The chapters collected here are revised papers and presentations the author has given at various symposia. Zhang, an economist affiliated with the East-West Center, addresses broad energy, climate, and environmental issues in China and presents realistic solutions for problems in these areas. Some of the issues considered include effective environmental protection in the context of government decentralization, China's carbon intensity pledge for 2020, the proposed US carbon tariffs, and WTO scrutiny of China's responses. A conclusion summarizes issues in energy conservation and pollution control, renewable energy, nuclear power, clean coal technologies, and China's specific climate commitments towards 2050. Annotation ⓒ2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

1. Introduction 2. Effective environmental protection in the context of government decentralization 3. Is it fair to treat China as a Christmas tree to hang everybody's complaints? Putting its own energy saving into perspective 4. Assessing China's Carbon intensity pledge for 2020: stringency and credibility issues and their implications 5. In what format and under what time frame would China take on climate commitments? A roadmap to 2050 6. The US proposed carbon tariffs, WTO scrutiny and China's responses 7. Conclusions: China in the transition to a low-carbon economy