Comprehensive analysis on China’s National Climate Change Assessment Reports: Action and emphasis

Abstract

Climate change assessment is central for low-carbon management practice. This paper investigates China’s National Climate Change Assessment Reports of 2007, 2011, and 2015. These three reports are compared with other climate change assessment reports by data mining. The necessity of national climate change assessment is analyzed with the requirements at home and abroad. The latest progress surrounding climate change impacts, adaptation, and mitigation is outlined with the increasing temperature rise in China and the urgency of climate change commitments. The achievements in climate change assessment indicate the increasing climate change vulnerability on sectors and regions in China and the strategies and priorities for low-carbon actions. Distinct gaps and differences are identified in the coverage of industry, regions, and vulnerability assessment between our assessments and other evaluation reports. These gaps and differences demonstrate the importance and future improvements of China’s national climate change assessment in international climate governance. The outlook for China’s fourth assessment report is proposed.

Keywords

climate change assessment / low-carbon management / impact / adaptation / mitigation

References

[1] Cellura M, Cusenza M A, Longo S (2018). Energy-related GHG emissions balances: IPCC versus LCA. Science of the Total Environment, 628-629: 1328–1339

[2] Corbera E, Calvet-Mir L, Hughes H, Paterson M (2016). Patterns of authorship in the IPCC Working Group III report. Nature Climate Change, 6(1): 94–99

[3] Ding Y H, Ren G Y, Shi G Y, Gong P, Zhen X H, Zhai P M, Zhang D E, Zhao Z C, Wang S W, Wang H J, Luo Y, Chen D L, Gao X J, Dai X S (2006). National assessment report of climate change (I): Climate change in China and its future trend. Advances in Climate Change Research, 2(1): 3–8

[4] Drouet L, Bosetti V, Tavoni M (2015). Selection of climate policies under the uncertainties in the Fifth Assessment Report of the IPCC. Nature Climate Change, 5(10): 937–940

[5] Du X W (2014). Energy revolution for sustainable future. Journal of Beijing Institute of Technology (Social Science), 24: 1–4

[6] He J K (2011). Energy development and addressing climate change in China. China Population Resources and Environment, 21(10): 40–48

[7] Howarth C, Viner D, Dessai S, Rapley C, Jones A (2017). Enhancing the contribution and role of practitioner knowledge in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group (WG) II process: Insights from UK workshops. Climate Services, 5: 3–10

[8] Hughes H R, Paterson M (2017). Narrowing the climate field: The symbolic power of authors in the IPCC’s assessment of mitigation. Review of Policy Research, 34(6): 744–766

[9] IPCC (2013). Climate Change 2013—The Physical Science Basis: Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In: Stocker T F, Qin D, Plattner G K, Tignor M, Allen S K, Boschung J, Nauels A, Xia Y, Bex and Midgley P M, eds. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press

[10] Lin E D, Xu Y L, Jiang J H, Li Y E, Yang X, Zhang J Y, Li C X, Wu S H, Zhao Z Q, Wu J G, Ju H, Yan C R, Wang S R, Liu Y F, Du B L, Zhao C Y, Qin B F, Liu C Z, Huang C Y, Zhang X Q, Ma S M (2006). National assessment report of climate change (II): Climate change impacts and adaptation. Advances in Climate Change Research, 2(2): 51–56

[11] Mahony M, Beck S (2017). The IPCC and the politics of anticipation. Nature Climate Change, 7(5): 311–313

[12] Mi Z, Meng J, Green F, Coffman D M, Guan D (2018). China’s “exported carbon” peak: Patterns, drivers, and implications. Geophysical Research Letters, 45(9): 4309–4318

[13] Mi Z F, Wei Y M, Wang B, Meng J, Liu Z, Shan Y, Liu J, Guan D (2017a). Socioeconomic impact assessment of China’s CO₂ emissions peak prior to 2030. Journal of Cleaner Production, 142: 2227–2236

[14] Mi Z, Meng J, Guan D, Shan Y, Song M, Wei Y M, Liu Z, Hubacek K (2017b). Chinese CO₂ emission flows have reversed since the global financial crisis. Nature Communications, 8(1): 1712

[15] O’Neill B C, Oppenheimer M, Warren R, Hallegatte S, Kopp R E, Pörtner H O, Scholes R, Birkmann J, Foden W, Licker R, Mach K J, Marbaix P, Mastrandrea M D, Price J, Takahashi K, van Ypersele J P, Yohe G (2017). IPCC reasons for concern regarding climate change risks. Nature Climate Change, 7(1): 28–37

[16] State Council of China (2015). Enhanced actions on climate change: China’s intended nationally determined contributions. 2015–09–18

[17] The Administrative Center for China’s Agenda 21 (2014). Assessment Report on CCS Technology in China. Beijing: Science Press

[18] The First National Assessment Report on Climate Change Editorial Committee (2006). First National Assessment Report on Climate Change. Beijing: Science Press

[19] The Second National Assessment Report on Climate Change Editorial Committee (2011). Second National Assessment Report on Climate Change. Beijing: Science Press

[20] The Third National Assessment Report on Climate Change Editorial Committee (2015). Third National Assessment Report on Climate Change. Beijing: Science Press

[21] UK Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (2012). UK Climate Change Risk Assessment: Government Report 2012. 2015–09–18

[22] UK Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (2017). UK climate change risk assessment 2017. 2018–04–18

[23] US Global Change Research Program (2000). Climate change impacts on the United States: The potential consequences of climate variability and change.2015–09–20

[24] US Global Change Research Program (2009). Global climate change impacts in the United States: The second national climate assessment.2015–09–20

[25] US Global Change Research Program (2014). Climate change impacts in the United States: The third national climate assessment. 2015–09–20

[26] Wang B, Ke R Y, Yuan X C, Wei Y M (2014a). China’s regional assessment of renewable energy vulnerability to climate change. Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 40: 185–195

[27] Wang B, Liang X J, Zhang H, Wang L, Wei Y M (2014b). Vulnerability of hydropower generation to climate change in China: Results based on Grey forecasting model. Energy Policy, 65: 701–707

[28] Wang B, Mi Z F, Nistor I, Yuan X C (2018a). How does hydrogen-based renewable energy change with economic development? Empirical evidence from 32 countries. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 43(25): 11629–11638

[29] Wang B, Wang Q, Wei Y M, Li Z (2018b). Role of renewable energy in China’s energy security and climate change mitigation: An index decomposition analysis. Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 90: 187–194

[30] Wei Y M, Wu G, Liang Q M, Liao H (2012). China Energy Report: Energy Security Research. Beijing: Science Press (in Chinese)

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019