Low Carbon Development

Local level actions and leadership are crucial for achieving national energy-saving or greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets. Local level actions can also assist in proving the effectiveness of new policies or initiatives by demonstrating them at a smaller scale. It is often also shown that innovative policies or practices can be relatively easily implemented at the local level because of the reduced scale and the possibility of exemption from some national legislative bureaucracy. Following success at the local level, pilot policies or practices can be replicated to other localities or expanded to a national program. The China Energy Group has published a development guide, an indicator system, and a strategy booklet on low carbon city development for local governments, and various tools have also been developed to assist low carbon development planning and development.