“十二五”以来中国应对气候变化的行政手段评估

在中国应对气候变化政策体系中,目标责任制和淘汰落后产能这两项行政手段具有核心地位。充分认识其作用机制,阐述其优势与不足,对于中国碳减排政策的优化设计意义深远。本文遵循气候变化评估报告的原则和方法,以国内外公开发表的相关文献为基础,评估了这两项政策的作用机制、政策有效性以及存在的问题。结果显示:目标责任制和淘汰落后产能这两项行政手段具有高度的有效性。这些行政手段顺应了中国的各项体制机制,确保了中国应对气候变化目标的实现。具体来看,节能降碳目标责任制通过明确地方政府作为节能降碳政策执行主体的责任,改变了原有的官员激励体系,强化了政府对既有政策的执行,还促进了地方政府和企业各项节能降碳制度的形成。淘汰落后产能以目标责任考核为基础,结合各种激励政策,在节能降碳、化解产能过剩等方面发挥了巨大效应。尽管行政手段在温室气体减排中的作用非常有效,但是这种自上而下的压力传递机制难以真正内化为地方政府和企业开展节能降碳工作的自发性力量。此外,由于节能降碳目标的层层分解,县级及以下政府承担了与其行政管理权限并不匹配的责任。在压力体制下,过剩产能的市场退出障碍和地方政府、企业产能扩张的冲动依然存在。未来应结合行政和市场手段的优缺点,综合施策,促进温室气体减排长效机制的形成。

Assessment of administrative measures for climate change in China since the 12th Five Year Plan

Target responsibility system and phase-out of obsolete production capacity are two administrative measures that play a central role in China’s climate change policy framework.Although researchers have recognized the importance of these administrative measures for greenhouse gas mitigation in China,there still lacks a systematic policy evaluation.Understanding the working mechanisms of administrative measures and explaining their strengths and weaknesses will significantly contribute to an optimized design of climate change mitigation policy in China.This article follows the principles and methods for climate change assessment reports and evaluates the working mechanisms,effectiveness,and challenges of these two policies in China based on publicly accessible literature both domestically and internationally.The results show that target responsibility system and phase-out of obsolete production capacity are highly effective.These administrative measures are closely aligned with the political institutions in China,ensuring the fulfillment of the national climate change targets.Specifically,target responsibility system specifies that local governments in China hold the primary responsibility for energy conservation and carbon mitigation,which changes the existing incentive structure of local officials and strengthens their implementation of climate-related policies.Target responsibility system also facilitates the development of energy conservation and carbon mitigation institutions by local governments and enterprises.Relying on the evaluation of target performance,phase-out of obsolete production capacity integrates incentive policies and contributes to energy conservation,carbon mitigation,and the elimination of excessive production capacity in China.Despite the effectiveness of administrative measures in achieving greenhouse gas mitigation,such a top-down pressure transfer system fails to stimulate internal motivations for climate governance by local governments and businesses.As the disaggregation and allocation of energy conservation and carbon mitigation targets go downward along the government hierarchy,local governments at the bottom of the hierarchy bear most of the pressure for climate mitigation,which does not match their administrative power and capacity.Under the pressure system,the primary challenges confronted by the phase-out of obsolete production capacity are removing market exit obstacles for excessive production capacity and preventing the expansion of existing production capacity.It is suggested that the government employ a mixed policy portfolio to facilitate the development of long-term greenhouse gas mitigation mechanisms by taking advantages of the strengths of administrative measures and market instruments while avoiding their respective weaknesses.