Low-carbon economy is a green economy based on low energy consumption and low pollution. Its essence is the efficient use of energy, clean utilization and low-carbon or carbon-free energy development. Developing a low-carbon economy is an inevitable choice for my country's reality and future development.

1. The necessity for my country to develop a low-carbon economy

(1) Low-carbon economy is the trend of world economic development

The world economy has experienced industrialization, After informatization, we are moving towards low-carbonization. In 2003, the British government published an energy white paper entitled "Our Future Energy: Creating a Low-Carbon Economy", which first proposed the concept of "low-carbon economy". The British government has set a clear goal for the development of a low-carbon economy: to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20% from 1990 levels by 2010, by 60% by 2050, and to establish a low-carbon economic society by 2050. To this end, the UK has introduced policies such as climate change taxes, carbon emissions trading funds, carbon trust trading funds, and renewable energy quotas. Japan and the UK have many similar visions for low-carbon economic development. In June 2007, Japan and the United Kingdom jointly hosted a seminar with the theme of "Developing a Sustainable Low-Carbon Society", which outlined a blueprint for the development of a future low-carbon society and invested heavily in the development and utilization of solar energy, wind energy, light energy, and hydrogen. energy, fuel cells and other alternative energy and renewable energy, and actively carry out research on tidal energy, water energy, geothermal energy, etc.; stop or restrict the development of high-energy-consuming industries, encourage high-energy-consuming industries to transfer abroad, and formulate regulations on some high-energy-consuming products particularly stringent energy consumption standards. In July 2007, the United States introduced the "Low Carbon Economy Act" and published a report entitled "Seizing Energy Opportunities: Creating a Low-Carbon Economy", which proposed a 10-step plan for creating a low-carbon economy. A series of renewable energy projects such as fuels are subject to preferential policies such as tax exemptions, loan guarantees and financial support. In addition to the United Kingdom, Japan, and the United States, developed countries such as Canada, France, and Italy have made active efforts in developing low-carbon economies. Developing countries such as Brazil, Mexico, South Korea, and India have also taken the initiative to reduce and limit emissions, and developing a low-carbon economy has become a mainstream strategic choice for the international community.

(2) Developing a low-carbon economy is a realistic choice to deal with climate change

In the context of global temperature warming, my country's climate has also undergone significant changes. In the past century, my country's temperature has increased by 0.4-0.5℃. From 1986 to 2006, my country experienced 21 consecutive nationwide warm winters. The frequency and intensity of extreme weather, climate events and disasters increased significantly, and losses increased. Water shortages and regional imbalances intensified, the ecological environment deteriorated, and agricultural production losses were huge. , The pressure on food security is increasing, sea levels continue to rise, and the economic and social development of coastal areas is threatened. According to the "National Assessment Report on Climate Change" released at the end of 2006, it is predicted that the rate of climate warming in China will further accelerate in the future, and the national average temperature is likely to increase by 2-3°C in the next 50 to 80 years; by 2030, China's coastal areas will The sea level may rise by 10-16cm, which will increase the chance of flooding in coastal areas; climate change will increase the instability of agricultural production. If no measures are taken, the output of China's major crops, such as wheat, rice and corn, may drop by up to 37% in the second half of the 21st century; agricultural production in the next 20 to 50 years will also be severely impacted by climate change. Faced with rising temperatures in the future and the series of serious consequences it may cause, developing a low-carbon economy has become a top priority.

(3) Developing a low-carbon economy is a strategic choice for sustainable development

my country is in a stage of rapid development of industrialization, urbanization, and modernization, and the heavy and chemical industry is developing relatively rapidly. Large-scale infrastructure construction cannot be stopped, and the massive demand and rapid growth of energy are difficult to change for a while. Total energy consumption in 2007 reached 2.65 billion tons, an increase of 7.8% from 2006. The growth rate of energy consumption in the first two years of the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" was significantly higher than the average annual growth target of 4. About 65% of my country's primary energy production and consumption is still coal. In electricity, hydropower accounts for only about 20%, while thermal power accounts for more than 77%.

