Solar PV and poverty alleviation in China: Rhetoric and reality

STEPS Working Paper 93 In 2014, China announced an ambitious plan to help alleviate rural poverty through deploying distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in poor areas. The solar energy for…

How did we do that? The possibility of rapid transition

Is rapid transition possible? Sometimes events or new knowledge throw up reasons why we must make change happen quickly. At the present moment, climate change and chronic social inequality seem…

Adapting to risk and perpetuating poverty: Household’s strategies for managing flood risk and water scarcity in Mexico City

Volume 66, December 2016, Pages 324–333 Adaptation is typically conceived uniquely in positive terms, however for some populations, investments in risk management can entail significant tradeoffs. Here we discuss the…

Opinion: Urban resilience efforts must consider social and political forces

Environmental disasters, ranging from catastrophic floods to extreme temperatures, have caused more than 30,000 deaths per year and more than US$ 250–300 billion a year in economic losses, globally, between…

Sustainable energy for all: Innovation, technology and pro-poor green transformations

David Ockwell and Rob Byrne Routledge/Earthscan 2017 Buy this book Open Access content The following Open Access chapters from the book are available to read under a Creative Commons licence…

Solar PV and solar water heaters in China: Different pathways to low carbon energy

This review paper examines pathways towards solar energy in China by examining two different solar energy technologies, namely solar photovoltaic (PV) and solar water heaters (SWH). The paper investigates these two case studies to understand how different pathways for low carbon innovation are promoted and challenged by China’s changing financing and policy-making, and how they relate to changing practices among producers and consumers.

China’s Low Carbon Future Offers Global Opportunities

by Sam Geall and Lulu Ning Hui with additional contributions from Isabel Hilton, Richard Black, Monica Wang, Yu Jie, Adrian Ely, David Tyfield and Frauke Urban How is China shifting…

New approaches to low carbon innovation in China

There are significant overlooked opportunities regarding low-carbon transition in China, with potential global impact. This leaflet summarises research which has looked at three areas of low carbon innovation in the…

Innovation for Sustainability in a Changing China: Exploring Narratives and Pathways

STEPS Centre Working Paper Series Download this paper here [PDF 918 KB] Given the environmental impacts of China’s current development trajectory and the country’s increasing economic and strategic focus on innovation, China’s progress…