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With the increasing severity of global warming, the goal of carbon sequestration and emission reduction in various industries has become an important responsibility for sustainable development. As an important part of carbon sink, the improvement of net carbon efficiency in the plantations industry will make a great contribution to the realization of the "double carbon" target in agriculture. However, there are large spatial and temporal differences in the net carbon efficiency of the plantations sector in various provinces, and there is still a large scope for increasing carbon sink and reducing carbon emission. In this paper, we have analyzed spatial and temporal trends in the net carbon sink efficiency of the plantations' production processes in 31 provinces in China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) from 2000 to 2020. On this basis, we have analyzed the influencing factors of net carbon efficiency in the plantations' production process through an extended Kaya constant equation. Through the geographically and temporally weighted regression model, we explore the spatio-temporal heterogeneity of the influencing factors, and further analyze the driving and restraining factors of net carbon efficiency in plantations' production process, in order to propose appropriate countermeasures. The study shows that: (1) The net carbon efficiency of plantations sector in China increase between 2000 and 2020, and the development of net carbon efficiency is uneven across regions. (2) The geographic center of net carbon efficiency of China's plantations industry shift from the northeast to the southwest and is consistent with the migration direction of agricultural inputs. (3) The influencing factors of net carbon efficiency in the plantations sector show large regional differences, and can be specifically divided into four major types of zones. In this regard, this paper provides more appropriate countermeasure suggestions for increasing carbon sink and reducing carbon emission in each zone, with a view to achieving the goal of double carbon in agriculture with practical significance. • Net carbon efficiency is a new objective indicator to measure the carbon sink level of cropland. • Cultivated land carbon sink capacity is closely related to agricultural inputs. • Regional differences in the factors influencing net carbon efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanism of the environmental regulations affecting carbon emissions is complex, and for many years it has been a hot research topic for researchers. However, few of the previous studies have focused on whether or not environmental regulations can potentially influence carbon emissions through technical efficiency. Therefore, the present study chose to investigate the mediation effects of the technical efficiencies between environmental regulations and carbon emissions using the provincial panel data of energy-intensive industries for the period ranging from 2005 to 2015. The results were as follows: (i) In regard to the entire group of energy-intensive industries, it was found that environmental regulations could not only potentially directly reduce carbon emissions, but also indirectly reduce carbon emissions through technical efficiency. In other words, technical efficiency had played a partial mediation role between the environmental regulations and the carbon emissions; (ii) It was observed that for the different subdivided energy-intensive industries, the different levels of technical efficiency had shown various mediation effects. For example, the mediation effects of technical efficiency in the petroleum processing and coking (PPC) industry; papermaking and paper products (PPP) industry, and raw chemical materials and chemical products (RCMCP) industry, were found to be similar to those of the whole energy-intensive industries. Furthermore, the "Porter Hypothesis" had been verified in the nonmetal mineral products (NMP) industry. However, there were no mediation effects observed in the smelting and pressing of ferrous metals (SPFM) and smelting and pressing of nonferrous metals (SPNM) industries; (iii) In this study, in accordance with the regression results of the double-threshold models, it was found that for the energy-intensive industries as a whole, the carbon emission reduction effects of environmental regulations had become stronger with the increases in technical efficiency. For the PPP and RCMCP industries, there was an inverted U-shaped relationship observed between environmental regulations and carbon emissions when the technical efficiency was taken as the threshold variable. Therefore, based on the research conclusions achieved in this study, some policy recommendations were put forward. • Environmental regulation reduces carbon emission of the energy intensive industries of China. • Technical efficiency plays a partial mediation effect between environmental regulation and carbon emission. • The mediation effects of technical efficiency differ in the subdivided energy-intensive industries. • The "Porter hypothesis" is verified in Nonmetal Mineral Products (NMP) industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's industry is facing a carbon lock-in (CLI) dilemma. Based on the complexity and dynamics of CLI, exploring diversified unlocking paths is an important way to achieve emission reduction goals. This paper innovatively applies system dynamics (SD) to the study of CLI prediction and unlocking path, and systematically constructs an industrial CLI SD model, trying to break the positive feedback mechanism of CLI through multiple causality and feedback chains. This paper simulates and predicts the changing trend of the CLI level of China's industry and 8 major subsectors from 2020 to 2050. At the same time, the random forest algorithm is used to select the regulatory variables of policy analysis. Compared with the previous research methods, the accuracy and objectivity of the selection of regulatory variables are improved, so as to test the effectiveness of the unlocking path under each scenario. The results show that (1) the whole industry faces a serious CLI problem and is still in a deep lock-in state. From the perspective of subsectors, the light, electromechanical, and textile industries have achieved unlocking; the oil and extractive industries are in a moderately lock-in state; the chemical, steel, and power industries are in a deep lock-in state; and the CLI situation is serious. (2) The results of the random forest algorithm show that R&D investment, the proportion of fixed asset investments in the energy industry, car sales, energy structure, and carbon emission industry structure are the most significant factors affecting CLI in each subsystem. (3) Compared with the existing economic development model, the technological, institutional, social, and comprehensive unlocking scenarios can all enable industry to achieve carbon peak and carbon unlocking in advance. However, the effect of each scenario is as follows: comprehensive unlocking scenario > technological unlocking scenario > institutional unlocking scenario > social unlocking scenario. (4) The unlocking times of the oil, chemical, steel, and power industries are relatively late in each scenario. To realize carbon unlocking in industry, these four areas should be focused on in the future. This study helps policymakers formulate reasonable policies to accelerate industrial carbon unlocking and promote the implementation of the "dual carbon" strategy. • The whole industry faces a serious carbon lock-in problem. • The technological, institutional, social and comprehensive unlocking scenarios can all achieve carbon unlocking in advance. • The comprehensive unlocking scenario has the best effect, and the social unlocking scenario has the worst effect. • The oil, chemical, steel and power industries should be focused on in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is under the pressure of international climate change negotiation, domestic energy security and haze reduction. Replying to these pressures positively, China announced to reduce 40%–45% CO 2 per unit Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2020, 60%–65% CO 2 per unit GDP in 2030 based on 2005 level, and to carry out ambitious reduction measures. To achieve this target, low-carbon governance is necessary. The central government expects to build low-carbon society and develop low-carbon economy through pilots. This paper analyzes the framework of low-carbon governance in China. The government plays a guidance role in the governance process which involves enterprises, NGOs and citizens. Different types of measures, policy tools and actions have been implemented as response to the pressure. The governance can be achieved through the integration of technical, spatial and social pathways. The paper analyzes the framework by using Suzhou Industry Park (SIP) as case study which is a very important part of low carbon management of cities. Although the total CO 2 amount in the Park has increased, its CO 2 intensity per unit GDP has been reduced in recent years after the efforts made by its Park Council and enterprisers. The policy implementation indicates that the guidance role of local governments and the process are still