China's carbon stocks and the future perspective of international cooperation on the CDM

This paper assesses, in the context of Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol, the potential, through international co-operation under the clean development mechanism (CDM), for reducing carbon emissions in China. The potential average carbon emission reduction per year is about 49.92 Mt The potential total average carbon emission reduction is about 1949 Mt. This paper studies and compares possible fields in China for co-operative CDM projects including: renewable energy, energy efficiency, nuclear energy, and fuel switching. The main conclusion is that the energy efficiency area is the most promising for CDM projects in China in the short-term. There is a large potential for carbon storage in China through LULUCF (land use, land use change and forest) projects, but even if use of such projects is ratified at COP6 (the Sixth Conferenceof Parties) these will not become a dominant area for co-operative CDM initiatives in China in the short-term.