Search

This study examines the impact of meeting China's Paris Climate Agreement commitment to reduce its emission intensity by 65 % below 2005 levels by 2030 through various policy instruments. We use a dynamic recursive computable general equilibrium model to simulate the economy-wide impacts of administrative mandates and carbon taxes using different revenue recycling schemes. China's GDP in 2030 would be approximately 1 % lower than the baseline if carbon emissions were constrained by mandates. The commitment's economic costs are lower than the carbon constraint case, regardless of revenue recycling. Economic costs are the lowest when carbon tax revenue is recycled to reduce taxes on capital or corporate income. Subsidizing solar and wind energy further reduces emissions, but at a higher economic cost with a GDP loss of about 0.53 %–0.58 % from the baseline. The results highlight the importance of proper design architecture to make carbon taxes more palatable to policymakers and taxpayers. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emission reduction targets articulated in the nationally determined contribution (NDC) reports of the "Belt and Road" countries, which have joined China in an international alliance to promote green development, are studied in this paper. Our findings indicate that the most commonly adopted emission reduction targets are relative to emissions in the base year and to baseline scenarios. Approximately half of these countries request technological and financial support from the international community in their NDC reports. Greenhouse gas inventory accounting, and data management, modeling, and tools are the most commonly identified technological needs. Moreover, the NDC reports indicate that $2.88 trillion of financial support is explicitly required, while a reliable international financial assistance and technology transfer would enable considerably higher emission reduction targets to be reached in Belt and Road countries. Our analysis of the top four emitters among these countries reveal a future decreasing trend for China and Russia and an increasing trend for India and Indonesia. China can effectively promote its Belt and Road green development initiative through measures such as capacity building in the areas of emission inventory accounting, constructing an "Internet Plus" platform for the use and management of low-carbon data, and technology exchanges aimed at strengthening low-carbon development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]