Policy Research @ HKIAPS

Environmental Planning & Sustainability

* Policy Research @ HKIAPS member
On Environmental Conservation
Evaluation of the environmental effectiveness and economic efficiency of incentive-based instruments for pollution control in China and Australia Investigators: Yuan Xu* (PI), Anatole Boute, Yan Xu, Hao Zhang, Tihomir Ancev, & Alastair Fraser Funding source: USyd-CUHK Partnership Collaboration Awards
Australia has used incentive based-mechanisms, such as environmental taxation and tradable permit schemes, for nearly two decades. Examples are the Load-based Licensing Scheme in New South Wales and the Hunter River Salinity Trading Scheme. China has run seven pilot tradable permit programmes for reducing CO₂ since 2013 and began implementing environmental taxes on many other air and water pollutants in 2018. A national CO₂ emissions trading market, initially targeting the power sector, was announced in December 2017. This study will be a preliminary assessment of the Chinese environmental taxation mechanism, based on experiences from Australia. A comparative evaluation will also be conducted on the economic efficiency and effectiveness of the tradable permit schemes in China and Australia. Areas where the design of those incentive-based instruments could be improved will be identified, and ways to implement those improvements in both countries will be proposed.


Matching CO₂ sources and storage sites along the Maritime Silk Road Investigators: Yuan Xu* (PI), Anatole Boute, Carlos W. H. Lo, Jing Song, Christine K. W. Loh, Jin Shang, Michael Tsimplis, Lei Zhu, Daejun Chang, & Steven Wright Funding source*: Research Sustainability of Major RGC Funding Schemes – China Studies, CUHK
Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technology is crucial to global efforts to mitigate climate change. Until fossil fuels are replaced by non-carbon-based fuels and renewable energy, CCUS technology could be used to capture CO₂ from the combustion of fossil fuels and then to store it in geological formations such as oil/gas fields. This technique has been considered by various countries with national mitigation strategies. In this project, it is suggested that the storage of CO₂ sources at sites outside of the producing state could be an alternative option, especially for large importers of fossil fuels. Transport by ocean vessels capable of shipping CO₂ in outward voyages while carrying fossil fuels in the inward journey could provide an efficient way of utilizing the return voyages and mitigating climate change at the same time. The specific focus of this study will be on conducting a technological and economic assessment of the sea transport of up to 10 million tons of CO₂ annually. South China, which is a large source of CO₂, is geologically short of sites to store CO₂. The Middle East is the region targeted for CO₂ storage. The interdisciplinary research team mainly covers the areas of engineering (power generation, CO₂ capture, pipeline, CO₂ storage, LNG terminal, and ship design), economics (energy economics modelling), as well as energy and shipping law, policy, and sociology. This team is a subset of a larger alliance focusing on the same research theme of matching CO₂ sources with storage sites globally and on a much grander scale than previously contemplated (involving up to 1 billion tons of CO₂ annually). This seed grant will provide vital resources to enable the research idea to be tested in a study that will also demonstrate the strengths and additional needs of the interdisciplinary team.