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Revealing the political decision toward Chinese carbon abatement: Based on equity and efficiency criteria

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  • Ni, Jinlan
  • Wei, Chu
  • Du, Limin

Abstract

China's economic reform over the past 30years has allowed the free market to drive economic development. However, government still plays a key role in the energy sector by allocating energy conservation and emissions abatement. How does the government make an equity decision as a tradeoff to market efficiency? This is an unanswered question. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the government's preference toward equity and efficiency. Using the provincial level CO2 intensity allocation data, we investigate the political decision that the government made based on the equity and efficiency criteria. We find that the equity index plays a more important role than the efficiency index in determining the CO2 intensity target. In addition, political factors such as social stability are found to be important factors.

Suggested Citation

  • Ni, Jinlan & Wei, Chu & Du, Limin, 2015. "Revealing the political decision toward Chinese carbon abatement: Based on equity and efficiency criteria," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 609-621.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:51:y:2015:i:c:p:609-621
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2015.08.027
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    Cited by:

    1. Jiang, Minxing & Zhu, Bangzhu & Chevallier, Julien & Xie, Rui, 2018. "Allocating provincial CO2 quotas for the Chinese national carbon program," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 62(3), July.
    2. Tang, Pengcheng & Yang, Shuwang & Fu, Shuke, 2018. "Do political incentive affects China's land transfer in energy-intensive industries?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 550-559.
    3. Zheng, Qingying & Lin, Boqiang, 2020. "Achieving energy conservation targets in a more cost-effective way: Case study of pulp and paper industry in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    4. Tan, Xianchun & Cai, Xiaoli & Cheng, Yonglong & Yan, Hongshuo, 2024. "How to control China's total amount of carbon emissions? An analysis of provincial allowance demands," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 303(C).
    5. Guo, Jin & Du, Limin & Wei, Chu, 2019. "Equity-efficiency trade-off in China's energy capping policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 57-65.
    6. Huiming Xie & Limin Du & Chu Wei, 2024. "Decarbonizing China’s cities with the lowest cost," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(8), pages 20507-20530, August.
    7. Nielsen, Hana & Warde, Paul & Kander, Astrid, 2018. "East versus West: Energy intensity in coal-rich Europe, 1800–2000," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 75-83.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    China; Equity; Efficiency; Preference; Policy-maker;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q52 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Pollution Control Adoption and Costs; Distributional Effects; Employment Effects
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth

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