Environment Implications of China''''s WTO Accession

China's WTO accession will have important environmental implications. This article aims at providing environmental analysis of the impact of China's accession to the WTO, based on its final offer for WTO accession and a 53-sector, recursive dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of China. We try to provide some empirical evidences for policy makers to evaluate the effects of China's WTO accession from environmental prospective.     

Progress of China＇s Agenda 21

After the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, the concept of sustainable development has been widely recognized all over the world. More than 100 countries, including C...     

China’s Import of Wastes and Its Implications

The trade of wastes in the world has been increasing and China has become the largest importer of wastes. This paper examines the import trend of different wastes and finds out that the total import volume to China approved by the Chinese government keeps increasing and the illegal trade can not be banned despite repeated prohibitions; therefore, China is not only ＂a world factory＂, but actually ＂a global garbage dump＂. In order to well understand the implications of wastes import, this paper further analyzes the resource and environmental effects and risks of different wastes imports as well as the strong driving force of wastes imports. Based on these detailed analysis and solid data, policy recommendations are put forward to reduce the demand for raw materials, to further strengthen the inspection of and supervision over the international trade of the wastes that can be used as raw materials by using the life cycle analysis and risk analysis, to improve the environmental standards and strengthen the disposal capacity, to re-export the raw materials produced from the imported wastes, to develop the long-term planning for the import of wastes and to promote international cooperation.     

China’s Import of Wastes and Its Implications

Abstract

The trade of wastes in the world has been increasing and China has become the largest importer of wastes. This paper examines the import trend of different wastes and finds out that the total import volume to China approved by the Chinese government keeps increasing and the illegal trade can not be banned despite repeated prohibitions; therefore, China is not only “a world factory”, but actually “a global garbage dump”. In order to well understand the implications of wastes import, this paper further analyzes the resource and environmental effects and risks of different wastes imports as well as the strong driving force of wastes imports. Based on these detailed analysis and solid data, policy recommendations are put forward to reduce the demand for raw materials, to further strengthen the inspection of and supervision over the international trade of the wastes that can be used as raw materials by using the life cycle analysis and risk analysis, to improve the environmental standards and strengthen the disposal capacity, to re-export the raw materials produced from the imported wastes, to develop the long-term planning for the import of wastes and to promote international cooperation.     

China＇s CDM Policies and Their Development Implications： Major Concerns for CDM Implementation

Most CDM （Clean Development Mechanism） opportunities exist in some large industrializing developing countries. For instance, China is estimated to take 48% of the world potential for CDM project activities. In reality, however, the share by China over the CDM projects registered and CDM projects in the pipeline is less than 10% as of Auguest 2005. This paper will examine the reasons behind, as reflected in China＇s CDM policies. Further investigation will be made into the use of these policies to boost the country＇s sustainable development, the sustainable development implications and effects of these policies. In addition, it is noted that incompatibility of some other Chinese laws and policies can be responsible for the low level and slow pace of CDM implementation in China and some suggestions are offered for promoting CDM project activities in China. There also exist barriers at the international level that impedes implementation of CDM project activities. A conclusion is drawn that CDM policies in a developing country like China aim mainly at promotion of sustainable development and to a lesser extent the generation of CERs.     

Geographic Concentration in China＇s Manufacturing

This paper empirically examines variations and changes in manufacturing concentration and their determinants in China over the 1980-2003 period with a sample of 26 industries. The analysis indicates that average industrial concentration has increased during the 1990s. Studies show that scale economies and industry policies are important determinants for industries geographical concentration; factor endowments and the location of foreign direct investment are also found to have a positive effect on concentration.     

Influences of Border Carbon Adjustments on China＇s Foreign Trade

The EU, the United States and other economies, with the intention to implement unilateral trade measures Border Car- bon Adjustments, impose emission reduction pressure on develop- ing countries. Once ...     

Decomposition of Energy-related CO2 Emissions from Shanghai＇s Industries and Policy Implications

This paper quantifies a decomposition analysis of energy-related CO2 emissions in the industrial sectors of Shanghai over the period 1994-2007.The Log-Mean Divisia Index(LMDI) method is applied to this study in terms of six factors:labor force,labor mobility,gross labor productivity,energy intensity,fuel mix,and emission coefficient.In addition,the decoupling effect between industrial economic growth and CO2 emissions is analyzed to evaluate CO2 mitigation strategies for Shanghai.The results show that all labor productivity has the largest positive effect on CO2 emission changes in the industrial sectors,whereas labor mobility and energy intensity are the main components for decreasing CO2 emissions.Other factors have different effects on CO2 mitigation in different sub-periods.Although a relative decoupling of industrial CO2 emissions from the economic growth in Shanghai has been found,Shanghai should keep pace with the industrial CO2 emissions reduction by implementing low-carbon technology.These results have important policy implications:Plan C is the reasonable choice for Shanghai.     

Evolution Rules of Urban-rural Development and Inspiration for China＇s Agriculture

Based on urban-rural contrast coefficient, this article designs the agriculture relative development index （ARDI） as indicators measuring the intensity of urban rural dual structure which is comparable among the countries of the world. This article calculates ARDI of 40 countries from 1980 to 2004. The result shows that ARDI in the developed countries and most of the middle-income countries are rising and yet there are declines in most of the low-income countries. The result also showed that most countries＇ ARDI will see a decline at the earlier stage of industrialization, so their dual economic structure will also aggravate and urban-rural gap will widen. With the economic development, the tendency will change and ARDI presents a U-shape change overall. The turning point is when a country becomes a middle-income one.     

