PRC energy policies: status, trends, implications for Aus

One year after the People’s Republic of China (PRC) committed to achieving carbon neutrality, significant progress has been made and significant challenges have emerged.

The PRC's national carbon market has begun full operation and is expected to soon extend from the power sector to others, including steel and cement.

Administrative measures focused on curbing emissions are increasingly strengthened. The central government’s energy consumption and energy intensity targets are enforced with regular checks by the Central Inspection of Ecological and Environmental Protection (CIEEP), as well as the joint force of the party's central disciplinary agency.

The efforts to reach peak carbon, however, also face challenges. Many regions propose radical carbon targets and have adopted ‘campaign-style' emissions reduction. The current global surge in energy prices and widespread power shortages will likely force the PRC to adjust its climate and energy policies.

How is the PRC’s carbon market likely to develop? How will energy policies, in particular, industrial coal policy, change? How will the power shortage impact on the power sector? How will the PRC respond to the European Union’s carbon border adjustment? What do these developments mean for Australia?

The Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS:ACRI) in partnership with the Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) will host an online webinar with Professor Zhongxiang Zhang, Director of the China Academy of Energy, Environmental and Industrial Economics, interviewed by Professor Stuart White, Director of ISF, exploring these questions and more.

About the speaker

Zhongxiang Zhang

Professor Zhongxiang Zhang is the founding Dean and a distinguished university professor at Ma Yinchu School of Economics, Tianjin University and Director of China Academy of Energy, Environmental and Industrial Economics, China. He is co-editor of Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, and serves on the editorial boards of ten other international journals. He is a Fellow of Asia and the Pacific Policy Society, Australia, and is on the Scientific Council of Paris-based IDDRI, Sciences Po. He authored and edited 21 books and special issues of international journals, authored over 200 publications in English, and is among the top 20 authors from Chinese universities in all branches of social sciences based on the first-authored articles in key international journals over the 54 years. His paper is selected as the Top 20 papers ever published in the journal Climate Policy over the past 20 years.

About the moderator

Stuart White

Professor Stuart White is Director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures where he leads a team of researchers who create change towards sustainable futures through independent, project-based research. With over twenty years experience in sustainability research, Professor White’s work focuses on achieving sustainability outcomes at least cost for a range of government, industry and community clients across Australia and internationally. This includes both the design and evaluation of programs for improving resource use efficiency and an assessment of their impact. Professor White has written and presented widely on sustainable futures and is a regular commentator on sustainability issues in the media.