based on a top-down management at park level, although the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) hopes to carry out pilot program and summarize experiences from a bottom-up mechanism. Target Responsibility System (TRS) is still the key working mechanism and makes contribution to the reduction of CO 2 per unit GDP. The low-carbon governance experiences of SIP can be learned by other cities, while local government displays positive attitudes towards low-carbon practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars and policy makers put great emphasis on analyzing the mitigation effect of an emissions trading scheme (ETS), while empirical researches on the mitigation effects of China's pilot ETSs are both thin and with significant limitations. This paper tries to analyze this issue from the perspective of industrial sub-sectors at the provincial level. We first calculate the carbon emissions of 37 individual industrial sub-sectors in each of China's 26 provinces from 2005 to 2015, covering both direct and indirect emissions. Cautiously identifying the industrial sub-sectors covered by China's pilot ETSs, we explore the causal impact of China's pilot ETSs on reducing carbon emissions at the initial stage (2013–2015) and analyze the paths of achieved emission reductions, applying a difference-in-difference (DID) model and a combination of DID estimator and propensity score matching technique. Our results yield robust evidence that China's pilot ETSs have significantly promoted carbon emission reductions of the covered industrial sub-sectors, and this impact has presented an overall enhanced trend according to year-by-year analysis. The results also show that the pilot ETSs have failed to enable covered industrial sub-sectors to effectively cut carbon intensity and the impact on carbon intensity is not obvious in any of the first three years, and the carbon emission reductions have mainly been achieved through the decreased outputs of industrial sub-sectors. China's policy makers should tighten the free allowance allocation approaches in order to facilitate low-carbon technology innovations and reduce carbon intensity of industrial sectors. • We explore the causal impact of China's pilot ETS on reducing carbon emissions from the perspective of industrial sub-sectors at the provincial level. • China's pilot ETSs have significantly promoted carbon emission reductions of the covered industrial sub-sectors. • China's pilot ETSs have failed to cause covered industrial sub-sectors to effectively cut carbon intensity. • The carbon emission reductions have mainly been achieved through the decreased outputs of industrial sub-sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The government's attention on environmental protection (GAEP) can signal work priorities and resource allocations to firms, promoting them to implement more carbon reduction actions. Based on the data of listed manufacturing firms in China from 2012 to 2021, this paper measures the GAEP and firms' carbon reduction actions through textual analysis, and then examines the relationship between GAEP and firms' carbon reduction actions. We find that the GAEP could improve firms' carbon reduction actions. This study further indicates that the increase in GAEP leads to the better allocation of environmental subsidies, thereby further positively impacting on firms' carbon reduction actions, and we also demonstrate the positive moderating effect of government-firm relationship. In addition, GAEP could be a stronger effect for state-owned enterprises and the firms located in the eastern and central China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comprehensive understanding of the interdependence between China's economy and carbon emissions can better serve China's transition towards a low-carbon economy, and can also provide reference for other developing countries. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the dependence of China's economy on CO 2 emissions: (i) the Tapio decoupling model was applied to quantify the decoupling elasticity between China's economy and CO 2 emissions; (ii) the structure decomposition technique was utilized to quantity the contribution of China's economic structure to the decoupling elasticity; (iii) the combined decomposition model which combined Cobb–Douglas (C-D) production function with Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) technique and was solved the residual problem was employed to identify more driving factors (labor input, investment, carbon coefficient, energy structure, energy intensity, economic structure, and technology state) affecting the decoupling elasticity. The main results were as follows: (i) The decoupling elasticity showed a downward trend during the whole period, and the decoupling state was characterized by two types: expansive negative decoupling (2002–2005) and weak decoupling (2000–2002 and 2005–2014). (ii) The industry sector played the most negative effect on the decoupling process expect 2013–2014. From the cumulative effect, the contribution of six sectors to promote decoupling effect was ranked as follows: Construction > Agriculture > Trade > Other > Transport > Industry. (iii) The most critical factor driving the increased CO 2 emissions was the investment effect, accounting for 145.34% of the cumulative total CO 2 emissions, while the energy intensity effect contributed to a cumulative reduction in CO 2 emissions of 1443.72 Mt. Finally, some policy recommendations were offered to achieve the decoupling of China's economic growth and carbon emissions. • Quantifying effects of investment on decoupling economy from emission in China. • Combining C-D function and LMDI to develop non-residual decomposition technique. • The decoupling elasticity showed a downward trend, dominated by weak decoupling state. • Industry sector played the most negative effect on the decoupling process. • The leading contributor to China's CO 2 emissions was the investment effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper incorporates the multiregional input-output (MRIO) and social network analysis (SNA) methods to investigate China's embodied carbon transfer across provinces. We estimate the amount of interprovincial embodied carbon transfer from 2002 to 2012, analyse the spatial correlation network structure of carbon transfer and its determinants. Our work can clarify the spatial distribution and different roles of provinces in the carbon transfer network. The empirical results show the spatio-temporal evolution of embodied carbon transfer; in 2002, embodied carbon transfer occurred from the energy-rich northern provinces to the developed eastern and central provinces, but in 2012, it transferred to developing southwestern and southern provinces. Moreover, the northwestern provinces act as "bridges" between the central and eastern provinces; eastern provinces play a "bidirectional spillover" role that transfers carbon internally and externally. The embodied carbon transfer network proposed here can help policy makers further clarify individual provinces' carbon emissions reduction responsibilities and curb national carbon emissions. • The spatial correlation network structure of embodied carbon transfer in China is analysed. • The carbon emissions is with obvious regional disequilibrium and the transfer is "geographic adhesiveness". • Northwestern provinces act as "bridges" meanwhile Eastern provinces play a "bidirectional spillover" role in carbon transfer. • The environmental path dependence is most important in affecting embodied carbon transfer in 2012. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Coordinating the dilemma of economic development and reducing carbon emissions is of great significance to reaching China's energy-saving and emission-reduction targets. This paper investigates the decoupling relationship between economic growth and carbon emissions from the construction industry of China's 30 provinces, and uses the standard deviational ellipse method to explore the spatial evolution of carbon emissions and the economy. The results indicate that the economic development levels of most provinces were positively correlated with carbon emissions. The spatial differences in the decoupling state of provincial construction industry are significant, and the decoupling states of the same type exhibited a certain spatial aggregation phenomenon. