Study on Feasible Carbon Reduction Paths Based on CO2 Abatement Cost Curve

Abstract

Estimation of CO2 abatement costs is a critical issue in achieving the targets of carbon emission reduction of China while promoting the economic growth. This paper builds an objective programming model to estimate the China’s marginal CO2 abatement costs during 2020-2030. We designed six different mitigation strategies based on China’s 60-65 percent carbon intensity reduction target by 2030 and investigated the total economic-wide cost of these strategies. The results show that the non-equal increasing strategies will significantly increase the overall cumulative carbon dioxide emission reduction and reduce the overall cost compared to the non-equal decreasing strategies and equal amount strategies.