IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/wireae/v8y2019i5ne342.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A review of international practices for energy efficiency and carbon emissions reduction and lessons learned for China

Author

Listed:
  • Xu Liu
  • Bo Shen
  • Lynn Price
  • Ali Hasanbeigi
  • Hongyou Lu
  • Cong Yu
  • Guanyun Fu

Abstract

China's industrial sector dominates the country's total energy consumption, and improving energy efficiency in that sector is crucial to help China reach its energy and carbon dioxide emissions reduction goals. There are many energy efficiency policies in China, but the motivation and willingness of enterprises to improve energy efficiency has weakened. This article first identifies barriers that enterprises face to be self‐motivated to implement energy efficiency measures and then categorizes these barriers into four categories: awareness, information, technical capacity, and financial availability. It then reviews international policies and programs to improve energy efficiency, and evaluates how these policies have helped to address the barriers identified. We found that policies and programs in energy efficiency and carbon reduction need to go hand in hand to incentivize companies, and that those policies and programs send clearer signals and help change enterprises' decisions when they are persistent but dynamic. Our specific policy recommendations to China fall under three key categories: identification of energy efficiency potential, workforce development, and market channels for energy efficiency financing. This article is categorized under: Energy and Climate > Economics and Policy Energy Efficiency > Economics and Policy Energy Efficiency > Climate and Environment

