The Evolution of Biodiesel Policies in China over the Period 2000–2019

Chao-Chen Chung,Yixuan Wang,Lina Liu,Yapeng Zhang,Ziji Wei

doi:10.3390/pr8080948

Abstract

The Chinese government launched policies supporting biodiesel production and innovation to meet sustainable energy demands under rapid economic and social development. This study systematically investigates the dynamic transitions of biodiesel policies in China regarding policy contents and policy networks. We performed a content analysis in this study and used NVivo12 software to support the analysis process. The results highlighted some issues. First, the Chinese government supported the development of biodiesel from multiple policy objectives and adopted various policy instruments, eventually transforming biodiesel in China from the first- to second-generation. Second, the State Council was the main institution to promote biodiesel policies, and the National Development and Reform Commission under the State Council burdened most of the responsibilities of policy implementation. Most of the policies were issued at a lower level of administration rather than a higher level of decision-making. Biodiesel policies in China were gradually detailed, and they constantly established a system of technology and product innovation.

Highlights

Biodiesel reduces using fossil fuels and considerably decreases the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) and became significant for renewable energy [1,2,3,4]
We set up two research questions: (1) How did biodiesel policies transit in China regarding policy objectives and policy instruments? (2) How did policy networks of biodiesel evolve through the transitions of the policies? The method of content analysis was adopted to survey the two research questions through the three phases of preparation, organization, and reporting of results to increase the trustworthiness of our study [16,17]
This article analyzed the transitions of biodiesel policies in China using the content analysis method

Summary

Introduction

Biodiesel reduces using fossil fuels and considerably decreases the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) and became significant for renewable energy [1,2,3,4]. Once the Kyoto Protocol ends in 2020, the Paris Agreement, which came into force in 2016, should continue strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change and keep the global average temperature well below 2 ◦ C above preindustrial levels. Under this agreement, both developed and newly industrialized countries were required to submit emissions reduction targets based on their nationally determined contributions [7]. National governments globally accelerated the production and innovation of biodiesel as a solution for reducing GHG emissions [8,9,10,11,12]

Methods

Results

Conclusion