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To achieve the goal of carbon reduction, China has been piloting the Carbon Emission Trading System (CETS) since 2013. As the economy faces a downward trend, it is significant to explore the impact of CETS on business development. There is still debate in academia about whether this policy can boost the level of business development. This paper, based on all A-share data of listed companies in China from 2009 to 2018, uses the Difference in Differences (DID) model to verify the impact of CETS on the input of capital and labor factors and the level of technology in enterprises and discusses the industry heterogeneity of this impact in detail. Placebo tests, propensity score matching, and triple differences ensure the robustness of the conclusions. In further research, this paper decomposes the policy effect of CETS. It regresses the impact of carbon quota prices and carbon market trading scale on business development. The final conclusion is that CETS has a positive impact on the input of capital and labor in enterprises and a negative impact on the level of technology. After distinguishing industries, this conclusion shows differences according to different characteristics of high emissions and low emissions. In addition, the increase in carbon quota prices hinders business development, while the scale of carbon market trading shows an inverted "U" relationship with business development. The article provides meaningful policy references for China and countries in the early stages of CETS construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon farming presents an opportunity for the land sector to generate income and transition to more sustainable land management practices. In Australia, establishing a carbon project and earning carbon credits is complex, with project proponents needing to satisfy eligibility requirements and adhere to rigorous measurement, verification, and reporting protocols of approved methods. To address these challenges, a human centered design (HCD) approach was used to deliver a digital solution, serving landowners' needs related to method discovery and reconfiguring how the methodological and scientific complexity of abatement potentials was delivered. The solution, called LOOC-C (pronounced "Look-see"), supports the discovery of abatement methods that are available for a given land area and provides an initial estimate of the potential quantum of carbon sequestered/emitted and the nature of co-benefits associated with each eligible method. Reporting on LOOC-C development and its observed impact demonstrates the role that human centered digital tools have in promoting land management actions that are both sustainable and reasonable to undertake. It equally demonstrates the power of integrating environmental market and user requirements with a robust design methodology. With similar opportunities in environmental markets globally, additional applications of an HCD approach are proposed. In 2012, the Australian government established the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) to reward landowners (via awarding Australian Carbon Credit Units, or ACCUs) for the implementation of management practices that either sequester carbon and/or reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Rigorous eligibility and method requirements are intended to provide confidence in abatement outcomes, but they introduce significant complexity that participants must overcome. 11 years later, uncertainties in the implementation and ACCU generation potential of ERF projects and implications on productivity/co-benefits have limited uptake and the quantum of ACCU generation of land sector enterprises. Digital tools that support the discovery of options and provide estimated potential outcomes, such as the LOOC-C tool described in this paper (), can generate interest and empowerment, helping to initiate decisions toward market participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parties, expert review teams and the secretariat have worked diligently over the past decades to implement a transparency system that responds to the decisions of Parties. The existing system has enhanced the transparency of Party's reporting of climate information and has been successful in assessing Parties' compliance with their Kyoto Protocol obligations. But that system is operating at a very high, possibly unsustainable, workload for all involved. With the ensuing demands from the enhanced transparency framework requiring more Parties to report more information more frequently, it is important to take stock of what has been learned and apply that knowledge to implement a system that adheres to the Parties' decisions and achieves the goals of the Paris Agreement. This paper proposes implementation of a reporting and review process that is "fit-for-purpose", with a view to ensuring that the objectives of the Paris Agreement are met in the most efficient, cost-effective and sustainable manner. Key elements in the design of a "fit for purpose" approach include: ensuring national submissions made by Parties are fit for purpose, organizing reviews in a manner that is most appropriate for the circumstances of the country under review, and preparing focused review reports that are conducive to Parties' needs. The proposed approach starts from the basic premise that within the cyclic reporting and review process the previous review team did their job and the present review team therefore focuses on changes in the submission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soils have the potential to sequester and store significant amounts of carbon, contributing towards climate change mitigation. Soil carbon markets are emerging to pay farmers for management changes that absorb atmospheric carbon, governed by codes that ensure eligibility, additionality and permanence whilst protecting against leakage and reversals. This paper presents the first global comparative analysis of farmland soil carbon codes, providing new insights into the range of approaches governing this global marketplace. To do this, the paper developed an analytical framework for the systematic comparison of codes which was used to identify commonalities and differences in approaches, methods, administration, commercialisation and operations for 12 publicly available codes from around the world. Codes used a range of mechanisms to manage additionality, uncertainty and risks, baselines, measurement, reporting and verification, auditing, resale of carbon units, bundling and stacking, stakeholder engagement and market integrity. The paper concludes by discussing existing approaches and codes that could be adapted for use in the UK and evaluates the need for an over-arching standard for soil carbon codes in the UK and internationally, to which existing codes and other schemes already generating soil carbon credits could be assessed and benchmarked. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The melting greenhouse gas emissions budget of the German building sector for the 1.5 °C target requires fast counteraction. In this paper, an analysis of the applicable legal and regulatory framework, the funding situation as well as national and international strategies on a transformation towards climate neutrality elucidates that the suggested approaches do not take a holistic view into account. They neglect, that embodied emissions from construction and emissions from operations phases of buildings must be oriented on the remaining budget, as well as material and human resources associated with the required actions. Therefore a framework to decarbonise the German building sector with eleven recommendations for action, which addresses these findings, is developed with a panel of experts. The results clarify, that the focus must be on adapting the existing building stock since renovation processes release significantly fewer emissions than the construction of new buildings. Stricter legal requirements for building envelopes have no significant effect on the reduction of emissions. Instead, fast-acting measures, such as the usage of district heating, photovoltaics, heat pumps, the optimisation of building operation and digitalisation, must be implemented in a prioritised manner to save resources and maintain the emissions budget longer. To be able to align effective measures it is necessary to engage all Stakeholders and to establish reliable political guidance down to the building level. A decarbonisation framework for German building sector is developed. An emissions budget is required as a benchmark for measures in new buildings and stock. Focus on fast-acting measures in existing buildings to maintain the budget and resources. Establish a buildings database to evaluate the state, plan resources and monitor effects. The energy sector has to decarbonise simultaneously, due to increasing interconnection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cement is one of the highest energy-consuming and emission generating industries around the world. To reduce greenhouse emissions, several mitigation measures have been proposed, and their effectiveness is estimated. However, estimates of the global temperature change potential of the cement industry have seldom been performed. Hence, in this study, we propose a new framework that estimates CO2 emissions and other seven pollutants to estimate temperature change potential from the cement industry. The underlying framework uses system dynamics, where the effectiveness of four mitigation measures, i.e., a shift in demand, newer methodologies to produce clinker, use of energy efficiency improvements, and implementation of renewable energy, are explored. The results indicate that renewable sources of energy show highest mitigation potential. The cement industry has contributed to an increase in 2 mK temperature since 1990, which is likely to grow up to 14.8 mK by 2050 if no mitigation measures are applied. Energy efficiency improvements by extensions of perform achieve and trade scheme can reduce 0.33 mK from the Indian cement industry. This paper provides a unique opportunity for estimating temperature influence of the cement industry, which can be further implemented for other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are envisaging the use of significant amounts of biomass as a primary source in their energy supply. The present greenhouse gas (GHG) emission inventory guidelines, based on methods and approaches originally proposed by the IPCC in the 1990s do not add the CO2 emissions from the combustion or incineration of these biogenic fuels to national total emissions, as it is assumed these emissions reverse recent CO2 removals from the atmosphere during photosynthetic growth of the biomass, largely within the Party's own boundaries. In a national annual inventory under the UNFCCC, the biomass carbon harvested in a specific year is balanced against the biomass carbon oxidation processes addressed in the energy and waste sectors of GHG inventories. The CO2 emissions from biomass oxidation in the present Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) inventory approach are accounted for by the country harvesting the biomass via the subtraction of the harvested biomass from C pools on their lands. This harvested biomass carbon is implicitly assumed to be oxidized both in the year and the country of harvest, regardless of whether this is factual. In the case of biomass exports, the CO2 emissions from the combustion/oxidation of this harvested biomass are not included in the national totals of the country where the biomass is used, as under the present approach this would lead to double counting on the global scale. With the increasing use of biomass on industrial scales, the assumptions underlying this approach start to introduce material inaccuracies on a national scale (versus global). Biomass combustion may no longer be negligible compared with fossil fuel combustion as biogenic fuels are increasingly traded internationally. In this paper, we review the present IPCC carbon mass flow approach and propose a change in the reporting and accounting methods that has the potential to address this national GHG emissions reporting issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reliance on petroleum derivatives and the increasing trend of fuel consumption in the transport sector have brought attention to biofuels as a measure to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, enhance energy security and boost economic development. The incentive for utilizing biofuels is their potential to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions compared to fossil fuels. Biofuels are considered to be carbon-neutral, regarding the direct CO2 emissions associated with their combustion, on the grounds that the carbon dioxide absorbed by the plants through photosynthesis is equivalent to the CO2 released during their combustion. However, a part of the carbon of biofuels may have a fossil origin and therefore, it is responsible for "non-neutral" CO2 emissions. This was recognized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its guidelines for greenhouse gas inventories. Nevertheless, specific guidance of how to estimate fossil CO2 emissions per each type of biofuel, in order to facilitate the work of emission inventory compilers and practitioners, is neither available in the IPCC guidelines nor in the scientific literature. The purpose of this paper is to define a higher tier method to estimate the associated CO2 emissions with the fossil carbon content of biofuels, aiming to cover all possible biofuel types that are mainly used nowadays to replace diesel and gasoline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There have been assessments of the carbon (C) offsetting potential of China's forest sector using historical inventories and future projections. Here, we critically reflect on the assessments we have done and carefully synthesize our findings of China's C sequestration by forest ecosystems and storage by harvested wood products (HWPs). We show that China raised its forest stock volume by 5.069 × 109 m3 during 2006–2020, giving a biomass C uptake of 2.592 petagrams (Pg). With a cumulative C emission of 37.031 Pg during the same period of time, the offsetting ratio of forest biomass is 6.99%. If C stored in HWPs during the period (0.491 Pg) is included, that ratio rises to 8.33%; further counting C sequestered by forest soil (1.277 Pg) boosts the ratio to 11.76%. With a stock volume increase of 14.813 × 109 m3 from 2006 to 2060, projected under a conventional scenario, the forest sector C removal could reach 9.286 Pg without including soil C or 13.017 Pg otherwise, offsetting 10.50% or 14.72% of the cumulative emission of 88.425 Pg. These results indicate that the forest sector has played and will continue to play a significant a role in its decarbonizing drive, but the government has been conservative in setting its targets, particularly for the increase of forest stock volume. Future policy and research efforts must effectively link the country's forest structure, quality, and growth, and thus C sequestration and storage, with improved forest management and wood products manufacturing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, it was explored how the volatility of the carbon neutrality concept index (CNCI) was affected by China economic policy uncertainty (CEPU) index, climate policy uncertainty (CPU) index, and geopolitical risk (GPR) index. According to the research of Amendola et al. the GARCH-MIDAS model was improved by introducing the realized kernel volatility of China stock market into the short-term volatility component. On this basis, the GARCH-RKV-MIDAS model was constructed. Meanwhile, both GARCH-MIDAS and GARCH-RKV-MIDAS models were applied to identify the influencing factors for CNCI volatility during the period between January 2018 and June 2022, with CNCI predicted. According to the research results, both the CPU index and the GPR index exert a significant effect on the long-term volatility of CNCI, despite no significant difference made by the CEPU index to the long-term volatility of CNCI. As for the prediction of CNCI volatility, the GARCH-RKV-MIDAS model clearly outperforms the GARCH-MIDAS model. Moreover, the CPU index outperforms the GPR index and the CEPU index in predicting the volatility of the CNCI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To achieve the goal of carbon reduction, China has been piloting the Carbon Emission Trading System (CETS) since 2013. As the economy faces a downward trend, it is significant to explore the impact of CETS on business development. There is still debate in academia about whether this policy can boost the level of business development. This paper, based on all A-share data of listed companies in China from 2009 to 2018, uses the Difference in Differences (DID) model to verify the impact of CETS on the input of capital and labor factors and the level of technology in enterprises and discusses the industry heterogeneity of this impact in detail. Placebo tests, propensity score matching, and triple differences ensure the robustness of the conclusions. In further research, this paper decomposes the policy effect of CETS. It regresses the impact of carbon quota prices and carbon market trading scale on business development. The final conclusion is that CETS has a positive impact on the input of capital and labor in enterprises and a negative impact on the level of technology. After distinguishing industries, this conclusion shows differences according to different characteristics of high emissions and low emissions. In addition, the increase in carbon quota prices hinders business development, while the scale of carbon market trading shows an inverted “U” relationship with business development. The article provides meaningful policy references for China and countries in the early stages of CETS construction.

