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According to China's 14th Five-Year Development Plan, China aims to peak its carbon emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutral by 2060, which will be a major strategy for China to implement in the coming period of time. All kinds of industries need to take the industry characteristics into account and gradually form relative carbon reduction targets according to the National Carbon Summit Action Program. Under the constraints of carbon emission reduction, enterprises face trade-off when making emission reduction decisions. How to systematically optimize the profitable and environmentally friendly decisions, under the consideration of carbon emission production, is gradually becoming a main concern of regulated enterprises. In this paper, a Cournot game model is constructed to explore optimal production carbon abatement decisions for two oligopolistic firms, under the governance of a cap-and-trade mechanism. Real case data collected from China's airlines is an example to test the validity of our model. The qualitative analysis shows that, through a reasonable output and emission reduction investment, companies are capable of efficiently minimizing the negative impact brought about by the carbon trading system. A numerical experiment indicates that the companies on one side can reach a decision equilibrium in some circumstances, but on the other side, there exists a lack of incentive to reduce their emissions. Additional government incentives or increased investment in technological improvements will be needed to encourage companies to further reduce carbon emissions. In this paper, while analyzing the choice of emission reduction strategy for enterprises under the carbon trading system, it also provides effective emission reduction approaches for the government and industry managers, hoping to provide some references for the establishment of emission reduction system and policy formulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the global carbon emission problem is getting more and more serious, the European Union has proposed the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) to prevent carbon leakage, which will have an impact on China's foreign trade. Based on this background and the problems of current research that ignores factors such as commodity prices, long-term impacts, intertemporal substitution analysis, and changes in national strategies for foreign exports, this paper propose a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model based on an evolutionary game as a dynamic recursive basis to study the impact of the CBAM on the Chinese manufacturing industry. For the industries mentioned in the CBAM, 18 affected sectors are collated, and a CGE model containing multiple blocks such as production, trade, and carbon emissions is built. Meanwhile, we establish an evolutionary game model with EU suppliers, manufacturers, and the government, allowing Chinese suppliers to compete with EU suppliers. Based on the above model, the impact of carbon tariff policies from 2020 to 2050 is studied. The results indicate that under the intra-EU competition condition, carbon tariffs will reduce the price of Chinese exports and slightly decrease China's real GDP, as well as the carbon emission intensity of 18 sectors and fossil energy. However, the impact of carbon tariffs on overall carbon emissions is small and is essentially a protective policy. In addition, the evolutionary game-based CGE model takes into account the dynamic strategies of both sides and is therefore less affected by carbon tariff shocks and recovers more quickly and more realistically. Finally, the article argues that the advantage of carbon tariffs for local suppliers is unsustainable and Chinese suppliers will still dominate, and local suppliers need more subsidies from the EU government. On the other hand, the Chinese government needs to implement a stricter carbon tax regime and export subsidies to improve the competitiveness of Chinese products in terms of green levels and price advantages. The purpose of this paper is to examine the quantitative impacts of CBAM on China's related manufacturing industries and strategies to maximize the benefits to both governments. • A new dynamic recursive approach to CGE is proposed that uses evolutionary games. • The strategy of the importing country is taken into account in the CGE model and is changed according to the multi-stage game strategy to simulate reality better. • The influencing factors of export commodity prices are explored, including the effects of consumer sensitivity, green input coefficients, and carbon emission rights prices. • The impact of CBAM on the income and savings of firms in 18 sectors in China to 2050 was studied. • The impact of CBAM on the carbon intensity of China's fossil energy sources, Coal, Oil, and Gas, the carbon intensity of enterprises in 18 sectors, and the national carbon emissions to 2050 were studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, autonomous systems that incorporate renewable energy sources and energy storage systems play a fundamental role as a solution to energy supply problems. These systems are a good alternative, mainly in remote areas of the electricity network such as islands. This paper analyzes the cost of battery life, operation and maintenance costs and the uncertainty costs associated with renewable energy agents for an autonomous microgrid developed on Dong-fushan Island in China, all in order to obtain the adequate parameters for the optimum operation of the same, without forgetting the characteristics of useful life in specific lead-acid batteries. It is intended, through the non-dominant algorithm of genetic classification (NSGA II), to achieve maximization of the aforementioned