In China, the amount of available crop residues from grain is large and continues to increase. Using crop residuebased bioenergy (CRB) to replace fossil fuels is a potentially efficient way to abate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The Chinese government has implemented a series of policies to support this, but nevertheless the quantity of crop residues used for bioenergy production has decreased in recent years. This research explores the relationship between policy and the behaviour of individual stakeholders with respect to handling crop residues and the resulting changes in GHG emissions and costs and benefits of the Chinese CRB sector.