Nina Khanna

Water evaluation and planning (WEAP) model application for exploring the water deficit at catchment level in Beijing

Water scarcity and water quality are becoming increasingly serious global issues, especially in China. Collecting accurate, scientific data about water-scarce areas is a critical first step for water resources management. Beijing is one of the cities in China that faces severe water scarcity issues, impeding economic and social development. This study assesses the water deficit in Beijing at the catchment level using the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) model to provide insights for water assignment and to explore the advantages of WEAP applications in water resources management. Results show that (1) Beijing had a water shortage of 560.24 million cubic meters in 2010 with agricultural water facing the most severe shortage; (2) Catchment Yongdinghe faces the most severe water shortage challenge with demand site reliability of 45.83%, followed by Daqinghe, Jiyunhe, and Beiyunhe (64.17%–67.92%), and Chaobaihe (80.83%); and (3) the most sensitive water scarcity months are November, December, and February, characterized by the mean water demand coverage of 44.37% in all catchment areas. This study provides insights for water allocation and future research by serving as an important basis for water balance and for sustaining economic–social–environmental development in China.

Challenges to addressing non-CO2 greenhouse gases in China’s long-term climate strategy

ABSTRACT Under the Paris Agreement, countries are encouraged to submit long-term low greenhouse gas emissions development strategies. Such strategies will merge emissions goals with socio-economic objectives and enable countries to increase their ambition over time, thus offering an opportunity to close the gap between the current emissions trajectory and the Agreement’s ‘well below 2°C’ target. China is in the process of preparing its own long-term strategy. We argue in this article that non-CO2 greenhouse gases (NCGGs) should be an essential component of China’s long-term low-emissions strategy. To incorporate NCGGs into China’s long-term low-emissions development strategy, key scientific and institutional challenges should be addressed, such as uncertainty about the accuracy of NCGG emissions inventories; uncertainty about future projections of NCGG emissions; and institutional coordination deficits and imbalanced policy approaches. Overcoming these barriers will have significant implications for climate change mitigation and can open a path for the development of concrete follow-up actions. Key policy insights Non-CO2 greenhouse gases (NCGGs) make up around 17% of China’s GHG emissions, but China has no quantified target to limit or reduce these gases. NCGG emissions mitigation should be an essential component of Chinas long-term low-emissions strategy, which is currently under development. Considerable uncertainty exists over both historical NCGG emissions data and forecasts. This poses challenges to developing a comprehensive multi-gas strategy. Institutional challenges must also be addressed, such as fragmentation of responsibility for NCGGs.

Low-Carbon City Policy Databook: 72 Policy Recommendations for Chinese Cities from the Benchmarking and Energy Savings Tool for Low Carbon Cities

Author(s): Price, Lynn; Zhou, Nan; Fridley, David; Ohshita, Stephanie; Khanna, Nina; Lu, Hongyou; Hong, Lixuan; He, Gang; Romankiewicz, John; Min, Hu

Extreme Energy in China

Over the last decade, China has focused its policies simultaneously on moderating the rapid energy demand growth that has been driven by three decades of rapid economic growth and industrialization and on increasing its energy supply. In spite of these concerted efforts, however, China continues to face growing energy supply challenges, particularly with accelerating demand for oil and natural gas, both of which are now heavily dependent on imports. On the supply side, the recent 11th and 12th Five-Year Plans have emphasized accelerating conventional and nonconventional oil and gas exploration and development through pricing reforms, pipeline infrastructure expansions and 2015 production targets for shale gas and coal seam methane. This study will analyze China’s new and nonconventional oil and gas resources base, possible development paths and outlook, and the potential role for these nonconventional resources in meeting oil and gas demand. The nonconventional resources currently being considered by China and included in this study include: shale gas, coal seam methane (coal mine methane and coal bed methane), tight gas, in-situ coal gasification, tight oil and oil shale, and gas hydrates.