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Frontiers in Energy

ISSN 2095-1701

ISSN 2095-1698(Online)

CN 11-6017/TK

Postal Subscription Code 80-972

2018 Impact Factor: 1.701

Front. Energy    2019, Vol. 13 Issue (3) : 571-578    https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-019-0640-0
RESEARCH ARTICLE
China’s pre-2020 CO2 emission reduction potential and its influence
Hailin WANG1(), Jiankun HE2
1. Institute of Energy Environment and Economy, Institute of Climate Change and Sustainable Development, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
2. Institute of Energy Environment and Economy, Modern Management Research Center, Institute of Climate Change and Sustainable Development, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
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Abstract

China achieved the reduction of CO2 intensity of GDP by 45% compared with 2005 at the end of 2017, realizing the commitment at 2009 Copenhagen Conference on emissions reduction 3 years ahead of time. In future implementation of the “13th Five-Year Plan (FYP),” with the decline of economic growth rate, decrease of energy consumption elasticity and optimization of energy structure, the CO2 intensity of GDP will still have the potential for decreasing before 2020. By applying KAYA Formula decomposition, this paper makes the historical statistics of the GDP energy intensity decrease and CO2 intensity of energy consumption since 2005, and simulates the decrease of CO2 intensity of GDP in 2020 and its influences on achieving National Determined Contribution (NDC) target in 2030 with scenario analysis. The results show that China’s CO2 intensity of GDP in 2020 is expected to fall by 52.9%–54.4% than the 2005 level, and will be 22.9%–25.4% lower than 2015. Therefore, it is likely to overfulfill the decrease of CO2 intensity of GDP by 18% proposed in the 13th FYP period. Furthermore, the emission reduction potentiality before 2020 will be conducive to the earlier realization of NDC objectives in 2030. China’s CO2 intensity of GDP in 2030 will fall by over 70% than that in 2005, and CO2 emissions peak will appear before 2030 as early as possible. To accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy, China needs to make better use of the carbon market, and guide the whole society with carbon price to reduce emissions effectively. At the same time, China should also study the synergy of policy package so as to achieve the target of emission reduction.

Keywords China’s National Determined Contribution      emission reduction potential      scenario analysis      CO2 emissions peak     
Corresponding Author(s): Hailin WANG   
Online First Date: 26 July 2019    Issue Date: 04 September 2019
 Cite this article:   
Hailin WANG,Jiankun HE. China’s pre-2020 CO2 emission reduction potential and its influence[J]. Front. Energy, 2019, 13(3): 571-578.
 URL:  
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fie/EN/10.1007/s11708-019-0640-0
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fie/EN/Y2019/V13/I3/571
2005–2013 2013–2016 2016–2017 2018–2020
Scenario S1 Scenario S2
AAGR of GDP/% 10.1 7.0 6.9 6.8 6.3
Energy consumption elasticity of GDP 0.6 0.22 0.43 0.4 0.35
AAGR of energy consumption/% 6.0 1.5 3.0 2.7 2.2
AADR of energy intensity of GDP/% 3.7 5.1 3.6 3.8 3.9
Tab.1  Decrease  of energy intensity of GDP and scenario analysis before 2020
2005 2010 2015 2017 2020
Scenario E1 Scenario E2
Coal/% 72.4 69.2 63.7 60.4 58 55
Oil/% 17.8 17.4 18.3 18.8 17 17
Natural gas/% 2.4 4.0 5.9 7.0 10 11
Non-fossil fuel/% 7.4 9.4 12.1 13.8 15 17
CO2 intensity of energy consumption/(tCO2·tce-1) 2.29 2.22 2.13 2.07 2.01 1.95
AADR of CO2 intensity of energy consumption/% 0.62 0.82 1.42 0.98 1.97
Tab.2  Decrease  of CO2 intensity of energy consumption and scenario analysis before 2020
2017 2020
Scenario S1E1 Scenario S2E2
AAGR of GDP/% 6.9 6.8 6.3
Energy consumption elasticity 0.43 0.4 0.35
Energy structure/%
?Coal 60.4 58 55
?Oil 18.8 17 17
?Natural gas 7.0 10 11
?Non-fossil fuel 13.8 15 17
Total primary energy consumption/(billion tce) 4.49 4.87 4.79
CO2 emissions/(billion tCO2) 9.29 9.79 9.34
AADR of energy intensity of GDP/% 3.6 3.8 3.9
CO2 intensity of energy consumption/(tCO2·tce-1) 2.07 2.01 1.95
Decrease rate of CO2 intensity of GDP based on 2005/% 45.5 52.9 54.4
Tab.3  CO 2 emission reduction scenario analysis and result in 2020
Scenario S1E1 Scenario S2E2
2017 2020 2025 2030 2020 2025 2030
AAGR of GDP/% 6.8 6.0 5.0 6.3 5.5 4.5
GDP index 2.85 3.47 4.64 5.92 3.42 4.47 5.57
Energy consumption elasticity of GDP 0.40 0.35 0.30 0.35 0.33 0.30
AAGR of energy consumption/% 2.2 2.7 2.1 1.5 2.2 1.8 1.4
AADR of energy consumption intensity of GDP/% -4.3 -3.8 -3.7 -3.3 -3.9 -3.5 -3.0
Energy consumption/(billion tce) 4.49 4.87 5.40 5.82 4.79 5.25 5.61
Energy structure/%
?Coal 60.4 58 53 46 55 49 42
?Oil 18.8 17 16 15 17 16 15
?Natural gas 7 10 13 17 11 14 18
?Non-fossil fuel 13.8 15 18 22 17 21 25
CO2 intensity of energy consumption/(tCO2·tce1) 2.07 2.01 1.91 1.76 1.95 1.82 1.67
AADR of CO2 intensity of energy consumption/% -1.42 -0.88 -1.08 -1.55 -1.93 -1.40 -1.63
CO2 emissions/(billion t) 9.28 9.79 10.29 10.25 9.34 9.53 9.38
AADR of CO2 emissions/% 0.75 1.82 1.00 -0.08 0.23 0.39 -0.30
Decreasing rate of CO2 emissions per GDP compared with 2005 level/% 45.6 52.9 63.0 71.1 54.4 64.4 71.9
Tab.4  Scenarios  analysis of CO2 intensity of GDP in 2030
Fig.1  Scenario analysis of the decline in CO2 intensity of GDP before 2030.
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