The Chinese Consumers' Attitudes towards their 'Willingness to Pay' for Renewable Electricity - An Analysis of Economic and Environmental Factors

Master's Thesis from the year 2016 in the subject Orientalism / Sinology - Chinese / China, grade: 2,0, , language: English, abstract: China's economic development has not only led to enormous growth figures, but also to a severe degradation of the environment. Mass-consumption of fossil fuels like oil and coal in China contributed to reaching the level of the largest greenhouse gas emitter worldwide. For the Chinese government to react, it is crucial to take the electricity purchase decisions of households into account to successfully implement energy policies. Hereby, a Chinese social survey shall help to show the effects of economic and environmental factors on the consumers' willingness to pay for the adoption of green electricity: the results of both a Linear Probability Model and a Probit model indicate that environmental factors do not play a crucial role when it comes to the consumers' willingness to pay for higher prices/taxes in order to protect the environment - whereas the economic factor regarding the influence of price levels has a slightly more effective impact. Nonetheless, education and adequate information provision about the merits of green electricity seem to be a prerequisite in order to promote the purchase of renewable electricity.