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Abstract Electrifying urban transportation through the adoption of Electric Vehicles (EVs) has great potential to mitigate two global challenges, namely climate change and energy scarcity, and also to improve local air quality and further benefit human health. This paper was focused on the six typical factors potentially influencing the purchase behaviour of EVs in Beijing, China, namely vehicle price, vehicle usage, social influence, environmental awareness, purchase-related policies and usage-related policies. Specifically, this study used the data collected in a paper-based questionnaire survey in Beijing from September 2015 to March 2016, covering all of the 16 administrative regions, and tried to quantify the relative importance of the six factors, based on their weights (scores) given by participants. Furthermore, Multinomial Logit (MNL) models and Moran's I (a measure of global spatial autocorrelation) were used to analyse the weights of each factor from statistical and spatial perspectives, respectively. The results suggest that 1) vehicle price and usage tend to be more influential among the six factors, accounting for 32.3% and 28.1% of the importance; 2) Apart from the weight of social influence, the weights of the other five factors are closely associated with socio-demographic characteristics, such as individual income and the level of education; 3) people having similar attitudes towards vehicle usage (Moran's I = 0.10) and purchase restriction (Moran's I = 0.14) tend to live close to each other. This paper concludes with a discussion on applying the empirical findings in policy making and modelling of EV purchase behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The increases of commuting CO 2 emissions are several times larger than the urban size, population, and economics' developments. • Metro services reducing commuting CO 2 emissions near the metro stations is not statistically significant, possibly because the proportions of car users near the metro stations are similar to the two cities' average levels, which is caused by their higher household income and the longer travel time using the metro. • In Beijing, there are the smallest commuting CO 2 emissions in the outer suburbs due to job-housing balances, short distance and large percentage of non-motorized mode uses while the largest commuting CO 2 emissions in the inner sprawl suburbs due to car trips with long distance. Abstract To understand the changing relationships between commuting CO 2 emissions (CCE), travel behavior and urban forms, this paper provides a comparative study between the typical Chinese cities of Beijing (more developed) and Xi'an (rapidly developing). Further, the effects of metro services on reducing CCE were explored, and comparative analysis on CCE between the inner sprawling suburbs and outer suburbs was conducted. It was found that: (i) the increases in CCE are several times larger than the increases in urban size, population, and economic developments; (ii) metro services reducing CCE near metro stations is not statistically significant, maybe because the proportions of car users near the metro stations are similar to the two cities' average levels, which is caused by their higher household income and the longer travel time using the metro; (iii) in Beijing, there are smallest CCE in the outer suburbs due to job-housing balances, short distance and large percentage of non-motorized mode uses while largest CCE in the inner sprawl suburbs due to car trips with long distance. These findings indicate that to cope with the rapidly increasing CCE, more attention should be paid to developing strong industry and real-estate simultaneously; the improvement in the feeder bus and public bicycle systems should also be reinforced to reduce the total travel time of metro users; and satellite cities with job-housing balance are greatly needed. The implications will benefit efforts to reduce CCE and mitigate global climate change, and they also provide empirical evidence and reference values for other global cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comprehensive GHG inventory provides an overview and the information of sources of emissions, and can serve as a sound scientific basis for mitigation actions. This study was the first initiative to develop a complete and transparent GHG inventory of Beijing, to document the current situation and to help governmental officials to clarify their priorities for reducing GHG emissions. The authors investigated and calculated the emission sources defined by the GPC, and assessed data accuracy. The contents of the detailed inventory were documented and are open for research verification and for methodological references for other cities. The results showed that three emission sources, i.e. CO 2 emissions from fossil fuel consumption, CO 2 emissions from industrial production and CH 4 emissions from landfills, contributed 97% of Beijing's GHGs. Considering the problem of missing data and low data quality, the