Challenges to liberalism: The case of Australian energy policy

This paper considers liberal and nationalist economic policy approaches to the ownership and development of Australian energy resources (oil, gas, coal and uranium). In the two decades prior to 1983, Australia pursued economic policies in relation to its energy resources which could broadly be described as ‘nationalist’. Governments of the day intervened in development decisions in an effort to enhance the ‘national interest’. From 1983, along with the deregulation of the Australian economy as a whole, policy relating to energy resources was liberalised. Development of energy reserves henceforth occurred according to the dictates of the market. This paper argues that recent Australian energy policy initiatives reflect an increase in nationalist influences and a retreat from the liberalisation agenda that dominated energy policy making in the 1980s and 1990s. Three examples are discussed where policy has been influenced by a nationalist framework: (1) the domestic gas reservation policy in Western Australia; (2) Australian government efforts to promote a ‘value adding’ nuclear processing industry and (3) Australian Labor Party policy giving preferential financial incentives for gas to liquids projects. The re-emergence of nationalism in Australia is occurring either because policy makers now favour it as a path to energy security or in some cases because they believe that appeals to nationalism will generate political support.     

Rare earth elements in China: Policies and narratives of reinventing an industry

After top producer China decided in 2010 to tighten its export quotas for rare earth elements (REE), major customers feared being cut off from the valuable metals. The trade dispute intensified when the EU, the USA, and Japan brought the case before the WTO. The export controls raise questions about China’s intentions and strategies. This article argues that China’s export policy should not be viewed in isolation. The export controls are embedded in a greater transformation of the strategic REE industry. Beijing promotes a broad set of policies, including industry reorganization, resource conservation, and environmental protection. Next, the article examines three narratives that may be constitutive of the Chinese policy. Findings indicate that the geopolitical narrative, which sees natural resources as instruments of power politics, can be only partly attributed to China’s REE policies. The major driving motives are domestic concerns for resource conservation and environmental protection, as well as the development of competitive downstream industries.     

The uranium and nuclear industries in China

This article reviews the available information on the uranium industry and the beginning of nuclear power in China. Few details of China's uranium industry have hitherto been published in the West. The broad conclusions reached are that China is faced with severe energy shortages for the foreseeable future; nuclear power will help to solve this problem but the timing and extent of its contribution are uncertain. The central question of civil nuclear policy is whether or not to use imported technology, although satisfactory development of the uranium industry probably will require foreign assistance. The principle conestraint in this regard is foreign exchange. To help overcome this problem the Chinese are now, for the first time, offering uranium on the international market.     

国家环境经济政策进展评估报告2019

本年度国家环境经济政策进展评估报告采用实地调研法和政策分析法,对2019年我国重点环境经济政策的进展进行了系统评估,总体结论认为环境经济政策在污染防治攻坚战和生态环境质量改善中发挥了积极作用,生态环境保护的市场经济政策机制在不断健全,但是环境经济政策体系尚需进一步完善优化,亟须通过深化改革助推生态文明和现代环境治理体系建设。     

Historical Analysis of SO<Subscript>2</Subscript> Pollution Control Policies in China

Coal is not only an important energy source in China but also a major source of air pollution. Because of this, China’s national sulfur dioxide (SO₂) emissions have been the highest in the world for many years, and since the 1990s, the territory of China’s south and southwest has become the third largest acid-rain-prone region in the world. In order to control SO₂ emissions, the Chinese government has formulated and promulgated a series of policies and regulations, but it faces great difficulties in putting them into practice. In this retrospective look at the history of SO₂ control in China, we found that Chinese SO₂ control policies have become increasingly strict and rigid. We also found that the environmental policies and regulations are more effective when central officials consistently give environmental protection top priority. Achieving China’s environmental goals, however, has been made difficult by China’s economic growth. Part of this is due to the practice of environmental protection appearing in the form of an ideological “campaign” or “storm” that lacks effective economic measures. More recently, better enforcement of environmental laws and regulations has been achieved by adding environmental quality to the performance assessment metrics for leaders at all levels. To continue making advances, China needs to reinforce the economic and environmental assessments for pollution control projects and work harder to integrate economic measures into environmental protection. Nonetheless, China has a long way to go before economic growth and environmental protection are balanced.     

