Chun-Yang Chen

Ph.D. Title: New Energy Development in China

Chun-Yang Chen received a B.A. degree from the National Taiwan University in political science. He did international political economic studies on the implementation of the Clean Development Mechanism between the EU and China, and he holds both a degree of Master of European Politics and Policies from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and a M.A. degree from the National Chengchi University in political science. Chun-Yang was enrolled at the Otto-Suhr-Institut of Political Science, Freie Universität Berlin for his PhD study and had an exchange semester at the School of International Studies, Renmin University of China.

In the recent two decades, China’s attitude toward the issue of climate change has changed remarkably, and it has gradually risen as one of the world leaders on the climate issue. At the same time, China has become a major producer as well as an important market of the new energy products.

Previous studies and theories could help us understand this interesting transition, but they also confront some difficulties to be applied to the political and economic system in China; therefore, some modifications of the theories are necessary. The research focuses on the transition in the electricity sector, and it is to explain why and how this transition could happen under the conditions in China by looking into the active role of the central government.