Scenario analysis of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from China's passenger vehicles

To address the energy and environmental concerns over the rapid growing vehicle ownership, China has newly implemented a wide range of mitigation measures over recent years. In this study, the baselines of energy consumption and GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions from China's passenger vehicles are updated by incorporating the impacts from the latest mitigation policies and associated vehicle fleet characteristics changes. The results indicate that GHG emissions from China's passenger vehicles were about 486 mt CO(2)e in 2014, accounting for roughly 5% of national total GHG emissions. Under Business-as-Usual scenario, GHG emissions will peak by 2027 at the level of 810 mt CO(2)e, and then decrease to 650 mt CO(2)e in 2050. The currently implemented mitigation measures, with fuel consumption regulation playing the essential role, have effectively offset the impacts from the fast growing passenger vehicle ownership. With all mitigation measures maximizing their impacts, GHG emissions can peak five years earlier at a 15% lower level. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.