{"id":55579,"date":"2021-07-08T15:13:25","date_gmt":"2021-07-08T14:13:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/?post_type=publication&#038;p=55579"},"modified":"2024-08-16T12:29:06","modified_gmt":"2024-08-16T11:29:06","slug":"the-economic-case-for-chinas-sustainable-urban-transformation","status":"publish","type":"publication","link":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/publication\/the-economic-case-for-chinas-sustainable-urban-transformation\/","title":{"rendered":"The economic case for China\u2019s sustainable urban transformation"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<?xml encoding=\"UTF-8\"><p><em>Author: Jasmine Tillu<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-large\">The low-carbon transformation of China&rsquo;s urban areas is a crucial action towards meeting the Paris Agreement&rsquo;s temperature goal. In this policy insight, Jasmine Tillu presents the economic case for this transformation. An accompanying insight, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/publication\/financing-chinas-sustainable-urban-transformation\">Financing China&rsquo;s sustainable urban transformation<\/a><\/em>, is also available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Main messages<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>There is a strong economic case for transforming the development trajectory of China&rsquo;s cities. Urban infrastructure investments and spatial policies that drive development towards <strong>&lsquo;clean, compact and connected&rsquo; (CCC) cities<\/strong> can generate vast economic rewards and bring long-lasting environmental and social benefits.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Polluted, inefficient and congested cities will not only undermine China&rsquo;s carbon neutrality goals, but also diminish the country&rsquo;s economic growth potential and further expose urban areas to the environmental risks of climate change.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>China&rsquo;s 14th Five-Year Plan emphasises that the country must continue to pursue its human-centric &lsquo;new urbanisation&rsquo; strategy to guide the development of its cities, recognising the importance of cities to China&rsquo;s future economic and ecological goals, and is aligned with the CCC cities framework.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>CCC cities have both benefits that are measurable and others that are not so easy to quantify but are equally important to China&rsquo;s economy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The benefits of reduced infrastructure spending, productivity gains from reduced commuting time, and jobs created from low-carbon urban investments, for example, can be measured.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Those not immediately found on a ledger include increased innovation potential due to agglomeration effects, and far-reaching positive impacts for the wellbeing and health of urban residents.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Further, an urban development model based on CCC cities creates an opportunity for China to secure market competitiveness in resource-efficient solutions and innovations central to the future global low-carbon economy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Made rapidly, strategic investments and supportive measures for CCC cities can also support a national carbon dioxide emissions peak by 2025, a target some climate economists have suggested is necessary to place China on a viable pathway to reach carbon neutrality by 2060.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Recommendations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Embed the 14th Five-Year Plan&rsquo;s human-centric &lsquo;new urbanisation strategy&rsquo; into the centre of forthcoming sectoral and municipal implementation plans.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Include and prioritise robust indicators within the municipal government performance system that reflect and encourage adherence to the &lsquo;new urbanisation strategy&rsquo;.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ensure a holistic cost-benefit analysis that is consistent with principles of the &lsquo;new urbanisation strategy&rsquo; is carried out on urban infrastructure projects.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Improve the international competitiveness of Chinese cities by systematically benchmarking their sustainable urban development progress against global peers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Incentivise low-carbon urban development by assigning specific verifiable emission reduction responsibilities and prioritise city-level carbon inventory systems.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity aligncenter\">\n\n\n\n<p>Jasmine Tillu is a Policy Fellow at the Grantham Research Institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This policy insight is based on Chapter 2 of the report <a href=\"https:\/\/urbantransitions.global\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Accelerating_Chinas_Urban_Transition_EN_WEB.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Accelerating China&rsquo;s urban transition: Priority actions for high-quality growth and enhancing leadership for carbon neutrality<\/em><\/a>, the production of which was led by the Grantham Research Institute, the World Resources Institute (USA) Beijing Representative Office, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and Tsinghua University. <em>Accelerating China&rsquo;s urban transition<\/em> represents the culmination of a multi-year research programme from the Coalition for Urban Transitions&rsquo; China Country Programme.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<?xml encoding=\"UTF-8\"><p>The low-carbon transformation of China&rsquo;s urban areas is a crucial action towards meeting the Paris Agreement&rsquo;s temperature goal. In this policy insight, Jasmine Tillu presents the economic case for this transformation.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":55595,"template":"","tags":[154,388,802,896],"publication-type":[1682],"topic_area":[4706],"class_list":["post-55579","publication","type-publication","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-china","tag-green-economy","tag-low-carbon-economy","tag-low-carbon-transition","publication-type-policy-publications","topic_area-major-emitting-countries"],"acf":{"exclude_from_sync":{"ref_value":"field_560538b0e7350","value":"1","type":false,"post_type":""},"downloads":{"ref_value":"field_52f16cc1a80f2","value":["https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Economic-case-for-Chinas-sustainable-urban-transformation.pdf"],"type":"download","post_type":""},"rss_newsletter":{"ref_value":"field_54f5c2c1544d8","value":"","type":false,"post_type":""},"profile_link":{"ref_value":"field_52f164b5189e9","value":["the-economic-case-for-chinas-sustainable-urban-transformation"],"type":"relationship","post_type":""},"spotlight":{"ref_value":"field_52f80896506d3","value":"","type":false,"post_type":""},"show_translations_widget":{"ref_value":"field_6203d588c41e8","value":"1","type":false,"post_type":""}},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The economic case for China\u2019s sustainable urban transformation - Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The low-carbon transformation of China\u2019s urban areas is a crucial action towards meeting the Paris Agreement\u2019s temperature goal. 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