Dr. Joshua Busby, Strauss Center Distinguished Scholar and CEPSA lead researcher, recently co-authored a journal article forEnergy Research & Social Science titled, “Turning the Carbon Supertanker: Sectoral Feasibility of Climate Change Mitigation in China.”

In the article, Dr. Busby and his colleagues, LBJ PhD candidate Xue Gao, and Sharang Shidore examine nine of the most carbon-intensive sectors in China’s economy, and assess the feasibility of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in each sector.

The authors analyzed the “techno-economic feasibility” as well as “political and organizational feasibility” for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the following sectors: steel, cement, coal, nuclear, renewables, fertilizers, buildings, oil refining, and transportation. The article describes a coding process for each sector that allowed the researchers to compare them based on factors such as costs of emission reduction and market fragmentation. The authors conclude that “collective action” to reduce emissions is most favorable in the oil refining sector as well as cement and steel sectors due to high techno-economic feasibility as well as political and organizational feasibility.