Abstract:

Carbon budgets serve as a crucial policy measure supporting the achievement of China’s “dual carbon” goals, providing institutional safeguards and quantifiable pathways for their realization. A systematic comparison of the design and implementation models of carbon budget systems across different countries holds significant implications for the development of China’s own carbon budget system. In this paper, the carbon budget systems of the UK, Germany and France were compared and analyzed in terms of top-level design, target decomposition, monitoring and evaluation, and adjustment mechanism. The results show that all three countries have established a carbon budget framework through legislation, but there are differences in the implementation modes: the UK adopts a five-year carbon budget system and sets targets based on sectoral emission reduction potentials; Germany implements annual sectoral emission budgets and has a gap-filling mechanism; France refines the five-year budgets according to the sectors and types of greenhouse gases. In addition, all three countries have established independent assessment systems and independent expert committees, but there are differences in the budget adjustment mechanisms. In the future, China can combine carbon emission intensity and total volume control policy practices to steadily advance carbon budget management, improve legal safeguards, adopt a top-down and industry-specific approach, strengthen scientific support, and establish a dynamic adjustment mechanism to provide systematic policy support for the achievement of the “dual carbon” goals.

Key words: Carbon budget, International experience, Dual control of carbon emissions, Target decomposition