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Building sector accounts for nearly 30% of global final energy usage, and its energy demand is expected to keep growing with the increasing population and expanding tertiary industry in the coming decades. To achieve global climate mitigation goal, building sector will need to fully tap its potential on energy conservation and CO 2 reduction. This paper simulated the transformation pathways of global energy system under 2-degree and 1.5-degree climate targets with Global TIMES model, classified the 14 model regions into high, middle and low income region, and analyzed the main features and key challenges of each region’s building sector transition pathways. Modeling results show that: (1) For global building sector, 32 Gt of CO 2 emissions reduction is required between 2010 and 2050 by 2-degree target, additional 28 Gt of reduction would be essential to achieve 1.5-degree target; (2) High income region would take the lead in building sector’s CO 2 mitigation, while low income region may be increasingly important when the carbon constraint gets more stringent; (3) Electrification is a critical approach in building sector’s low carbon transition, by 2050, the share of electricity in final energy consumption is expected to reach 44%, 54% and 59% in reference, 2-degree and 1.5-degree scenarios respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global climate change and energy crises have increasingly impeded the sustainable development of society and economy. With an accelerated process of urbanization and improved standards of living, China has become the largest carbon emitter in the world and therefore has great responsibility and great potential to mitigate global carbon emissions. Accordingly, as the largest source of emissions in China, Chinese buildings should also decrease carbon emissions towards this goal. However, until now, there has been no clear and comprehensive understanding of the carbon emissions in this sector. To fill this gap, we survey the current and future situation. Firstly, we estimate the controlled ceiling of building carbon emission, splitting from the overall reduction goal in China. Then we develop a comprehensive carbon-calculating methodology, the China Building Carbon Emissions Model, using a bottom-up approach, and assess the building carbon emissions based on official statistics. On the basis of that, scenario analysis is used to predict the future trend of carbon emissions in China's building sector. According to our analysis, it is critical to simultaneously control floor space, energy consumption and energy structure to limit the growth of carbon emissions in the building sector. Finally, some relative policy suggestions are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]