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Renewable energy (RE) plays a crucial role in global energy transformation, and a thorough study of the potential impact of RE on regional carbon emissions is of great significance. This is particularly relevant to China, which needs to clarify its path to carbon reduction. Using the sample data of 30 provinces in China from 2000 to 2021, this paper uses the Granger causality test to verify the causal relationship between carbon emission intensity (CEI) and other factors. It builds a mediation effect model on this basis to explore the direct impact effect and indirect transmission path of renewable energy utilization (REU) on CEI. The results show that REU has a one-way causal relationship with CEI. REU can directly and indirectly reduce CEI by improving social wealth and changing the direction of energy investment. In addition, REU indirectly increases CEI through the transmission paths of investment in the energy industry - social affluence and industrial level-social affluence. The CEI is indirectly reduced through the conduction paths of (social affluence-Urbanization rate), (Investment in the energy industry-Urbanization rate), (Industrial level-Urbanization rate), and (Industrial level-Investment in the energy industry). These conclusions will assist policymakers in exploring targeted pathways for low-carbon power development, providing a reference for strategic and sustainable carbon reduction policies. [Display omitted] • Enrich the view of renewable energy's indirect impact on carbon emissions. • Renewable energy's carbon emission reductions go beyond replacing fossil fuels. • Constructed a mediating effect model between renewable energy and carbon emissions. • Renewable energy can promote or inhibit carbon emissions through various pathways. • Research helps develop more effective renewable energy sustainability strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon neutrality is an important environmental management tool to deal with the global greenhouse effect. Addressing climate change is an important starting point for promoting the high-quality development of China's economy and the construction of ecological civilization, as well as an important area for participating in global governance and adhering to multilateralism. In this paper, from the perspective of carbon neutrality, taking China's Jiangsu Province as an example, the super-efficiency DEA model is selected to measure the level of ecological efficiency in Jiangsu, and on this basis, the Tobit model is used to verify the main factors affecting regional ecological efficiency. The results are as follows: (1) The regional eco-efficiency in Jiangsu shows a trend of decreasing from south to north, with obvious phenomenon of "club convergence", with significant spatial correlation and agglomeration. (2) The industrial structure is negatively related to the regional eco-efficiency of Jiangsu regions; Energy consumption structure has a positively impact in southern Jiangsu,but negatively in central and northern Jiangsu; FDI has a positively impact in central and northern Jiangsu, but negatively in southern Jiangsu; Regional economic development has a positively impact in southern and northern Jiangsu, but negatively in central Jiangsu; The progress in the technological level has positive effects on the eco-efficiency of all regions of Jiangsu. The final paper puts forward some suggestions based on the carbon neutral target Provide theoretical reference for achieving the goal of carbon neutrality. • Construct an regional ecological efficiency evaluation index system. • Use super-DEAmethod to measure ecological efficiency level. • Study from the perspective of carbon neutrality. • Propose a reference for achieving carbon neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Papermaking is a capital-intensive industry that requires a high consumption of plant fibers, energy, and water. Previous sustainability assessments of papermaking industry primarily focused on separate evaluations for multiple criteria without the integration for criteria and could not compare the overall priority of the production alternatives. The life cycle sustainability for the most representative boxboard production is analyzed as a case study in this work. Life cycle water consumption, energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and internal costs are selected as the assessment criteria. The two multi-criteria decision-making methods are applied to integrate the above criteria to obtain the sustainability sequence under different production pathways. When the papermaking enterprises are regarded as decision-makers, the alternative using waste paper as raw material to manufacture boxboard is the most sustainable, following by mixed fiber. The sustainability sequence of the alternatives using wood and straw as raw materials is controversial due to the different calculation models. Changing the proportion of raw materials and the criteria weights might adjust sustainability sequence of the alternatives. • Sustainability of boxboard production is evaluated from a life cycle perspective. • Multi-criteria decision making method is used to evaluate the sustainability. • Waste paper pulp, virgin pulp, and mixed pulp production pathways are analyzed. • The alternative using waste paper as raw material is the most sustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on data of the manufacturing sector of China and Japan from 2003 to 2016, this paper attempts to measure the progresses in energy-biased technology and energy efficiency by constructing a threshold panel regression model with variables including foreign direct investment (FDI) and energy consumption structure to explain energy efficiency using energy-biased technology as the key explaining variable. The estimation indicates significant differences in the energy efficiency of China's and Japan's manufacturing industries. In general, Japan's total energy efficiency is higher than China's. The industry with more intensive technology has higher energy efficiency which rises much faster. The paper finds that the energy efficiency of China's manufacturing sector shows an upward trend in general, while Japan's fluctuates more, showing two peaks and two troughs. Our empirical results show that there is a threshold value of progress in energy-biased technology; below this, progress in energy-biased technology will have a positive effect on energy efficiency and beyond it, the effect will be negative. Since this effect is not one-way, we define it as a 'double-edged effect'. It is estimated that the level of energy-biased technology progress of most manufacturing industries in China is below