variables: useful life of the batteries, and the reduction of the generation cost, proposing a multi-objective optimization. In addition to the above, the costs of uncertainty associated with renewable wind energy are included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen produced from renewables-fuelled electrolysis has the potential to provide deep decarbonisation for sectors that are the most difficult to decarbonise, but the intermittency of renewable sources may result in low electrolyser utilisation and, consequently, high costs. This study determines the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and levelised cost of hydrogen (LCOH) associated with blending wind electricity with the grid to increase electrolyser utilisation. A novel cost model was developed to determine the production performance, costs and embodied CO 2 emissions of an electrolyser with hybrid fuel supply (wind and grid) considering dynamic load constraints of alkaline (ALK) and Proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers and using high-resolution historical weather data to determine wind production profiles in two case study regions: northern (Bayannur) and southern (Pingtan) China. The results show that using 52% of grid electricity in an ALK electrolyser in Bayannur reduces LCOH by 11%, increasing hydrogen production by 74% but with 17.4 kg CO 2 / kg H 2 generated in CO 2 emissions. When a carbon price is accounted for, the optimal electrolyser utilisation is reduced to 40%, with the LCE 44% reduced. Emissions of 9.8 kg CO 2 /kg H 2 are lower than for stream methane reforming with carbon capture. In Southern China (Pingtan), LCOH is higher than Bayanur because of the high electricity cost. The economic benefits of increasing grid power depend primarily on the total CAPEX cost, grid power cost, and carbon tax. By altering the carbon tax, the optimal blend of wind/ grid differs. The grid contribution to the optimal blend diminishes as a carbon tax approaches 35 USD/ t CO 2. • This paper analyses the value of adding grid electricity to a pure wind-powered H 2 production plant. • The LCOH and CO 2 life-cycle emissions are obtained for Alkaline and PEM electrolysers. • We are introducing the novel ICOH metric to optimise the trade-off of LCOH and CO 2 emission on H 2 production. • Using only 52% of grid electricity in an ALK electrolyser, H 2 production can increase by 75%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Central to global agreement on carbon emissions are strategic interactions amongst regions over abatement policy and the benefits to be shared. These are re-examined in this paper, in which benefits from mitigation stem from a meta-analysis that links carbon concentration with region-specific measures of economic welfare. Implementation costs are then drawn from a highly disaggregated model of global economic performance. Multiplayer games are then constructed, the results from which are sensitive to embodied temperature scenarios and discount rates but robustly reveal that the U.S. and China would be net gainers from unilateral implementation in net present value terms. The dominant strategy for all other countries is to free ride. Net gains to the three large economies are bolstered by universal adoption, which could be induced by affordable side payments. Yet the downside is that net gains to all regions are negative over two decades, rendering commitment to abatement politically difficult. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Carbon efficiency and abatement costs of the PLEEZ are estimated. • The regional heterogeneity among the three major types of functional zones in the PLEEZ are analyzed. • Major agriculture production zone has a higher carbon efficiency and lowest abatement costs in the PLEEZ. • The global non-radial directional distance function and its dual model are used. In this paper we investigate the carbon efficiency and abatement cost for different main functional regions in China, to test whether major agriculture production zone has higher carbon efficiency and abatement cost than other functional regions. For this purpose, we use a global non-radial distance function to examine the efficiency and abatement cost of carbon emissions and take China's Poyang Lake Ecological Economics Zone (PLEEZ), one of China's national strategy for sustainable development, as an empirical study. By using the non-radial efficiency model, the carbon emissions efficiency indicator can be constructed. By employing the dual model of the non-radial directional distance function, the shadow prices of carbon emissions, which is interpreted as marginal abatement cost can be derived. County level data from 2009 to 2013 of the PLEEZ is used as the empirical investigation. Empirical results show that the CO 2 emissions of the PLEEZ are not performing efficiently and the CO 2 emissions efficiency remains at a very low level with an average value of 0.279. Meanwhile, the shadow prices of CO 2 emissions are calculated, with a mean value of 11.867 yuan per ton, which is relatively low compared with other previous studies of different regions or industry and indicate that carbon emissions are not strictly regulated. Moreover, significant heterogeneities in the carbon efficiency and abatement cost are found among three major functional zones in the PLEEZ remain. Major agriculture production zone shows better carbon efficiency than key ecological function zone, but lower than key economic development zone. It is also found carbon abatement cost of major agriculture production zone is lower than key economic development zone indicating the less pressure under climate change mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon sink is an effective measure to balance the contradiction between economic development and mitigating climate