Novel pathway optimization methods are presented using the 'Global Calculator' model and webtool1 to goal-seek within a set of optimization constraints. The Global Calculator (GC) is a model used to forecast climate-related develop pathways for the world's energy, food and land systems to 2050. The optimization methods enable the GC's user to specify optimization constraints and return a combination of input parameters that satisfy them. The optimization methods evaluated aim to address the challenge of efficiently navigating the GC's ample parameter space (8e70 parameter combinations) using Monte Carlo Markov Chains and genetic algorithms. The optimization methods are used to calculate an optimal input combination of the 'lever' settings in the GC that satisfy twelve input constraints while minimizing cumulative CO2 emissions and maximizing GDP output. This optimal development pathway yields a prediction to 2100 of 2,835 GtCO2 cumulative emissions and a 3.7% increase in GDP with respect to the "business as usual" pathway defined by the International Energy Agency, the IEA's 6DS scenario, a likely extension of current trends. At a similar or lower ambition level as the benchmark scenarios considered to date (distributed effort, consumer reluctance, low action on forests and consumer activism), the optimal pathway shows a significant decrease in CO2 emissions and increased GDP. The chosen optimization method presented here enables the generation of optimal, user defined/constrained, bespoke pathways to sustainability, relying on the Global Calculator's whole system approach and assumptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soils have the potential to sequester and store significant amounts of carbon, contributing towards climate change mitigation. Soil carbon markets are emerging to pay farmers for management changes that absorb atmospheric carbon, governed by codes that ensure eligibility, additionality and permanence whilst protecting against leakage and reversals. This paper presents the first global comparative analysis of farmland soil carbon codes, providing new insights into the range of approaches governing this global marketplace. To do this, the paper developed an analytical framework for the systematic comparison of codes which was used to identify commonalities and differences in approaches, methods, administration, commercialisation and operations for 12 publicly available codes from around the world. Codes used a range of mechanisms to manage additionality, uncertainty and risks, baselines, measurement, reporting and verification, auditing, resale of carbon units, bundling and stacking, stakeholder engagement and market integrity. The paper concludes by discussing existing approaches and codes that could be adapted for use in the UK and evaluates the need for an over-arching standard for soil carbon codes in the UK and internationally, to which existing codes and other schemes already generating soil carbon credits could be assessed and benchmarked.