Transforming China's coal mines: A case history of the Shuangliu Mine

China is the largest coal producer and the largest coal consuming country in the world. Approximately half of China's coal comes from small‐scale mines. The sustainability of China's coal industry would be improved if a greater share of the coal come from larger‐scale mines. This article presents a case history of the Shuangliu Mine in Shanxi Province and discusses the issues and benefits of the transformation of this mine. Significant gains were observed in worker safety and benefits, and in more efficient exploitation of the coal resource. Problems included loss of employment opportunities for local labourers, and reduced revenue for local townships. The wider implications of a shift of China's coal supply from small‐scale to large‐scale mining operations are discussed in relation to economic, social and environmental aspects.     

The dynamics of landfill diversion: Economic drivers, policy factors and spatial issues: Evidence from Italy using provincial panel data

Waste disposal is an issue that is becoming increasingly important in policy terms in the European Union, and in Italy, a country showing strong geographical heterogeneity in waste management. This paper analyses the process of decoupling/delinking between economic growth and landfilling trends in a framework where economic, policy, geographical elements and spatial issues are all considered as drivers behind the phenomenon. We exploit an original and very rich provincial panel dataset over 1999–2005 for the 103 Italian provinces. Evidence shows that the observed ‘absolute’ decoupling between economic growth and landfilling is driven by a mix of structural factors. Among the main factors, population density, more than the provincial income level, emerges as a crucial driver: local opportunity costs and landfill externalities matter in shaping waste policies and local commitment to a transition away from landfilling of waste (landfill diversion). However, not only structural factors are relevant. If on the one hand landfill taxes are not a significant driver of the phenomenon, waste management tools, such as separated collection for recycling, and the tariff system connected to waste services, bring about significant effect on the amount of landfilled waste. Moreover, regarding the analysis of spatial interrelations across provinces, we note that the presence of incinerators in nearby provinces increases landfill diversion, due probably to free riding behaviour or intra-provinces ‘agreements’ on waste management; this is not true for nearby landfill sites, that cause for a given province a strong lock in effect. Future research could strengthen the analysis of policy effectiveness at regional level, focusing on policy endogeneity, and the full investigation of spatial correlations in waste disposal performances.     

China's small coal mine policy in the 2000s: A case study of trusteeship and consolidation

China has been trying to improve the safety and environmental performances of small coal mines (SCMs) in 2000s through measures of trusteeship and consolidation. The question whether such policy and practice can sustain small scale mining is interesting academically and important practically for China and the world. This paper finds that the Chinese SCM policy has been switched from encouragement to restriction for legal SCMs and from privatization to nationalization in some provinces in the past 10 years. Legal SCMs face pressure to be expanded continuously and to be absorbed or consolidated by large coal mines, which often are state owned. Unexpectedly, financial resources may not be a big constraint nowadays due to availability of private equity investment resources. The paper argues that both the trusteeship and consolidation approaches may only be able to sustain SCMs in the short run. A more sustainable measure is to establish a stable, transparent and inclusive legal and fiscal framework. This paper concludes that those trusteeship approaches may be applicable to restructuring small scale mines in other countries; however, the consolidation practice in China's is unique and thus may not be applicable to others.     

Some economic aspects of the world coal market

The basic intention of this paper is to present some new economic results pertaining to the world coal market. These results deal principally with the effect of devaluations on production; the effect of ‘volume’ and depletion on the calculation of marginal cost; and price formation in a stock flow market. Observations are also made in the paper concerning the use of combined cycle technology in coal based power plants, and present supply-demand trends in the world coal market, to include the development of (sea) freight rates.     

Coal sector reform and its implications for the power sector in China

Coal is the major primary energy which fuels the economic growth in China. The Soviet-style institution of the coal sector was adopted after the People’s Republic was founded in 1949. But since the end of 1970s there have been major changes: the market mechanism was introduced to the coal sector and the Major State Coal mines were transferred from central to local governments. This paper explains these market-oriented and decentralized reforms and explores their implications for the power sector, now the largest single consumer of coal. The argument of this paper is that the market-oriented and decentralized reforms in the coal sector were influenced by the changes in state energy investment priority as well as the relationship between the central and local governments in the context of broader reforms within China’s economy. However, these market-oriented and decentralized reforms have not equally influenced the power sector. Even though initial coal sector reform spurred power generation, the subsequent fragmented reforms raise concern about electricity shortages.     

