This paper applies institutional theories to analyse the governance of energy in China in order to identify sources of adaptability and of resistance to change.

This study applies a regional public goods approach to the study of energy market integration (EMI) in East Asia, with a view to clarifying the outlook for such integration and the likely obstacles to be encountered. In addition to drawing on theoretical ideas relating to regional public goods, the paper will also draw on the experience of the European Union in its attempts to develop a single energy market. The study shows that many services are needed in order to develop and sustain a regional integrated energy market and that some of these services have characteristics of regional public goods, though some may also be trans-regional or global in nature as well. The study recommends that: EMI in East Asia should be pursued in an incremental manner and mainly at a sub-regional scale; and the specific steps taken towards EMI should be chosen on the basis of their likely positive economic impacts and their likely ease of delivery.

This paper examines the broad features of the United Kingdom’s response to the low-carbon challenge over a number of years, with the aim of identifying a number of general lessons which are relevant to China. The intention is not so much to examine how specific policy instruments used in the United Kingdom may or may not be applied in China, but rather to identify those features of the political economy of energy in the United Kingdom which act to constrain the move to a low carbon economy, and to examine their relevance to China.

Ma, G., P. Andrews-Speed and J.D. Zhang., (2011)

Energy Procedia 5, pp. 445-451.