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Transnational power cooperation contributes to promoting the large-scale use of renewable energies in Asia, but how to develop the structure of power transmission network deserves careful investigation. This paper thoroughly investigates the structure of power investment and transmission network in China and neighbouring countries, aiming to promote the large-scale use of renewable energies around Asia. Various power-generation and power-transmission technologies are considered in detail, and transnational power interconnection risk cost and carbon emission cost are embedded into a bottom-up optimization model. The future power-generation structures and networks installed under various policy scenarios are analysed in detail, and the corresponding economic, carbon emission reduction and renewable energy consumption benefits are evaluated. The results show that power transmission between China's internal regions and neighbouring countries can save $56.7 billion for the entire power system through the large-scale grid integration of renewable energy. The installed capacities of wind power, solar power, and hydropower renewable energy power generation could be increased by 141 GW, 163 GW, and 58 GW, respectively. The construction of transnational transmission lines from Central Asia to Northwest China, Mongolia to North China, the Russian Far East to Northeast China, and Northeast China to South Korea could effectively promote the utilization of renewable energy in the Russian Far East, Mongolia and Central Asia and further reduce carbon emissions in China, Japan and South Korea. • It examines how to construct a power investment and transmission network in Asia. • Various technologies, risks and costs are considered based on bottom-up model. • Huge benefits exist for power transmission between China and neighbouring countries. • Various power-generation structures and networks installed are analysed in detail. • Suggestions about power investment and transmission are given for Asian countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meeting energy needs and ensuring ecological sustainability are important tasks for policymakers. In particular, changing the energy mix used in daily electricity generation can have a major effect on ecological conditions, and this is a previously neglected research topic. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the influence of daily electricity generation from nuclear power and renewables on the achievement of carbon neutrality targets in the four largest nuclear power countries (i.e., the U.S., China, France, and Russia). The study applies the wavelet-transform coherence (WTC), quantile-on-quantile regression (QQR), and Granger causality in quantiles (GCQ) approaches for the period from January 2, 2019 to December 29, 2022. The outcomes present that electricity generation from nuclear energy reduces carbon (CO 2) emissions only in Russia, while hydropower generation does not contribute to CO 2 emission reduction in any country. Solar electricity generation decreases CO 2 emissions in different quantiles in the U.S. and Russia, while electricity generation from wind power reduces CO 2 emissions in the U.S. and France. The empirical outcomes also reveal that expanding solar, wind, and nuclear power in the energy mix can enhance the potential of the U.S., France, and Russia to achieve carbon neutrality and secure a sustainable future. However, China is using nuclear and renewables inefficiently regarding carbon neutrality. Therefore, the empirical evidence for China is highly controversial compared to former studies. [Display omitted] • The study examines renewable and nuclear electricity effect on carbon neutrality. • The study focuses on top four major nuclear power countries. • The study applies nonlinear approaches by using high-frequency (daily) data. • Renewable and nuclear electricity have time, frequency, & quantile-varying effect. • The best electricity source change according to each country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction industry is one of the most energy-intensive industries in China, which contributes to high carbon emissions and hinders efforts to reduce the emissions. The high energy consumption and emission have seriously constrained the growth of low carbon economy in China's construction industry. And reducing the carbon emission from construction industry (CECI) has become the key to sustainable development and the achievement of "double carbon target". The paper firstly decomposes the main influencing factors and calculates their effects by LMDI model. Then, the Tapio decoupling index is used to explore the decoupling relationship between carbon emissions and economic output. Finally, the spatial-temporal evolution of carbon emissions is analyzed through spatial autocorrelation theory. The results show that the carbon emissions from construction industry are highly increased by the construction employment rate (EM), and may be reduced by the energy intensity (EI) and carbon emission efficiency (CI). And the regions with better decoupling status are the eastern and central regions, which have relatively developed construction industry. Moreover, the spatial-temporal characteristic of carbon emissions is "high in the east and low in the west, high in the south and low in the north," showing obviously regional differences. [Display omitted] • Factors about production technology are taken into account, reflecting the characteristics of the construction industry. • Developed regions have better decoupling potential and more responsibility for CO 2. • The spatial distribution is "high in the east and low in the west, high in the south and low in the north". • The provinces in a region have similar decoupling status and carbon emission distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Yangtze River Delta region is one of the key areas of energy transition for China's carbon neutrality. The pathways to carbon neutrality are diverse in the regional level due to the different conditions on the energy supply and demand side. How to construct comprehensive assessment index system and evaluate regional pathways to carbon neutrality is an urgent problem to be solved. To fill this gap, this paper evaluates the carbon neutrality pathways of supply-side and demand-side coordination in the Yangtze River Delta region using the Low Emissions Analysis Platform with five scenarios (64 sub-scenarios): Business as usual, energy intensity decrease, energy structure reform, power