Can the largest high-speed rail network in the world help China decarbonise?
China’s economic planning department has recently approved a flurry of new rail projects at a scale that Green New Deal advocates in the United States would envy. A total of 800 billion yuan (US$120 billion) will be poured into rail construction in 2019 as part of a plan to stimulate the domestic economy.
These investments are the latest in a decade-long building spree that has rapidly outfitted China with the world’s most extensive high-speed rail network – larger than all others combined.
Trains are among the most energy-efficient modes of transport, so new lines could be a major asset to China’s decarbonisation. However, studies show that some of China’s high-speed lines have relatively large carbon footprints and are chronically underutilised. As China continues to pump money into an ever-expanding rail empire, these projects tell a cautionary tale.
Read more: https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/11174-How-green-is-China-s-high-speed-rail-