change in China. This paper reveals that environmental performance of forest carbon sinks reflects in economic value by reducing the emissions abatement cost. The carbon trading system is used to demonstrate the environmental and economic value of forests. The forest carbon sequestrations are estimated and predicted in different regions of China. Furthermore, a market model has been established to assess how the emission reduction costs can be reduced among all regions by the year 2030 to achieve the goal of carbon emissions intensity in China. The results show that carbon sequestration trades can reduce the emissions reduction costs and it can represent the value of forest carbon sinks. In particular, when economic growth is maintained in moderate and low level in China, the national carbon trading market with carbon sequestration will decrease the carbon emissions reduction costs more effectively. Besides, carbon sink can bring economic benefits to under-developed regions where there are rich forest resources. Image 1 • Carbon sinks are coordination between the environment and the economy. • Carbon sinks can be valued by emissions trading market. • Forest carbon sinks help to achieve carbon emissions reduction targets. • Forest carbon sinks promote economic development in some backward areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China will enact a national emissions trading system in 2017. The rules for the initial allocation of emission allowances have not been settled yet. This paper assesses the effect of auctioning as an initial emission allowance allocation methods of the China electricity power generation sector. This study employs a combined model with modified Trans-log production function, dynamic simulation model and multi-objective linear programming to provide more realistic results. After estimating the optimal electric power sources structure and technological structure under different auctioning rates, this paper calculates the abatement cost of the China’s electric power generation sector. When the allowance is free, the carbon shadow price will be 206.12 Yuan/ton. When 5% allowance is auctioned, the price will be 216.91 Yuan/ton. When the auctioning rate increases, the carbon emission abatement cost increases accordingly, as does the growth rate. The results also show that when the allowance auction rate is 5%, the marginal abatement costs for coal-fired power generation and clean power generation are 0.123 Yuan/kW h and 0.121 Yuan/kW h respectively, and thus, the total additional cost of the electric power generation sector will increase by 0.244 Yuan/kW h, which would be a heavy burden to China’s electric power generation sector and the forward progress of auctioning in the near future may be hindered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal combustion and mercury pollution are closely linked, and this relationship is particularly relevant in China, the world's largest coal consumer. This paper begins with a summary of recent China-specific studies on mercury removal by air pollution control technologies and then provides an economic analysis of mercury abatement from these emission control technologies at coal-fired power plants in China. This includes a cost-effectiveness analysis at the enterprise and sector level in China using 2010 as a baseline and projecting out to 2020 and 2030. Of the control technologies evaluated, the most cost-effective is a fabric filter installed upstream of the wet flue gas desulfurization system (FF + WFGD). Halogen injection (HI) is also a cost-effective mercury-specific control strategy, although it has not yet reached commercial maturity. The sector-level analysis shows that 193 tons of mercury was removed in 2010 in China's coal-fired power sector, with annualized mercury emission control costs of 2.7 billion Chinese Yuan. Under a projected 2030 Emission Control (EC) scenario with stringent mercury limits compared to Business As Usual (BAU) scenario, the increase of selective catalytic reduction systems (SCR) and the use of HI could contribute to 39 tons of mercury removal at a cost of 3.8 billion CNY. The economic analysis presented in this paper offers insights on air pollution control technologies and practices for enhancing atmospheric mercury control that can aid decision-making in policy design and private-sector investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese government has committed to reduce its carbon intensity by 40–45% over the period 2005–2020 at the 2009 Copenhagen Summit. To achieve the target in a cost-effective way, China is signaling strong intentions to establish emissions trading scheme, and presently seven pilots have been established. This paper focuses on the cost-saving effects of carbon emissions trading in China for the 2020 target. First, an interprovincial emissions trading model is constructed. Then, three kinds of policy scenarios, including no carbon emissions trading among provinces (NETS), the carbon emissions trading only covering the pilots (PETS), and the unified carbon emissions trading market (CETS), have been designed. The results show that China needs to reduce its emissions by 819 MtCO 2 for achieving the 42.5% reduction in carbon intensity over the period 2005–2020. The PETS and the CETS, which may result in a carbon price of 99 yuan/tCO 2 and 53 yuan/tCO 2 , could reduce the total abatement costs by 4.50% and 23.67%, respectively. This paper also finds that the carbon emissions trading could yield different impacts on different provinces, and the cost-saving effects of the eastern and western provinces are more pronounced than the central provinces. Necessary sensitivity analysis is also provided at the end of the research. These findings may be useful for promoting the development of carbon emissions trading