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On Track to Become a Low Carbon Future City? First Findings of the Integrated Status Quo and Trends Assessment of the Pilot City of Wuxi in China

Author

Listed:
  • Carmen Dienst

    (Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy/Doeppersberg 19, Wuppertal D-42109, Germany)

  • Clemens Schneider

    (Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy/Doeppersberg 19, Wuppertal D-42109, Germany)

  • Chun Xia

    (Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy/Doeppersberg 19, Wuppertal D-42109, Germany)

  • Mathieu Saurat

    (Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy/Doeppersberg 19, Wuppertal D-42109, Germany)

  • Thomas Fischer

    (National Climate Centre (NCC), China Meteorological Administration (CMA)/46 Zhongguancun Nandajie, Haidian, Beijing 100 081, China)

  • Daniel Vallentin

    (Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy/Doeppersberg 19, Wuppertal D-42109, Germany)

Abstract

The Low Carbon Future Cities (LCFC) project aims at facing a three dimensional challenge by developing an integrated city roadmap balancing: low carbon development, gains in resource efficiency and adaptation to climate change. The paper gives an overview of the first outcomes of the analysis of the status quo and assessment of the most likely developments regarding GHG emissions, climate impacts and resource use in Wuxi—the Chinese pilot city for the LCFC project. As a first step, a detailed emission inventory following the IPCC guidelines for Wuxi has been carried out. In a second step, the future development of energy demand and related CO 2 emissions in 2050 were simulated in a current policy scenario (CPS). In parallel, selected aspects of material and water flows for the energy and the building sector were analyzed and modeled. In addition, recent and future climate impacts and vulnerability were investigated. Based on these findings, nine key sectors with high relevance to the three dimensions could be identified. Although Wuxi’s government has started a path to implement a low carbon plan, the first results show that, for the shift towards a sustainable low carbon development, more ambitious steps need to be taken in order to overcome the challenges faced.

Suggested Citation

  • Carmen Dienst & Clemens Schneider & Chun Xia & Mathieu Saurat & Thomas Fischer & Daniel Vallentin, 2013. "On Track to Become a Low Carbon Future City? First Findings of the Integrated Status Quo and Trends Assessment of the Pilot City of Wuxi in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(8), pages 1-20, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:5:y:2013:i:8:p:3224-3243:d:27624
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ritthoff, Michael & Rohn, Holger & Liedtke, Christa, 2002. "Calculating MIPS: Resource productivity of products and services," Wuppertal Spezial, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, volume 27, number 27e.
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    Cited by:

    1. Wang, Chen & Engels, Anita & Wang, Zhaohua, 2018. "Overview of research on China's transition to low-carbon development: The role of cities, technologies, industries and the energy system," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P1), pages 1350-1364.
    2. Wen, Zong-guo & Di, Jing-han & Yu, Xue-wei & Zhang, Xuan, 2017. "Analyses of CO2 mitigation roadmap in China’s power industry: Using a Backcasting Model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 644-653.

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