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of the output value and carbon emissions exhibited a northeast-southwest pattern. The weighted mean centers of both were located in the east and moved towards the northwestern region. These results may provide a basis for assessing regional construction carbon emissions and formulating strategies for the coordinated development of low carbon emissions in the construction industry. Highlights • The standard deviational ellipse method is employed. • It studies the spatial pattern of economic growth and carbon emissions. • It demonstrates the dynamic evolving trend of the decoupling relationship. • It can further promote carbon emission reduction at the provincial level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite rapid economic development, the transport industry has been claimed to account for a major part of climate change. This paper investigates total factor carbon-sensitive productivity growth in the regional transport sector in China and decomposes its dynamic changes over time taking account of the regional heterogeneity of different provinces. Thus, the contemporaneous metafrontier Malmquist-Luenberger approach that combined with non-radial directional distance functions is proposed and define a new indicator called the contemporaneous metafrontier Malmquist-Luenberger carbon emission performance index (CMML). This total factor indicator includes the metafrontier efficiency-change index (MEC), the metafrontier technology-change index (MTC), and the metafrontier technology-gap-change index (TGC). Results show an about 4% increase in overall total factor carbon emission productivity during the period of 2000–2012. Different growth patterns are also observed in the transport sector across different area of China. In the eastern region, the growth of carbon productivity is driven mainly by pure efficiency changes, whereas the central region is driven mainly by innovations in the low-carbon transport technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of a low-carbon supply chain is central for the sustainable development of a country, especially for a large carbon emitter such as China. To better promote supply chain emission reduction, this paper analyzes the carbon emission transfer and emission reduction problem among enterprises within the supply chain, integrating the influence of government emission reduction policies and the low carbon market. Considering the lag time of emission reduction technologies and the low-carbon preferences of consumers, a Stackelberg differential game model (dominated by manufacturers) is constructed under both centralized and decentralized decisions. The results suggest that the lag time of emission reduction technology and the low carbon preference of consumers positively affect the carbon emission transfer level of manufacturers, while not affecting suppliers' undertaking levels. Only when the lag time of emission reduction technology remains within a specific range, will an increase in consumers' low-carbon preferences exert a positive impact on supply chain profits. Notably, under decentralized decision-making, when the emission reduction technology lag time and consumers' low carbon preference remain within a specific range, the carbon emission transfer behavior exerts a positive promoting effect on the emission reduction of the supply chain. This applies when the profit of the supply chain increases and the carbon emission reduction per unit of product decreases. This result provides a new idea for the government to control irrational carbon emission transfer behavior of enterprises. Moreover, considering the lag time of emission reduction technology is also conducive to increasing the acceptability of government carbon quota. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the natural resource-based view (NRBV), this paper analyzes the relationship between internal low carbon integration and external low carbon integration and firm performance, as well as the moderating role of quality management within low carbon supply chain, by researching 12 business departments of machinery, electronic, and transportation components industries in China. The results of this empirical study show that internal low carbon integration helps to improve firm's environmental performance, while hinder firm's financial performance. External low carbon integration improves both environmental performance and financial performance. In the meanwhile, quality management strengthens positive relationships that found in this study and weakens the negative relationship between internal low carbon integration and financial performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring the drivers of declining energy intensity is necessary in order to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy in China. To date, studies have typically adopted case analysis to link enterprise features and energy-saving performance. The impact of internal industrial configuration in terms of size and ownership structure on aggregate energy intensity remains to be examined. To fill this research gap, this paper tests the impact of the internal structure of industries on city-level energy intensity, by employing a unique panel dataset of 283 cities for the period 2005 to 2010. The Driscoll-Kraay method and instrumental variable are used to treat residual cross-sectional dependence and endogeneity, respectively. Results suggest that small-scale enterprises exerts a negative effect on energy intensity. A 1% increase in the output-value proportion of small-sized firms will lead to a decrease in total energy intensity of 0.067%. In contrast, the same change by medium enterprises will raise energy intensity by 0.031%. A negative and/or non-significant coefficient suggests that for most energy-intensive large and state-owned enterprises, China's 2006 top-down energy-saving regulation has been quite effective in targeting key energy-intensive enterprises in China. The findings reveal that state-owned enterprises (SOEs) can act as promoters of, rather than barriers to, low-carbon policy implementation in China. Given that the effectiveness of energy-saving regulation will be undermined as a result of diluted regulatory strength in each enterprise, market-oriented energy price reform is proposed as a fundamental driver for guaranteeing a continual decline in energy intensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Belt and Road Initiative was proposed by China in 2013 to promote the interconnected development and prosperity of all participating countries. In the context of global response to climate change, understanding the embodied carbon transfer change along economic trade before and after the Belt and Road Initiative is essential to reduce carbon overall emission. In this paper, we used a multi-regional input-output model to study the embodied carbon transfer in trade between the Belt and Road countries that have signed cooperation documents with China from 2004 to 2017. The results showed that from 2004 to 2017, the growth rate that China's carbon emissions imported from other Belt and Road Initiative countries was about 1.9 times that of its exports. From 2004 to 2017, the proportion of China's carbon imports from other Belt and Road countries in China's total carbon imports increased from 3.41% to 3.73%, and exports decreased from 6.52% to 6.03%. In both 2004 and 2017, Electricity, Gas and Water sector, Heavy Industry sector, Transport sector were the three largest carbon transfer sectors in China's multilateral trade. In 2017, the embodied carbon transfer by multilateral trade among other Belt and Road countries except China increased by 15.53% compared with 2004. By comparing the characteristics of carbon transfer between China and the Belt and Road countries from 2004 to 2017, this study will provide insights for carbon emission reduction policy setting of Belt and Road Initiative countries. • We took countries that have signed documents with China as research objects. • MRIO model was used to analyze the carbon transfer change from 2004 to 2017. • The embodied carbon transfer in 2017 of BRI increased by 15.53% compared with 2004. • The growth rate of China's carbon imports from BRI was 1.9 times that of exports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the climate is warming up and climate disasters occur more frequently, China's carbon peak and carbon neutrality targets are gaining attention, with provinces starting to set carbon peak targets and constantly exploring low carbon economic development opportunities. However, the existing evaluation index system mainly focuses on low carbon cities and green cities, and there is no evaluation index system for carbon peak and carbon neutrality. This study adopts a combination of theoretical and empirical research and draws on domestic and international research results to construct the first index system for evaluating China's provincial carbon peak and carbon neutrality. The evaluation index system includes 18 indicators from three dimensions: climate ambition, low carbon status, and emissions trends. Using this index system, we calculated the carbon peak and carbon neutrality indices of 30 Chinese provinces. Further, the 30 provinces were classified into six categories, and corresponding policy recommendations for achieving the "Dual carbon" targets were put forward. The evaluation index system constructed in this paper can provide a reference for future carbon peak and carbon neutrality assessments. By disclosing the integrated index of each province, we hope to effectively curb the increasing local carbon emissions; avert inaction in areas with good natural endowments; and motivate the advancement of the latter, to boost the implementation of the "Dual carbon" targets coherently for the whole country. [Display omitted] • An integrated evaluation system on China's Provincial "Dual carbon" was proposed. • 30 provinces in mainland China were ranked based on the integrated index. • 6 groups were classified to show provincial differences on dual carbon performance. • Policy recommendations to fulfill China's climate commitment were put forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An