the threshold value, indicating that the technology progress in China's manufacturing sector has not been excessively biased towards energy consumption, and the impact on energy efficiency is still positive. The China-Japan comparison shows that the threshold value for Japan's manufacturing sector is significantly lower than that for China's, indicating a marginal effect on the 'double-edged effect': The threshold value will decrease when energy efficiency reaches a certain level. Therefore, it is necessary to offset these negative externalities from technological progress with other factors such as by increasing FDI and improving energy consumption structure. • This paper examines the influence of energy-biased technological progress alone on energy efficiency. • It proves the influence of energy-biased technological progress on energy efficiency to be nonlinear. • It measures the energy-biased technological progress and energy efficiency of some industries of the manufacturing sector of China and Japan. • It proves the rebound effect to be conditional in the manufacturing sector of China and Japan. • It also proves the threshold effect in the influence of energy-biased technological progress on energy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a unique micro-level dataset of 30,689 mining enterprises from 2008 to 2011, this paper uses the non-radial directional distance function (NDDF) to calculate the unified efficiency index (UEI) and energy-environmental performance index (EEI) for China's mining enterprises. The double bootstrap method is then used to test how tax incentive policies affect the UEI and EEI of China's mining enterprises. The results show that: (1) the UEI and EEI of Chinese mining enterprises first decreased and then increased over the sample period; overall, Chinese mining enterprises had low energy and environmental efficiency, especially the coal mining enterprises, private mining enterprises and mining enterprises in the central and western regions. (2) Tax incentives positively affect the energy and environmental efficiency of mining enterprises, especially the efficiency of coal mining enterprises, non-state-owned mining enterprises and mining enterprises in the central and western regions. Our results remain robust after using the propensity score matching estimator (PSM). (3) There is a positive feedback between tax incentives and energy and environmental efficiency, more efficient mining enterprises receive more government incentives. Further analysis shows that although tax incentives do not reduce the total energy consumption of enterprises, reducing the energy consumption of enterprises can improve their UEI and EEI. In addition, R&D investment, profitability and resource taxes all contribute to improving the UEI and EEI of mining enterprises. • The NDDF is used to calculate the UEI and EEI of mining enterprises in China. • How tax incentive policies affect the energy and environmental efficiency is tested. • Chinese mining enterprises had low energy and environmental efficiency. • There is a positive feedback between tax incentives and enterprises' efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The steel industry is the largest consumer of energy in the world among industrial sectors. It is generally acknowledged that energy and environment are intimately related. Steel production is an energy intensive process that has a significant environmental impact. This paper reviews the progress made on energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions and water consumption in the steel industry worldwide. The reduction in the availability of fresh water resources combined with the effects of global warming and climate change have increased pressure on industries, especially steel, to reduce its overall pollution, and specifically its water and carbon footprint. The implications of these effects on the value chain is discussed in this review. The contribution of new emerging technologies of iron and steelmaking is also reviewed. Finally, the important issues that contribute to define a sustainable industrial activity such as the recycling of steel and of by-products of steel production are studied. The history of steel industry is full of lessons, one of which is the need to keep the dreams alive. There are indeed expectations to solve problems created by technical progress. Image 1 • The steel industry accounts for the highest GHG emissions related to fossil fuels. • Water plays integral role in steel manufacturing also creating significant wastewater. • Most processes in the process chain of steel production include energy recovery. • To achieve an optimal low-carbon steel production breakthrough technologies are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crucial to the green and sustainable development of China's industry are both choosing an appropriate path of directed technical change and optimizing and improving energy consumption pattern. In this paper we incorporate fossil energy, non-fossil energy and environmental factors into the traditional production function and calculate the factor output elasticity, the growth rate of environmental total factor productivity, the factor-biased degree of directed technical change and factor substitution elasticity in China's industrial sector based on stochastic frontier analysis of the transcendental logarithmic production function. The results show that the high output elasticity of capital leads to the highest factor-biased degree of directed technical change of capital although it is accompanied by an increase in energy consumption and environmental degradation. At present, the factor-biased degrees of directed technical change in China's industry, from high to low, are capital, the environment, fossil energy, labor and non-fossil energy; these can be seen as the root cause of, among other things, overcapacity, energy shortages and environmental pollution. Optimizing the path of directed technical change of labor, capital and non-fossil energy is an advisable way to solve the above problems. The patterns of energy consumption in industrial production in most provinces are unsustainable and each province should optimize its local energy consumption pattern according to those technical changes biased towards non-fossil energy and the positive factor substitution relationship between two kinds of energy. • We calculate the growth rate of environmental total factor productivity. • We measure the factor-biased degree of directed technical change. • The factor-biased degrees of capital and environment are relatively high. • The patterns of energy consumption in most provinces are unsustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]