Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-t6hkb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-10T07:39:58.100Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2021

Henry Lee
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
Daniel P. Schrag
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
Matthew Bunn
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
Michael Davidson
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego
Wei Peng
Affiliation:
Penn State University
Wang Pu
Affiliation:
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing
Mao Zhimin
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
Get access

Summary

In the struggle to mitigate the worst impacts of global climate change, China’s energy transformation will be a critical example for the rest of the world. As the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases and the world’s second-largest economy, China’s strategies for blending economic growth with decarbonization will be watched carefully, particularly by rapidly-growing countries at earlier stages of development. China has made it clear to the world that it takes climate change seriously, and it is investing in multiple decarbonization strategies, from widespread deployment of wind and solar, to a growing nuclear program, to electrification of transportation. Indeed, China now leads the world in all three major forms of nonfossil energy deployment: wind, solar, and nuclear. China’s bilateral agreement with the United States in 2014 was critical to energizing the Paris Agreement. China agreed to stabilize current emissions by 2030, and to increase its share of nonfossil primary energy (i.e., hydro, nuclear, wind, and solar) to 20 percent of total primary energy. But beyond 2030, China will need to start reducing emissions, joining most other developed countries in a steady march toward zero emissions, if it is to make good on its pledge to reach carbon neutrality by 2060.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allen, M. R., Frame, D. J., Huntingford, C. et al., “Warming caused by cumulative carbon emissions towards the trillionth tonne.” Nature 458(7242) (2009), pp. 11631166.Google Scholar
The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, “U.S.–China Joint Anouncement on Climate Change” (November 11, 2014). Available at: www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/11/11/us-china-joint-announcement-climate-changeGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×