by XIAOYING YOU
Since China’s president Xi Jinping announced that China would peak carbon emissions “before 2030” and achieve carbon neutrality “before 2060” in September 2020, China’s climate agenda has attracted much attention from around the world.
International diplomats, academics, journalists and analysts alike are keen to find out how China – currently, the world’s largest carbon dioxide (CO2) emitter – plans to translate its ambition into action, a process that is key to the world’s fight against climate change.
China is driven by a top-down political system, with the central government setting out key targets, policies and plans in major areas on a national level. There is a widespread idea that this could smooth – or even guarantee – the path of policy implementation.
However, during the implementation of policies, provincial-level governments are “really important because they are like power brokers in the process of deciding how things go from general statements to actual action”, an expert tells Carbon Brief.
In China, provincial-level governments sit one level lower than the central government – which looks after the whole country – and are peers with national ministries in the governing ranking.
China’s complex governing structure means that its local governments are “more important than many would think”, another expert says.
In this analysis, Carbon Brief explains the features of different regions in China, how they are governed by the central government and the importance of provincial-level governments in the country’s pursuit of its climate goals.
Due to the scope of the statistics Carbon Brief has collected, this article looks at the 31 provincial-level jurisdictions on mainland China. They exclude Hong Kong and Macau, which are China’s special administrative regions and have separate regional governing structures.
- What provinces does China have?
- How much CO2 do Chinese provinces emit?
- What is provinces’ role in China’s climate policymaking?
- How is China governed?
- Why are provinces important?
- How can provinces affect energy transition?
What provinces does China have?
It is hard to overestimate China’s role in the global climate change agenda.
Covering roughly the same landmass as the US, or twice the size of all EU countries combined, China is the world’s most populous country, the second largest economy and the largest current CO2 emitter – being responsible for around 30% of worldwide emissions in 2021.
Domestically, subnational efforts are key to China’s overall drive towards carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, various experts tell Carbon Brief.
Carbon Brief for more