initial allocation, national redistribution and inter-provincial adjustment. First, this study allocates the incremental energy quota, taking 2010 as the base year. Second, part of the energy quota is set aside by the central government for redistribution purposes, while an incremental energy quota index comprising equity and efficiency criteria is used for initial allocation among provinces. Finally, historical efforts and inter-provincial energy flows are considered for inter-provincial adjustment. This disaggregation scheme is flexible and can be easily extended to allocation and management of other resource and environmental targets. The empirical findings can assist decision-makers in identifying which provinces are likely to over-consume the energy quota relative to the proposed allocation and which provinces are likely to perform better in energy conservation. Moreover, the results show that the energy cap set for 2020 is unachievable without further action. Market-based instruments, such as an energy allowance trading market, are strongly recommended to achieve the energy use target in an equitable and cost-effective manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Objective] The research aimed to study relation between energy consumption and climate change in China. [Method] Climate change characteristics from 1951 to 2009 in China were summarized. Economic and social developments in China in recent 50 years were analyzed from production and consumption amounts of the energy,energy source composition and energy consumption of the GDP(ten-thousand yuan). Influences of the energy consumption and economic development on climate change were discussed. [Result] Annual average temperature of China increased obviously from 1951 to 2009,and regional difference was distinct. Increasing trend of the temperature in the north of 35° N was bigger than that in the south. Increasing trend of the temperature in northeast China and Inner Mongolia reached 0. 04 °C /a. The average temperature from 1981 to 2009 was higher than that from 1951 to 1980,and the biggest difference value was more than 2. 0 °C. Mutation of Chinese energy production and consumption happened in 1985,but average temperature of China had an obvious mutation in 1989,showing temperature mutation lagged behind energy production and consumption mutation. Energy consumption of the GDP(ten-thousand yuan) decreased evidently from 1978 to 1997. Beginning from 1998,the decreasing pace slowed down markedly,and there was a rebound in 2003. Chinese new energy amount was increasing year by year. Because the total energy consumption amount was also increasing,new energy proportion had been maintained about one quarter. The energy consumption increasing model with energy consumption coefficient and the model without energy consumption coefficient were set up in this paper. It was found that Chinese energy structure changed a little after considering energy consumption coefficient. Proportion of the coal decreased,while proportions of the oil,natural gas and electric power increased. Temperature changing trend was consistent with that of the economic development and energy consumption. Change trend of the average temperature basically presented good positive correlation with effective energy consumption amount,and the maximum correlation coefficient was 80%. [Conclusion] The research proved the importance of developing clean efficient energy and carrying out low-carbon economy to relieve climate change of China. It was urgent to carry out low-carbon economy and transform economic growth manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and help mitigate climate change, urban water systems need to be adapted so that electrical energy use is minimised. In this study, energy data from 2011 was used to quantify energy use in China's urban water supply sector. The objective was to calculate the energy co-benefits of urban water conservation policies and compare energy use between China and other countries. The study investigated influencing factors with the aim of informing the development of energy efficient urban water infrastructure. The average energy use per cubic metre and per capita for urban water supply in China in 2011 was 0.29 kWh/m and 33.2 kWh/cap year, respectively. Total GHG emissions associated with energy use in the urban water supply sector were 7.63 MtCOe, or carbon dioxide equivalent. Calculations using these indicators showed significant energy savings could result from water conservation measures. A comparison between provinces of China showed a direct correlation between energy intensity of urban water supply and the population served per unit length of pipe. This may imply energy and emission intensity can be reduced if more densely populated areas are supplied by a corresponding pipe density, rather than by a low-density network operating at higher flow rates. This study also found that while the percentage of electrical energy used for urban water supply tended to increase with the percentage of population served, this increase was slower where water supply was more energy efficient and where a larger percentage of population was already supplied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is well endowed with energy resources, having large quantities of coal, oil, gas and hydropower, as well as tremendous solar, wind and biomass energy potential. It even has its own uranium. To date, the country has relied mainly on coal and hydropower to generate its electricity and on oil to power its vehicles. However, with climate change and consequent rising sea levels, increased incidence of drought, intense storms, etc., China, having become the world's largest emitter of CO2,is under strong international pressure to re-examine its energy strategy and find ways to reduce its carbon emissions. Thus, the government plans to greatly increase its use of natural gas in power generation. Gas emits less than half the CO2that coal emits. It is argued here that over the next 20 years, massive imports of gas via pipeline and liquefied natural gas tankers, combined with the development of unconventional gas reserves in the country may partly substitute for the large quantities of coal currently being used to generate electricity, but will not likely completely replace them. As for transport fuels, China, like all other countries, has little choice but to continue relying on oil regardless of whether it is imported or China develops its own large-scale shale oil operations. There is no alternate fuel of the same density available at the same or better price. The use of biofuels and electric/hybrid vehicles will not supplant the use of gasoline or diesel in the near future. Thus, the role of oil and gas in China's energy strategy are set to remain very significant over the next 20 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]