Samenvatting

This dissertation explores the controversial concept of the green economy and the rapidly increasing environmental concerns associated to the heavy energy industry. The main objective of this paper is to investigate how China's 12th Five-Year Plan responds to the green economy paradigm. Hence, it examines the Chinese government's commitments in greening the energy sector and analyses whether or not these commitments are congruent with the attempts to mitigate climate change. The 2008 financial and economic crisis has brought new attention to the prevailing business as usual, as it has continuously implied high costs on nature. While nation states struggle to revive the global economy, many are cogitating on the broad concept of the green economy. The green economy calls for governments and business leaders to actively invest in green strategies, if they are to prevent the world of undergoing unprecedented environmental catastrophes. Greening the energy sector will be among the former major drivers of the green economy. Energy generation is the foremost prompter of greenhouse gas emissions, notably owed to the perpetual dependency on fossil fuel sources across nations. As such, the green economy encourages economies to prioritise the expansion of renewable energy and the advancement of energy efficiency, since these are pivotal alternatives for empowering the tackling of climate change. During the research, it became clear that China is a country of much discussion, as it has the second largest economy in the world and a very polluting energy sector. Thus, the underlying focus of this paper lies on analysing China's 12th Five-Year Plan, which evidences attempts in tackling the environmental implications caused by its unsustainable energy industry. The research shows that China's 12th Five-Year Plan discloses a set of tactics aimed at greening its energy-intensive industries, essentially at enlarging non-fossil fuel sources and enhancing energy efficiency, through energy and carbon intensity reduction targets. Yet, the dissertation concludes that, given China's heavy reliance on coal and unbridled economic growth, the proposed green strategies are likely to have marginal impact on the country's total greenhouse gas emissions and energy demand, reflecting, therefore, the government's inability to mitigate climate change.