Chinese local officials in Baoding discuss with Japanese counterparts existing energy efficiency measures and mechanisms.

Challenge

Rapid industrialization and urbanization has led to increasing energy consumption and escalating greenhouse gas emis-sions across Asia, including in Japan and in the People’s Republic of China. Both countries have made continuous efforts to promote energy conservation and efficiency. In China, the Law on Energy Conservation (LEC), adopted in 1997 and revised in 2007, provides mechanisms and incentives to ensure energy efficiency targets are met. Effective implementation and enforcement of the LEC remains a national priority, however, as China works to strengthen the capacity of national and local authorities.

Initiative

Under the Asian Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Network (AECEN) twinning program, China’s Ministry of Envi-ronmental Protection (MEP) and Japan’s Ministry of Environment (MOE) established a bilateral dialogue to identify new institutional mechanisms and capacity building tools to support local Chinese regulatory agencies in better implementing the LEC. Facilitated by Japan’s Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), the Chinese Society of Environmental Scientists (CSES) and Tsinghua University, the partnership linked officials from Shanghai, Baoding and Dunhuang, China with counterparts in Kawasaki City, Japan to identify capacity challenges and solutions.

Results

Through technical exchange, site visits and city consultations, counterparts from Dunhuang and Kawasaki City identified new strategies and approaches for reducing urban and industrial energy consumption. Partners are consolidating best practices into a new training manual for officials and staff within the responsible local agencies. Subject to feedback from stakeholders, the manual will be piloted in a selected municipality, and then disseminated and replicated in other cities across China by Tsinghua University.