Based on the manually collected carbon information disclosure data for the Chinese listed companies from 2009 to 2015, this paper examines the influencing factors of carbon information disclosure from the stakeholders’ perspective. The results show that among external stakeholders, pressures from government and customers can improve the level of firm carbon information disclosure, but the effects of creditor, supplier and competitor on firm carbon information disclosure level are not significant. Among internal stakeholders, the major shareholders, institutional investors, and employees can improve the level of firm carbon information disclosure, but the effects of foreign investors (QFII) on carbon information disclosure are not significant. Among third-party stakeholders, environmental protection organizations and audit institutions can improve the level of firm carbon information disclosure. We hope that findings of this paper will provide guidance to the Chinese firms to develop carbon disclosure policies and encourage researchers to conduct future research on this subject.

This paper adopts the legitimacy theory and stakeholder theory perspectives to explore the drivers of voluntary carbon disclosure among Chinese firms under the 11th and 12th Five-Year Plans. We use the coding technique of content analysis to capture quantitative data of carbon reduction and classify sample firms by disclosure content into three groups and then apply ordinal logit regression to test the proposed hypotheses. Firm size (Size) and profitability (Profit) are positively related to carbon disclosure; SOE blockholder (State-bloc) and high carbon emission industries (HCEI) are significantly more dedicated to carbon disclosure. However, POE blockholder (Private-bloc) and creditors (Lev) are negatively related to carbon disclosure. We also find that the effects of HCEI and Ownership differ most widely between firms in coastal areas and firms in non-coastal areas; State-bloc is more significantly related to carbon disclosure in the 12th-five period than in the 11th-five period. Chinese firms should understand that taking substantive actions of carbon disclosure, fulfilling social responsibilities, and aligning their operations to the planned economy can contribute to their sustainable development. This paper offers evidence of variations in drivers of carbon disclosure, and such variations are attributable to the differences between the two plan periods and between geographical regions. The evidence is helpful for understanding what have motivated Chinese firms to disclose carbon emission information in the two different plan periods and in different geographical areas.

With the rapid development of regional economy, energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission increase sharply. This study examines the relationship between carbon dioxide emissions and regional economic growth. Based on the mean value decomposition method of double logarithm, the model was built to identify the key indexes affecting the decomposition, and the carbon emission formula was calculated to obtain the regional carbon dioxide emission. Based on the actual data, the kuznets curve model is established to represent the relationship between CO2 emission and regional economic growth in logarithm form. The unit root test, co-integration test and granger causality test are carried out for the correlation sequences in the kuznets curve model in order to realize the research on the relationship between CO2 emission and regional economic growth. This paper discusses the relationship between carbon dioxide emission and regional economic growth through an example. It shows that the relationship between carbon dioxide emission and regional economic growth is inversely u-shaped, and there is a kuznets curve between the two. According to the result of empirical analysis, the paper puts forward some suggestions to reduce energy consumption and improve energy efficiency, which is helpful to improve social and economic structure and promote social and economic development.

