Evaluation on the Green and Low-Carbon Development in Chinese Cities

Abstract

AbstractThis paper evaluates the performance of 169 Chinese cities in 2017 using the Green and Low-carbon City Evaluation Index (the Low-carbon Index) developed by the Research Institute for Eco-civilization of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The evaluation finds that: first, most cities improved their green and low-carbon development levels and seven of them even scored 90 points or above; second, after years of implementation of the low-carbon pilot program, low-carbon pilot cities scored higher than non-pilot cities in the Low-carbon Index, and most of the top-ranking cities in the four city groups were low-carbon pilots; third, industrial cities differed from each other the most in terms of low-carbon development level; fourth, cities in eastern China outperformed western and central cities. At the end of this paper, the evaluation team puts forward suggestions to promote low-carbon development: first, low-carbon pilot reform should be further pushed ahead with more city-specific guidance provided to pilot cities; second, a low-carbon evaluation index system should be developed to further encourage low-carbon development; third, a synergy should be created between low-carbon development and quality regional development; fourth, the accounting system should be improved to cover all urban energy consumption and carbon emissions.KeywordsGreen and low-carbon developmentPerformance assessmentUrban development