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The sustained growth of global aviation emissions has highlighted the urgent need for using Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs) to replace traditional aviation fuels to mitigate emissions. SAFs can potentially reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50%–90% compared to conventional jet fuels. This paper collected aviation emissions data from South American routes between 2019 and 2021, and the GWP100 method was used to convert CH 4 and N 2 O emissions into CO 2 equivalents. Additionally, emissions from the South American route between 2023 and 2070 were predicted, as well as the amount of subsidy required to promote the use of SAFs under four different scenarios. The result shows that adopting SAFs could reduce approximately 69.3 million to 113.53 million tons of CO 2 -equivalent emissions in South America by 2070. However, the South American aviation industry will likely embrace using SAFs only if the carbon trading price exceeds 0.273 times the difference between SAFs and jet fuel prices. • This study calculates the emission reduction effects under four scenarios. • The GWP100 method is used to convert non-CO 2 emissions into CO 2 equivalent emissions. • SAFs can reduce 69.3–113.53 million tons of CO 2 -equivalent emissions by 2070. • Using SAFs is profitable when carbon price exceeds 0.273 times SAFs-kerosene price gap. • Using SAFs earlier will increase subsidies by $3.65–4.56 billion every five years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the background that China will achieve the goal of carbon neutrality by 2060, analyzing the impact of carbon neutral target constraints on the welfare of urban and rural residents is an important part of the design of a carbon emission reduction policy mechanism, in this paper, the dynamic recursive CGE(Computable general equilibrium) model is used to simulate the changes in welfare level, income consumption, and CO2 emissions of residents and their urban-rural heterogeneity under the policy of imposing a carbon tax on the fossil energy industry from 2022 to 2060. The results show that: compared with the BAU scenario, by 2060, first the income and consumption of residents will decrease slightly. Second, the target constraint of carbon neutrality makes the equivalent variation and compensate variation of urban and rural residents' welfare decrease slightly, and the equivalent variation and compensate variation of urban residents decrease more than those of rural residents. The following conclusions are drawn: first, the carbon-neutral target constraint makes the welfare of urban and rural residents decline slightly, but it will not have a strong impact on residents' income and consumption. Second, this constraint has a greater impact on the income, consumption and savings of urban residents than those of rural residents. [Display omitted] • A five-layer nested dynamic recursive CGE model is established to analyze residents' welfare. • Carbon taxes are incorporated into production decisions as a policy cost for energy companies. • The heterogeneity of the impact of carbon tax policy constraints on the welfare of urban and rural residents was analyzed. • The government needs to improve the intensive and diversified energy supply in rural areas to reduce the urban-rural gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

White phosphorus (P 4) is an essential raw material for the production of phosphorus chemicals. The conventional carbothermal reduction process used to extract P 4 from phosphate rock is known as energy intensive and environmentally polluting, posing obstacles to meeting the urgent global demands for clean production and carbon neutrality. Moreover, the low product purity restricts its application in high-value industries. This paper presents an original approach that is both simple and coke-free for extracting high-purity P 4. The method involves electrolyzing dissolved phosphate rock in molten CaCl 2 at a mild temperature. We undertake an in-depth investigation into the dissolution behavior of phosphate rock in molten CaCl 2 and the electrolysis behavior of the melt. The experiments demonstrate the rapid dissolution of phosphate in the rock when exposed to molten CaCl 2 , reaching saturation within a short time (e.g., within 10 min at 850 °C). The dissolution of phosphate shows a preference over silicates present in the phosphate rock. The electrochemical reduction of PO 4 3− in molten CaCl 2 is electrochemically reversible, as observed at potential scan rates not exceeding 0.20 V s−1. The obtained P 4 product through electrolysis is of higher purity compared to the industrial-grade commercial product produced via carbothermal reduction. The implementation of pre-electrolysis can further improve the purity of the product and the current efficiency of the electrolysis process. The theoretical electricity and carbon consumption in the electrolysis method are estimated to be 9.12 kWh and 0.53 kg, respectively, for every 1 kg of P 4 produced. These values are lower than the conventional carbothermal reduction process. This cutting-edge electrolysis method represents a paradigm shift towards a more sustainable development of the phosphorus chemical industry, thereby showcasing its potential for revolutionizing the field. [Display omitted] • High-purity P 4 is extracted from phosphate rock through molten salt electrolysis. • The phosphate-bearing phase in phosphate rock readily dissolves in molten CaCl 2. • Pre-electrolysis improves the purity of the P 4 product and the current efficiency. • The electrolysis method demonstrates lower theoretical electricity and carbon consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital technologies are a key driver of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. However, as the physical foundation supporting digital technology, how digital infrastructure affects carbon emissions is unclear. Based on the panel data from 2008 to 2019, this paper examines the impact of the Broadband China Policy on carbon emissions by adopting a multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) method. The empirical findings indicate that, first, digital infrastructure development plays a significant role in reducing carbon emissions in China. Second, the Broadband China Policy significantly reduces carbon emissions especially in China's low-carbon emission regions, high-level digitization regions, and non-resource-cursed regions. Third, the implementation of the Broadband China Policy facilitates carbon emissions reduction through the promotion of green technology progress, optimization of industrial structures, green transformation of residents' lifestyles, and electrification of energy mix. Finally, the Broadband China Policy has a positive spatial spillover effect on the carbon intensity in the surrounding regions of pilot cities, but it has no significant effect on the total carbon emissions and per capita carbon emissions in the surrounding regions. The results provide important insights for digital infrastructure construction to achieve a win-win situation for economic development and emission reduction. • It explores the impact of Broadband China Policy on carbon emissions reduction. • Digital infrastructure development has positive impact on reducing carbon emissions. • The reduction