There has been renewed interest in equating temporary carbon storage with permanent CO2 emission reductions, both within corporate GHG inventories and for carbon offset accounting. Proposed methods discount future emissions, such that carbon stored temporarily can be accounted for as (some fraction of) a permanent reduction in emissions. These approaches are problematic as long-term temperature change is primarily caused by cumulative CO2 emissions and delayed emissions accumulate in the atmosphere the same as any other emission of CO2. This perspective article uses illustrative examples to show how discounting future emissions results in false temperature alignment and net zero claims. We recommend that emissions and removals should be reported without discounting to ensure that GHG accounts accurately reflect contribution to cumulative emissions. There is value in temporarily storing carbon, e.g. it can reduce peak warming and buy time to implement permanent mitigation measures, but it cannot be treated as equivalent to permanent mitigation, and alternative approaches should be used to convey the value of temporary storage. Discounting emissions from temporarily stored carbon creates false alignment claims. Emissions should be reported without discounting. Temporary storage has value but must not be equated with permanent mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peatlands are a globally important carbon store, but peatland ecosystems from high latitudes to the tropics are highly degraded due to increasingly intensive anthropogenic activity, making them significant greenhouse gas (GHG) sources. Peatland restoration and conservation have been proposed as a nature-based solution to climate change, by restoring the function of peatlands as a net carbon sink, but this may have implications for many local communities who rely on income from activities associated with transformed peatlands, particularly those drained for agriculture. However, without changing the way that humans interact with and exploit peatlands in most regions, peatlands will continue to degrade and be lost. We propose that there are ultimately three potential trajectories for peatland management: business as usual, whereby peatland carbon sink capacity continues to be eroded, responsible agricultural management (with the potential to mitigate emissions, but unlikely to restore peatlands as a net carbon sink), and restoration and conservation. We term this the three-peat challenge, and propose it as a means to view the benefits of restoring peatlands for the environment, as well as the implications of such transitions for communities who rely on ecosystem services (particularly provisioning) from degraded peatlands, and the consequences arising from a lack of action. Ultimately, decisions regarding which trajectories peatlands in given localities will follow torequire principles of equitable decision-making, and support to ensure just transitions, particularly for communities who rely on peatland ecosystems to support their livelihoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices of dairy farmers in Agula and Maychew, Northern Ethiopia. Data was collected through focus group discussions (FGDs) and questionnaires. The study explored farmers', implementation of three CSA practices – improved fodder, manure management, and replacement of unproductive cows. The determinants of CSA adoption were analyzed using a binary logistics model at significance levels of 1%, 5%, and 10%. Results showed that improved fodder was adopted by 60.1% in Agula and 18.2% in Maychew. The adoption of manure management (p =.229) and replacement of unproductive cows (p =.935) did not vary significantly. The replacement of unproductive cows had the highest adoption rate (45.9%). Improved fodder adoption was significantly higher among male-headed farms (p =.017). Manure management adoption was positively associated with gender (p =.034), number of cows (p =.081), and access to climate information (p =.063). Replacement of unproductive cows was associated with number of cows (p <.001), farm income (p =.049), and access to extension services (p =.006). FGDs revealed that farmers were able to perceive climate change and its effects on their dairy business. This study underscores the need for CSA practices to adapt to climate change impact on animals and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from dairy farms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate carbon price prediction is a reference that allows market participants to make decisions. This study adopts a total of 1,857 trading days of data from April 2, 2014, to June 15, 2022, in the Hubei carbon market, one of the first and largest pilot carbon markets in China for carbon price prediction. We propose a new framework based on the GA-VMD-CNN-BiLSTM-Attention hybrid model: a genetic algorithm (GA) is adopted to search the optimal parameter combination of variational mode decomposition (VMD); a convolutional neural network (CNN) is established to discover the relationship between influencing factors and carbon prices; a bidirectional long and short-term memory network (BiLSTM) is applied to extract time series information; and an attention mechanism is used to strengthen the influence of important information on carbon prices. Compared to 11 other models, the GA-VMD-CNN-BiLSTM-Attention model has a higher accuracy and stronger model reliability. In addition to deterministic point prediction, this study uses non-parametric kernel density estimation with the Gaussian kernel function (KDE-Gaussian) for interval forecasting. The forecasting can quantify the uncertainty of carbon prices and serve as a more practical reference for decision-makers. By revealing the particularly challenging issue that underlies carbon price forecasting, our analysis also sheds light on current low-carbon policies in China. The GA-VMD method achieves more accurate decomposition results. A hybrid prediction model is established based on CNN and BiLSTM. An attention mechanism is proposed for enhancing the impact of key information. Kernel density estimation with Gaussian function is adopted for interval forecasting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The U.S. government is planning significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions as part of their nationally determined contribution to the Paris Agreement. The plan includes a variety of activities, one of which is enhancing carbon sinks in soils through a climate-smart agriculture program. The nature of soil carbon along with market forces, cultural factors and other issues create challenges for a program in climate-smart agriculture. These challenges include quantification of soil carbon sequestration, targeting practice adoption that is additional to past adoption, and ensuring that emissions of other greenhouse gases do not increase with climate-smart practices. In addition, there are challenges associated with maintaining carbon storage in soils over a long-time horizon; and avoiding increases in greenhouse gas emissions on non-participating lands. We review and discuss options for addressing challenges with direct regulations, subsidies and tax incentives, carbon taxes, and carbon credit offsets. None of these policy interventions are likely to overcome all challenges, but there are ways to limit risks that challenges pose to each intervention. The ability of the U.S. government to limit or mitigate these risks through careful design of a climate-smart agriculture program will largely determine how much carbon is sequestered in soils, and associated contributions to their emissions reduction goal for the Paris Agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rise in global food insecurity, pollution, and wildlife extinction caused by climate change, development policies are now tailored toward addressing this quagmire. However, the unresolved question is, are climate-related development finances effective in greening the environment in developing countries? In this milieu, this study assessed the effectiveness of climate-related development finances and renewable energy consumption on CO2 emissions in Africa by applying the system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimation technique on data from 2000 to 2020 for 41 selected countries. The findings show that the overall climate-related development finances, adaptation-related development finances, and mitigation-related development finances have short-run carbon-enhancing and long-run carbon-reducing effects in Africa. Similarly, renewable energy consumption and the net inflows of foreign direct investment have short-run worsening and long-run carbon-abatement effects in Africa. In contrast, higher GDP per capita, urbanization, and higher energy intensity are effective in reducing CO2 emissions in Africa only in the short run, however, they exacerbate CO2 emissions in Africa over the long run. In this light, the study underscores the need to invest heavily in climate-related development projects, and green technology innovation and production in Africa. The results also suggest the need to upgrade the current energy structure in Africa to renewable energy sources for a greener, cleaner, and brighter Africa. However, these policy perspectives require enough funds for effective implementation. Hence, the study calls on the developed countries (the polluters) to support Africa with the required funds to pay off climate debt by 2030 and build climate-resilient practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving soil management to enhance soil carbon sequestration (SCS)—a cost-efficient carbon dioxide (CO2) removal approach—can result in co-benefits or trade-offs. Here we address this issue by setting up a modeling framework for Switzerland that combines soil carbon (C) storage, food production and agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The link to food production is crucial because crop types and livestock numbers influence soil organic C (SOC) stocks, through soil C inputs from plants and manure. We estimated SCS rates for the years 2020–2050 for three scenarios, each with two variants for biochar: cover cropping (0.30 t CO2 equivalents [CO2-eq] ha−1 yr−1), biochar addition (0.36–1.8 t CO2-eq ha−1 yr−1) and agroforestry-biochar addition (2.2–2.3 t CO2-eq ha−1 yr−1). Different limiting factors (land and biomass availability, population growth) affected SCS rates and indicated that they cannot be sustained until 2100 under all scenarios (cover cropping: 0.10 t CO2-eq ha−1 yr−1 [2051–2100]; biochar addition: 0.35–1.8 t CO2-eq ha−1 yr−1; agroforestry-biochar addition: 1.0–1.7 t CO2-eq ha−1 yr−1). This information together with the associated GHG emissions is critical for planning net zero strategies and highlights the importance of integrated assessments that capture links between SCS and the food system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a growing number of oil and gas facilities worldwide implement leak detection and repair (LDAR) plans, the owners and the public are interested in better understanding their effectiveness, i.e. how total facility leak emission is decreased as a result of LDAR implementation. For this objective, it is critically important when calculating total mass leak emission to consider an estimated leak lifetime for the leakers found. Obviously, more frequent monitoring and shorter leak repair time should return lower leak lifetime and less emission. This simple yet important factor is mentioned but not detailed in existing guides. Some guides suggest formulae with the same equipment operating time both for leakers and non-leakers, which is not quite accurate since the actual leak lifetime could be significantly less than the total equipment operating time due to the proper LDAR implementation. In this article, we address this gap. The LDAR effectiveness evaluation approach utilizing leak lifetime is suggested and illustrated using examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As China's outwards foreign direct investment (OFDI) has grown dramatically, the environmental impact of the production activities of Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs) has received substantial attention. Using a multiregional input-output model reflecting firm heterogeneity, this study measures the carbon footprint (CF) and value-added (VA) of Chinese MNEs' foreign affiliates to quantify the trade-off between economic benefits and environmental damage. The results show that Chinese MNEs' affiliates' CF is not large but grows quickly, mainly driven by investment and scale effects. The CF of foreign affiliates is primarily distributed in resource-intensive countries. The economic-environmental effect of Chinese MNEs' foreign affiliates is heterogeneous across countries and sectors. The best performance is found in the manufacturing sectors of most developing countries, with the worst performance in the service sectors of developed countries. Chinese MNEs' affiliates can transfer clean technology from developed host countries to China through reverse technology spillovers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trinidad and Tobago's (T&T) conditional commitment to the Paris Agreement requires an overall power emission avoidance (EAT) of 28.7 MtCO2-e from Business-As-Usual by 2030, dependent on international financing. T&T has outlined several initiatives to achieve this, including zero-carbon renewable energy (RE) introduction. However, other technologies such as Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) can also be used in support of achieving EAT. Using a specific scenario (S3), this study assesses the techno-economics of CCS within the sector to minimize the requirement of RE using a carbon measuring tool called Carbon Emission Pinch Analysis (CEPA) to achieve EAT. Local power plants were screened, and a CCS retrofit was then technically designed using a validated software called Aspen HYSYS. Multi-period CEPA methodology was then applied to quantify ∼17% of grid energy from RE along with CCS to achieve EAT. Economic models were also used to determine the grid unit cost of emission abatement for S3 to be 64 USD/tCO2-e; a doubling of initial projection requirements. With T&T's current dynamics, these findings can help guide actions to reduce the requirements of RE onto the grid through the supplemental introduction of CCS to achieve its EAT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil amendments are a broad class of materials that enhance physical, chemical or biological characteristics in croplands, pastures, or rangelands. While organic soil amendments such as manure, mulch and seaweed have well established agronomic benefits, there has