How Ambitious are China and India's Emissions Intensity Targets?

David Stern and Frank Jotzo

Environmental Economics Research Hub Research Reports from Environmental Economics Research Hub, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University

Abstract: Several developing economies have announced carbon emissions targets for 2020 as part of the negotiating process for a post-Kyoto climate policy regime. China and India¹s commitments are framed as reductions in the emissions intensity of the economy by 40-45% and 20-25% respectively between 2005 and 2020. How feasible are the proposed reductions in emissions intensity for China and India, and how do they compare with the targeted reductions in the US and the EU? In this paper, we use a stochastic frontier model of energy intensity to decompose energy intensity into input and output mix, climate, and a residual technology variable. We use the model to produce emissions projections for China and India under a number of scenarios regarding the pace of technological change and changes in the share of non-fossil energy. We find that China is likely to need to adopt ambitious carbon mitigation policies in order to achieve its stated target, and that its targeted reductions in emissions intensity are on par with those implicit in the US and EU targets. India¹s target is less ambitious, and might be met with only limited or even no dedicated mitigation policies.

Keywords: carbon emissions; climate change; developing countries; projections (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q54 Q56 Q58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cwa, nep-ene and nep-env
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Related works:
Journal Article: How ambitious are China and India's emissions intensity targets? (2010)
Working Paper: How Ambitious are China and India’s Emissions Intensity Targets? (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:een:eenhrr:1051

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