【英文】中美碳中和的框架和里程碑报告（41页）

The United States and China have myriad diferences, from economy to industrial organization, that  will shape their carbon neutrality pathways. An understanding of some of the more fundamental  diferences is important for contextualizing the framework and milestones in this section. Economic Structure And Energy Consumption. Over the last four decades, China’s  remarkable economic growth has been driven by investment, on the expenditure side of gross  domestic product (GDP) and industry, on the production side of GDP. This industrial orientation of  the Chinese economy means that industry is a signifcantly larger share of energy and CO2  emissions  in China than in the United States (Figure 8). It also means that what is arguably China’s most  important climate policy strategy, the shift toward a consumption-driven and services-oriented  model of economic growth, is less relevant for the United States.

Energy resource endowments. The most important difference in energy resource  endowments between the United States and China is China’s current lack of low-cost natural gas  reserves, which has several implications. It means that the shift from primary coal to natural gas  use in industry, buildings, and electricity that took place in the United States throughout the 20th  century may be a less attractive strategy for improving air quality and reducing CO2  emissions in  China. Additionally, it may mean that strategies to “frm” renewable energy in China’s electricity  sector will be diferent than in the United States, where natural gas generation is often assumed to  provide a reliable, backup (low utilization) energy resource even in 2050.14 Infrastructure age and growth. From the perspective of long-lived infrastructure, such  as power plants, distribution networks, roads, factories, and buildings, China is a much younger  country than the United States. For instance, the average age of coal-fred power plants in the  United States is about 45 years, whereas in China it is around 15 years.15 Additionally, China’s  infrastructure is expected to continue to expand more rapidly than in the United States over the  next 10 to 20 years.