Energy, environment and economic sustainability in East Asia. Policies and institutional reforms

摘要

Climate change is real. It is clear from devastating fires in Australia, floods in India, and hurricanes in the US. No more scientific consensus is needed on this. What is urgent is to find ways of reducing the greenhouse gases so as to restrict temperature rise to an extent that the earth - as we know it and enjoy it - survives for the future generations. It is the fundamental responsibility of the current generation, irrespective of costs and sacrifices that may be needed. The editors of this anthology of research papers examine different policies that could enable the East Asian countries of China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan achieve their Nationally Determined Contributions towards emission reduction as part of the Paris Agreement and the long- term global target of 2 degree centigrade. According to them East Asia will finally determine to what extent the temperature increase can go down below 2 degrees. Not necessarily, as India is also contributing to pollution in a bid to develop at a fast pace. Only in one chapter is there a passing reference to India. But this is a study of East Asia; India is South Asia.