effective evaluation of a city's low carbon development plays an essential role in promoting low carbon development strategies for achieving the city's sustainable development. This paper proposes a data-driven approach to objectively evaluating the low carbon development level of cities. The approach formulates the low carbon development evaluation problem as a multi-criteria decision analysis problem and incorporates the merits of bibliometric analysis, text mining and optimal weighting to evaluating the urban low carbon development performance. The bibliometric analysis is applied to systematically identify evaluation criteria and associated indicators and establish an evaluation system for measuring low carbon development levels of urban cities. Equipped with an objective weighting method based on text mining, the approach determines the local weights of the evaluation criteria and indicators for each city by extracting subjective preferential information from the policy documents available on the local government's websites. Two optimal weighting models are developed to determine the optimal global weights of the indicators and criteria by maximizing the low carbon development performance of all cities. The obtained criteria weighting thus can reflect both the preferences of local city governments and the best common interest of all cities involved in the evaluation. The approach is then illustrated with a case study on three cities involved in urban agglomeration planning in China. The results compare the low carbon development performance of the cities, identify the disparities between the cities and reveal each city's obstacle factors that hinder its development. Policy recommendations are then suggested for developing effective low carbon development policies. • A data-driven approach is developed to evaluate cities' low carbon development (LCD) performance. • LCD evaluation criteria are systematically identified using bibliometric analysis. • Criteria weights are determined by text mining cities' LCD preferences and applying optimal weighting. • Disparities, trends, and obstacles are identified to form effective LCD policies. • LCD evaluation of cities in an emerging economic region validates the approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy consumption has a strong driving force for promoting energy conservation and emission reduction, and is a new way to achieve clean and low-carbon development. Based on this, this paper uses the data of renewable energy consumption, carbon productivity, GDP, population, energy efficiency and technological innovation of 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2020, and empirically analyzes the impact of renewable energy consumption on carbon productivity in 30 provinces in China, using STIRPAT model, comprehensively considers spatial horizontally and temporal vertically dimension. The empirical results show that: (1) China's carbon productivity shows a significant spatial spillover effect, its impact can spill over to adjacent areas within 1000 km; (2) China's renewable energy power consumption plays a significant role in promoting the improvement of carbon productivity. (3) Renewable energy consumption in the western region plays the most important role in driving carbon productivity. Finally, according to the temporal and spatial relationship between renewable energy consumption and carbon productivity in different regions, we provide specific regional policy suggestions. • The STIRPAT model is employed to explore temporal and spatial impact, while it considers sub regions. • Spatialy, the impact can spill over to adjacent areas within 1000km. Temporally, the impact fluctuates and rises. • The positive role of renewable energy consumption is found in China's western region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's economic growth has been progressively moving towards reducing carbon intensity. In parallel, Japan has long been regarded as the pioneer of energy efficiency worldwide. Why have these two economic giants had such different experiences of carbon intensity in the past decades? A closer examination in both countries may hold vital clues, which are still very unclear. This paper compares the patterns of carbon intensity between China and Japan, in which we propose a bilateral-country decomposition framework by combining production-theoretical decomposition analysis and index decomposition analysis. The decomposition highlights the effects of emission factor, energy structure, sectoral structure, substitution among labor-energy and capital-energy, and technological progress. The results show that the energy structure, sectoral structure, and capital-energy substitution are the main drivers behind that China is much higher carbon intensity than Japan, accounting for 26%, 25%, and 38%, respectively. Yet, these effects also narrowed the carbon intensity gap between China and Japan over the years. Furthermore, the labor-energy substitution effect has generally decreased the carbon intensity gap. The technological effect has a minor impact on the carbon intensity gap per year, while it plays a dominant role in enlarging the carbon intensity gap over time. • An improved approach is proposed to decompose driving forces of carbon intensity. • The approach is applied to carbon intensity gap between China and Japan. • Potential energy intensity of each sector is uncovered by input substitution. • Enabling policymakers in developing countries to reduce carbon intensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The power sector plays a significant role in China's energy transition and emission reduction strategy. Considering that the aggregation of the power sector from different sources in input-output (IO) tables will lead to the "aggregation bias problem", it is vital that we disaggregate the power sector using IO tables when analyzing and comparing the driving forces of embodied carbon emission changes in the power sector. This paper first disaggregates the power sector into seven subsectors; then, it uses structural decomposition analysis (SDA) to analyze the driving forces of embodied carbon emission changes in each subsector and allocates embodied emissions that occur from 2007 to 2015 according to the demand categories. The results show that the embodied carbon emissions from each clean energy sector were relatively lower than those from thermal power during the study period. Consumption volume was the main driving factor for the embodied carbon emission increments. From 2012 to 2015, the production structure was mainly responsible for the embodied emission increases in each clean energy sector, indicating that the embodied carbon emissions caused by power equipment updates or reconstruction processes should receive more attention. In addition, the embodied carbon emission changes induced by urban residential consumption on the thermal power showed a plateaued trend from 2007 to 2015. This paper provides support for the formulation of emission reduction measures and the low-carbon structural transformation of the power sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green technology is a crucial way to achieve energy conservation, emission reduction and economic growth. Most of the previous literature has studied the influence of green technology on carbon emission from the regional perspective. This paper discusses the direct role in terms of industry of seven green technologies under the International Patent Classification (IPC) Green Inventory classification standard on the reduction of carbon intensity and the indirect impact of technology vertical spillovers generated by transmission via the intermediate input products channel on carbon intensity. Based on empirical research that was conducted by adopting an improved regression on the population, affluence and technology (STIRPAT) model using the panel data of 17 categories of industries in China from 2000 to 2015, the indirect effect was more significant than the direct result, as every green technology innovation level and technology spillover capacity was increased by 1%, the carbon intensity reduced by 0.1303% and 0.1558%, respectively. Energy conservation technology played a direct role in the reduction of carbon intensity and achieved the best results, and its impact was 1.76 times that of waste management technology, which had the weakest effect. Transportation emission reduction technology played an indirect role in the reduction of carbon emission intensity and achieved the best results; its impact was 2.13 times the average value of all types of technology spillover effects. Finally, the paper analyzes seven types of green technology spillover capacities and the heterogeneity in the reduction of carbon intensity efficiency and provides some relevant policy suggestions. • The green technology has been examined from the industry perspective. • The green technology vertical spillovers can reduce the carbon intensity more significantly. • Distinguished seven types of green technology. • Discovered the key kinds of green technology. • Explored the heterogeneity of spillover capacity and their effects on carbon intensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to provide full supports for carbon market risk management