Carbon tax would make China greener and reduce warming risks

Carbon tax would make China greener and reduce warming risks
Rhett Butler, mongabay.com
February 7, 2008

Driven by booming economic growth and rapid urbanization, China's carbon dioxide emissions are surging. At the same time, forecasts suggest climate change will have an immense impact on the country, with rising sea levels projected to swamp key industrial areas and diminished rainfall reducing agricultural output. Given this outlook, a new policy paper published in Science argues that China will need to embark on a cleaner path to growth, one that is less dependent on coal. The authors say that international assistance in the form of carbon funds could help persuade Chinese leadership to move towards more environmentally-friendly energy technologies.

China, which currently brings two additional coal-fired power plants to the electric power grid every week, is now the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide, surpassing the United States in 2006 or 2007. Its emissions are expected to grow, despite improvements in carbon efficiency, through at least the next two decades as its rural population continues to migrate to cities and the rising middle class fuels demand for cars, a better diet, and an increasingly Western lifestyle.

Investing in a greener China

Nina Zeng of the University of Maryland and colleagues write that investments in energy conservation and efficiency will have the most immediate impact on reducing China's carbon footprint, but designers will need to overcome local preference for minimizing up front costs of construction, despite longer-term savings from more efficient buildings,

Shanghai

"Because infrastructure has a long lifetime, it is much more cost-effective to design and build from the ground up rather than retrofit afterwards," write the authors. "Many energy-saving measures can be highly effective, and long-term energy savings can substantially outweigh the initial investment. However, such measures are often not implemented because of market and institutional barriers. For instance, when offered the choice of paying a few percent extra for energy-efficient construction, the owners of a new building often choose not to, because of the burden on their budget and uncertainty about future savings."

Zeng and colleagues argue that international investment of carbon funds should "subsidize low interest loans to energy-efficient buildings or to pay for technology transfer," while "research and development in technology, such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, and carbon sequestration, in the developed countries could be conducted in collaboration with Chinese partners, so that these technologies could be implemented as early as possible."

Chinese initiatives for a greener China

The move towards a greener China must also come from within, say the authors. Zeng and colleagues write that city planners should focus on developing more efficient public transportation and encouraging the use of bicycles over private vehicles.

Carpooling to reduce emissions from transportation?

When it comes to coal — China's abundant, but high emissions energy source — Chinese policymakers can rein in new coal-fired power plants by implementing voluntary carbon incentives like a carbon tax that could be used to "fund research in energy efficiency, renewable energy, carbon sequestration, and prudent urban design."

"Such voluntary efforts would protect China's energy security, create careers for the masses of young and educated Chinese citizens, and also earn China political capital in international climate policy negotiations," they write.

"Despite the recent surge of worldwide attention in the climate change problem, its enormous scale and urgency are often underappreciated. The Chinese challenge is arguably the most difficult, and coal is the leading stumbling block. If China can face the challenge and seize the opportunities with the help of the international community, it could lead the world in sustainable development in the 21st century," the authors conclude.

Zeng, N. et al (2008). Climate Change--the Chinese Challenge. Science, Feb 8, 2008

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