Climate smart development in Asia: Transition to low carbon and climate resilient economies

The future of China, India and Asia's other emerging economies and their ability to take a 'low-carbon' and 'climate-resilient' development path will determine the future of global carbon emissions and climate change. Indeed, the battle to confront global climate change will be won or lost in Asia. The transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient economy (LCE), which involves many steps towards improved energy efficiency, alternative energy sources and transport systems, sustainable land use, eco-friendly consumption and proactive adaptation, may be regarded as the world's fourth revolution, after the industrial revolution, agricultural revolution, and the information revolution. Asia is highly vulnerable to impacts of climate change. Yet because of its dynamic economies and massive populations, Asia offers the greatest opportunity for overcoming the trade-offs and pursuing low-carbon development pathways. With a growing consensus that there is limited time to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, scientists, engineers, policymakers, and economists across Asia have recently begun discussions on how Asia can make a transition to LCE. Most discussions, however, focused on transfer of technologies from developed to developing countries and overlooked other equally important challenges such as financing, governance, and information dissemination. This book is the first to look at these neglected aspects of LCE and attempt to integrate both market-based and technology-based solutions into a comprehensive strategy to creating a roadmap for LCE in Asia. The introductory section defines LCE and examines both conceptual and practical issues that will need to be addressed to realize LCE in Asia. The second section presents case studies from China, India, Japan and Taiwan to illustrate the potential and challenges for transitioning to a LCE. The third section focuses on key enabling conditions, such as technology, financing and governance including information dissemination, which are crucial to make further progress in transforming Asian societies. Themes and sectors addressed range from transport and power generation to finance and urban governance to the potential for carbon capture and storage. A final section looks at the different pathways available in Asia for making a rapid transition towards LCE, where further research is needed and what mechanisms can lead to the revolutionary changes in the current energy structures, economic development models and human behaviour necessary to achieve objectives that impact billions of people and the global climate. This book is essential reading for economists, policy makers and governments, engineers and researchers concerned with climate change, energy production and development in Asia and the impacts and potential for the world.

Foreword Hironori Hamanaka Part 1: Introduction 1. Low Carbon Climate-Resilient Economies (LCE) in Asia: An Overview Ancha Srinivasan, Frank Hiroshi Ling and Hideyuki Mori Part 2: Case Studies 2. The Potential for Low Carbon Climate-Resilient Economy (LCE) in JapanFrank Hiroshi Ling and Junichi Fujino 3. The Potential for LCE in India Surender Kumar and Shunsuke Managi 4. Challenges and Opportunities for LCE in China: A Case Study of Policies for Wind Development Xiaomei Tan and Brett Rose 5. LCE in Indonesia: A Review of National Programs for GHG Emissions Mitigation and Climate Resilience Frank Hiroshi Ling and Ancha Srinivasan 6. The Potential for Voluntary Approaches to Realize a Low Carbon Economy: Private-Public Partnerships in Taiwan Ju-Han Zoe Wang and Wen-Cheng Hu Part 3: Enabling Conditions 7. Technologies for transition to LCE: A case study of CCS in Asia Frank Hiroshi Ling, Xiangyang Xu and Ancha Srivinasan 8. Financing the Low-carbon Energy Sector in the Context of Post-2012 Climate Regime Negotiations Kentaro Tamura and Koji Fukuda 9. Enabling the Transition to a Low Carbon Climate Resilient Economy in Asian Cities: Drivers, Barriers and Solutions Heike Schroeder, Jun Li, Harriet Bulkeley, Carine Barbier, Jimin Zhao, Michel Colombier, Shu Yi Chu and Shibani Ghosh 10. Policy Frameworks and Climate Feedbacks for LCE: The Case of Hydropower Yadu Nath Pokhrel, Taikan Oki and Shinjiro Kanae 11. Bioenergy Deployment for a Low Carbon Climate Resilient Economy: Biogas for Cooking in India H.N. Chanakya and P. Balachandra Part 4: The Way Forward 12. LCE in Asia: Looking Back to Move Forward Ancha Srivinasan and Frank Hiroshi Ling