in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we used the life-cycle analysis (LCA) method to evaluate the energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of natural gas (NG) distributed generation (DG) projects in China. We took the China Resources Snow Breweries (CRSB) NG DG project in Sichuan province of China as a base scenario and compared its life cycle energy consumption and GHG emissions performance against five further scenarios. We found the CRSB DG project (all energy input is NG) can reduce GHG emissions by 22%, but increase energy consumption by 12% relative to the scenario, using coal combined with grid electricity as an energy input. The LCA also indicated that the CRSB project can save 24% of energy and reduce GHG emissions by 48% relative to the all-coal scenario. The studied NG-based DG project presents major GHG emissions reduction advantages over the traditional centralized energy system. Moreover, this reduction of energy consumption and GHG emissions can be expanded if the extra electricity from the DG project can be supplied to the public grid. The action of combining renewable energy into the NG DG system can also strengthen the dual merit of energy conservation and GHG emissions reduction. The marginal CO2 abatement cost of the studied project is about 51 USD/ton CO2 equivalent, which is relatively low. Policymakers are recommended to support NG DG technology development and application in China and globally to boost NG utilization and control GHG emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, evaluating CO 2 emissions efficiency and its marginal abatement cost in transportation sectors has been a hot topic. However, while evaluating the CO 2 marginal abatement cost using data envelopment analysis approach, the weak disposability of CO 2 may imply positive abatement cost, which undoubtedly violates our common sense. To obtain non-positive marginal abatement cost, CO 2 emissions should be treated as an input. To reconcile this contradiction, this paper intends to propose a global, directional distance function model based on previous study to investigate the productivity, economic efficiency, CO 2 emissions efficiency, and marginal abatement cost of the China’s regional transportation sectors during 2007–2012. The results show that: (1) the productivity, economic efficiency and CO 2 emissions efficiency of different regions differ widely. More specifically, the coastal areas of south China perform better than the other areas in terms of productivity, economic efficiency, and CO 2 emissions efficiency. (2) Generally, the economic efficiency is greater than CO 2 emissions efficiency, which is relatively low in most areas. (3) A negative correlation is found between CO 2 emissions efficiency and its marginal abatement cost. For a 1% increase in CO 2 emissions efficiency, the CO 2 marginal abatement cost declines by 102 Yuan (in 2004 constant price). The results imply that improving CO 2 emissions efficiency plays an important role in marginal abatement cost reduction, and it also provides us a new approach to reduce abatement cost besides the technical progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Applying a parameterized directional distance function approach, this paper estimates the regional total factor efficiency and pollutants’ marginal abatement costs (MACs) in China covering the years 2003–2012. We find that if all provinces produced on the production frontier, China could potentially conserve energy consumption by 29.5%, and reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) by 28.2% and 27.4%, respectively. The provinces in southeast coastal area performed better than the rest of the country. The bulk of potentials for energy saving and pollution reduction appeared in middle Yellow River, northwest, north coast, and northeast areas. The MAC of CO 2 increased steadily and continuously, while that of SO 2 showed a sharp increase throughout the whole study period. The average MACs of CO 2 and SO 2 for the whole country were 5512 Yuan/tonne and 154,395 Yuan/tonne, respectively. The MACs of SO 2 in different areas were remarkably unbalanced. Our estimates suggest that the opportunities for double dividend of economic production and pollution reduction are potentially achievable. Policymakers are required to facilitate technology transfer and encourage scientific and technological cooperation between inter- and intra-area. Additionally, they should also consider the regional heterogeneity when making the reduction allocations within the economic sectors and make the market prices of pollutants flexible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the country with the highest carbon emissions, the main focus of China has become carbon reduction. At present, the governance of carbon reduction is mainly based on the division of administrative regions, which leads to the governance inefficiency and high costs because of spatial spillover and regional mobility of carbon emissions. The need for collaborative governance to promote carbon reduction performance has been recognized. However, because of differences in both costs and benefits between developed and less developed regions, a clear cost and benefit allocation mechanism must be established first. Fairness is very important when all members are to actively participate in collaborative carbon emission reduction efforts. In this paper, one of the regions renowned for collaborative governance—the Yangtze River Delta region—is used as example, and a cost-benefit allocation mechanism is constructed that incorporates members' fairness concerns. The carbon emission efficiency, carbon reduction efforts, and total carbon emission amount are compared under two scenarios: a cost-sharing scenario and a centralized decision-making scenario. The