Policy Integration and Implementation Gaps in China’s Dual-Carbon Strategy: A Multi-Dimensional Analysis of Carbon Trading System, New Energy Vehicle Incentives, and Air Quality Policies

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🔬研究者:政策実施の制度的障壁を理解するための質的枠組みを提供。

🏢実務担当者:中国市場での事業戦略における政策リスク評価に活用可能。

🏛政策担当者:政策統合と実施ギャップの教訓を他国の気候政策設計に応用可能。

Achieving global climate targets relies heavily on the effective execution of China’s dual-carbon strategy. However, translating national decarbonisation ambitions into local outcomes presents profound governance challenges. Ultimately, this study is oriented towards assessing whether these governance arrangements position China to fulfil its 2060 net-zero commitment, as codified in the 2021 White Paper on China’s Policies and Actions to Address Climate Change (State Council Information Office, 2021). This study evaluates the policy integration and implementation dynamics of China’s three core mitigation pillars: the carbon emissions trading system (ETS), new energy vehicle (NEV) incentives, and the Blue Sky Protection Campaign, to assess their contribution to the 2060 net-zero pathway and identify institutional barriers hindering progress towards the dual-carbon goals. The primary evidence base is confined to the 2015–2020 foundational period; references to the July 2021 national ETS launch and the 2060 carbon-neutrality pathway serve as contextual backdrop drawn from retrospective stakeholder interviews and post-period literature, not as primary analytical data. Employing a qualitative methodology, we conducted thematic coding of 156 national policy documents alongside 15 semi-structured stakeholder interviews. The findings reveal that while central policy texts exhibit high integration, operational execution is hindered by systemic misalignments. We identify three distinct implementation phenomena: superficial compliance in the ETS driven by weak price signals, subsidy dependence in the NEV sector that crowds out breakthrough innovation, and administrative rigidity in air quality governance that exacerbates regional development disparities. Viewed through an institutional lens, these implementation gaps are not mere technical or local capacity failures, but rational adaptations to conflicting incentive structures within China’s governance architecture. To enhance mitigation efficacy, the study recommends institutionalizing cross-sectoral coordination and implementing differentiated regional mandates. Ultimately, these insights offer critical lessons for global climate governance by highlighting how institutional constraints mediate mitigation strategies in developing economies navigating the tension between decarbonisation and economic growth.

• openalex https://doi.org/10.59543/jidmis.v3.1782first seen 2026-08-16 04:56:19