OIES Podcast – Managing the social consequences of the transition away from coal: the case of clean heating in Shanxi Province, China

Much of the world requires winter heating and in most places this heating is still provided by fossil fuels. In this podcast David Ledesma discusses Northern China with Philip Andrews-Speed, Senior Research Fellow at OIES and Yuchao Xu, graduate from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, where this problem is particularly acute as coal and biomass have long been the fuel of choice for household heating. In 2016, China’s government launched a vigorous programme to deploy “clean heating” fuels and technologies to households. The coal-rich province of Shanxi followed through with its own mix of implementing measures. Between 2016 and 2020, these met with a relatively high degree of success but encountered two sets of challenges. First, high costs placed a burden on households and local governments. Second, hasty implementation to achieve targets led to poor coordination and planning.

By: OIES