results indicate that, compared with the centralized decision-making scenario, the cost-sharing scenario achieved greater regional carbon reduction efforts, a higher carbon emission efficiency, and more total emissions. Furthermore, under the cost-sharing scenario, in less developed regions, fairness concerns increase carbon emission efficiency and total carbon emissions. The fairness concern in developed regions reduces the profit proportion, while the fairness concern in less developed region increases the profit proportion. The impact of fairness concern on carbon reduction is stronger in developed regions. • Carbon emissions from cost-sharing and centralized decision-making are compared. • Impacts of fairness concerns of local governments are considered. • A rational cost-benefit allocation mechanism is developed. • The centralized decision-making pattern is more efficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a major carbon dioxide-emitting country, China set carbon trading market to reduce enterprise carbon emissions through the rational allocation of carbon quotas among different enterprises and regions. The market has also conducted a preliminary exploration for the country to achieve carbon dioxide emissions peak in 2030 and carbon neutrality in 2060 while actively addressing the challenges of global climate change. This study analysed the emission reduction effect of China's carbon trading pilot policy, especially the role of carbon quota and carbon trading price. The analysis used county-level panel data from 1997 to 2017, regarded the implementation of the carbon trading pilot policy as a quasi-natural experiment, and used the difference-in-differences method. The results showed that, first, the policy implementation not only reduced regional carbon emissions but also inhibited carbon dioxide emissions per capita, with long-term effects. Second, the carbon emission reduction effect brought by the carbon pilot policy showed significant heterogeneous results with the different degrees of regional carbon emissions and environmental supervision. The effect was greater in areas with higher carbon emission density and stronger legal supervision. Third, the difference in carbon quota allocations resulted in different emission reduction effects, among which the historical method had the strongest effect. The carbon quota price and number of enterprises participating carbon trading market were the key factors affecting carbon emission reduction. • This paper investigates the impact of carbon emission trading market on the carbon reduction. • China provides an excellent "Quasi-natural Experiment" for assessing the role of carbon emission trading market in environmental management. • It is found that policy implementation has significantly reduced various types of carbon emissions, and this reduction effect is long-term. • Stimulating the vitality of the carbon market and expanding the supply and demand of carbon quotas are the main ways to achieve carbon emission reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is under pressure to improve its agricultural productivity to keep up with the demands of a growing population with increasingly resource-intensive diets. This productivity improvement must occur against a backdrop of carbon intensity reduction targets, and a highly fragmented, nutrient-inefficient farming system. Moreover, the Chinese government increasingly recognizes the need to rationalize the management of the 800 million tonnes of agricultural crop straw that China produces each year, up to 40% of which is burned in-field as a waste. Biochar produced from these residues and applied to land could contribute to China's agricultural productivity, resource use efficiency and carbon reduction goals. However competing uses for China's straw residues are rapidly emerging, particularly from bioenergy generation. Therefore it is important to understand the relative economic viability and carbon abatement potential of directing agricultural residues to biochar rather than bioenergy. Using cost-benefit analysis ( CBA) and life-cycle analysis ( LCA), this paper therefore compares the economic viability and carbon abatement potential of biochar production via pyrolysis, with that of bioenergy production via briquetting and gasification. Straw reincorporation and in-field straw burning are used as baseline scenarios. We find that briquetting straw for heat energy is the most cost-effective carbon abatement technology, requiring a subsidy of $7 MgCO2e−1 abated. However China's current bioelectricity subsidy scheme makes gasification ( NPV $12.6 million) more financially attractive for investors than both briquetting ( NPV $7.34 million), and pyrolysis ($−1.84 million). The direct carbon abatement potential of pyrolysis (1.06 MgCO2e per odt straw) is also lower than that of briquetting (1.35 MgCO2e per odt straw) and gasification (1.16 MgCO2e per odt straw). However indirect carbon abatement processes arising from biochar application could significantly improve the carbon abatement potential of the pyrolysis scenario. Likewise, increasing the agronomic value of biochar is essential for the pyrolysis scenario to compete as an economically viable, cost-effective mitigation technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study analyzes the management of air pollutant substance in Chinese industrial sectors from 1998 to 2009. Decomposition analysis applying the logarithmic mean divisia index is used to analyze changes in emissions of air pollutants with a focus on the following five factors: coal pollution intensity (CPI), end-of-pipe treatment (EOP), the energy mix (EM), productive efficiency change (EFF), and production scale changes (PSC). Three pollutants are the main focus of this study: sulfur dioxide (SO2), dust, and soot. The