Approaching national climate targets in China considering the challenge of regional inequality

This article explores the regional-level action measures for achieve national climate targets. Because of substantial inequalities and heterogeneities among regions, especially in developing economies, aggressive or uniform actions may exacerbate inequity and induce huge economic losses, which in turn challenges the national climate pledges. Radical or unified actions may exacerbate inequality, cause huge economic losses, and challenge national climate commitments. This article first applied the National Energy Technology Model (C³IAM/NET) to explore ways to achieve national climate goals, and further developed the Multi Regional Collaborative Emission Reduction Optimization Model (Mr. COEP), proposing an economically optimal regional carbon reduction strategy that can achieve national climate goals while ensuring regional and national interests and regional equality. Research has found that compared to the strategy of all Chinese provinces achieving carbon peak before 2030, this strategy will avoid up to 1.54% of cumulative GDP losses, and over 90% of regions will benefit economically.