Going beyond catch up: two governance models of China’s low-carbon energy transitions

In this paper, we explore how governance structures influence different transition pathways in the case of China’s green energy transitions. The paper challenges the dominant understanding, focused on state-led models, of China’s transitions, by comparing two different governance structures that emerged on the ground in two of China’s provinces. One structure follows the current path of centralised power systems, led by the developmental state model; the other departs from the existing model by building more distributed energy systems driven by a wide range of actors, this model being characterised as ‘distributed governance structures’. Although it is still too early to conclude which model will be dominant in the future, these two models may result in two divergent transition pathways for China’s future low-carbon development. We therefore present two governance scenarios for China’s future energy transitions and discuss their general implications. One governance capacity depends on the developmental state and its capacities to reflectively collect information and build knowledge capacity by engaging with big players. The other governance capacity depends on distributed capacity among a wide range of actors, and the learning and interactions among them.