been renewed private and governmental interest in quantifying and incentivizing their role in mitigating climate change. Likewise, biostimulants and biopesticides, which are intended to target specific plant or microbial processes, are emerging with claims of improved soil health, crop yields, soil organic carbon sequestration, and greenhouse gas emission reductions. We conducted a literature review to address the climate mitigation potential of organic soil amendments, including biostimulants and biopesticides. In doing so, we identify three elements of climate mitigation through the use of soil amendments: soil organic carbon sequestration, soil greenhouse gas emission reductions, and life cycle emission reductions. We review common soil amendment classes in detail, addressing the empirical evidence (or lack thereof) in which they meet these three elements of climate mitigation. We conclude by suggesting priorities for government and private investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Partitioning the contributions of climate, economic growth, and policy to a region's carbon flows is an important process for the Chinese government seeking to optimize their regional development policies to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. A combination of the carbon emission analysis and human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) framework was applied to a village in the Lhasa river valley, Tibet, to quantify the contributions of these different factors to carbon flows and neutrality. From 2010 to 2019, the average annual net sequestration of CO2 was 374.9 g CO2 m−2 a−1. Changes in climate conditions and the regional policy of Grassland Ecological Protection Subsidy and Reward increased carbon sequestrations by 409.5 and 25.7 g CO2 m−2 a−1, respectively. Socioeconomic development, policies for reducing poverty, and promotion of forage production led to the increase in CO2 emissions by 103.5, 88.8, and 4.3 g CO2 m−2 a−1, respectively. The cumulative CO2 emissions (including HANPP) caused by land use were 298.92 Tg CO2 (2479.63 g CO2 m−2; 1 Tg = 1012 g), while the cumulative CO2 emissions due to energy use were only 11.22 Tg CO2 (93.07 g CO2 m−2), equal to 3.75% of the CO2 emissions driven by land use. Livestock grazing and cropland cultivation were the two main land use factors affecting the carbon balance. We argue that unhooking economic growth from traditional nomadic animal husbandry and lifestyles through policy optimizations would highly contribute the carbon neutrality in Tibet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study an effort-sharing approach based on Inertia and Capability principles is proposed to assess European Union (EU27) carbon budget distribution among the Member States. This is done within the context of achieving the Green Deal objective and EU27 carbon neutrality by 2050. An in-depth analysis is carried out about the role of Economic Decoupling embedded in the Capability principle to evaluate the correlation between the expected increase of economic production and the level of carbon intensity in the Member States. The study proposes a simple mathematical model as a policy tool to assess and redistribute Member States' carbon budgets as frequently as necessary to encourage progress or overcome the difficulties each Member State may face during the decarbonization pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research motivates to provide some implications about the role of energy innovation (EINN) in the resource curse hypothesis. The significance of EINN is crucial for mitigating the economic and environmental damage caused by the excessive consumption of natural resources (NR). The study aims to inspect the effect of energy consumption (EC), EINN, and NR on the economic growth (EG) of OECD countries from 1990 to 2015. The study emphasizes the importance of EINN by incorporating the EINN in the empirical framework of the resource curse hypothesis (RCH) and contributes to the current research on RCH. The study has used the various advanced econometrics techniques that are robust in controlling the cross-section dependence (CD) and slope heterogeneity of the panel data. The results clarify that EINN is a decisive factor in the analysis of the RCH. The positive association between EINN and EG suggests that EINN is beneficial in improving the EG of OECD countries. The results reveal the negative impact of NR on EG; however, with the inclusion of EINN, the absolute value of the NR's effect has declined significantly from −0.299% to −0.076% in the long run. The findings suggest that improvements in the EINN are crucial to increase the efficiency and productivity of NR and to avoid the RCH in the OECD countries. Thus, OECD countries should encourage energy innovation policies by promoting their application, so that replacement of traditional energy sources with new energy can be realized. The importance of energy innovation is expressed in the context of the natural resource curse hypothesis (RCH). Advanced panel data method CS-ARDL is used to control the panel cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity issues. Energy innovation plays a decisive role in alleviating the RCH in the OECD countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The livestock sector in low- and middle-income countries could contribute significantly to reduce the rate of growth and/or the level of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions required to achieve the 1.5 °C target of the Paris Agreement. Yet, the sector is also expected to contribute to food and income security in these countries. Using an extensive dataset on the Ethiopian livestock sector, we assessed the potential of selected interventions to increase supply of animal source protein (ASP) and reduce GHG emissions intensity or absolute emissions at national level. The business as usual (BAU) scenario was modelled by extrapolating the historical trends observed during the base years (i.e. 2010 – 2020) to the period between 2021 and 2030. Four scenarios were modelled including structural changes in cattle herd (S1) and chicken flock (S3) composition, increased milk yields of dairy cattle (S2), and a combination of all strategies (S4). We found that the total ASP produced and supplied per capita, as well as total GHG emissions increased between 2021 and 2030 across all scenarios while emission intensities per unit ASP produced decreased. However, by 2030, the total GHG emissions in S1 (i.e. 146.7 MtCO2e) were lower than in the BAU scenario (i.e. 149.0 MtCO2e) while the total ASP supplied per capita was higher in the former (i.e. 6.84 kg) than the latter (i.e. 6.24 kg). These findings suggest that structural changes at herd level could reduce total GHG emissions and concomitantly increase ASP supply. Therefore, structural transformation could be a highly relevant policy option for low- and middle- income countries, where the livestock sector must address multiple goals including food and income security, and global climate commitments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By identifying the connectedness of seven indicators from January 1, 2019, to June 13, 2022, we choose an extended joint connectedness approach to a vector autoregression model with time-varying parameter (TVP-VAR) to analyze interlinkages between Crypto Volatility (CV) and Energy Volatility (EV). Our findings show that the COVID-19 outbreak seems to have an impact on the dynamic connectedness of the whole system, which peaks at about 60% toward the end of 2019. According to net total directional connectedness over a quantile, throughout the 2020–2022 timeframe, natural gas and crude oil are net shock transmitters, while the CV, clean energy, solar energy, and green bonds consistently receive all other indicators. Specifically, pairwise connectedness indicates that the CV appears to be a net transmitter of shocks to all energy indicators before the COVID-19 outbreak but acts as a net receiver of shocks from clean energy, wind energy, and green bonds in late 2020. The CV mostly has spillover effects on green bonds. The primary net transmitter of shocks to the Crypto market is crude oil. Our findings are critical in helping investors and authorities design the most effective policies to lessen the vulnerabilities of these indicators and reduce the spread of risk or uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under accelerated domestic economic cycle, it is significant to predict the embodied carbon transfer network (ECTNs) to identify key emission regions to improve emission reduction efficiency. Based on the existing China Multi-regional Input-Output Table (CMRIOs) for 2002, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2017, the CMRIOs for 2002-2017 were updated, then the ECTNs were predicted and constructed from 2018 to 2025 through Particle Swarm Optimization- Support Vector Model. Finally, the spatial and temporal evolution trends of the ECTNs' features were explored through complex networks analysis. The results showed that carbon leakage between provinces has been becoming increasingly serious. The small-world features of the ECTNs were becoming increasingly obvious. The distribution of provinces with great influence on carbon transfer was transferred from north to south, and then to the central region. Hebei, Jiangsu, Henan, Zhejiang, Inner Mongolia, and other resource-intensive and manufacturing provinces played an important "bridge" role in the trade between economic developed and developing provinces. Trade ties between non neighboring provinces have become increasingly close, which means the development of China's integration has strengthened. This study provides a theoretical reference for the formulation of China's overall carbon emission reduction policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use changes affect soil and biomass carbon sequestration potential of the agroecosystems of most Sub-Sahara Africa facing rising temperatures due to global climate change. One such ecosystem is the Owabi reservoir catchment in Ghana, which has undergone extensive changes in land use through urbanization. Our study aimed to determine the impact of the spatial and temporal variability of the different land uses on soil and biomass carbon storage in the Owabi catchment. Land use/cover maps were elaborated using SPOT satellite images of 30 × 30-m resolution and Erdas Imagine and ArcGIS Pro softwares. Soil and vegetation were sampled along three transects in the Y plane in early 2014. Nested plot design and temporary sample plots of 50 × 50 m were demarcated within a 1 ha plot in each of the land uses. Trees, herbs and litter were sampled to assess aboveground carbon, and soil samples were taken at 0–15 cm and 15–30 cm depth. Belowground (root) biomass was calculated using the root:shoot ratio. Seven (7) land use types – dense forest, sparse forest, grassland, cropland, wetland, settlement, and excavated land – were identified and differences in carbon stocks were assessed. Soil carbon stock (0–30 cm) ranged from 51.80 Mg/ha in dense forest to 7.00 Mg/ha in excavated land. Our study showed that the conversion of forest lands to other land uses through excavation resulted in about 30-folds loss in carbon and also a major loss of carbon in the catchment from c. 1.4 × 106 Mg C in 1990 to 0.55 × 106 Mg C in 2014. Enhancing forests or growing trees to sequester carbon seems to be the optimum choice among the seven land uses if the introduction of payment for environmental services options is considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The developing countries rely heavily on imports of capital goods to spur economic growth. When the economy grows, energy consumption rises, adversely impacting climate change. The low levels of renewable energy share in total energy consumption, developing nations confront a difficult task in achieving the SDGs targets related to an increase in renewable energy share and access to affordable, reliable, and modern energy. Finding solutions to increase renewable energy usage is critical. International trade is an unavoidable part of development, prompting us to consider the impact of imports on renewable energy usage. This study explores the effects of imports of capital goods from China, EU and USA on renewable energy consumption in developing countries by using panel data from 20 countries spanning 2000–2018. It is found that capital goods imported from China in developing countries negatively impact renewable energy consumption while imports from EU have a positive impact on renewable energy consumption. However, in the case of US it is found negative but insignificant. The role of economic, social, and political globalization is explored, and it is found that three types of globalization are positively and significantly linked with renewable energy consumption. Thus, this study recommends that trade policies complement domestic efforts toward increasing renewable energy production and consumption in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How relevant is the role of CO2 from harvested wood products (HWPs) for the Brazilian GHG emission balance? The C stocks and CO2 emissions and removals from the HWPs in Brazil during 1900–2016 were evaluated using three methodological approaches: stock-change approach (SCA), production approach (PA), and stock-change of domestic origin (SCDOA). Data from the FAO’s FAOSTAT system on production, import and export of semi-finished products (sawnwood, wood-based panels and paper/paperboard) were analyzed, considering distinct land-use activities: deforestation (D), forest management (FM) and afforestation/reforestation (A/R). Two scenarios to evaluate the effect of HWPs from D were evaluated. The C stock in HWPs in 2016 reached 252 Mt C, by SCA. Contributions to C storage historically were higher from sawnwood, but wood-based panels and paper/paperboard have recently outperformed it. A/R is the major activity responsible for C storage in HWPs. The CO2 removal by HWPs was 521 Mt during 1990–2016, which corresponds to 1.1% of the country’s emissions in the same period. It was concluded that Brazil has become a major producer and wood consumer and that HWPs are allies for a positive C balance and fulfillment of the commitments assumed by the country regarding climate change. Abbreviations AFOLUAgriculture, forestry and other land uses A/RAfforestation/reforestation DDeforestation FAOUnited Nations Food and Agriculture Organization FMForest management HWPsHarvested wood products IBGEBrazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics PAProduction approach PEVSPlant extraction and forestry SCAStock-change approach SCDOAStock-change of domestic origin approach

