The program — the Australia-China research program on market mechanisms for climate change policy — was announced at the ANU China Update 2013 by the Richard Marles MP, Minister for Trade.
The $305,000 program will be run by the Australian National University's Crawford School of Public Policy, and led by Associate Professor Frank Jotzo of the School's Centre for Climate Economics and Policy.
The program will draw in researchers from leading Chinese institutions including Tsinghua, Fudan and Wuhan universities, as well as Beijing Institute of Technology. Australian partners include the University of New South Wales and Melbourne University.
"This is an exciting project which will bring together many of the top researchers in this field from both countries to work collaboratively on finding solutions," Prof Jotzo said.
"Research under the project will be done in close collaboration between Australian and Chinese institutions. Australian researchers and their Chinese colleagues will work with Chinese data, and Chinese researchers will come to Australia to analyse Australia's experiences."
Research projects under the program include: modelling the effects of emissions pricing on electricity sector investments in China; research on how energy markets can be reformed to make carbon pricing more effective; energy demand and energy mix in China's provinces; the design of China's pilot emissions trading schemes; and market expectations about carbon prices and emissions targets in China.
According to Jotzo, the research projects will offer new insights into how China can design its policies to be more effective in reducing emissions while maintaining fast economic growth.
"In the future, China is expected to rely less on command-and-control economic management and more on market-based systems to help protect the environment and modernise its energy system," he said.
"The research under this program will help inform Chinese policymakers about innovative approaches and international experiences."
The funding also covers an Australia-China Climate Change Research Forum to be held in Beijing in early 2014 where senior decision makers from government and business will take part. The results of the research will be presented at the Forum.
