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China's remarkable economic growth required dramatic growth of energy consumption and continuous changes in the nation's energy economy. The World Bank supported the efforts of the Chinese government to develop and revitalize the country's energy sector to meet the daunting challenges it faced while continuously warning that the unrestrained reliance on coal would lead to unsustainable stress on the local and global environment. In mid-1980s, the Chinese government and the World Bank embarked on a long and arduous journey to develop renewable energy (RE) to lessen the impacts on the environment and avoid excessive reliance on coal to alleviate the debilitating power shortages that constrained the economy. This paper focuses on the more than 40-year partnership with the World Bank along China's long journey to develop a large-scale, efficient, and competitive RE industry in the country and globally. While the projects supported by the World Bank and their role are highlighted in this paper, this support should only be seen as a catalyst. The remarkable development of renewable energy in China was primarily guided by the multiple Chinese authorities at the national, provincial, and county levels, implemented by the many public and private companies, and fueled by local financing institutions. The paper is structured along the four stages of RE development in China, which are detailed in a companion report. It highlights the key milestones of this partnership, its achievements, and challenges, detailing World Bank support and main activities that contributed to China's rise from a lagger to a leader.

Energy --- Hydro Power --- Hydropower --- Renewable Energy --- Solar Energy --- Windpower

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China has developed one of the most comprehensive and effective sets of energy efficiency policies and programs in the world. This has been an arduous task over decades, involving the government, businesses, and civil society. Although success has abounded in many areas, China's programs are not perfect, and the development process has often been one of improving, adjusting, and reinforcing. Some of the strengths of China's effort have been (a) good organization, (b) focus on overcoming implementation difficulties at local levels as well as development of national policies and programs, (c) an effective blending of market-based energy efficiency investment and service mechanisms with new law-based regulations, and (d) investments in institutional development to provide the foundation for long-term gains. The process, experience, and results of the 40-year effort provide an amazingly rich bank of lessons for other countries with aspirations for energy efficiency gains, which this report strives to describe. One of the most telling macro indicators of China's success is the reversal of a trend of increasing energy use per unit GDP beginning in 2006 and continuing thereafter, delinking growth in energy consumption from growth in GDP. Energy use per unit GDP had fallen during the 1980s and 1990s, in part due to energy conservation efforts but mainly due to economic structural change as China's economy began to mature. This changed in the early 2000s, however, as yet more rapid industrial growth brought increases in China's energy intensity. China's leadership recognized that this continued resource-intensive development over the long haul was physically almost impossible, economically inferior, and environmentally unacceptable. With calls to build a less resource-intensive society, the country sharply increased its efforts to improve energy efficiency, building on past programs and adding new ones in a comprehensive effort. The focus was on achieving results. The trend of increasing energy intensity was bent downward, and energy intensity began to decline again, even as rapid industrial and economic growth continued.

Energy --- Energy Demand --- Energy Efficiency --- Energy Policies and Economics --- Energy Sector Regulation

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Decision makers facing abatement targets need to decide which abatement measures to implement, and in which order. This paper investigates the ability of marginal abatement cost (MAC) curves to inform this decision, reanalysing a MAC curve developed by the World Bank on Brazil. Misinterpreting MAC curves and focusing on short-term targets (e.g., for 2020) would lead to under-invest in expensive, long-to-implement and large-potential options, such as clean transportation infrastructure. Meeting short-term targets with marginal energy-efficiency improvements would lead to carbon-intensive lock-ins that make longer-term targets (e.g., for 2030 and beyond) impossible or too expensive to reach. Improvements to existing MAC curves are proposed, based on (1) enhanced data collection and reporting; (2) a simple optimization tool that accounts for constraints on implementation speeds; and (3) new graphical representations of MAC curves. Designing climate mitigation policies can be done through a pragmatic combination of two approaches. The synergy approach is based on MAC curves to identify the cheapest mitigation options and maximize co-benefits. The urgency approach considers the long-term objective (e.g., halving emissions by 2050) and works backward to identify actions that need to be implemented early, such as public support to clean infrastructure and zero-carbon technologies.

Climate Change Economics --- Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases --- Climate Mitigation Policies --- Data Collection --- Energy --- Energy and Environment --- Energy Production and Transportation --- Energy-Efficiency Improvements --- Environment --- Environment and Energy Efficiency --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Marginal Abatement Cost --- Mitigation Strategies