The existing studies on persistence of ecological footprint have largely concentrated on the aggregate ecological footprint without adequately considering its components. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the existing papers on ecological footprint by examining the persistence of carbon footprint emissions for a group of 92 countries. Unlike the extant papers, this paper uses fractional integration, which allows the consideration of stationary I(0) and nonstationary I(1) cases as particular models of interest, being therefore more general and flexible than these two classical representations. The results indicate that only 25 of the 92 countries display mean reversion, with orders of integration strictly below 1 and showing transitory shocks, most of them belonging to lower middle- and low-income countries. In these 25 countries it might not be easy to change the long-run path of the carbon footprint as any policy shocks will have temporary effects. The foregoing findings can help policymakers in each nation to design efficient emission-reducing policies.

Based on provincial panel data from 2000 to 2014, this paper measured the total factor energy efficiency by adopting the dynamic slacks-based measure model, and then employed the spatial econometric model to analyze the impact of regional mitigation of carbon dioxide on energy efficiency from both intra-regional and inter-regional perspectives in China. The results show the following: first, the average of total factor energy efficiency presents a rising trend from 2000 to 2014, and it shows a significant difference among regions. Second, the direct effect of carbon productivity on energy efficiency is positive, but the indirect effect is negative. The share ratio of direct and indirect effects is 1: −0.96; the total effect is positive but insignificant. Based on this conclusion, the paper provides some relevant policy suggestions and measures for regionally saving energy resources and relieving environmental constraints.