In 2007, my country's coal consumption accounted for 69.5% of total primary energy consumption. The long-term energy consumption structure dominated by coal has brought serious environmental problems to our country. At present, 85% of the carbon dioxide, 90% of the sulfur dioxide and 73% of the soot in the country are emitted by coal burning. This coal-centered energy structure is difficult to change now and for a long time to come. With the further development of heavy and chemical industry, the proportion of coal in total energy consumption will continue to increase, and carbon dioxide emissions will continue to grow. Due to relatively outdated technology and equipment, my country's carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP are much higher than those in developed countries. At present, my country's total carbon dioxide emissions rank second in the world. It is expected that by 2015, China's share of the world's carbon dioxide emissions will reach 20.7, surpassing the United States (20.1) to become the world's largest emitter [1]. my country's future carbon emission situation is quite severe, and developing a low-carbon economy is a strategic choice to achieve my country's sustainable development.

(4) Low-carbon economy is an important driving force for my country’s economic development

Low-carbon economy is an economic development concept or development form that seeks maximum output based on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. . "Low carbon" emphasizes a new development idea that is different from the traditional high energy consumption and high pollution cost. "Economy" emphasizes that this new concept does not exclude development at all. Therefore, in a broad sense, "low carbon" can be regarded as a new constraint for economic development in terms of environmental protection, energy conservation and consumption reduction. However, such conditions do not blindly restrict and restrict development. Instead, they can create and expand market scale through technologies and systems that match the new constraints, stimulate people's creativity and profitability, and thus promote development. Currently, due to the impact of the economic crisis, global economic growth is slowing down. However, developing a low-carbon economy will not slow down economic growth, but will promote a new round of high economic growth. Developing energy-saving technologies, carbon capture and storage technologies, developing and utilizing renewable energy sources such as wind and solar energy, and improving the efficiency of power facilities can all create jobs and drive economic growth. Currently, many companies around the world have already tasted the benefits of the low-carbon economy. According to statistics, the export revenue of German wind power equipment reached approximately 6 billion euros in 2005, accounting for about half of the global wind power equipment transaction volume. Japan leads the world in the field of photovoltaic power generation technology and is the world's largest exporter of photovoltaic equipment. Sharp's photovoltaic power generation equipment alone accounts for one-third of the world's photovoltaic power generation equipment. It is foreseeable that the development of low-carbon economy is an important driving force for my country's economic development.

2. Policy recommendations for the development of low-carbon economy in my country

The development of low-carbon economy cannot be separated from the promotion of low-carbon economic policies. At present, some of my country's policies for developing a low-carbon economy are in the blank, and some need to be improved urgently. The following provides some policy suggestions from five aspects: education, economy, management, technology, and investment.

(1) Low-carbon education policy

First, clarify the government’s main responsibility in low-carbon education. The current unclear responsibilities for low-carbon education should be solved from the aspects of organization and management, and low-carbon education should be incorporated into the national and local education systems and become an important responsibility of education administrative departments and schools at all levels, so that low-carbon education can be spontaneously initiated by individuals. behavior becomes government behavior. The government should develop different low-carbon education contents for different ages and needs, continuously improve the low-carbon teaching material system, and increase teacher training for low-carbon education.

Second, prepare to build a special low-carbon museum. Museums are places to promote and popularize various scientific and technological knowledge to citizens. However, among the various existing museums in my country, few are specifically related to low-carbon science education. The establishment and improvement of low-carbon museums should be included in the government agenda to fill this gap in our country's museums. In addition to establishing low-carbon museums at the national, provincial and municipal levels, low-carbon museums or low-carbon museum units can also be grafted onto existing museums.

Third, establish a National Low Carbon Day or World Low Carbon Day. As an important carrier for popularizing knowledge on related topics, national theme days can achieve good social effects. The establishment of National Low Carbon Day can continue to publicize and popularize low carbon knowledge and improve citizens' low carbon awareness.

At the same time, we can consider advocating the establishment of a World Low Carbon Day, so that it can shoulder the important task of popularizing the low-carbon economy together with World Environment Day, World Earth Day and other world theme days.

(2) Low-carbon economic policy

First, promote carbon emissions trading based on quota trading. At present, the main type of domestic carbon emissions trading is project-based carbon emissions trading. Quota-based carbon emissions trading is progressing slowly because the main trading market does not yet exist. According to the experience of the EU emissions trading system, while developing project-based carbon emissions trading represented by the clean development mechanism project, we should actively accelerate the construction of the main market based on quota trading and use market-oriented means to allocate the use of environmental capacity resources. . Therefore, our country should actively prepare for the establishment of a carbon exchange based on quota trading, improve the relevant laws and regulations of carbon exchanges, and accelerate the financial innovation of carbon dioxide emission rights derivatives [2].