and strengthen anti-risk capacity. We propose an assessment index system with 25 indices in terms of 10 dimensions from three levels of internal, external and interface risks. Furthermore, we propose an integrated model incorporating rough set and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) to assess the risk of carbon market. Selecting the data of China as a research example, the empirical results show that the risk of carbon market presents obvious fluctuation in China during 2013–2017. Although the overall risk has declined compared with the beginning of carbon market, it is still at a high level and the gap between carbon markets is gradually increasing affected by regional economic differences and system design. It is also found that external risk is unpredictable, uncontrollable and destructive, meanwhile operational risk in internal risk remains high. • An assessment index system of 25 indices is proposed for carbon market risk. •An integrated model incorporating rough set and TOPSIS is built to assess carbon market risk. •China's carbon market risks present obvious fluctuations during 2013–2017. •The overall risk of China's carbon market is at a high level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fundamental requirement of carbon abatement is to complete the carbon abatement task set, at the lowest cost. In this paper, the non-radial distance function method is used to calculate the marginal carbon abatement costs of each unit, and the statistical method is used to estimate the carbon abatement efficiency of each unit. Based on the sum of dynamic carbon abatement costs in each province, the carbon abatement task allocation is optimized, and the data before and after optimization is compared and analyzed. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) The function of carbon abatement efficiency can be estimated using the marginal cost of carbon abatement, by which, the carbon abatement cost of each province can be calculated. (2) The correlation between carbon emissions and carbon abatement efficiency of each province is weak, so the overall carbon abatement efficiency of China is low. (3) Optimizing the allocation of provincial carbon abatement tasks can significantly reduce the total carbon abatement cost and improve the carbon abatement efficiency. This study has significant theoretical and practical value for improving China's overall carbon abatement efficiency, and establishing the provincial initial carbon emission quota. [Display omitted] • We estimate carbon abatement efficiency of China and its provinces. • We improve the method for carbon abatement efficiency using the dynamic data. • We fill a gap in research on carbon abatement efficiency based task allocation method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the coupling mechanisms between carbon emissions and the eco-environment is essential for building sustainable economies. Based on the coupling coordination model, this paper investigates the coordination degree of carbon emissions and the eco-environment in China from 2009 to 2015. The Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index decomposition method was used to identify the key factors affecting the coordination degree. Furthermore, different scenarios were simulated to show the impact of changes in government priorities on the coordination degree. The results show that the dynamic relationship between carbon emissions and the eco-environment in China has reached a barely balanced stage, but a few provinces are still struggling with imbalances. The coordination level of carbon emissions and the eco-environment becomes the key factor affecting coordinated development, while the interaction intensity has a limited effect. Further analysis indicated that although the carbon emission evaluation value has a positive effect on promoting an increase in the coordination degree, the eco-environment evaluation value determines the trend of coordinated regional development. Moreover, the priorities of government policymakers have a substantial impact on coordinated development, but these impacts gradually diminish as the differences in evaluation values decrease. These findings contribute to the formulation of effective regional sustainable development strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming caused by greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions has become a paramount problem for all countries to solve. The construction industry emits 36 percent of the GHG in all sectors globally. China is the largest carbon emitter in the world, and Jiangsu province has been used as a test bed for reforming and developing modern construction industry in China. The aim of the study is to explore the driving factors of the total carbon emissions from the construction industry (CECI) in the provincial region using a hybrid Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) model. The findings of the study indicate that: 1) Indirect and operational CECI account for the largest proportion (52.22% and 46.02% in 2016 respectively); 2) The driving factors of CECI in Jiangsu province are the area factor (contribution from 2005 to 2016 is 100.22%) and the output value intensity factor (86.56%) while the restraining factor is the carbon emission intensity (−80.35%). Discussion and implicated policies, such as improving the energy efficiency of related industries and using green building materials have been elaborated at the end of the study. The decomposition and calculation method presented in this paper provides a useful tool for policymakers to evaluate CECI of a province or state and formulate appropriate carbon policies to reduce emissions and promote low-carbon development in a region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important part of urban carbon emissions, the carbon emissions from household energy consumption are increasing with the continuous improvement of Chinese urbanization. This study divides family population into 4 groups: adolescents (aged 0–17), young people (aged 18–44), middle-aged people (aged 45–59), and elderly people (aged 60 and older) and develops a calculation model for carbon emissions of household energy consumption in accordance with the latest standards of the World Health Organization based on Chinese Family Panel Studies in 2016. Results showed that the marginal and intergenerational effects coexist in various types of household energy consumption: Families with 3–5 people have the most economical consumption scale and the largest marginal sharing effect; multigenerational families or families with a large proportion of middle-aged and older people are beneficial in reducing household energy consumption. This paper suggests it is important to fully consider the impact of the intergenerational effect, marginal effect, and cultural shock caused by the electronic information age on household energy consumption when formulating standards of household energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to better achieve the goal of carbon emissions, this paper combined the theory of gravity center and Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) model to analyze the regional emission differences in China. Researches have shown that the difference in economic development levels between the eastern and western regions is an important factor that causes the shift of the center of gravity of carbon emission and its intensity to the west. In decomposition effects, the economic output effect has the largest contribution (56%) to emissions, and the energy intensity effect has the best effect in suppressing emissions. Except for some industries in the East and Central South of China, energy structure in other regions is still dominated by high-carbon energy. In the energy intensity effect, the suppression effects in the East and Central South of China have reached −83,440 Mt and −78,850 Mt respectively, while the Northeast and Northwest of China areas are not significant. Vigorously developing low-carbon technologies and promoting clean energy can effectively reduce carbon intensity. It is recommended to implement the policy of adapting to local conditions according to the current situation of the region, and gradually phase out high energy-consuming industries under the guidance of the government, so as to strive to implement the emission reduction target. • Industrial energy consumption difference between regions were analyzed for China. • Economic output has the largest effect to emission. • Center of gravity theory is used to analyze emission. • The adjustment of industrial structure has a lagging effect on carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has made ambitious carbon emission reduction commitments at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris in 2015. However, the policies that have been adopted are based on the production accounting principle and are excessively concentrated in high and direct carbon intensity industries. This production-based accounting can lead to unfair responsibility for emissions reduction, mismatch in economic development, and carbon leakage. Embodied CO 2 emissions depict the accumulated emissions generated in the production process of a product, and it is based on the consumption accounting principle. This accounting