2024 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Verifying the Effects of Marketization in China's Energy Industry and Qualitative Changes in Environmental Regulations

Research Project

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Project/Area Number	19K12477
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Section	一般
Review Section	Basic Section 80010:Area studies-related
Research Institution	Kyushu University
Principal Investigator	Horii Nobuhiro 九州大学, 経済学研究院, 准教授 (10450503)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	森晶寿京都大学, 地球環境学堂, 准教授 (30293814)
Project Period (FY)	2019-04-01 – 2025-03-31
Keywords	中国 / エネルギー / 環境政策 / 大気汚染 / 石炭
Outline of Final Research Achievements	The interaction between the marketization of the energy industry, environmental improvements, and social costs was analyzed across the gas, coal, and electricity sectors. Since the 2010s, environmental improvements have significantly progressed, partly due to government intervention through command-and-control (C&C) policies. However, while marketization enhanced the economic efficiency of the coal industry, stagnation in the marketization of gas and electricity led to an increase in social costs. Qualitative changes in environmental regulations have resulted in two major developments: (1) power generation and transmission companies have increased their investments in countries that are signatories to the Belt and Road Initiative; (2) although heavy electrical suppliers that remained reliant on coal-fired and hydroelectric power fell into deficit, government intervention sustained their production capacity, enabling the establishment of new coal-fired power plants within China.
Free Research Field	地域研究
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	中国の環境政策は直接規制を中心に推進されてきたが、経済的手段とどちらが望ましいかという点は学術的な論点のひとつであった。本研究はエネルギー産業の市場化の進展に着目し、中国でも経済的手段が機能する条件が整いつつあることを示すとともに、直接規制がガスや電力の供給不足という社会的コストを増大させたことを指摘して環境改善以外の要因も考慮する重要性を示唆している。また2021年秋の電力不足を受けて中国の急進的な気候変動政策は見直され、それを脱炭素からの後退と見る向きが多いが、排出権取引や風力・太陽光産業の市場化でより効率的に脱炭素を進める体制を構築していることを総説などを通じて社会に発信した。