Second, levy a carbon dioxide tax. Carbon dioxide tax, also known as carbon tax, is an environmental tax levied to control carbon dioxide emissions. Its actual collection is often levied on fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas, rather than directly on carbon dioxide emissions. This is mainly because it is technically difficult to directly tax carbon dioxide emissions [3]. Since all carbon in fossil fuels is ultimately emitted as carbon dioxide, a tax on the carbon in fossil fuels would be equivalent to an emissions tax on the carbon dioxide emissions caused by burning fossil fuels. In the long run, implementing a carbon tax is imperative. Research shows that the recent low-rate carbon tax imposed in China has little impact on the economy, but it has a significant effect on curbing carbon dioxide emissions and promoting the development of a low-carbon economy [4].

Third, establish a system for collecting ecological environment compensation fees. Various behavioral activities that have a direct impact on the ecological environment, such as the mining of various mineral resources, energy mining (including coal mining and oil mining), deforestation, overuse of grasslands, overexploitation of groundwater resources, and development of surface water resources , land development, etc. will levy ecological environment compensation fees. Depending on the purpose of collecting ecological environment compensation fees, various methods such as product charges and user charges can be used.

(3) Low-carbon management policies

First, build an organizational structure and strategic plan for low-carbon economic development, and formulate laws and regulations such as the Low-Carbon Economy Law. It is recommended that the State Council Low-Carbon Economic Development Leading Group be established on the basis of the National Energy Leading Group, the State Council Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction Leading Group, and the National Climate Change Leading Group to strengthen the planning, coordination, and leadership of low-carbon economic development. Learn from, absorb, and digest the development concepts of low-carbon economy in developed countries, and on the basis of my country’s existing national plans, action plans, and guidelines and measures to deal with global climate change, combined with my country’s construction of a resource-saving and environment-friendly society and energy conservation and reduction. In order to meet the needs of emission reduction work, we should start studying and formulating a national low-carbon economic development strategy as soon as possible [4]. At the same time, accelerate the formulation and implementation of laws and regulations such as the Low Carbon Economy Law; accelerate the construction of a low-carbon economy technical standard system, improve more scientific measurement methods and automatic monitoring systems, and realize the standardization, quantification, and systematization of low-carbon economic work .

Second, establish a low-carbon assessment system for local governments and enterprises. In terms of environmental protection and greenhouse gas emission reduction, it often happens that there are policies from above and countermeasures from below. Therefore, the following methods can be adopted to mobilize the enthusiasm of local governments when developing a low-carbon economy: First, regulate the rights and obligations of local governments to develop a low-carbon economy through laws and regulations; second, implement a "low-carbon GDP" assessment system. Establish a low-carbon economic indicator system suitable for my country's national conditions, and deduct losses due to environmental pollution, natural resource consumption, and ecological environment degradation from the current GDP indicator; third, incorporate evaluation indicators for the implementation of low-carbon development into the local economic accounting system and government officials performance assessment.

Third, formulate and implement a low-carbon certification system. The low carbon mark is a certification mark for a product, indicating that the product not only has qualified quality, but also complies with specific environmental protection requirements throughout the entire life cycle, from the extraction of product raw materials to final waste disposal, and is harmful to the ecological environment and human health. harmless.

On the one hand, low-carbon certification helps consumers choose low-carbon products and promotes the production and sales of low-carbon products. On the other hand, it helps improve corporate low-carbon awareness. We should actively promote the formulation and implementation of the low-carbon certification system, establish and improve low-carbon label standards, publicize the significance of the low-carbon label to enterprises, and encourage enterprises to carry out certification.

Fourth, establish a deposit refund policy. It is recommended that a deposit refund system be implemented among logging concession owners first. In addition, the deposit refund system can also be extended to the fields of ecological protection and pollution prevention. Natural resource developers and new industrial project developers must pay a certain amount of deposit to the environmental management department to ensure their safety in the process of natural resource development. and the restoration of the ecological environment after development, as well as the implementation of the "three simultaneous" system for new projects, which will be returned after completion.