Energy Efficiency and Emissions Reduction Potential of China＇s Industrial Sector

Based on the total-factor energy efficiency framework,this paper calculates China’s industrial energy efficiency and CO2 emissions reduction potential from 2000 to 2009 by utilizing the directional distance function and data envelopment analysis.The empirical results show that:China’s industrial overall energy efficiency is relatively lower while the emis-sions reduction potential is relatively greater,given the optimum production frontier.Significant indus-trial disparities of energy efficiency and emissions reduction potential exist.Energy efficiency and emis-sions reduction potential significantly show different tendencies of industrial dynamic variation.This paper suggests the Chinese government impose differential carbon taxes,flexibly utilize carbon market mecha-nism,strengthen energy-saving technological R&D,promote the utilization of renewable energy,and strengthen environmental supervision and regulation,so as to improve China’s industrial energy efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions.     

Spatial Variation and Space Optimization of the Development of China＇s Circular Economy

China＇s circular economy is still at the initial stage, whose development has many difficulties and problems requir- ing immediate resolution theoretically and practically. Due to the differences of re...     

Climate Change Responsibility and China＇s Endeavor

The problem of climate change is a global challenge. It is closely associated with social development and human survival, and it has a significant impact to all countries on energy develop- ment, economic competitiveness, technological innovation, and way of life. In recent years, with the rapid economic development in China, there is a rumor that the rapid growth of China＇s carbon dioxide emission offset the efforts of the international community in reducing emissions, and China should bear the international responsibility corresponding to its significant role in greenhouse gas emission, which obviously are unfair and not objective. As this paper reveals, ＂China environment responsibility＂ that is the socalled ＂China environment threat＂ or theories, China has made a positive contribution to addressing the climate change in the past and China will still be the backbone on the protection of global climate in the future.     

Discussion on the Mode of China＇s Low-carbon Society and Construction Routes

In responding to global climate change, the idea of low-carbon economy emerges as the times require. Developing low - carbon economy is based on the construction of low-carbon society. The so called ＂t...     

Impact of Climate Change on Urban Agglomerations in China＇s Coastal Region

Climate change and urbanization issues are the two key factors that make humans liable to be affected by disasters, which are overlapped in urban agglomeration. The five big urban agglom- erations of C...     

Plan C： China＇s Development under the Scarcity of Natural Capital

The critical issue of China＇s modernization is whether it can free itself from the traditional modernization plan based on the relatively abundant natural capital, and innovatively create a developmental model of a large country under the scarcity of natural capital. This is why China is so keen on circular economy and economical use of resources. Focused on this issue, this paper summarizes the theoretical elements of the development under the scarcity of natural capital, points out that Plan C is the strategic choice for China＇s future development, emphasizes that China needs to enhance the new industrialization, new urbanization and new modernization based on the restriction of natural capital, and discusses the technological and mechanistic support required to realize the development under the scarcity of natural capital.     

China＇s Land Carrying Capacity Based on Man-grain Relationships

With population growth and increasing pressure on land resources, land carrying capacity （LCC） and food safety have been attracting great attention worldwide. From the point of man-grain relationship and by establishing LCC and land carrying capacity index （LCCI） models, this article firstly analyzes the spatial-temporal dynamics of LCC of China from 1949 to 2005 at county, provincial and national levels. Choosing 2005 as a representative year, this article then evaluates the LCC of 264 pastoral regions （semipastoral regions）, 663 urban regions and 592 poverty stricken regions of the country. The results show that： （1） from 1949 to 2005, with the increase of grain production, the LCC of China has been improved conspicuously, but due to the rapid population growth, the production can only maintain a low level grain consumption; （2） over the past 25 years （1980-2005）, the number of population overloading provinces decreased from 23 to 15 and the mangrain relationship has been improved gradually, but there were more overloading provinces than surplus provinces in China; （3） at county level, there were 1572 overloading counties in 1980 accounting for 68.26% of the total counties of the country and where were 649 million people lived, while in 1990, 2000 and 2005, the number of overloading counties were 1066, 1133 and 1087 respectively, which shows that the man-grain relationship has been improved obviously during the past 25 years; as for spatial distribution, the surplus counties were mainly concentrated in agriculture developed regions, such as Northeast Plain, North China Plain, middle and lower Reaches of the Yangtze River Plain, and overloading counties were mainly located in regions with poor natural environment and low grain production capacity, such as Northwest China, Tibetan Plateau and Loess Plateau and economically developed urban regions, such as Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai; （4） animal husbandry improved greatly the LCC of pastoral and semi-pastoral regions, while urban regions were overloading for increasing population pressure and more than half of poverty stricken regions were overloading due to critical natural environment and poor economic conditions.     

China＇s Green Transformation： Efforts, Practices and Future

正I'm very pleased to be here at this side meeting,China's Green Transformation:Efforts,Practices and Future, co-sponsored by ACCA21 and UNDP.Since the UN Conference on Environment and Development in 1992, people around the world have made numerous