The centre exists to supply knowledge products and policy recommendations for green economy development in China and for the governance of the global commons. Work between 2014 and 2016 concentrated on the economics of coal and renewables. Support has come from the Environmental Defense Fund, WRI Beijing, the China Wind Power Association, the International Institute for Sustainable Development and the World Bank, among others.
Since early 2020 the centre has worked in two groups: digitalisation of the energy sector in the Chinese context, and the nexus between China and the rest of the world — currently focused on the European Green Deal and its Chinese dimension.
Some of the applied work has become policy: funding the renewable surcharge account by reducing the benchmark coal on-grid price, tightening the stringency of coal reduction policy, removing the flawed cap on total energy consumption, and reframing peaking as a share of generation rather than an ancillary service.
Core tools
- DERC-IAM — multi-region energy–economy–climate integrated assessment model.
- DERC-P — hourly-resolution simulation of China's power structure and balance.
- PyPSA-based open models — provincial capacity expansion and day-ahead market clearing.