ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book contends the requirements of climate stabilization and energy sustainability will impose insurmountable limits on both Chinese and global economic growth. In this sense, an alternative social system is not only possible but also inevitable, were human civilization to survive the demise of capitalism. The book discusses the historical interactions between China and the capitalist world system. It gives an overview of the world's and China's energy consumption. The book examines the world's resources of oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear energy, and renewable energies. It explores the worlds and China's carbon emission budgets required for alternative scenarios of climate stabilization. Then, it also concludes by considering three possible scenarios for China's future in the twenty-first century: crisis and collapse; reform within capitalism; and transition to the end of growth.