India's contributions to meeting global mean temperature increases of 2 °C or well below 2 °C would require transformational changes in its energy systems. A bottom-up model analyzes alternate futures (reference, intended nationally determined contributions and low-carbon scenarios) assuming equal per-capita cumulative emissions rights from 2011 through 2050. The cumulative CO2 budget for India for low-carbon scenarios during this period is estimated to be around 115 Bt-CO2, as against 165 Bt-CO2 for the reference scenario. To achieve such emission reductions, while maintaining high economic growth and meeting sustainable development goals, the paper projects that a range of endemic transformations are required such as shifting toward cleaner fuels, resource efficient technologies, widespread use of Information and communication technology (ICTs) to balance demand and supply (e.g. smart grids), substituting demand in transport (e.g. work from home), aggressive promotion of renewables, lifestyle changes, and CO2 capture, storage and use. Modeling decarbonization to meet the needs of the increasing population and urbanization faces myriad challenges due to the distributed nature of technologies used to provide various services, involving risks and uncertainties. The paper finally outlines specific opportunities and challenges faced to meet the increased mitigation ambition to limit the warming to 2 °C and below.

Advances in satellite remote sensing and the wealth of earth observation (EO) data now available have improved efforts toward determining and quantifying historical land use and land cover (LULC) change. Satellite imagery can overcome the absence of accurate records of historical land use; however, the variability observed in the case study regions demonstrates a number of current challenges. Differences in spatial coverage, resolution and land cover classification can lead to challenges in analyzing historical data sets to estimate LULC change and associated GHG emissions. This paper demonstrates the calculation of LULC change from three existing, open-source data sets to show how this can lead to significant variation in estimates of GHG emissions related to differences in land classification methodologies, EO input data and period of investigation. This article focuses on selected regions of Indonesia, where quantifying land use change is important for GHG assessments of agricultural commodities and for evidencing progress against corporate and government deforestation commitments. Given the significance of GHG emissions arising from LULC change and the increasing need for emissions monitoring, this research highlights a need for consensus building to develop consistency in historical and future LULC change estimates. This paper concludes with a set of recommendations for improvements to ensure consistent LULC mapping.

India has voluntarily declared her efforts of reducing its GHG intensity by 33-35% by 2030 over 2005 levels towards global carbon dioxide (CO2) mitigation. This paper tries to put into perspective the need for carbon capture and storage (CCS) in India’s energy sector, specific to coal. It tries to make the argument that the policymakers must not solely depend on fairly new technologies like power generation via solar, without taking care of the existing coalfired power plants. Thus, putting forward the opportunities for CCS supported by necessary literature is undertaken as the principal task for this paper. The potential for CCS is discussed in terms of relevant capture and storage techniques in a technological and cost-based standpoint. Some of the considerations that can facilitate the deployment of CCS in various sectors pertaining to the industry are discussed. The paper also presents the need for discussing technologies such as direct air capture (DAC) in the Indian context. The review also presents a substantive view for CCS prospects in India, by reviewing its environmental and operational issues. Finally, it deliberates the need for an integrated approach for CCS technology and calls for the need of making more realistic policy framework.

