Climate change: national and local policy opportunities in China

Abstract

Climate change poses many severe threats to China. This aggravates the existing vulnerability of China and is a serious challenge for the Chinese government. Adaptation programmes and projects are being developed and implemented at national and local level. Although mitigation is not a priority, it has been explicitly integrated into national and local development plans. This paper addresses the question: What is the policy space for climate change mitigation and adaptation policy at national and local level and what is already being done? It examines national policies, the division of responsibility with local level and then looks at three case studies at local level: Beijing, Guangdong and Shanghai. These case studies confirm that integrating mitigation into local development policy can reduce the rate of growth of GHGs and pollutants at local level, but that finance remains a big constraint.