Beijing’s carbon emissions reduced by 2018

Beijing’s Clean Air Plan will reduce the city’s carbon emissions by 20 million t by 2018, according to Thomson Reuters Point Carbon.

This reduction will make considerable progress towards recommended air quality levels in the Chinese capital. Beijing has published a plan to reduce its air pollution by 25% lower than 2012 levels by 2017, in order to address the city’s air pollution problems.

Emission reductions

Hongliang Chai, analyst at Thomson Reuters Point Carbon, commented: “The lion’s share of reductions in carbon emissions will need to come from the city’s Heat and Power sectors switching from coal to gas, with industrial shutdowns also likely to contribute to emissions reductions.

“We estimate that 3.69 billion m³ of gas will be needed by 2015 – and 5.35 billion m3 by 2018 – to replace coal in the city’s Power and Gas sectors. This means the city will need to increase more than half of its 2013 gas consumption within five years. This extra 5.35 billion m³ demanded by the capital alone equates to 10% of China’s total gas import, or one-fifth of the country’s total liquefied natural gas (LNG) import in 2013.

Air quality targets

“If pollution reduction policies from Beijing’s Energy and Industrial sectors underperform, we expect the city policymakers will close additional industrial facilities in order to meet China’s overall air quality targets.”

Industrial shutdowns

In addition to switching to cleaner fuel in the Power and Heat sectors, shutdowns in the Industrial and Cement industries will have a significant impact on the city’s goal to reduce air pollutions. Beijing will cut more than half of its 2012 cement output of nearly 9 million t to 4 million t in 2017. According to Thomson Reuters Point Carbon analysis, the carbon emission reductions from the cement industry will be 2 million t in 2018.

Chai concluded: “While Beijing and other regions have set ambitious clean air targets, China’s overall emissions will change little, even if policymakers meet their current five-year clean air plans. However given China’s near-perfect correlation between coal use and carbon emissions, new policies designed to improve air quality will have a sizeable positive impact on the climate.”

Adapted from press release by Katie Woodward

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/asia-pacific-rim/13032014/beijing_to_cut_emissions_by_2018/