authors suggested that instead of seeking to compile a complete inventory, Chinese cities should first report their GHG emissions from these sources, while improving the data quality for the long run. The authors anticipate that the findings reported in this paper will help to strengthen city-level GHG inventory research in China and throughout the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beijing, as the capital of China, is under the high pressure of climate change and pollution. The consumption of non-renewable energy is one of the most important sources of the CO 2 emissions, which cause climate changes. This paper presents a study on the energy system modelling towards renewable energy and low carbon development for the city of Beijing. The analysis of energy system modelling is organized in two steps to explore the alternative renewable energy system in Beijing. Firstly, a reference energy system of Beijing is created based on the available data in 2014. The EnergyPLAN , an energy system analysis tool, is chosen to develop the reference energy model. Secondly, this reference model is used to investigate the alternative energy system for integrating renewable energies. Three scenarios are developed towards the energy system of Beijing in 2030, which are: (i) reference scenario 2030 , (ii) BAU ( business as usual ) scenario 2030 , and (iii) RES ( renewable energies ) scenario 2030 . The 100% renewable energy system with zero CO 2 emissions can be achieved by increasing solar energy, biomass and municipal solid waste (MSW) and optimizing heating system. The primary fuel consumption is reduced to 155.9 TWh in the RES scenario, which is 72% of fuel consumption in the reference scenario 2030. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Particulate matter (PM) adversely affects air quality, human health and the climate, and it is more prevalent in urban areas. Few efforts have been made to quantify the impact of trade on PM concentrations in an urban economy. This paper presents an analysis of the impacts of domestic and international trade on PM emissions in Beijing using a three-scale input–output model, supported by the national and global embodied energy-related PM 2.5 , PM 10 and TSP (total suspended particulate) emission intensities. The results found that the total energy-related PM 2.5 , PM 10 and TSP emissions (production-based) in Beijing were 106 Gg, 163 Gg and 347 Gg, respectively, in 2010. Of these amounts, 48% (51 Gg, 74 Gg and 146 Gg, respectively) was associated with local demand, 42% (44 Gg, 73 Gg and 168 Gg, respectively) was associated with domestic exports, and 10% (11 Gg, 16 Gg and 33 Gg, respectively) was associated with international exports. From a consumption perspective, Beijing’s PM 2.5 , PM 10 and TSP emissions were more than double the production-based PM emissions. Approximately 75% (172 Gg, 311 Gg and 786 Gg, respectively) of the consumption-based PM emissions were domestically outsourced to other provinces, primarily via the import of metal (32 Gg, 58 Gg and 151 Gg), construction (26 Gg, 36 Gg and 91 Gg) and chemical products (16 Gg, 30 Gg and 75 Gg), and 3% (8 Gg, 10 Gg and 24 Gg, respectively) of consumption-based PM emissions were outsourced abroad. Our results indicate that domestic trade plays a dominant role in Beijing’s PM 2.5 emissions. These findings suggest that more national and sub-national government should co-ordinate design and implement effective mechanisms to alleviate urban air pollution because of the significant effects of interprovincial and international trade on local emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agricultural sector is extremely vulnerable to climate change and also plays a very important role in the operation of the entire economic system, leading many studies to evaluate the possible agricultural direct economic damage (ADED) of climate change. However, this damage may have an amplification impact through the intricate industrial linkages that exist among sectors, and this impact may be even greater than the original damage. Therefore, to elucidate the economic cascading effect (ECE) in China caused by ADED and industrial linkage, this paper used the ARIO model to evaluate the total ECE and analyse the differences in the 19 sectors by taking the ADED under future annual mean temperature (AMT) increases of 1–5 °C as the input condition and adjusting the exogenous parameters to enhance the adaptability of the model; the goal was to assess the economic impact of climate change in China. The results show that (i) there is a significant amplifying impact of ECE due to industrial linkage under the influence of warming, ECE will be 4.24–5.25 times that of ADED, and the total economic impact (ADED + ECE) will exceed the GDP of the Chinese capital of Beijing in 2012 when the AMT increases by 1.5 °C, while it will exceed one tenth of China's GDP when it increases by 4 °C. (ii) Manufacturing will be the sector most affected by the industrial linkage under ADED, which accounts for 26.58% of total ECE, followed by agriculture (10.39%) and construction (8.5%). (iii) The decrease in cultivated land area will have a significant impact on the economy; when it is reduced to the minimum demand (1.41% less than 2012), ADED increases by 1.65 times and ECE increases by 2.35 times. This paper aims to provide a new perspective from which to evaluate the economic impact of climate change by studying ECEs behind sectoral interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the acceleration of industrialization and urbanization, brownfield is an important resource for land regeneration and restoration targeting to recover its ecosystem function. Landfills, as a type of brownfield distributed in the highly populated areas, occupy massive land resources. The ecological restoration of landfills becomes an engineering approach to achieve multiple effects of society, environment, and economy. This paper aims to monitor and assess the restoration microclimatic effects of landfills restoration in China with remote sensing data and techniques. We selected representative landfill restoration projects, including Nanhaizi Park in Beijing, Nanhu Park in Tangshan, and Tianziling Park in Hangzhou, as the study cases. Using the Landsat imagery, the scenes of the pre-restoration, mid-restoration, and post-restoration were retrieved, and the surface energy balance equation was applied to calculate normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), land surface temperature (T s), and evapotranspiration (ET), representing vegetation conditions and hydro-heat microclimate conditions. The study areas are divided into four subzones and extracted the calculated values for statistics and comparison. We defined an indicator of restoration intensity (RI) using the different subzones to the outer contour distance radius and restoration phases to evaluate the spatial-temporal restoration degrees. The spatial pattern dynamics was displayed in the urbanization context in the cases of Beijing and Tangshan. We examined and quantified the relations between RI and the key indicators, NDVI, T s , and ET. The overall results revealed that with higher restoration intensity, NDVI and ET became higher, and T s became lower. It suggested that the ecological restoration on the landfills brought better vegetation, cooling, and humidification effects for the microclimatic environment. Our research has the implications for monitoring and assessing the climatic effects of ecological restoration in the brownfield regeneration in a macroscopic and ecosystem perspective. Unlabelled Image • With satellite dataset, we developed a way to monitor vegetation and microclimatic changes in the restored landfills. • The indicator to quantify the ecological restoration intensity was invented with spatial distance and restoration phase. • Overall, with higher restoration intensity, vegetation and evapotranspiration improved, and surface temperature declined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change action requires both adaptation and mitigation. Both need urban planning in strategic and statutory processes to mainstream the innovations now appearing. Integrating adaptation and mitigation is demonstrated using two planning tools: water sensitive urban design and biophilic urbanism and both need to be mainstreamed through urban planning in a rapidly warming world. Mitigation must be about grasping the need for decoupling fossil fuel use from GDP and data indicates this is underway. Cities like Shanghai and Beijing are showing how emerging cities can decouple wealth and car use. Disruptive innovations underway are solar and wind power, batteries, and electrifying transport but need planning tools to mainstream them. Emerging disruptive innovations include Trackless Trams that function like light rail but at significantly less cost and Hydrogen in fuel-cell vehicles for heavy transport and as an industrial fuel. The Theory of Urban Fabrics is used to show how emerging innovations can be mainstreamed in urban planning through each of the different fabrics of the city. This is illustrated using the six tools outlined in this paper to demonstrate how such nuanced and integrated urban planning responses to climate change can be mainstreamed. • Adaptation to climate change can be integrated into city and regional planning as illustrated in Perth's water sensitive urban design and Singapore's biophilic urban design. • Mitigation needs cities to demonstrate the decoupling of greenhouse emissions from wealth generation. This requires structural efficiencies that are mainstreamed through urban planning. • Disruptive innovation is also critical to mitigation being achieved rapidly and can now be seen in power and transport through solar, wind, batteries and electric vehicles, with potential disruptive innovations such as Trackless Trams and Hydrogen. • The Theory of Urban Fabrics can enable city planning to mainstream all of the above innovations by focusing different planning strategies in different parts of cities and their regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]