Emissions, Pollutants and Environmental Policy in China: Designing a National Emissions Trading System

As the world’s biggest polluter, the environmental challenges that China faces in controlling its airborne emissions are crucial, not only to its own population in terms of tackling the severe domestic air pollution, but also to the planet as it faces calls from the international community to accept its responsibilities in cutting greenhouse gases.

Deteriorating air quality clearly shows that China’s current environmental regime is unsuited to either tackle the rampant domestic air pollution or contribute fairly to international climate action. As such, this book explores the feasibility of applying a national emissions trading system to control multiple air pollutants in China. It begins with an outline of the existing emissions management system and goes onto explore whether a national emissions trading system is a viable choice to combat China’s conventional air pollutants. To this end, there is an in-depth analysis of the two pilot sulphur dioxide emissions trading programs in Taiyuan and Jiangsu, as well as an examination of emissions trading schemes in the US and EU. Finally, the book discusses the key design elements of a multi-pollutant cap-and-trade scheme that addresses both conventional air pollutants and greenhouse gasses.

This book will be of great interest to students and scholars interested in the fields of environmental studies, Chinese politics and environmental law. It will also be invaluable to policy makers in the field.

Bo Miao is Assistant Professor in the Department of Asian and International Studies at the City University of Hong Kong.