method addresses some shortcomings on production responsibility, thus providing a new perspective for carbon emission reduction. Based on 1992–2012 input-output tables and direct carbon emissions of China, this study calculated the embodied carbon transfer within 28 industries. A visualized dynamic embodied carbon database was constructed, covering all industries in China within a 20-years period. We characterized the embodied carbon transfer structure among different industries in China. The main embodied carbon input and output sectors were identified, and targeted industry emission reduction recommendations are provided. The power industry (an upstream industry), and the construction industry (a downstream industry) were considered typical net export and import industries. These sectors are suitable for formulating emission reduction policies from their respective supply and demand sides. The chemical industry is in the middle of the industrial chain, where the input and output are equal. Therefore, policies that affect both supply and demand can achieve better results. This paper provides detailed data to support China's overall arrangement of industrial carbon emission reduction. • The study constructs a visualized dynamic embodied carbon database of China from 1992 to 2012. • The study identifies main embodied carbon input and output sectors. • The study gives a differentiated policy orientation based on the characteristics of different typical industries. • The database can provide data support for the improvement of industry climate policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on panel data from 2007 to 2016, this paper investigates the carbon abatement effect of China's pilot Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) and the influencing paths of the policy at both national and regional level by using Difference in Differences model and parallel multiple mediator model. The results reveal that the policy has reduced the total carbon emission reduction by 13.39%, with an upward abatement trend annually. Secondly, a systematic framework containing technique effect, composition effect and allocation effect is proposed to further investigate the influencing mechanisms of the achieved emission curbing effect. It reflects that the policy has not yet promoted the low-carbon innovation completely, only innovation of high-quality played an effective mediating role. Meantime, two other influencing channels of industrial upgrading and optimized resource allocation are verified. Thirdly, policy's heterogeneous impacts are detected by classifying China into three representative regions according to economic and geographical differences, where western China experiences the strongest emission abatement by 21.57%, whereas central China and eastern China is 9.83% and 6.65% respectively. Fourthly, assessments of the regional influencing mechanisms show that the mediating role of high-quality low-carbon technology innovation is only significant in the western region, while the other two regions tend to have rebound effect. Besides, the promotion of industrial upgrading is positively related to the development levels of regions, with the improvement of 18.01% in the eastern region, followed by 17.34% and 12.46% in the central and western region. Finally, the optimization of the resource allocation has not been promoted regardless of the regions. In general, although the current policy has a significant carbon reduction effect, there is still much space for potential abatement to be developed. • China's pilot ETS has significant carbon reduction effects at both national and regional level. • Mediating effects of high-quality innovation, industrial upgrading and allocation optimization are significant nationally. • Only high-quality innovation is effective in western China, while other mediating roles are not significant regionally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing more effective carbon mitigation strategies requires accurate forecasting of carbon emissions. This is especially true for China, the United States and India, which produce over half of the world's carbon emissions. China, the United States, and India represent three different types of carbon emissions data. The first data type is typical for China: rapid grows which is thereafter slowing down. The US carbon emissions data show volatile growth and decline. The third data type is common for India's data: accelerated growth. To deal with the volatility of the data and to improve the forecasting accuracy, this paper combines Metabolic Nonlinear Grey Model (MNGM) with Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) to develop the combined MNGM-ARIMA model, and MNGM with Back Propagation Neural Network (BPNN) to develop the new combined MNGM-BPNN model. In this way, ARIMA and BPNN could correct the modelling residual error of MNGM, to decrease the forecasting error. Through the quantitative data study of the countries in focus, we have made the following findings: First, the mean relative percent errors of the proposed MNGM-ARIMA and MNGM-BPNN models are 1.35% and 1.57%, which are lower than the traditional MNGM, ARIMA, and BPNN models. Besides, it is projected that during the period of 2019–2030, the US′ carbon emissions will keep a downward trend, while carbon emissions in China and India will continue to grow. Finally yet importantly, in the future periods of time, the carbon emissions growth rate in India will be faster than that for China. The above findings have led us to the following conclusions: (1) Error values of those two proposed approaches have proven that the strategy of correcting the forecasting error of the previous models with the latter models can effectively improve the forecasting accuracy. (2) The proposed two combined forecasting techniques have shown sound performance for the three types of data. It is reasonable to believe that new approaches will help to improve insight into better forecasting carbon emissions in other countries and regions of the world. (3) China and India will remain the major sources of global carbon emissions, and should therefore continue their efforts on carbon emission reduction. Image 10221 • China, the United States and India contribute half of global carbon emissions. • Forecasting the carbon emissions is conducive to global carbon emission reduction. • Strategy of "error correction + quadratic modeling" and new models are proposed. • Mean relative errors of the two proposed models achieved 1.35% and 1.57%. • Future carbon emissions growth will be concentrated in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All industries produce different carbon emissions during their production process. Previous studies use multivariate regression or panel models to explore the impact of the industrial structure on regional carbon emissions differences based on time series data or panel data from the perspective of one-dimensional continuous variables. However, there are also regional differences in the factors affecting regional carbon emission differences, such as the economic development level, the industrial structure, and urbanization. The regional carbon emission difference matrix and the influencing factor difference matrix are relational variables, and it is difficult for traditional multiple regression analysis to study the relationship between relational variables. Thus, this paper proposes the perspective of two-dimensional difference relations for studying the influencing factors of regional carbon emission differences based on Quadratic Assignment Procedure model. Energy consumption and the value added by industrial processes in various industries from 30 regions in China are taken as the sample. The results of this study are as follows: carbon emissions are increasing and the differences in carbon emissions between regions are also increasing. There are obvious regional differences in the industrial structure, economic growth, population and urbanization in China. The influence and magnitude of the impact of regional industrial structure differences on regional carbon emission differences vary from year to year. Interregional differences in industry, construction and transportation and warehousing industries had a significantly positive impact on interregional differences in carbon emissions from 2007 to 2016. By analyzing the impact of the influence mechanism of regional industrial structure differences on carbon emissions, the findings of this study can identify some suggestions for regionally balanced emission reduction policies. • Regional industrial structural difference impact on carbon emission difference. • The relationship between difference matrices is analyzed based on QAP. • The factors affecting the difference in carbon emissions vary from year to year. • Heavy industry difference has the greatest impact on carbon emission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rational implementation of environmental regulation and efforts to improve carbon productivity are the practical choices for China to address climate change. This paper mainly explores the correlations between environmental regulation and carbon productivity in China. The study first measures and analyzes carbon productivity and its changes. The results indicate that China's