China is the world's second largest CO2 emitter behind the U.S. To what extent China gets involved in combating global climate change is extremely important both for lowering compliance costs of climate mitigation and adaptation and for moving international climate negotiations forward. This...

As the world’s second largest carbon emitter, China has long been criticised as a “free-rider” enjoying benefits from other countries’ efforts to abate greenhouse gas emissions but not taking due responsibilities of its own. China has been singled out as one of the major targets at the...

This article examines whether a greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme has the potential to bring parties into conflict with the WTO provisions in dealing with the initial allocation of permits, non-compliance with emissions targets, emissions trading system enlargement, and trade measures...

As the first global carbon fund, the World Bank's Prototype Carbon Fund (PCF) aims to catalyze the market for project-based greenhouse gas emission reductions while promoting sustainable development and offering a learning-by-doing opportunity to its stakeholders. Since the inception in 1999,...

China has been the world’s second largest carbon emitter for years. Recent studies show that China had overtaken the U.S. as the world’s largest emitter in 2007. This has put China on the spotlight, just at a time when the world community starts negotiating a post-Kyoto climate regime under...

The Kyoto Protocol sets reduction targets to greenhouse gas emission levels in developed countries, including OECD and East European countries (the so-called Annex 1 Parties to the Climate Change Convention). The Kyoto Protocol gives Annex 1 countries considerable flexibility in the choice of...

The paper analyzes the macroeconomic effects of limiting China's CO2 emissions by using a time-recursive dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the Chinese economy. The baseline scenario for the Chinese economy over the period to 2010 is first developed under a set of assumptions...

Duke University organized the International Conference on Reconstructing Climate Policy: Moving Beyond the Kyoto Impasse, May 2003. The organizer invited me to specifically address the following two issues at the conference: 1) Whether is the proposal for joint accession by the U.S. and China in...

The Kyoto Protocol is the first international environmental agreement that sets legally binding greenhouse gas emissions targets and timetables for Annex I countries. It incorporates emissions trading and two project-based flexibility mechanisms, namely joint implementation and the clean...