Incorporation of Environmental Considerations in Energy Planning in the People’s Republic of China

The report analyzes China's energy system, which was heavily coal-dependent in 1990, and projects environmental loadings up to 2020. It compares a Business-As-Usual (BAU) scenario with two enhanced environmental scenarios, demonstrating that while BAU leads to significant increases in SO2 and CO2 emissions, targeted policy interventions in energy mix, efficiency, and clean coal technology can mitigate these impacts. The study recommends shifting toward hydropower, nuclear power, and natural gas, alongside the implementation of pollution levies and integrated planning to achieve sustainable development.

• In 1990, coal was the dominant energy source in China, accounting for 76.19% of primary energy consumption. Coal combustion was the primary driver of air pollution, contributing 95.71% of SO2 emissions, 98.83% of smoke dust, and 87.20% of CO2 emissions.
• Under the Business-As-Usual (BAU) scenario, pollutant emissions are projected to grow significantly by 2020. SO2 emissions are expected to rise from 16.23 million tons in 1990 to 35.52 million tons, while CO2 emissions are projected to increase from 650 million tons to 1.64 billion tons of carbon equivalent.
• Enhanced environmental scenarios demonstrate the potential to reduce the share of coal in the primary energy supply by 2020. Scenario II, the most optimistic, would reduce coal's proportion from 64% in the BAU scenario to 55.1%, while increasing the shares of hydropower to 9.49% and nuclear power to 7.28%.
• The study identifies several cost-effective mitigation options for reducing SO2 emissions. The lowest cost option is shifting high-quality coal from utility to industrial boilers in urban areas (117 Yuan per ton of SO2 reduced), followed by switching to washed coal (400 Yuan) and improving honeycomb briquette stoves (572 Yuan).
• The report argues that fundamentally solving environmental issues requires improving the primary energy production mix by developing hydropower and nuclear power and expanding imports of oil and natural gas.
• To ensure the implementation of energy policies, the report recommends a combination of legal, economic, and administrative instruments. This includes implementing a 'pollution levy fee system' where charges are marginally higher than the cost of pollution control, and establishing CO2 taxes and environmental resource compensation within 3-5 years.
• The study emphasizes the need for an integrated energy-environment planning system that incorporates environmental damage costs and resource compensation into the cost of energy production to balance economic growth with ecological protection.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (1995). Incorporation of Environmental Considerations in Energy Planning in the People’s Republic of China. https://leap.sei.org/documents/ChinaUNEPNEPA.pdf

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Incorporation of Environmental Considerations in Energy Planning in the People’s Republic of China. 1995. https://leap.sei.org/documents/ChinaUNEPNEPA.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Incorporation of Environmental Considerations in Energy Planning in the People’s Republic of China |date=November 1995 |url=https://leap.sei.org/documents/ChinaUNEPNEPA.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute1995incorporation, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Incorporation of Environmental Considerations in Energy Planning in the People’s Republic of China}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {1995}, month = nov, url = {https://leap.sei.org/documents/ChinaUNEPNEPA.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }