New York: Columbia University Press, 2016. ix, 300 pp. (Illustrations.) US$65.00, cloth. ISBN 978-0-231-17494-7.
This book addresses a question critical to China’s continued development: how can Chinese governments at all levels tackle the pressing challenge of air pollution? Scholars in China and beyond have explored the issue of air pollution control in China from various perspectives, however, few studies have clearly examined how much pollution is attributable to economic factors. This book is a first in its attempt to “quantify the relationship between structural factors in the economy and air pollution. In order to unveil the economic rational behind China’s air pollution governance dilemma, the author systematically quantifies the relationships between China’s industry, energy, and transportation structures and air pollution.
More specifically, part one (chapters 1–5) of this study seeks to explore why China will be unable to achieve its air pollution goals should the government fail to implement a combination of policies and reforms to drive structural changes in its economy. The authors present a detailed analysis of why the current package of environmental and energy policies, which mainly focuses on end-of-pipe solutions and relies heavily on administrative measures, is far from sufficient for realizing PM2.5 reduction targets. The Chinese government must, they argue, emphasize deeper structural economic problems and generate proper incentives to initiate actions from important stakeholders. In this study, a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, which is based on Walrasian equilibrium and used for policy analysis, is utilized to assess the cleanup costs. By doing this, the authors argue the government can reduce substantially its dependence on heavy industry, increase sharply the proportion of clean energy in total energy consumption, and transform significantly the transportation system.
Part two (chapters 6–10) continues to reinforce these arguments by presenting two empirical case studies that examine the polices and measures necessary for Shanghai and Beijing to achieve their daunting PM2.5 reduction goals. The authors have conducted careful research into the existing package of policies and actions adopted by these two megacities and recommend a more comprehensive action plan. One of the major findings of the Beijing case is that regional coordination is considered vital for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region to fully realize its emissions reduction potential and that the introduction of an interregional compensation mechanism is necessary. Nonetheless, what is interesting is that the authors choose not to make a similar argument in the case of Shanghai, although provincial-level collaboration among the Yangtze River Delta governments (Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui) has a long history and air pollution is a regional concern for those governments, too. This book then introduces ideas on how to reduce the consumption of conventional coal and how to establish a green finance system in China.
Apart from providing a detailed portrait of China’s air pollution control system, the most important contribution of this study is its stress on the significance of adjusting energy structure, coal, and transportation to achieve China’s ambitious PM2.5 emissions reduction targets after concluding environmental measures alone cannot get the job done. The authors also contribute to environmental studies by developing a PM2.5 control model that quantifies the effects of policy under various scenarios and proposes a package of actions and policies to serve as a toolkit for local governments pursuing such structural adjustments.
Indeed, the main theme of this study is why structural adjustments are indispensable to control China’s air pollution and how these may be achieved at both central and local levels. While offering a thorough description of the actions, policies, and technical feasibility of the required structural adjustments (mostly in chapter 3, but a running topic in the other chapters), the authors, interestingly, do not examine carefully the role of institutional factors, which determine to a great extent whether the required structural adjustments would bear fruit in China. Institutional constraints are key to explaining China’s rampant air pollution and why good environmental governance is rare in practice. Most of the implementation gaps when enforcing economic or environmental policies in China can be factored on institutional constraints. Often, what plagues the translation of a theoretically sound economic/environmental policy into working reality is the lack of strong institutional support. The structural adjustments proposal argued by the authors is not immune to this doctrine. Paradigms like “experimentation under hierarchy” (related to explaining local environmental activism like piloting carbon trading in Shanghai) and “collaborative governance” (related to answering why regional environmental collaboration is absent in China) arising from China’s political practices are useful to explain why certain kinds of structural adjustments are more likely to work in the context of China.
In fact, the authors are not blinded to the importance of institutional constraints when trying to reshape environmental governance in China. They have touched upon the issue in various parts of the book but fail to provide a strong and consistent argument about how institutional constraints would affect the pursuit of structural changes in industry, energy, and transportation. The lack of such an argument also weakens the discussion regarding how to correct market distortions, market failures, and participant problems in chapter 4. Providing an incentive mechanism for government, industry, and consumers is critical to enabling the desired structural changes. However, such a mechanism would not function properly unless it deviates little from the political and socioeconomic conditions in China.
Indeed, the authors argued powerfully that end-of-pipe approaches alone are far from sufficient for achieving China’s ambitious air pollution control targets, and that structural adjustments to the economic and industrial system are vital. Nevertheless, the importance of the institutional/political/structural constraints under which China’s environmental governance system operates cannot be underestimated.
Kevin Bo Miao
Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China