Suggested policies to encourage coalbed methane development in China

The development of coalbed methane in the People's Republic of China has been selected by the Ministry of Coal Industry as a key strategic project within the coal industry. However, before the recovery of coalbed methane can reach its full economic potential, a number of constraints need to be overcome. Such constraints include the lack of policy framework, and of capital for project investments and equipment. Also needed is additional information on and experience with relevant technologies. Market mechanisms in China are not yet perfected during this initial period of transition to a market economy. In particular, artificially low gas prices and difficulties with repatriation of profits, discourage foreign direct investment and joint ventures. This paper examines internationally adopted, or proposed, policies that promote coalbed methane recovery; it then describes international activities that promote coalbed methane development in China; and finally presents China's options particularly suitable for expanding coalbed methane development .     

煤炭产业的环境保护问题及建议

从煤炭产业所面临的产能过剩、环境污染和开发布局不合理的困境出发,说明了煤炭行业环境污染产生的途径和污染源,从经济成本、健康损失和国际影响力、竞争力方面阐释了煤炭产业绿色发展的重要性和必要性。在此基础上,进一步提出并讨论了煤炭产业绿色发展转型的三点政策建议:研发绿色开采技术、推广煤炭清洁利用技术、优化煤炭产业结构。     

US energy policy in historical perspective

Energy ‘policy’ is not a recent invention. What is new is that instead of a variety of policies rooted for the most part in notions other than adequacy of reasonably priced and readily available energy supplies, the past fifteen years or so have witnessed the emergence of a set of policies that are more pointedly directed at energy targets as such. These include, above all, such cross cutting issues as efficiency in use, security against supply disruptions, incentives to oil and gas producers, opportunities for the development of alternative energy sources and concern for the equitable sharing of costs associated with any of these policies. If there is one overriding issue that permeates the policy fabric it is the delineation of the governmental role versus market forces. Debate and controversy on that topic is bound to continue.     

Economic responses to the closure of small-scale coal mines in Chongqing,China

In 1998, China launched a programme to close tens of thousands of small-scale coal mines within just three years. Few measures were put in place to mitigate the negative impacts. This paper reports on a study in the Chongqing Municipality of south-west China, with the aims of identifying the economic impacts of the mine closure campaign and examining what factors permitted some localities to respond more successfully to the resulting economic challenges. Those areas with greater wealth and more diversified economies were able to absorb the shock of mine closure more effectively than poorer areas and those with less diversified economies. These latter groups either failed to respond to mine closure or reacted by increasing output from the remaining mines. In the successful cases, though the economy of the area as a whole was able to withstand the impact of the mine closure campaign, no evidence was found of any attempts to assist those in the local communities directly affected by mine closure.     

Development Potentials and Policy Options of Biomass in China

Biomass, one of the most important renewable energies, is playing and will continue to play an important role in the future energy structure of the world. This article aims to analyze the position and role, assess the resource availability, discuss the geographic distribution, market scale and industry development, and present the policy options of biomass in China. The resource availability and geographical distribution of biomass byproducts are assessed in terms of crop residues, manure, forest and wood biomass byproducts, municipal waste and wastewater. The position of biomass use for power generation is just next to hydropower among types of renewable energy in China. The potential quantity of all biomass byproducts energy in 2004 is 3511 Mtce (Mtce is the abbreviation of million tons of coal equivalents and 1 Mtce is equal to10⁶ tce.), while the acquirable quantity is 460 Mtce. Biomass energy plays a critical role in rural regions of China. The geographical distribution and quantity of biomass byproducts resources depends mainly on the relationship between ecological zones and climate conditions. Our estimation shows that the total quantity of crop residues, manure, forest and wood biomass byproducts, municipal waste and wastewater resources are 728, 3926, 2175, 155 and 48240 Mt (million tons), respectively. Crop residues come mainly from the provinces of Henan, Shandong, Heilongjiang, Jilin and Sichuan. All manure is mainly located in the provinces of Henan, Shandong, Sichuan, Hebei and Hunan. Forest and wood biomass byproducts are mainly produced in the provinces or autonomous regions of Tibet, Sichuan, Yunnan, Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia, while most of municipal waste mainly comes from Guangdong, Shandong, Heilongjiang, Hubei and Jiangsu. Most of wastewater is largely discharged from advanced provinces like Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and Henan. Biomass byproducts’ energy distribution also varies from province to province in China. Based on the analysis of the market scale and industry development, the article argues that China’s biomass energy industry is still at a very early stage of development and that Feed-in Tariffs (FIT) might be the best policy option for China to promote its development of biomass energy. A successful enforcement of FIT in China needs some policy combination of special capital subsidies, R&D funding, tax incentives and pricing.     