novelty of this paper is focusing on the impact of the elimination policy on air pollution management in China by type of industry using the scale merit effect for pollution abatement technology change. First, the increase in SO2 emissions from Chinese industrial sectors because of the increase in the production scale is demonstrated. However, the EOP equipment that induced this change and improvements in energy efficiency has prevented an increase in SO2 emissions that is commensurate with the increase in production. Second, soot emissions were successfully reduced and controlled in all industries except the steel industry between 1998 and 2009, even though the production scale expanded for these industries. This reduction was achieved through improvements in EOP technology and in energy efficiency. Dust emissions decreased by nearly 65% between 1998 and 2009 in the Chinese industrial sectors. This successful reduction in emissions was achieved by implementing EOP technology and pollution prevention activities during the production processes, especially in the cement industry. Finally, pollution prevention in the cement industry is shown to result from production technology development rather than scale merit. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Increasing urbanization in China has led to growing demands for better air quality and human welfare. Global warming and local pollutants, such as SO2, NO x and PMs are the two main issues during China's development. However, these two topics are always studied separately and the co-benefits of mitigation measures are always ignored. Therefore, the interaction between carbon mitigation and local pollutant reduction measures should receive more attention. This paper presents a case study of co-benefits in the cement sector, which is the main building materials sector during urbanization. Different with the ExternE methodology based on dose–response functions, a simplified method built upon benefit transfer is introduced to evaluate the co-benefits of mitigation measures and their impact on marginal abatement cost during 12th Five Year Plan period (2011–2015). The result shows that the co-benefits of 18 main carbon mitigation technologies are significant when considering the environmental effect. The range of co-benefit varies from −3 RMB/tCO2 to 267 RMB/tCO2, with Co-control technologies in the upstream of the production chain have better co-benefits than downstream technologies, and energy conservation is the most critical issue in increasing co-benefits. Co-benefits should be integrated into project evaluation through various modes in order to promote the most cost-effective mitigation technologies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Haze pollution in Harbin has been gradually alleviated in recent years, but it is still far from eliminated. Thus, precise and effective emission abatement of main chemical components like nitrate is urgently needed for further haze pollution control. This study aimed to estimate nitrate formation pathways, and the contributions of the emission sources of nitrogen oxide in urban Harbin, based on the measurement of isotope signatures in nitrate and the utilization of an improved Bayesian mixing model. The results showed that nitrate significantly aggravated particulate pollution in the heating season, and its driving role was enhanced as the pollution level increased. This study suggested that homogeneous reaction and heterogeneous reaction were the dominant conversion pathways of nitrate formation in non-heating season and heating season respectively, and the contribution of heterogeneous reaction increased as pollution levels increased. By considering isotope fractionation value (δ15N), this paper emphasized coal combustion as the dominant contributor of nitrogen oxide in urban Harbin, while biomass burning, mobile sources, and biogenic soil emissions played relatively weak roles in nitrate pollution. This study has critical importance to provide scientific theoretical bases for nitrogen oxide reduction in urban Harbin and air quality improvement reference in other severely polluted regions in China. Image 1 • Considering δ15 N fractionation is necessary for accurate NO x source apportionment. • Heterogeneous reaction played a vital role in nitrate formation in heating season. • Coal combustion was the dominant contributor to nitrate pollution in urban Harbin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper develops a simultaneous equations stochastic frontier model (SFM) with dependent random noise and inefficiency components of individual equations as well as allowing dependence across all equations of the model using copula functions. First, feasibility of our developed model was verified via two simulation studies. Then the model was applied to assess cost efficiency and market power of the banking industry of China using a panel data of 37 banks covering the period 2013–2018. Results confirmed that our simultaneous SFM with dependent random noise and inefficiency components outperformed its predecessor, which is a simultaneous SFM with dependent composite errors but with independent random noise and inefficiency components of individual SFMs as well as the conventional single-equation SFM. Apart from the statistical and computational superiority of our developed model, we also see that Chinese banks in general have a high level of cost efficiency and that competition in the banking industry of China mainly exists in state-owned banks and joint stock banks. Presence of economies of scales as well as diseconomies of scales were found in different banks. Also, the state-owned banks embraced most sophisticated technologies thereby allowing them to operate with the highest level of cost efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]