The talk with present the key results of the IPCC Working Group III 5th assessment report. Concluding four years of intense scientific collaboration by hundreds of authors from around the world, the report responds to the request of the world's governments for a comprehensive, objective and policy neutral assessment of the current scientific knowledge on mitigating climate change. The report has been extensively reviewed by experts and governments to ensure quality and comprehensiveness.

Climate change 2014 - Mitigation of climate change

Framework Convention on Climate Change

Environment Kuznets curve for CO2 emissions: A cointegration analysis for China

To overcome the negative impacts on the environment and other problems associated with fossil fuels have forced many countries to inquire into and change to environmental friendly alternatives that are renewable to sustain the increasing energy demand. Solar energy is one of the best renewable energy sources with least negative impacts on the environment. Different countries have formulated solar energy policies to reducing dependence on fossil fuel and increasing domestic energy production by solar energy. This paper discusses a review about the different solar energy policies implemented on the different countries of the world. According to the 2010 BP Statistical Energy Survey, the world cumulative installed solar energy capacity was 22928.9 MW in 2009, a change of 46.9% compared to 2008. Also this paper discussed the existing successful solar energy policies of few selected countries. Based on literatures, it has been found that FIT, RPS and incentives are the most beneficial energy policies implemented by many countries around the world. These policies provide significant motivation and interest for the development and use of renewable energy technologies. Also the status of solar energy policy for Malaysia is investigated and compared with that of the successful countries in the world.

A review on global solar energy policy

The Global Energy Assessment (GEA) brings together over 300 international researchers to provide an independent, scientifically based, integrated and policy-relevant analysis of current and emerging energy issues and options. It has been peer-reviewed anonymously by an additional 200 international experts. The GEA assesses the major global challenges for sustainable development and their linkages to energy; the technologies and resources available for providing energy services; future energy systems that address the major challenges; and the policies and other measures that are needed to realize transformational change toward sustainable energy futures. The GEA goes beyond existing studies on energy issues by presenting a comprehensive and integrated analysis of energy chalenges, opportunities and strategies, for developing, industrialized and emerging economies. This volume is a invaluable resource for energy specialists and technologists in all sectors (academia, industry and government) as well as policymakers, development economists and practitioners in international organizations and national governments.

Global Energy Assessment: Toward a Sustainable Future

The costs for solar photovoltaics, wind, and battery storage have dropped markedly since 2010, however, many recent studies and reports around the world have not adequately captured such dramatic decrease. Those costs are projected to decline further in the near future, bringing new prospects for the widespread penetration of renewables and extensive power-sector decarbonization that previous policy discussions did not fully consider. Here we show if cost trends for renewables continue, 62% of China's electricity could come from non-fossil sources by 2030 at a cost that is 11% lower than achieved through a business-as-usual approach. Further, China's power sector could cut half of its 2015 carbon emissions at a cost about 6% lower compared to business-as-usual conditions.

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Rapid cost decrease of renewables and storage accelerates the decarbonization of China’s power system

The reality and future scenarios of commercial building energy consumption in China

This report provides a detailed, bottom-up analysis of energy consumption in China. It recalibrates official Chinese government statistics by reallocating primary energy into categories more commonly used in international comparisons. It also provides an analysis of trends in sectoral energy consumption over the past decades. Finally, it assesses the future outlook for the critical period extending to 2020, based on assumptions of likely patterns of economic activity, availability of energy services, and energy intensities. The following are some highlights of the study's findings: * A reallocation of sector energy consumption from the 2000 official Chinese government statistics finds that: * Buildings account for 25 percent of primary energy, instead of 19 percent * Industry accounts for 61 percent of energy instead of 69 percent * Industrial energy made a large and unexpected leap between 2000-2005, growing by an astonishing 50 percent in the 3 years between 2002 and 2005. * Energy consumption in the iron and steel industry was 40 percent higher than predicted * Energy consumption in the cement industry was 54 percent higher than predicted * Overall energy intensity in the industrial sector grew between 2000 and 2003. This is largely due to internal shifts towards the most energy-intensive sub-sectors, an effect which more than counterbalances the impact of efficiency increases. * Industry accounted for 63 percent of total primary energy consumption in 2005 - it is expected to continue to dominate energy consumption through 2020, dropping only to 60 percent by that year. * Even assuming that growth rates in 2005-2020 will return to the levels of 2000-2003, industrial energy will grow from 42 EJ in 2005 to 72 EJ in 2020. * The percentage of transport energy used to carry passengers (instead of freight) will double from 37 percent to 52 percent between 2000 to 2020,. Much of this increase is due to private car ownership, which will increase by a factor of 15 from 5.1 million in 2000 to 77 million in 2020. * Residential appliance ownership will show signs of saturation in urban households. The increase in residential energy consumption will be largely driven by urbanization, since rural homes will continue to have low consumption levels. In urban households, the size of appliances will increase, but its effect will be moderated by efficiency improvements, partially driven by government standards. * Commercial energy increases will be driven both by increases in floor space and by increases in penetration of major end uses such as heating and cooling. These increases will be moderated somewhat, however, by technology changes, such as increased use of heat pumps. * China's Medium- and Long-Term Development plan drafted by the central government and published in 2004 calls for a quadrupling of GDP in the period from 2000-2020 with only a doubling in energy consumption during the same period. A bottom-up analysis with likely efficiency improvements finds that energy consumption will likely exceed the goal by 26.12 EJ, or 28 percent. Achievements of these goals will there fore require a more aggressive policy of encouraging energy efficiency.

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Energy Use in China: Sectoral Trends and Future Outlook

Has coal use peaked in China: Near-term trends in China's coal consumption

Author(s): Lin, J; Fridley, D; Lu, H; Price, L; Zhou, N | Abstract: Coal combustion to power China’s factories, generate electricity, and heat buildings has increased continually since energy use statistics were first published in 1981. From 2013 until 2015, however, this trend reversed and coal use continued to decline from 2,810 million metric tons of coal equivalent (Mtce) to 2,752 Mtce, leading to a levelling off of China’s overall CO2 emissions. Some analysts have declared that China’s coal consumption may have peaked, but preliminary data indicate that coal consumption increased in 2017. This recent growth, combined with our analysis of projected increases in electricity demand that cannot be met by other fossil-fuel or non-fossil-fuel electricity sources, along with projected increases in coal use in light manufacturing, other non-industrial sectors, as well as in coal use for transformation, indicates potential future growth of China’s coal use to levels of 2,908 Mtce to 3,060 Mtce in 2020, with associated increases in energy-related CO2 emissions.

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Jiang Lin

Papers

Rapid cost decrease of renewables and storage accelerates the decarbonization of China’s power system

The reality and future scenarios of commercial building energy consumption in China

Energy Use in China: Sectoral Trends and Future Outlook

Has coal use peaked in China: Near-term trends in China's coal consumption

Near-term trends in China's coal consumption