National energy security, parallel with the ultimate goal of emissions reductions, is of utmost priority for the Chinese government. In order to comply with the requirements set by the Kyoto Protocol, the Chinese government announced, on 25 November 2009, that 2020’s CO2 emissions would be...

With the United States’ reentry to the Paris Agreement, there is now consensus among the world's largest carbon emitters that emissions must be reduced. But there is still a radical lack of consensus on what regulations should be chosen to reduce carbon. Worse, there is also a radical...

Electricity Decentralization in the European Union: Towards Zero Carbon and Energy Transition, Second Edition, examines progress in decentralization across the European Union (EU), with each chapter focusing on developments and innovations in a specific country. Sections provide an overview of...

The Chinese leadership in November 2013 determined to embark upon a new wave of comprehensive reforms in China. This is clearly reflected by the key decision of the Third Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of Communist Party of China to assign the market a decisive role in allocating...

To decarbonize the power sector, policy-makers need to commit to long-term credible rules for climate and energy policy. Otherwise, risk of opportunistic policy-making will impair investments into low-carbon technologies. However, the future benefits and costs of decarbonization are subject to...

In this paper, we investigate the effect of the state-level renewable heating mandate for existing homes in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany's third largest federal state. The mandate requires homeowners to supply at least 10 % of their heat demand with renewable energy when they replace their...