Suggested Citation

  • Xu Liu & Bo Shen & Lynn Price & Ali Hasanbeigi & Hongyou Lu & Cong Yu & Guanyun Fu, 2019. "A review of international practices for energy efficiency and carbon emissions reduction and lessons learned for China," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(5), September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:wireae:v:8:y:2019:i:5:n:e342
    DOI: 10.1002/wene.342
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/wene.342
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/wene.342?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tim Laing & Misato Sato & Michael Grubb & Claudia Comberti, 2013. "Assessing the effectiveness of the EU Emissions Trading System," GRI Working Papers 106, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
    2. Barker, Terry & Ekins, Paul & Foxon, Tim, 2007. "Macroeconomic effects of efficiency policies for energy-intensive industries: The case of the UK Climate Change Agreements, 2000-2010," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 760-778, July.
    3. Brown, Marilyn A., 2001. "Market failures and barriers as a basis for clean energy policies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(14), pages 1197-1207, November.
    4. Sam Aflaki & Paul R. Kleindorfer & Victor Sáenz Miera Polvorinos, 2013. "Finding and Implementing Energy Efficiency Projects in Industrial Facilities," Post-Print hal-00823923, HAL.
    5. Stephen Smith & Joseph Swierzbinski, 2007. "Assessing the performance of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 37(1), pages 131-158, May.
    6. Geller, Howard & Harrington, Philip & Rosenfeld, Arthur H. & Tanishima, Satoshi & Unander, Fridtjof, 2006. "Polices for increasing energy efficiency: Thirty years of experience in OECD countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 556-573, March.
    7. Trianni, Andrea & Cagno, Enrico & Farné, Stefano, 2016. "Barriers, drivers and decision-making process for industrial energy efficiency: A broad study among manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 1537-1551.
    8. Bhandari, Divita & Shrimali, Gireesh, 2018. "The perform, achieve and trade scheme in India: An effectiveness analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P1), pages 1286-1295.
    9. Ekins, Paul & Etheridge, Ben, 2006. "The environmental and economic impacts of the UK climate change agreements," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(15), pages 2071-2086, October.
    10. Sarkar, Ashok & Singh, Jas, 2010. "Financing energy efficiency in developing countries--lessons learned and remaining challenges," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 5560-5571, October.
    11. Vine, Edward, 2005. "An international survey of the energy service company (ESCO) industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 691-704, March.
    12. Rezessy, Silvia & Bertoldi, Paolo, 2011. "Voluntary agreements in the field of energy efficiency and emission reduction: Review and analysis of experiences in the European Union," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(11), pages 7121-7129.
    13. Goldman, Charles A. & Hopper, Nicole C. & Osborn, Julie G., 2005. "Review of US ESCO industry market trends: an empirical analysis of project data," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 387-405, February.
    14. Abdelaziz, E.A. & Saidur, R. & Mekhilef, S., 2011. "A review on energy saving strategies in industrial sector," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 150-168, January.
    15. Bertoldi, Paolo & Rezessy, Silvia & Vine, Edward, 2006. "Energy service companies in European countries: Current status and a strategy to foster their development," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(14), pages 1818-1832, September.
    16. DeCanio, Stephen J., 1993. "Barriers within firms to energy-efficient investments," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(9), pages 906-914, September.
    17. Zhou, Nan & Levine, Mark D. & Price, Lynn, 2010. "Overview of current energy-efficiency policies in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 6439-6452, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Erik T. Smith & Scott C. Sheridan, 2021. "Projections of cold air outbreaks in CMIP6 earth system models," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 169(1), pages 1-16, November.
    2. Chunyu Pan & Anil Kumar Shrestha & Guangyu Wang & John L. Innes & Kevin Xinwei Wang & Nuyun Li & Jinliang Li & Yeyun He & Chunguang Sheng & John-O. Niles, 2021. "A Linkage Framework for the China National Emission Trading System (CETS): Insight from Key Global Carbon Markets," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-15, July.
    3. Ran An & Ying Zhou & Rongzhao Zhang, 2024. "The development, shortcomings and future improvement of punitive damages for environmental torts in China—a reflection and comparative research," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-12, December.
    4. Claudio F. Carpio & Marina Yesica Recalde, 2021. "Learning energy efficiency networks in Latin America: Lessons learned from the Argentinean case," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(3), May.
    5. Bu, Caiqi & Zhang, Kaixia & Shi, Daqian & Wang, Shuyu, 2022. "Does environmental information disclosure improve energy efficiency?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    6. Peter D. Lund & John Byrne, 2020. "Little time left to reverse emissions—Growing hope despite disappointing CO2 trend," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(1), January.
    7. Lin Wang & Yugang He & Renhong Wu, 2024. "Digitization Meets Energy Transition: Shaping the Future of Environmental Sustainability," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-25, February.
    8. Safarzadeh, Soroush & Rasti-Barzoki, Morteza & Hejazi, Seyed Reza, 2020. "A review of optimal energy policy instruments on industrial energy efficiency programs, rebound effects, and government policies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Safarzadeh, Soroush & Rasti-Barzoki, Morteza & Hejazi, Seyed Reza, 2020. "A review of optimal energy policy instruments on industrial energy efficiency programs, rebound effects, and government policies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    2. Fang, Wen Shwo & Miller, Stephen M. & Yeh, Chih-Chuan, 2012. "The effect of ESCOs on energy use," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 558-568.
    3. Töppel, Jannick & Tränkler, Timm, 2019. "Modeling energy efficiency insurances and energy performance contracts for a quantitative comparison of risk mitigation potential," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 842-859.
    4. Wenjie Zhang & Hongping Yuan, 2019. "A Bibliometric Analysis of Energy Performance Contracting Research from 2008 to 2018," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-23, June.
    5. Wenjie Zhang & Hongping Yuan, 2019. "Promoting Energy Performance Contracting for Achieving Urban Sustainability: What is the Research Trend?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-18, April.
    6. WenShwo Fang & Stephen M. Miller, 2013. "The effect of ESCO s on carbon dioxide emissions," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(34), pages 4796-4804, December.
    7. Monjurul Hasan, A S M & Trianni, Andrea & Shukla, Nagesh & Katic, Mile, 2022. "A novel characterization based framework to incorporate industrial energy management services," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).
    8. Kangas, Hanna-Liisa & Lazarevic, David & Kivimaa, Paula, 2018. "Technical skills, disinterest and non-functional regulation: Barriers to building energy efficiency in Finland viewed by energy service companies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 63-76.
    9. Pei-Chien Lin & Ming-Feng Hung, 2016. "The Effect of Energy Service Companies on Energy Use in Selected Developing Countries: A Synthetic Control Approach," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 6(2), pages 335-348.
    10. Ralf Martin & Laure B. de Preux & Ulrich J. Wagner, 2009. "The impacts of the Climate Change Levy on business: evidence from microdata," GRI Working Papers 6, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
    11. Martin, Ralf & de Preux, Laure B. & Wagner, Ulrich J., 2014. "The impact of a carbon tax on manufacturing: Evidence from microdata," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 1-14.
    12. Qin, Quande & Liang, Fuqi & Li, Li & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2017. "Selection of energy performance contracting business models: A behavioral decision-making approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 422-433.
    13. Garbuzova, Maria & Madlener, Reinhard, 2012. "Russia’s Emerging ESCO Market: Prospects and Barriers for Energy Efficiency Investments," FCN Working Papers 6/2012, E.ON Energy Research Center, Future Energy Consumer Needs and Behavior (FCN), revised Sep 2012.
    14. Andrea Trianni & Davide Accordini & Enrico Cagno, 2020. "Identification and Categorization of Factors Affecting the Adoption of Energy Efficiency Measures within Compressed Air Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-51, October.
    15. Larsen, Peter H. & Goldman, Charles A. & Satchwell, Andrew, 2012. "Evolution of the U.S. energy service company industry: Market size and project performance from 1990–2008," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 802-820.
    16. Mette Talseth Solnørdal & Lene Foss, 2018. "Closing the Energy Efficiency Gap—A Systematic Review of Empirical Articles on Drivers to Energy Efficiency in Manufacturing Firms," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-30, February.
    17. Trianni, Andrea & Cagno, Enrico & De Donatis, Alessio, 2014. "A framework to characterize energy efficiency measures," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 207-220.
    18. Backlund, Sandra & Thollander, Patrik & Palm, Jenny & Ottosson, Mikael, 2012. "Extending the energy efficiency gap," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 392-396.
    19. Samdruk Dharshing & Stefanie Lena Hille, 2017. "The Energy Paradox Revisited: Analyzing the Role of Individual Differences and Framing Effects in Information Perception," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 485-508, December.
    20. Sanghyo Lee & Sungho Tae & Sungwoo Shin, 2015. "Profit Distribution in Guaranteed Savings Contracts: Determination Based on the Collar Option Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(12), pages 1-17, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:wireae:v:8:y:2019:i:5:n:e342. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=2041-8396 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.