(4) Low-carbon technology policy

First, improve the incentive policy for low-carbon technology innovation. Promote technology shares, patent shares, management element shares, achievement shares and shareholding management policies for scientific and technological personnel, business managers, and low-carbon product developers, and adopt various distribution incentive methods such as options and stock futures to reward those who are committed to low-carbon technology For scientific and technological personnel and management personnel who have made outstanding contributions in innovation, their salary levels should be in line with the talent market. Relax the proportional restrictions on low-carbon technology shares, increase incentives, and closely link the income of low-carbon technical personnel with job skills, work performance, and economic benefits.

Second, implement procurement policies that promote low-carbon technology innovation. Government “low-carbon” procurement refers to the government’s purchase and use of products and services that meet low-carbon certification standards. Government procurement is an important channel to make up for the shortcomings of market mechanisms and protect and stimulate technological innovation. Using government procurement to create market space will greatly support and promote low-carbon technological innovation. When new low-carbon products and new technologies have just been introduced to the market and are in the early stages of product development, government "low-carbon" procurement is a very important incentive method. In order to promote low-carbon technology innovation, the government should formulate an operable low-carbon procurement system, scientifically and normatively formulate government low-carbon procurement standards, lists and guidelines, and guide specific low-carbon procurement activities, such as stipulating public engineering projects. It is necessary to adopt domestic high-tech and low-carbon technology products, and stipulate the proportion of low-carbon technology product procurement in total government procurement. The government should regularly publish low-carbon procurement lists and quantities, and prioritize the purchase and use of products that meet low-carbon certification standards.

Third, develop low-carbon technology venture capital institutions. There are great risks involved in the process from development to large-scale promotion and application of a low-carbon technological achievement. Scientific research institutions and universities have invested a lot of manpower, material resources, and financial resources in the research process of low-carbon technologies and are unable to continue to bear subsequent risks. Enterprises, as recipients of technology, have also invested a lot of costs and are therefore unwilling to bear these risks. The high risk of low-carbon technology innovation and industrialization has become an important factor restricting the development of low-carbon technology industrialization. Therefore, government departments should provide preferential policies to support the establishment of a number of low-carbon technology venture capital institutions. These institutions will bear the risks in the research, development and industrialization process of low-carbon technology achievements. If the development and application of low-carbon technology is successful, the investment institutions can A certain percentage of the profits earned by the company from the production of new products is withdrawn as a return on venture capital investment.

(5) Low-carbon investment policy

First, add low-carbon economic development expenditure budget items. Government budget expenditure is the fundamental guarantee for low-carbon economic development funds. It is necessary to ensure the stability of low-carbon economic development funds, include low-carbon economic development funds in the expenditure category of the fiscal budget, and regard low-carbon economic development funds as regular fiscal expenditures to provide institutional guarantees for the fiscal performance of the development of a low-carbon economy. This is also a common approach adopted by many developed countries. Low-carbon economic development expenditure items should be listed separately in the national fiscal budget, and their expenditure amounts and growth rates should be legislated to ensure the country's macro-control efforts on low-carbon economic development issues. It is necessary to establish a government low-carbon economic development investment growth mechanism, determine through legislation the proportion of government low-carbon economic development investment in GDP or fiscal expenditures within a certain period, and clearly stipulate that the growth rate of low-carbon economic development investment should be slightly higher than that of the national economy. growth rate.

Second, improve policies to mobilize the enthusiasm of enterprises, individuals and other entities to invest in the low-carbon economy. Based on my country's current economic and social status, if we want to develop a low-carbon economy within a certain period of time and curb the overall deterioration of energy, climate, and environment, it is not only unrealistic but also unreasonable to rely solely on the country's limited financial support. Guiding market forces to consciously prevent, reduce emissions and control pollution is the key to solving the problem. The following measures can be adopted to mobilize the enthusiasm of enterprises, individuals and other entities to invest in the low-carbon economy: provide preferential treatment in terms of loan quotas, loan interest rates, loan repayment conditions, etc. for corporate low-carbon economic investment projects; provide investment credits for corporate investments in anti-pollution equipment. Various forms of support including exemption, pre-tax loan repayment, accelerated depreciation, etc.; tax incentives for low-carbon economic financing; interest discounts for low-carbon industries and technological transformation projects with significant pollution reduction.