National minerals policies and stakeholder participation for broad-based development in the southern African development community (SADC)

This paper explains how the well-accepted concept of improved stakeholder participation during mineral policy development leads to a national mineral policy that accommodates the diverging views and interests that allows wide acceptance of decisions, enhancing the success of implementation and, ultimately, national benefits. This process is based on lessons learnt during the South African experience and has been successfully applied in the development of the Namibian and Malawian national minerals policies. An effective policy in the SADC will engineer the delicate balance between poverty reduction and an internationally competitive minerals sector. This balance enhances the possibility of long-term economic growth and development in the SADC region. The overriding advantage of this strategy is that it generates ‘home-grown’ policy instruments and implementation of mineral law with which stakeholders can identify. This process presents a new challenge to traditional policy formulation strategies in emerging economies and the bottom-up approach, linked to wide political support, allows the potential realisation of national objectives.     

The acceptability, personal outcome expectations, and expected effects of transport pricing policies

Acceptability and personal outcome expectations (i.e., the extent to which one expects to be better or worse off) of transport pricing policies were examined in relation to the expected effects of these policies on one’s own car use, congestion and environmental problems. Car users who commuted frequently by car and experienced congestion on a regular basis evaluated two pricing measures, which were mainly aimed at either decreasing congestion (by tolling at congested areas) or environmental problems (by a differential kilometre charge based on car mass). For the policy mainly aimed to reduce congestion, acceptability was higher and personal outcome expectations were more positive when respondents expected reductions in congestion when the policy was implemented. The policy aimed to reduce environmental problems was more acceptable and respondents expected to be better off in general when they expected reductions in environmental problems after its implementation. Expectations, both about a decrease in congestion and environmental problems were related to respondents’ personal outcome expectations of the policy mainly aimed to decrease environmental problems. We conclude that the acceptability of transport pricing policies are not necessarily low because car users expect negative effects on their car use, but rather because they are not be convinced that transport pricing policies will reduce congestion and environmental problems.     

我国土壤环境修复咨询服务业发展研究

2019年是《中华人民共和国土壤污染防治法》实施的第一年,2020年我国迎来了《土壤污染防治行动计划》的大考,“十三五”期间我国土壤环境修复产业市场规模接近6900亿元,下达中央土壤污染防治专项资金259.13亿元,主要用于示范性农田和工业场地修复、全国土壤环境调查以及土壤污染防治先行区建设等,资金整体落实情况较好。土壤环境修复产业是支撑我国土壤污染防治目标指标和各项任务完成的重要支撑和物质保障,产业发展状况和水平直接决定了目标和任务的完成水平。本文基于土壤环境修复政策指南和招投标数据库,从政策、市场、队伍、项目、模式、问题、展望等方面系统分析了2019年我国土壤环境修复咨询服务业发展状况、水平与特点,提出了修复咨询服务业发展中存在的主要问题,对未来发展趋势进行了预测分析,以期为全面了解我国土壤环境修复咨询服务市场、开展土壤环境管理和社会投资提供参考。     

Evaluating coal bed methane investment in China based on a real options model

In this paper, a real options based binominal lattices model for the investment of coal bed methane (CBM) is conducted. CBM prices and market demand are incorporated into the model as the predominant uncertain factors and it is solved by using the bidimensional binominal lattices approach. Then the model is employed to evaluate the investment in CBM projects in China, and the effect of related policies is analyzed. The empirical results demonstrate that the model can be used to offer a better explanation of why the CBM industry has developed slowly in China from an investment perspective. It is found that the current policy environment is not positive enough to attract investment in the CBM industry. Among various factors, CBM prices yield the most significant effect on stimulating investment in CBM development. Increasing the price subsidy is also an effective policy to stimulate investment and promote the development of the CBM industry in China.