This paper assesses the role of the forestry sector in the CO2-eq emissions change in Chile from 1990 to 2013. Due to its relevance, this sector is considered as a proxy LULUCF activities. A second objective of this paper is to explore whether the forestry sector has always contributed to a decoupling process between CO2-eq emissions and economic growth. To address the first objective, the LMDI method has been used. For the second objective, the decoupling status between CO2-eq emissions comes from the Tapio index, which was used for the first step. For the second step, a second level of decomposition was carried out. Major findings from the LMDI and second-level decomposition analysis reveal that Chile's forestry sector clearly acted as a sink but failed to outweigh the role played by all other sectors taken into consideration. The results show that Chile has also failed to reach decoupling between economic growth and CO2-eq emissions. Efforts made in the forestry sector to reduce CO2 emissions were interesting but not strong enough to meet decoupling objectives. It is recommended that native forest management be reinforced and strengthened, mainly by reforestation with oak, raulí and coigüe varieties.

Effective carbon asset management is necessary for decreasing carbon resource inputs and reducing carbon emission. Furthermore, carbon asset management is an important measure to realize low-carbon transformation and low-carbon competitiveness for enterprises. However, a systematic theoretical framework and an effective management method for carbon asset management are lacking. Therefore, the paper defines carbon assets as tangible and intangible assets that can help reduce carbon emission and create low-carbon value based on the essence of carbon resources. In order to demonstrate a carbon asset's positive role in reducing carbon emission, the paper constructs carbon asset management indicators including carbon fund turnover ratio, carbon emission rate, carbon turnover ratio, carbon technology transformation efficiency and fixed carbon asset profitability. The carbon asset management practice of Bao Steel Corporation shows that the indicator system can accurately reflect the efficiency and effect of carbon asset management. That is, carbon fund turnover ratio can reflect a carbon fund's utilization efficiency; carbon emission rate reflects the carbon materials’ different effects on carbon emission; carbon turnover ratio reflects the profit of carbon trading; fixed carbon asset profitability reflects the low-carbon earning power to some degree; and carbon technology transformation efficiency reflects the maturity of low-carbon technology. However, with carbon asset management in the forefront of the carbon accounting field, some issues, including the nature of the carbon asset, management pattern and comparative analysis of more cases, need to be explored in future research to deepen the understanding of the essence of carbon asset management.

Organizations are under increasing pressure from governments and stakeholders to reduce carbon emissions from their business operations for climate change mitigation. Universities are not exempt from this challenge and are operating in a complex external environment, not least responding to the UK government's Climate Change Act 2008 (80% carbon reductions by 2050 as per 1990 baseline). In 2012–2013, the UK Higher Education (HE) sector consumed 7.9 billion kWh of energy and produced 2.3 million tonnes of carbon emissions. This indicates the scale of the challenge and carbon management is central to reduce carbon emissions. However, effective processes for implementing and embedding carbon management in organizations in general, and universities in particular, have yet to be realized. This paper explores the critical success factors (CSFs) for embedding carbon management in universities and, more widely, in organizations. This exploratory study adopted a mixed-methods approach including the content analysis of universities' carbon management plans alongside semi-structured interviews in the UK HE sector. The paper identifies six key factors for successfully embedding carbon management that are pertinent not just for the HE sector, but to organizations broadly: senior management leadership; funding and resources; stakeholder engagement; planning; governance and management; and evaluation and reporting.

Parties, expert review teams and the secretariat have worked diligently over the past decades to implement a transparency system that responds to the decisions of Parties. The existing system has enhanced the transparency of Party’s reporting of climate information and has been successful in assessing Parties’ compliance with their Kyoto Protocol obligations. But that system is operating at a very high, possibly unsustainable, workload for all involved. With the ensuing demands from the enhanced transparency framework requiring more Parties to report more information more frequently, it is important to take stock of what has been learned and apply that knowledge to implement a system that adheres to the Parties’ decisions and achieves the goals of the Paris Agreement. This paper proposes implementation of a reporting and review process that is “fit-for-purpose”, with a view to ensuring that the objectives of the Paris Agreement are met in the most efficient, cost-effective and sustainable manner. Key elements in the design of a “fit for purpose” approach include: ensuring national submissions made by Parties are fit for purpose, organizing reviews in a manner that is most appropriate for the circumstances of the country under review, and preparing focused review reports that are conducive to Parties’ needs. The proposed approach starts from the basic premise that within the cyclic reporting and review process the previous review team did their job and the present review team therefore focuses on changes in the submission.

The European carbon emission trading market is critical in achieving planned carbon emission reduction for global sustainable growth. This paper investigates various statistical methods in forecasting the European carbon emission (CO2 hereafter) price movements. The paper builds a predictive regression model of CO2 price movements with past returns of various commodities and financial products. In the paper, 22 functional forms of five different classifiers are employed and CO2 price movements are forecast. Results indicate that the past returns of Brent crude futures, natural gas (NG), Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 (FTSE100), Deutscher Aktienindex (German stock index) 30 (DAX30), Cotation Assistée en Continu (French stock index) 40 (CAC40) and Standard & Poor's 500 (S&P500) are statistically significant in forecasting the current CO2 price movements. The authors also found that the bagged decision tree of the ensemble classifier best forecasts the CO2 price movements. The result should be relevant to firms that wish to trade European carbon emissions.

While many studies have addressed the issue of environmental sustainability within the supply chain as a whole, so far no attempt has been made to specifically investigate the current status of carbon management issues in the logistics and freight transportation sector. This paper aims to fill this gap by providing a systematic literature review of publications in the area of carbon management in the logistics and transportation sector between the years 2000 and 2015. The review provides insight into the critical themes and challenges of carbon management in the logistics and transportation sector according to five identified key topics: carbon strategy, carbon risk assessments, carbon target setting, carbon reduction initiatives, and carbon performance and reporting. The results show that, although an increase in carbon management practices in logistics and transportation can be observed, only carbon reduction initiatives have been extensively discussed in the literature. In particular, carbon performance and carbon reporting are highly under researched and provide an opportunity for further study. As such, this paper highlights and discusses the identified gaps in the literature and proposes specific recommendations for future research into the logistics and transportation sector.