carbon productivity experienced several fluctuations during the study period. Overall, the carbon productivity is currently in a stable rising phase. According to the empirical research on the basis of the spatial spillover effect, a positive spatial correlation exists between carbon productivity in the different regions of China, and there is a threshold for the impact of environmental regulation on carbon productivity. As the intensity of environmental regulation changes from weak to strong, its effect on carbon productivity in local regions will be affected and change from negative to positive. Similar effects will be seen in neighboring regions. At present, the average intensity of China's environmental regulation has not yet reached this threshold. The eastern region's average intensity of environmental regulation is closest to its threshold, while the average intensities of the central and western regions are far from their respective thresholds. There is great potential to improve China's carbon productivity through the implementation of appropriate environmental regulations. • China's overall carbon productivity is currently in a stable rising phase. • China's carbon productivity has a significant positive spatial correlation. • The improvement of carbon productivity in local regions will also improve carbon productivity in neighboring regions. • There is a threshold for the impact of environmental regulation on carbon productivity in China. • The integral intensity of environmental regulation in China has not yet reached the threshold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Paris Agreement on climate change has calls for urgent, radical, and transformative actions in mitigation and adaptation, particularly in terms of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emission. There are many terms used to describe the process of reducing GHGs, including decarbonization, low carbon development (LCD) or low carbon transition (LCT). The conceptualization of these terms remains puzzling and there has not been any consensus to explain the meaning and their interrelationship. Clearer definition and conceptual boundaries are necessary to improve the coherence of overarching practices to cut CO 2 emission. The paper aims to review key concepts related to climate change mitigation related to the reduction of CO 2 and efforts toward net-zero emission in the academic literature, by (1) examining progress of the literature over time, (2) identifying geographical locus and sectoral focus of the literature, (3) determining the interrelationships between the key concepts. We use a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) method for data collection by selecting peer-reviewed literature from Scopus and analyzing the data with content analysis and bibliometric analysis. The findings are, firstly, the publications of the literature are influenced by global and national climate change policies and the interest of scholars affiliated to institutions from major emitter countries. Therefore, the literature is mostly originating from countries that emit the most CO 2 while also implement mitigations to reduce CO 2 emission. Secondly, China is the country where studies are mostly focused and also where the authors are affiliated/located. However, publications from the United Kingdom are cited the most. Thirdly, there are three clusters of literature found, namely that LCD and LCT are the terms used to identify visions for climate mitigation, while decarbonization is the actions and processes to achieve either LCD or LCT (as the visions). • The dynamic of climate change policies influence the literature trend. • The literature is mostly originating from major CO 2 emitter. • Low carbon development and low carbon transition are visional terms. • Decarbonization indicates the processes of decoupling CO 2 to achieve the visions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an economic means to cope with climate change, carbon trading has become an important measure to reduce carbon emissions in China. It has been over seven years since the initiation of seven pilot carbon markets, but has the implementation achieved the goal of controlling carbon emissions in the region? Are the effects really resulted from the carbon market other than other energy-saving and emission reduction policies? Based on the provincial panel data of China from 2005 to 2016 this paper conducts an empirical study on the emission reduction effects of pilot projects using the Difference-in-differences model (DID). The results show that: (1) The implementation of carbon markets in Beijing, Shanghai and Hubei exhibited a significant inhibitory effect on local carbon emissions, but a promoting effect in Guangdong, and no significant effect was found in Tianjin; (2) In terms of time lag effect, no significant inhibiting effect on the local carbon emissions is found during the first year of opening of Shanghai carbon market but the effect grew significantly from 2015 to 2016; while for Hubei and Beijing, significant effect was shown from the first year of running. Being an experimental program to see whether the carbon trading policy would work in China or not and if it does, under what conditions and settings the policy becomes effective, the 7 pilot markets provide important experiences and lessons to the upcoming nationwide market in China. Based on the empirical result that the carbon trading system in Beijing, Shanghai and Hubei effectively reduced carbon emissions, it is suggested that the national carbon market should actively learn from the experiences of these three pilot markets particularly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming, resulted from greenhouse gases emission, has significant impacts on natural ecosystem and economic development. Construction is a leading industry in China's economy with high carbon emissions. Improving the carbon emission efficiency and investigating the driving factors of carbon emission efficiency in China's building industry are very important for the sustainable development of construction industry and the goal of China's carbon emission reduction. This paper measures the total-factor carbon emission efficiency of construction industry from 2003 to 2016 by applying Super-SBM DEA approach. Then the interior driving factors and cross-industrial shock effects of carbon emission efficiency are investigated by industry GVAR model. Empirical results show that the carbon emission efficiency in China's construction industry is low with a downward trend. With regard to interior driving factors, technological progress and energy structure adjustment can promote the carbon emission efficiency of construction industry, but the economic scale with extensive development mode exerts a certain negative influence. From the perspective of cross-industrial driving factors, economy scale, energy structure and technological progress play an important role in the carbon emission efficiency in manufacturing and electricity/gas/water industry, while relatively faint in other industries. Inter-industrial economy scale and energy structure except for transportation industry exert negative effects on carbon emission efficiency, whereas the impacts of exterior technological progress of other industries except for the mining industry are positive. In order to promote industrial carbon emission efficiency, the carbon reduction mechanism for the common but differentiated responsibilities among industries should be established. • The carbon emission efficiency of China's construction industry is low. • Internal technological progress and energy structure adjustment promote the carbon emission efficiency of construction industry. • Cross-industrial driving factors economy scale and energy structure have negative effects on carbon emission efficiency. • A common but differentiated responsibility mechanism for carbon emission reduction should be established among industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urban household sector is considered to be an essential source of climate change. In order to obtain detailed information concerning the description of household consumption activities, this paper combined consumer lifestyle approach and input-output analysis to estimate indirect carbon emissions of urban household from 2002 to 2012. Besides, we further analysed the driving forces and inequality of indirect carbon emissions. The results showed that the total indirect carbon emissions during the study period increased rapidly, rising from 894.08 MtCO 2 to 1957.03 MtCO 2. ¬ More than 58% of carbon emissions were from 40% of the high income population. The highest income group, 10% of total urban households, deduced 21% of urban indirect carbon emissions. The per capita carbon emissions of different households showed a remarkable disparity, and the per capita carbon emissions of high income groups decreased from 2011 to 2012. The effective mitigation efforts should focus on reducing carbon intensity and shifting consumption structure. For high inequality consumption activities caused by rich households, rich urban households should consume less goods and services from this consumption activities. For high inequality consumption activities caused by low income households, the redistribution of