supply technology innovation and policies mix. The simulation results indicate that: (1) 22 of the 64 sub-scenarios can achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. (2) In energy intensity decrease scenario, an annual 6% reduction in energy intensity could achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. (3) The policies mix scenario can lead to 21 sub-scenarios with pathways to achieve carbon neutrality when the average annual energy intensity decreases by 4% or more. Additionally, the end-use sectors electrification level should reach 64.19% at least by 2060. (4) There can be 14 sub-scenarios to achieve zero carbon emissions in the power plant sector, but annual energy intensity should be reduced by at least 4%. Applying Analytic Hierarchy Process analysis, the article evaluated the 22 sub-scenarios with the index of regional pathways to carbon neutrality. The result shows that the mixed policies of energy intensity reduction, energy structure reformation and power technology innovation can promote the coordination of supply-side and demand-side. This study can provide reference for policymakers to formulate effective policies to realize carbon neutrality. • The coordination of energy supply and energy demand is assessed. • A model with five scenarios (64 sub-scenarios) is developed for carbon neutrality. • Energy intensity drops by 4% or more can lead to multiple carbon neutral pathways. • A comprehensive assessment index of regional carbon neutral pathways is developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, China's economy and energy structure are deeply adjusting to the direction of low-carbonization and non-carbonization with unprecedented efforts. This paper considered carbon emissions and energy endowments, adopted SBM-Undesirable model and spatial Durbin model to calculate the energy efficiency of 30 provinces and municipalities in China from 2015 to 2019 and analyze the direct effect, indirect effect and total effect on energy efficiency of 7 variables. Empirical results show that: Energy efficiency has spatial positive correlation and agglomeration characteristics; The main influencing factor of China's energy efficiency is energy consumption structure; Regions with strong energy endowment bear the environmental pollution cost of energy consumption areas in China; Environment Kuznets Curve (EKC) exists in China, but different provinces and municipalities are distributed in disparate stages; Research and development (R&D) investment only affects local energy efficiency, and has no spillover effect on surrounding areas in China; Foreign direct investment (FDI) has negative impacts on China's energy efficiency, and there is a phenomenon of pollution paradise. The valuable conclusions obtained in this study deepens the insights about the influencing factors of China's energy efficiency under the constraints of carbon emission and energy endowment. Energy efficiency has spatial positive correlation and agglomeration characteristics; The main influencing factor of China's energy efficiency is energy consumption structure; Regions with strong energy endowment bear the environmental pollution cost of energy consumption areas in China; Environment Kuznets Curve (EKC) exists in China, but different provinces and municipalities are distributed in disparate stages; Research and development (R&D) investment only affects local energy efficiency, and has no spillover effect on surrounding areas in China; Foreign direct investment (FDI) has negative impacts on China's energy efficiency, and there is a phenomenon of pollution paradise. [Display omitted] • Energy efficiency has spatial positive correlation and agglomeration characteristics. • Energy consumption structure mainly affects energy efficiency. • Environment Kuznets Curve exists in China. • "Pollution paradise hypothesis" exists in foreign direct investment. • Environmental pollution is transferred to surrounding provinces through resource trades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing energy and material consumption associated with global economic growth has resulted in the need for more severe efforts at mitigating global climate change. The iron and steel industry consumes 8% of energy and emits 7% of total CO 2 globally. China's iron and steel industry contributes to 15% of that country's total CO 2 emissions. Therefore, there is an urgent need to explore the possibility of net zero emissions in the iron and steel industry in China to meet China's goal of carbon neutrality before 2060. In the study presented in this paper, the MESSAGEix–China iron and steel model was developed by integrating the process-based technology of the sector into the IIASA's MESSAGEix framework to explore zero CO 2 emission pathways and their associated impacts on resources, energy, and water in China's iron and steel industry up to 2100. We found that there are multiple pathways to achieving zero CO 2 emissions in the Chinese iron and steel industry by the end of the 21st century. More specifically, in all the pathways developed in this study, CO 2 emissions decreased significantly between 2030 and 2060 due to the rapid application of 100% scrap-based Electric Arc Furnaces (EAFs) and hydrogen-based Direct Reduced Iron (DRI)-EAFs steel-making technologies. However, by 2060, there will still be 70–360 Mt of CO 2 emissions from China's iron and steel industry; consequently, carbon sink or negative emission technologies are required to offset this and achieve the country's carbon neutrality goal. Furthermore, technologies for achieving zero emissions differ widely in terms of their impacts on the consumption of materials and energy. Compared to the electric (ELE) scenarios, 25–40% of extra iron ore is consumed in the current and new national policy (NPS) scenarios and the DRI scenarios, but 25–220% of scrap is required. At the same time, 20–150% more energy will be saved in the ELE scenarios than in the NPS and DRI scenarios. Finally, we recommend that policy makers design a cross-cutting strategy to achieve zero CO 2 emissions and enhance efforts for material recycling and the provision of clean energy and water. • There are multiple pathways to achieving net zero emissions in China's iron and steel industry. • Steel outputs are essential for reducing CO 2 emissions and conserving materials, energy, and water. • Hydrogen-based DRI and 100% scrap-EAFs technologies are key to achieving zero emissions. • CO 2 mitigation measures have limited impacts on water consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]