Could China Declare a “Coal Phase-Out”? An Evolutionary Game and Empirical Analysis Involving the Government, Enterprises, and the Public
There is a global move toward being “carbon neutral”. Reducing the use of coal to generate power has become an inevitable choice for many countries when transforming their energy structures. Many countries have proposed phasing out coal. China is a major energy producing and consuming country and in...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Energies |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/2/531 |
| _version_ | 1827665855507333120 |
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| author | Jingna Kou Fengjun Sun Wei Li Jie Jin |
| author_facet | Jingna Kou Fengjun Sun Wei Li Jie Jin |
| author_sort | Jingna Kou |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | There is a global move toward being “carbon neutral”. Reducing the use of coal to generate power has become an inevitable choice for many countries when transforming their energy structures. Many countries have proposed phasing out coal. China is a major energy producing and consuming country and intends to reach a carbon peak by 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2060. China has repeatedly emphasized coal reduction, but has not explicitly proposed phasing out coal, due to the influence of local governments, coal-related enterprises, and the public. This paper explores whether China could declare a “coal phase-out”, and the possible reasons for doing so, by constructing an evolutionary game model with two correlations. MATLAB was used to simulate the model results to determine the effectiveness of the fractal results of the model, and the entropy method was used to calculate the development level of “coal phase-out” related indicators in China and Germany. The results show that: (1) The government can phase out coal only when coal-related enterprises and the public can benefit from reducing coal production and consumption. In addition, these benefits are needed to ensure stable economic and social development without affecting people’s daily lives; (2) The development level of relevant indicators of “coal retreat” in China is lower than that in Germany. Based on these results, it is concluded that it is difficult for China to announce a “coal phase-out” at present. Faced with this reality, China should improve the efficiency of coal use, install carbon capture and storage facilities, vigorously develop renewable energy and reduce the share of coal in the energy system. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T01:33:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d159fb14fbd54b81ba8a9c4d32cab7e2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1996-1073 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T01:33:57Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Energies |
| spelling | doaj.art-d159fb14fbd54b81ba8a9c4d32cab7e22023-11-23T13:37:44ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732022-01-0115253110.3390/en15020531Could China Declare a “Coal Phase-Out”? An Evolutionary Game and Empirical Analysis Involving the Government, Enterprises, and the PublicJingna Kou0Fengjun Sun1Wei Li2Jie Jin3School of Economics and Management, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, ChinaSchool of Economics and Management, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, ChinaSchool of Economics and Management, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, ChinaSchool of Economics and Management, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, ChinaThere is a global move toward being “carbon neutral”. Reducing the use of coal to generate power has become an inevitable choice for many countries when transforming their energy structures. Many countries have proposed phasing out coal. China is a major energy producing and consuming country and intends to reach a carbon peak by 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2060. China has repeatedly emphasized coal reduction, but has not explicitly proposed phasing out coal, due to the influence of local governments, coal-related enterprises, and the public. This paper explores whether China could declare a “coal phase-out”, and the possible reasons for doing so, by constructing an evolutionary game model with two correlations. MATLAB was used to simulate the model results to determine the effectiveness of the fractal results of the model, and the entropy method was used to calculate the development level of “coal phase-out” related indicators in China and Germany. The results show that: (1) The government can phase out coal only when coal-related enterprises and the public can benefit from reducing coal production and consumption. In addition, these benefits are needed to ensure stable economic and social development without affecting people’s daily lives; (2) The development level of relevant indicators of “coal retreat” in China is lower than that in Germany. Based on these results, it is concluded that it is difficult for China to announce a “coal phase-out” at present. Faced with this reality, China should improve the efficiency of coal use, install carbon capture and storage facilities, vigorously develop renewable energy and reduce the share of coal in the energy system.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/2/531Chinacoal phase-outlocal governmententerprisesthe public |
| spellingShingle | Jingna Kou Fengjun Sun Wei Li Jie Jin Could China Declare a “Coal Phase-Out”? An Evolutionary Game and Empirical Analysis Involving the Government, Enterprises, and the Public Energies China coal phase-out local government enterprises the public |
| title | Could China Declare a “Coal Phase-Out”? An Evolutionary Game and Empirical Analysis Involving the Government, Enterprises, and the Public |
| title_full | Could China Declare a “Coal Phase-Out”? An Evolutionary Game and Empirical Analysis Involving the Government, Enterprises, and the Public |
| title_fullStr | Could China Declare a “Coal Phase-Out”? An Evolutionary Game and Empirical Analysis Involving the Government, Enterprises, and the Public |
| title_full_unstemmed | Could China Declare a “Coal Phase-Out”? An Evolutionary Game and Empirical Analysis Involving the Government, Enterprises, and the Public |
| title_short | Could China Declare a “Coal Phase-Out”? An Evolutionary Game and Empirical Analysis Involving the Government, Enterprises, and the Public |
| title_sort | could china declare a coal phase out an evolutionary game and empirical analysis involving the government enterprises and the public |
| topic | China coal phase-out local government enterprises the public |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/2/531 |
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