income from rich to poor and low carbon intensity lifestyles may be better options to reduce carbon emissions and inequalities of urban households. Image 1 • The total indirect carbon emissions during the study period increased rapidly. • More than 58% of carbon emissions were from 40% of the high income population. • Carbon emission patterns in different income households are various. • The redistribution of income and low carbon intensity lifestyles reduced inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon emissions become serious accompanying the urbanisation, which may damage the global environment through gas flow and other spatial spillover effects. Thus, it is important to study the spatial interactive effects of urbanisation and other factors on carbon emissions. Considering the rapid urbanisation in China, this paper studies the regional disparity and spatial spillover effects of urbanisation and carbon emissions of China. The law of geography is introduced to explain the mechanism of spatial effects of carbon emission theoretically. By combining STIRPAT model with spatial Dubin model, the spatial interactive effects among both independent variables and dependent variables can be clarified empirically. The results show that: (1) Technological limitation, wealth and population are the driving factors of carbon emissions, and are the most influential factors in the East, Middle and West parts of China in turn. (2) As urbanisation improves, its influence on local carbon emissions changes from positive to negative and then the negative influence becomes weaker. (3) Carbon emissions have strong spatial spillover effects among provinces. (4) Urbanisation, technology, wealth and population levels have different spatial interactive effects on carbon emissions in different parts of China. Accordingly, the influences of urbanisation and other factors on carbon emissions vary substantially among regions and have spatial spillover effects among provinces, suggesting different policies for different regions with different surroundings to reduce carbon emissions. • The influences of urbanisation on carbon emissions are variant in different regions, and have strong spillover effects among provinces. • The impact of urbanisation on local carbon emissions is positive in its early stage, while changes to negative as its progress, and the negative impact becomes weaker with the further improvement of urbanisation. • Different regions have different features on carbon emissions, including the driving factors as well as their spatial interactive effects on carbon emissions. • Relevant government departments should employ variant policies to reduce carbon emissions in different regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cross efficiency (CE) model has been accepted as an alternative approach for evaluating carbon emission efficiency in data envelopment analysis (DEA). However, the current studies can't examine the time effect of economic and energy inputs on regional productivity. This paper proposes a novel method combing CE model with Malmquist productivity index (CE-MPI) to discover a dynamic change of carbon emission efficiencies of China's 30 provinces. The results indicate that Eastern Zone is the most advanced in carbon emission efficiency as well as productivity capacity but the efficiency gap between Inter-mediate and Western Zone is less than 5.7 percent point. The technology progress drives the improvement of the CE-MPI. But the efficiency change pulls down the level of productivity for most zones. Based on the efficiency change and the technical change, China's 30 provinces are divided into four classification and given different recommendations for improving carbon emission efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through a series of policies release, the trading system of China's carbon market is being improved, but its current liquidity is still low. To improve market liquidity, this paper analyzes the relation between the release of policy related to carbon market operations and the volatility of carbon price, thus arranging an optimal adjustment scheme for government's policy-making. Through the jump test and Logit regression, we investigate historical policies and prices of 7 Emission Trading Scheme pilots in China to explore the impact of policy release on carbon price, and then quantify the effectiveness of these policies. Empirical results indicate that in the short-term, new policies can rapidly lead to a large volatility of carbon price, but it can also reduce the abnormal volatility with the spread of price information. Further, the demand-stimulus policies promote a positive volatility of carbon price. In the long-term, the insufficient demands for carbon emissions quota raise the disappearance of market dividends caused by the policy release and lead to an excessive call-back of carbon price, thus increasing mid-and long-term risks in carbon markets. Additionally, China's macro environment policy can stabilize carbon price, and thus an effective tool for improving the liquidity of carbon markets is developing demand-stimulus policies. • We analyze the origin of liquidity in China's carbon market from the perspective of policy release. • We obtain the price effect of carbon policy under different policy categories. • We judge the influence cycle of different policies on carbon price based on price jumps after policy release. • We propose a policy tool to improve the liquidity of China's carbon market based on the feedback of policy to carbon price. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aluminium industry, with its traditionally high energy consumption, high emissions and high pollution, is facing increasing pressure to reduce carbon emissions in China. Implementing effective policies and measures to promote carbon emissions reduction is of great importance. This study deploys the life cycle assessment (LCA) method to explore carbon emissions and CO 2 sources from aluminium manufacturing in China as well as a scenario analysis to evaluate the reduction potential and driving forces of carbon emissions in the industry. The evaluated scenarios include a new capacity allocation scheme, technological progress and energy structure optimization. The carbon emissions from the aluminium chain are mostly contributed by indirect emissions (more than 68%) from electricity generation. Significant regional discrepancies are observed in the total emissions and intensity, and a reasonable industry layout tends to transfer to the south and southwest areas from the perspective of the environmental pillar. Production output remains the dominant factors associated with total carbon emissions from manufacturing firms, such as the aluminium industry. Technological progress and the energy structure contribute to total reductions and carbon efficiency, although the former has a relatively limited scope for aluminium firms. This paper also shows that marginal carbon efficiency improvements are not very effective in lowering the total CO 2 emissions under the context of high output growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A quantitative measure of performance that integrates national-level carbon emission profiles with key parameters of social and economic wellbeing can provide an effective management tool for policy interventions. This paper constructs non-parametric evaluation and decomposition models using hybrid measure and meta-frontier techniques. The proposed models are employed to estimate the wellbeing performance of carbon emissions (WPCE) and identify the sources of WPCE inefficiency. Empirical analyses based on the Group 20 (G20) countries for the 2000–2015 period shows the worst performance is in the BRICS country group (i.e. Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) – known for rapid growth – whereas the developed and the developing economies of the G20 group show positive trajectories of performance. As for China, its performance measure of WPCE was the lowest among the G20 indicating significant potential for further improvement. The analysis also highlights the role of managerial failure as the primary driver of inefficiency, more important than technological inefficiency in explaining efficiency loss within the G20 countries. This critical finding – the relevance and importance of managerial capability – suggests the need for a high level of attention to governance and managerial capacity to ensure continued improvements in performance on carbon emissions and human wellbeing. A lesson to be drawn from this study is that China's policies to promote a low carbon economy can benefit from increased priority given to low-carbon technological innovation for the energy system transition and enhancement of environmental governance and managerial capacity to achieve a long-term sustainability. • Welfare performance of carbon emissions (WPCE) are evaluated for G20 countries. • A hybrid non-parametric evaluation and meta-frontier techniques are employed. • Developing countries performed the best followed by developed and BRICS countries. • Gaps of WPCE are non-negligible and sources of performance loss are divergent. • Policy implications for China drawing on the cross-country comparisons are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]