1. CCS and GEI have been working with officials and experts at China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Policy and Management (CAS IPM), and the Development and Reform Commissions (DRCs) and institutes and universities supporting them in leading provinces and cities to develop, pilot, and scale up a Chinese system for comprehensive, subnational low carbon development planning, analysis, and implementation. This planning and analysis system/template includes emissions, energy, and economic baseline inventory and forecasts methods, tools, and data systems, policy option catalogs, policy design information, and micro and macroeconomic impact analysis methods and tools. The result of the development and deployment of this system is the customized selection, design, analysis, and implementation of a range of specific technologies and best practices, as well as management techniques, needed in each economic sector at the subnational level in China to simultaneously reach carbon and energy intensity reduction and economic growth goals under the current and future Five Year Plans. The work covers the Energy Supply Sector; Industrial Sector; Residential, Commercial, and Institutional (Buildings) Sector; Transportation Sector; Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries Sector; and Waste Management Sector. In addition, this includes financing, pricing, and other revenue and incentive mechanisms for economy wide or sector use.
This work is helping China, through the NDRC and leading Chinese subnational governments, institutes, and NGOs, develop the capacity to fully measure and assess the energy, economic, and environmental (3E) impacts of new subnational low carbon development policies, programs, and plans. This collaboration will help to assure that the country and its provinces and cities are able to meet their 12th Five Year Plan and longer-term goals for carbon and energy intensity reduction and economic growth. Further, the planning and analytical systems being put in place will build confidence and capacity for China to increase its ambitions toward climate action, and the ability to share that with the world with rigorous analysis.
2. CCS and GEI have also been working with their national and subnational government partners in both countries to foster and facilitate information exchange and peer learning on integration of economic, energy, and climate change issues and actions. This includes formalization of exchange programs on technology, trade, investment, market readiness, and policy development, such as the recent California-Guangdong MOU. It also includes study tours, events, and joint appearances.
3. CCS, GEI, and their other partners have also been working with the Chinese Academy of Governance (CAG) and provincial and municipal Academies of Governance to introduce and build capacity around the low carbon development planning system for the start up of additional planning processes. This includes development of curriculum materials and technical assistance programs needed for scale up use of the pilot system.