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Abstract Whilst a plethora of literature has viewed technological progress as one of the critical influencing factors in relation to energy consumption and CO 2 emissions, little effort has been made to identify the sectoral differences in the relationship between technological progress and CO 2 emissions. Thereby, this paper remedies the inadequacies in the extant literature by empirically investigating the impact of technological progress on CO 2 emissions, specifically taking into account its heterogeneous effect in various economic sectors. This paper first decomposes the effect of technological progress as taking place in heavy industry, in light industry, in construction industry, and in service industry. A panel quantile regression approach and a balanced city panel data model are then applied, covering the period 2001–2013 in China. The empirical results show that technological progress in heavy industry and light industry surprisingly facilitates a higher level of CO 2 emissions, despite its prominent contribution to energy efficiency improvement. Meanwhile, as distinct from the effect it shows in the heavy and light industries, technological progress in construction and service industries exerts a negative effect on CO 2 emissions. Additionally, this paper further discovers that the strength of the multiple impacts of technological progress also varies with the level of emitters. By studying the heterogeneous effect brought about by technological progress in different economic sectors and emitters, this paper provides a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between CO 2 emissions and technological progress. Highlights • The study considers the sectoral and scale heterogeneity of technological progress in relation to CO 2 emissions. • We apply a panel quantile regression approach to balanced city-level panel data. • Technological progress within different economic sectors exerts different effects on CO 2 emissions. • The role of technological progress in moderating energy intensity varies across emitters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: As an unconventional natural gas with the advantages of great resource potential and low carbon emissions, shale gas has currently aroused a new round of development and utilization worldwide. China’s shale gas resource is enormous and has huge potential for exploitation. However, due to the late start of exploration and development, it has not yet realized industrialization. By using the SWOT analysis method, this paper studies the internal and external development environment of Chinese shale gas, then explores shale gas development status of China from four dimensions including strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Finally, according to the combinations of SWOT matrix analysis, the paper formulates four kinds of different development strategies to provide certain references to the development of China’s shale gas industry. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

China's transport sector is facing severe energy and environmental challenges. Establishing energy efficiency standards is an essential measure to cope with these challenges. This paper comprehensively reviews the energy efficiency standards in China's road, water, aviation, railway and pipeline transport sectors. Based on the review, it is suggested that (1) the integrity of policy framework should be further improved. Energy efficiency standards-based market access qualification mechanism is quite necessary for all transport sectors, especially the aviation, railway and pipeline transport sectors, where such mechanism is absent. (2) Efforts for improving energy efficiency should be balanced among different transport sectors. Priority should be determined by considering each sector's energy consumption, the cost and potential of energy efficiency improvement, etc. Especially, the major energy-consuming sectors, such as heavy-duty vehicles should have similar priority to passenger vehicles in the overall energy efficiency improvement scheme. (3) The scientific basis for the energy efficiency standards should be enhanced. Policies should be proposed with full considerations of China's context, rather than borrowing the experiences of developed countries. Intelligence from the research community should be incorporated to ensure the rationality of the policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has become the world׳s largest country in steel production and consumption. Steel industry is one of the major high-polluting industries, and serious pollution problems have been caused by steel industry in China. In this paper, we first present a review of the development status and the emissions of China׳s steel industry. Then, the emission reduction measures of China׳s steel industry are analyzed. These measures include the overall actions on emission reduction in China and some actions on emission reduction of China׳s steel industry. Finally, suggestions in five aspects to further promote the emission reduction of China׳s steel industry are proposed and discussed, including eliminating backward steel production capacity, improving the legal system of emission control, strengthening government regulation, improving steel production technology and efficiency, and establishing the national carbon emission trading market of the steel industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite reforms, China still largely applies the cost plus pricing mechanism for the energy sector. Government administrative energy pricing leads to energy price distortions, which could result in not only the excessive and wasteful energy consumption, but also environmental deterioration, thereby undermining energy conservation and emission abatement. Using fossil-fuel subsidies as a proxy for the level of energy price distortions, this paper estimates the subsidy of 22 Chinese departments during the period 2006–2010, and adopts the price-gap approach to analyze the impacts of subsidy removal on energy consumption and CO 2 emissions for the various sectors and energy types. The results demonstrate that removing energy subsidies would reduce energy consumption and emissions by 3.77% and 2.85%, respectively, but the effects vary across sectors. The transport, storage and post sector and the electricity, gas and water supply sector are much more affected by energy subsidies removal than other sectors. With respect to energy types, fuel oil and natural gas are sensitive to subsidies, indicating the magnitude of their consumption. This suggests that removing subsidies on these fuel types could significantly reduce CO 2 emissions. Finally, we comprehensively discuss relevant policy issues on energy price formation reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between renewable energy consumption and economic growth in China for the period 1977–2011. Autoregressive Distributed Lag approach (ARDL) to cointegration and Johansen cointegration techniques are employed by including intermittent variables namely carbon dioxide emissions and labor. We also employed Granger causality test in order to determine the direction of the causality among the variables. The results show that there is a bi-directional long term causality between renewable energy consumption and economic growth. This finding implies that growing economy in China is propitious for the development of renewable energy sector which in turn helps to boost economic growth. We also find that labor influences renewable energy consumption in the short term. However, there is no evidence of long or short run causality between carbon emissions and renewable energy consumption. This implies that actual level of renewable energy in China is still insignificant and not considerably exploited in order to contribute to the mitigation of carbon dioxide emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Climate change has become the most globally concerned environmental issue. As the world's largest carbon dioxide emitter and primary energy consumer, China has strong incentives to change its coal-dominated electricity structure. Various renewable powers such as wind and solar are suitable and necessary options for carbon emission reduction. The 12th Five-Year (2011–2015) and the mid-term until 2020 are critical periods for the development of Chinese renewable powers. In this paper individual renewable electricity sources were introduced based on their characteristics. Based on the introduction, the targets as well as their effects in the medium and long-term were presented and explained; challenges China has to face in the periods were discussed in detail, and emphasis was put on hydro, solar and wind power, which is highlighted in the plans. Also solutions against these challenges were recommended. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]