China's Regional Green Low-Carbon Transition_Tsinghua-CTG Joint Center for Climate Governance and Low-carbon Transformation

China's Regional Green Low-Carbon Transition

For a long time, there have been significant differences in the economic development stage, industrial structure, geographical resource endowment and social and cultural characteristics among different regions in China. It is an important mission and key task for different regions to promote green and low-carbon transformation based on resources, industrial advantages, and their own needs. Only through this way, we can form a national synergy for building a great modern socialist country, achieving the goal of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, and realizing the vision of a beautiful China.

On the one hand, it is necessary to integrate the economic system, energy system, ecological environment, social welfare, and other factors into the policy design and evaluation system for promoting regional green and low-carbon transformation. Regional development characteristics and resource endowment should be taken into account in the design of policies promoting high-quality industrial development and sustainable energy transformation. At the same time, environmental externalities, such as emissions of greenhouse gases, conventional air pollutants, and waste water, should be integrated into the evaluation system in order to minimize the environmental and health impact of production activities.

On the other hand, policy mechanisms design should integrate the“bottom-up”and“top-down”approaches to make sure that national policies are well coordinated with local policies. The top-level design and disassemble of economic policy, energy policy, climate policy, and environmental policy should comprehensively take into account the fair and coordinated development among different regions. It should not only promote steady economic development, green industrial transition, environmental improvement at the national level, but also consider the preference of regional policies according to local conditions, so as to minimize the development gap between regions and maximize the resource and industrial advantages of each region.

Since the announcement of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goal, some provinces and cities in China have clearly stated in the 14th Five-year Plan that the work on carbon peaking and carbon neutrality should be done with concrete measures, and put forward qualitative and quantitative indicators according to their own development characteristics. The main development goals and tasks of each region during the 14th Five-year Plan period are shown in the table below.

Based on the scientific research strengths of Tsinghua University and the rich investment experience of China Three Gorges Corporation, Tsinghua-CTG Joint Center for Climate Governance and Low-carbon Transformation integrates economic system, energy system, climate change, ecological environment and residents' health into the decision-making analysis and policy simulation and evaluation system. The center will carry out comprehensive assessment of the green low-carbon transformation for China’s key regions; propose a transition pathway for China to effectively achieve carbon peaking and carbon neutrality at the regional level; and provide policy recommendations for regional green low-carbon transformation and coordinated governance of climate and air pollutants, and put forward mechanisms that effectively combine national energy system transformation and regional sustainable development.

The contents of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality in the 14th Five-year plan of 31 provinces and cities:

Provinces/Cities	Contents
Beijing	Carbon emissions will decrease steadily, and solid steps will be taken towards carbon neutrality, making Beijing a role model for addressing climate change.
Tianjin	Expand the green ecological space, strengthen ecological environmental management, promote green low-carbon and circular development, and improve mechanisms and institutions for environmental protection.
Hebei	Formulate and implement medium and long-term plans of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, and support advanced cities and counties to reach carbon peaking firstly. Launch large-scale afforestation, advance the development of nature conservation system, and develop Saihanba into a demonstration zone for ecological civilization construction. Strengthen the efficient use of resources, establish and improve a property rights system for natural resource assets and a mechanism for realizing the value of ecological products.
Shanxi	A green energy supply system will be established, and the advantages in energy, especially in electricity prices, will be further transformed into comparative and competitive advantages.
Inner Mongolia	Build Inner Mongolia into an important national energy and strategic resource base, agricultural and livestock product production base, an important bridgehead for China to open to countries to its north, and explore a new pathway of high-quality development that accords with Inner Mongolia’s strategic positioning, reflects its regional characteristics, and gives priority to ecology and green development.
Liaoning	Focusing on green and ecological development, energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions per unit GDP will satisfy central government requirements. Focusing on safety guarantee, the comprehensive energy production capacity will reach 61.33 million tce.
Jilin	Consolidate the advantages of green development, strengthen ecological and environmental governance, and move faster to build a beautiful Jilin.
Heilongjiang	Promote innovation-driven development to achieve new breakthroughs, and strive to be the pioneer of China to break through more "strangling" technologies.
Shanghai	Expand the green ecological space, strengthen environmental governance, promote green low-carbon and circular development, and improve mechanisms and institutions of environmental protection.
Jiangsu	Develop green industries, accelerate energy revolution, promote green and low-carbon production practices and lifestyles, strive to achieve carbon peaking ahead of schedule, and fully display the beauty of natural ecology, beauty of livable urban and rural areas, beauty of water-town culture, and beauty of green development of Jiangsu.
Zhejiang	Accelerate green and low-carbon circular development, implement the requirements of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, vigorously advocate green and low-carbon production and lifestyle to form public awareness. Increase the share of non-fossil energy in primary energy to 24%, and reduce the share of coal power generation in installed capacity to 42%.
Anhui	Strengthen dual-controls over energy intensity and gross energy consumption, continuously increase the share of non-fossil energy in total energy consumption, and lay a solid foundation for carbon peaking by 2030.
Fujian	To thoroughly apply Xi Jinping’s thought on ecological civilization and continue to implement the strategy of ecological province, we will focus on the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goal and build a modern environmental governance system under the guidance of green development to to make the ecological environment more beautiful.
Jiangxi	Strictly implement mandatory national targets for energy conservation and emission reduction, formulate and implement the provincial action plan for carbon peaking by 2030, and encourage key areas and cities to peak carbon emission as soon as possible. We will adhere to the principle of "moderate advance, internal excellence and external introduction, electricity-based and multi-energy complementary" to expedite the construction of a modern energy system that is safe, efficient, clean and low-carbon. We will steadily develop solar PV, wind power, biomass, and other new energy resources and aim to install more than 19 million KW of new energy.
Shandong	Build a hydrogen corridor on the Shandong Peninsula and strive to develop green buildings. Reduce the carbon intensity and formulate an implementation plan for carbon peaking and carbon neutrality.
Henan	Build a low-carbon and efficient energy support system, implement projects to optimize power grid, sources and storage, stabilize coal production and storage, improve oil and gas support capacity, and carry out new energy quality improvement project to enhance the multiple export ability and optimize the energy structure of Henan. Continue to reduce carbon intensity and the share of coal in total energy consumption by about 5%.
Hubei	Promote regional development planning featured by "one main leading, two wings driving, and all-round coordination", accelerate the establishment of a modern industrial system which is led by strategic emerging industry, dominated by advanced manufacturing, and driven by modern service industry, build a digital Hubei, and make Hubei an important node of China's major circulation and a strategic link between domestic and international dual circulation.
Hunan	Implement the national action plan for carbon peaking, adjust and improve the industrial and energy structures, accelerate the development of a green and low-carbon circular economic development system to promote all-round green transformation in economic and social development. Move faster to build an ecological civilization system with clear property rights, multiple participation, and effective incentive and constraint mechanisms.
Guangdong	Build Guangdong into a demonstration place for convergence of rules, a gathering place for high-end factors of production, a source of innovation in the science and technology industry, a place for internal and external circulation links, and a place to support safe development, take the lead in exploring effective paths conducive to the formation of a new development pattern.
Guangxi	Promote low-carbon transformation of the industrial system, energy system and consumption sector, and formulate an action plan for carbon peaking. Advance the development of low-carbon cities, low-carbon communities, low-carbon parks, low-carbon enterprises and other pilot projects, build an offshore wind power base in the Beibu Gulf and implement the coastal clean energy project.
Hainan	Promote three advantageous industries including clean energy, energy conservation and environmental protection, and high-quality food processing. Clean energy will account for about 80% of the installed capacity, and 4 million KW of renewable energy will be installed. The proportion of clean energy vehicles and the car-pile ratio will take the national leading position.
Chongqing	Explore the establishment of a total carbon emission control system, implement actions to achieve carbon peaking, and take strong measures to achieve the goal of carbon peaking by 2030. Carry out pilot projects and demonstrations of low-carbon cities, low-carbon industrial parks, and low-carbon communities, promote international cooperation on low-carbon development, and build a number of zero-carbon demonstration parks.
Sichuan	Reduction in energy consumption per unit GDP and carbon dioxide emissions will meet the national targets, the quality of air and water will be improved markedly, and forest coverage will continue to rise. Overall grain production capacity will remain stable, comprehensive energy production capacity will significantly increase, and development security will become stronger.
Guizhou	Actively respond to climate change, formulate an action plan of carbon peaking by 2030, reduce carbon intensity, and promote the low-carbon transformation of energy, industry, building, and transportation sectors.
Yunnan	Take all effective measures to reduce carbon intensity, control greenhouse gas emissions and increase forest and ecosystem carbon sinks. We will actively participate in the construction of the national carbon emission trading market and plan scientifically for achieving carbon peaking and carbon neutrality.
Tibet	Accelerate the large-scale development of clean energy and form a comprehensive energy system with clean energy as the main energy and oil, gas, and other new energy sources complementary. Accelerate research and pilot projects on PV+energy storage and develop the solar-wind hybrid generation system to make clean energy development and electrification of Tibet top-ranked nationwide. By 2025, Tibet will establish a national demonstration zone for the utilization of clean and renewable energy.
Shannxi	The quality of the ecological environment will continue to improve, and green transformation of production and lifestyle will progress to make Shannxi greener, the water cleaner, and the sky bluer.
Gansu	Seize the opportunities of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality and promote energy revolution to accelerate the development of green integrated energy bases and build a national modern comprehensive energy production base, storage base, export base and strategic channel. We will continue to take the ecological industry as the main focus for transforming the growth model and adjusting the economic structure. Through this, we will promote the ecological development of industry and industrialization of ecological agriculature so as to transform ecological value into economic value. We will accelerate the development of green finance, and promote all-around green and low-carbon development.
Qinghai	Establish carbon peaking goals and pathways. Promote green energy revolution to develop solar PV, wind, solar thermal, geothermal and other new energy, and cultivate major pillar industries with advantages in scale, efficiency, and market to build Qinghai into an important national new energy industrial base.
Ningxia	Formulate an action plan of carbon peaking and promote to achieve synergies and co-benefits in reducing pollution and carbon emissions. The whole chain of the clean energy industry will be developed. Adhere to the direction of industrial parks and large-scale development, focus on new energy industries such as wind, solar and hydrogen energy, build comprehensive demonstration zones of new energy with high standards. By 2025, the installed capacity of new-energy power will reach 40 million KW.
Xinjiang	By the end of the 14th Five-year Plan period, the installed capacity of renewable energy in Xinjiang will reach 82.4 million KW, making Xinjiang an important clean energy base in China. Based on the actual energy resources of Xinjiang, we will actively plan and promote the work of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality to promote green and low-carbon development.