Critique of the Plan

Question: Discuss the difficulty in implementation, time requirement analysis, cultural change requirement and formation of new institutional structures. Answer: Difficulty in implementation It is easily said than done; implementing a low carbon emission plan would require participation from various stakeholders, such as citizen, government, and private sector at large. Increasing carbon emission entails thoughtfulness from every individual and their participation in restricting the same, through practicing green environment. City structure also impact implementation process, for example Chongqing is highly populated region of China, services are still underdeveloped in the region as it is dominated by agriculture sector (Fridley, Khanna, Hong, 2012) . Further there is involvement of several stakeholders in the process such as government, transport companies, developers and many others; it requires planning and coordination among all. However, if segregation is made, each plan implementation require involvement of specific set of people, therefore there is less involvement. Further, there is no compulsion towards implementing all recommended strategies at a go; rather it is advisable to implement strategies one by one. Therefore, this plan is not difficult to implement, it provides adequate time frame to cover recommended strategies one by one so that they can be give desired outcome. Time requirement analysis Plan for low carbon emission is holistic; it covers wide range of sources that generate carbon emission, reason and solution for the same. However, this plan implementation is a time consuming process. There are certain strategies that will take less time to implement and certain long term. However, there is need for segregating these strategies and evaluate their impact. For instance, in short run government can implement awareness programs for citizens that will help them in understanding long run impact of carbon emission, their role in controlling the same and need for doing so; further implementing energy efficient cars is also short term strategy (cq.gov.cn, 2012). However, changing building strictures will take huge time to implement. Cultural change requirement Changing citizen attitude and habits toward energy efficiency will be tough and time consuming goal. It requires continuous awareness and action by citizens to control carbon emission. For example, collecting garbage in segregating manner require effort by citizens. Further, restructuring of buildings is also a long term goal with short term effect. Restructuring of building is another resource abundance task, which also requires huge capital and other resource. Though this plan provide tax and financial benefits as a tool to attract citizen participation but it is difficult that to save 1 percent of tax people will shift their houses. However, it requires legal regulations which enforce people to take action (Xuezhang, 2007). There is need towards cultural shift in favor energy efficiency economy; still the low carbon idea in Chongqing is at introductory stage. Presently major strategies that are helping low carbon emission are administrative techniques; however, there is risk of carbon trading in the market. Cultural initiatives are require helping people in including change towards energy efficient approach in their daily lifestyle; small initiatives starting from home; office will help in saving huge energy in long run. For instance, there is fear of lock-in-effect also as being resource intensive region has high carbon takes which needs to be lower down; however, it would be time consuming to implement such behavioral and habituated changes in the market. Rising concern among local people will also help in strengthening overall funding also. Therefore, there is need for cultural shift in terms of lifestyle and daily habits(Yuanzhai Hongyu, 2013). Resource intensive Implementing recommended transport plan involves high resource requirement in terms of time, cost, and other factors. Obstacle in transport development is geographical, therefore difficult to remove. Though the Creating a congestion charge zone was effective in London but its success in Chongqing is not assured as there is low availability of alternative mode of transport which makes it less effective; another risk is that people might drive alternative long routes to save congestion charge which might end up leading to more carbon emission and pollution. However the plan for promoting energy efficient cars is very lucrative, it does not require much resource or time (Pettinger, 2011). It will be easy to implement through proper promotional and awareness technique. Though the BRT technique is expected to be effective however developing cable cars is again a time taking strategic action. However, as cable cars were used previously as a mode of transport in Chongqing, it will be a feas ible strategy. Further, funding scheme is effective approach to discourage energy consuming projects in the city and promote energy saving green environment through tax modifications. However the plan represents tax as primary source of fund for implementing this change plan; therefore there is need for planning other ways such as formation of new institutions for carbon efficiency, launching new plans, joining international plans to raise fund. Formation of new institutional structures In order to gather funding for these different programs, there is need for forming new institutional structures that focus on sole issue of carbon emission. However, it is not mandatory, but there is requirement of international program facilitation. For example, partnering with different environmental agencies, international environment or population oriented strategic initiatives (Yvonne, 2014). It is required to increase investment on environmental protection initiatives, technological innovations, and increase popularity of carbon education. Formation of new institutional structure will help in better performance evaluation, focused approach towards this plan. Administration difficulty Though lucrative plans have been set for implementing low carbon emission, funding and regulatory needs but there is lack of detailed analysis that provide information on separate allocation of funding, as it will help in understanding gap between resource availability and requirements. Similarly, there is an advisory system at place but it is recommended to implement performance evaluation system which will help in setting benchmark and evaluate performance towards the same (Khanna, Fridley, Hong, 2013). It is not very difficult to administrate the progress; different technological tools can be used for doing same. Presented project on low carbon emission is a systematic plan that covers different areas of concern, its reason and possible solution. Further execution will require persistent support from various stakeholder and continuous evaluation mechanism to gauge the progress. Bibliography cq.gov.cn. (2012, March). Peoples Government of Chongqing City, 2012. The action plan for Chongqings low carbon pilot city (in Chinese). Retrieved January 13, 2016, from cq.gov.cn: https://www.cq.gov.cn/gw/FaguiQuery/GwShowWithLogo.aspx?gwz=%E6%B8%9D%E5% BA%9C%E5%8F%91gwnh=2009gwqh=95. Fridley, D., Khanna, N. Z., Hong, L. (2012). Review of Chinas Low-Carbon City Initiative and Developments in the Coal Industry. China Energy Group . Khanna, N. Z., Fridley, D., Hong, L. (2013). Evaluating Chinas pilot low-carbon city initiative: national goals and local plans. U.S. Department of Energy. Pettinger, T. (2011, November 7). Pros and Cons of a Congestion Charge. Retrieved January 13, 2016, from www.economicshelp.org: https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/143/transport/how-effective-is-a-congestion-charge/ Xuezhang, C. (2007). Experiences and revelations of rresource-based city transformation in foreign countries. Journal of Hubei Normal University, 47-49. Yuanzhai, F., Hongyu, L. (2013). Constraints and Countermeasures: To Promote Low-Carbon Economy Development of Resource-Based Citie. Management Science and Engineering , 41-44. Yvonne, R. (2014). Review: Governing for Sustainable Urban Development. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 244-246.