Renewable energy leapfrogging in China's urban development? Current status and outlook

• Renewable energy development and support policies of Chinese cities are examined.
• The application of solar water heater technology for buildings is very advanced.
• Current low-carbon indicator frameworks are not well developed for Chinese cities.
• Further potentials exist for the uptake of solar PV and heat pumps in buildings.

Cities in China will be crucial for deciding the direction of China's transition to a low-carbon economy and will play a key role in China's sustainable future. Over the next two decades over 325 million people will migrate to China's cities and by 2030 they are expected to house about 1 billion people. Will these cities be able to ‘leapfrog’ conventional high-carbon development? Many cities in China have put forward low-carbon city development plans and China's National Development and Reform Commission has designated five provinces and eight cities as low-carbon development zones. The challenge will be on-the-ground implementation of these low-carbon development plans based on sound indicator systems for monitoring and evaluation of emission reductions. The paper analyses one key sector for urban development issues in Chinese cities, namely the application and use of renewable electricity technologies in cities as a crucial element of low-carbon city development. Several city case studies are presented which show that flexibility at the local level has allowed several cities in China to adopt and implement support policies and targets for renewable energy technologies such as solar PV and geothermal heat pumps. Through the application of solar water heating technologies, in particular, significant progress has been achieved, resulting in electricity savings in the building sector. The analysis concludes with an assessment of how these ongoing initiatives in Chinese cities may contribute to leapfrogging in urban environmental outcomes, particularly in terms of urban carbon emissions.