effect is heterogeneous in regions with different characteristics. • Carbon emissions can be reduced at both industrial and individual levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The significant carbon emissions generated by China's sludge treatment industry cannot be ignored. However, with only a few recent well-executed studies on carbon emission reduction in the sludge treatment field, the literature awaits a more comprehensive assessment and prediction whether the sludge treatment industry can achieve the dual-carbon target. This article aims to fill this gap, holistically examining the carbon emission reduction potential in the industry. Using the moving average method and IPCC method, the projected carbon emission value of sludge treatment in China from 2021 to 2030 indicates a total net carbon emission of 0.3 million tons by 2030. This suggests that the sludge treatment industry is on track to meet the carbon peak target, leaving surplus carbon quotas or credits available to assist other industries for carbon emissions reductions. The study also finds that only incineration and composting demonstrate the potential to be able to partially offset carbon emissions through resource utilization in certain stages or processes. Therefore, the current sludge treatment methods do not yield comprehensive emission reduction effects and cannot provide sufficient contribution to China's dual carbon goals. To address this issue, the paper explores a new scheme that focuses on improving the sludge treatment process. The scheme comparative analysis reveals that, even with all sludge treatment methods optimized, the total net carbon emissions of the industry could only be reduced to 0.058 million tons. This reduction falls short of significantly mitigating carbon emissions to achieve the carbon neutrality goal. Therefore, industries unable to achieve substantial net carbon reduction may need to explore alternative measures, such as carbon sinks, to ultimately attain carbon neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the deterioration of natural resources and the aggravation of environmental pollution, there is a growing imperative to implement industrial green reform through green technology investment (GTI). This paper constructs a nonlinear dual-objective function by drawing on the theory of two-sided matching under the carbon trading regulation, aiming to examine GTI selection decisions made by two oligarchic manufacturers (i.e., oligarchs) and a monopoly supplier (i.e., supplier). The supplier offers multiple green technologies, while oligarchs rack their brains to buy green technologies in an attempt to exploit their social, economic and environmental potentials. Available technologies vary in terms of their environmental efficiency and cost. Then, a two-sided matching mechanism is constructed to explore the availability of stable matchings and examine the impacts of the carbon price and green improvement coefficient on GTI, product pricing decisions and profits within a competitive environment. Finally, a Monte-Carlo experiment is designed to analyze the impact of uncertain market risks on supplier's decisions. The results show that there is a two-sided matching mechanism that enables oligarchs and suppliers to obtain stable matching solution sets. Higher carbon prices lead to higher product prices, lower market demand, and improved environmental performance. Product price and market demand are positively correlated with investment volumes of oligarchs themselves and negatively correlated with those of their competitors. Investment risk has a certain negative impact on suppliers' profitability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The comprehensive cohesion of the digital economy, structural deviation adjustment, and green development is a crucial step towards promoting high-quality economic growth and realizing carbon peak and carbon neutrality. This paper probes the impact of intra- and inter-regional digital economy on carbon emissions, considering the mediating effect of structural deviation, utilizing panel data from 267 prefecture-level cities in China spanning the years 2011–2019. The findings reveal the following key insights. First, the connection between the digital economy and carbon emissions within cities follows an inverted "U" shape. In the early stages, the digital economy leads to an average increase in carbon emissions of 0.069%. However, in the later stages, the digitized economy markedly decrease emissions. Second, both the digital economy and carbon emissions exhibit spatial spillover effects. Within the region, DE has a significant nonlinear spillover effect on CO 2 emissions in the neighboring regions, with the spatial decay boundary of this effect extending up to 380 km. Third, analysis of the impact mechanism reveals that the digital economy mitigates local and neighboring carbon dioxide emissions by adjusting structural deviation. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the digital economy is more likely to have a carbon emission reduction effect in cities that are not involved in the industrial transfer and those that do not belong to the old industrial base. These findings provide a rationale and policy reference for China to harness the opportunities presented by digital economy development and to achieve the "dual-carbon" goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

This paper examines the life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction and associated marginal costs (MC) in Japan when the government enhances the transition to battery electric passenger vehicles (BEVs) by implementing a rapid investment regime for charging stations and fossil-fueled vehicle bans. Important factors affecting BEV emissions are battery performance, battery production technology, electricity generation mix and battery minimum state of charge (SOC min). We find that in addition to a rapid investment regime, a fossil-fueled vehicles ban policy is necessary to significantly increase the uptake of BEVs and achieves the deepest reduction in life cycle GHG emissions. Under this policy, with carbon neutral electricity by 2050 and a low SOC min charging regime, life-cycle GHG emissions are reduced by 48% and the MC by 53% in 2060. A carbon neutral light transport fleet in 2050 will require carbon capture and storage to offset 24 million tonnes-CO 2 equivalent of emissions even if electricity is carbon neutral by 2050 and users adhere to a low SOC min charging regime. [Display omitted] • Enhanced infrastructure development has a little impact on the uptake of BEVs. • The more stringent vehicle ban reduces life cycle GHG emissions the most. • Battery charging regime is crucial to GHG emissions reduction and associated cost. • Improving battery and vehicle production is crucial to GHG emissions reduction. • Carbon neutral light vehicle transport by 2050 requires carbon capture and storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, numerous studies are being conducted on various carbon reduction policies, but their synergies have been poorly investigated. This paper examines the synergistic effect of combining emissions trading schemes (ETS) and energy carbon-content taxes (ECT), using China as a case study. A computable general equilibrium model is used to identify the synergistic effect of these two carbon mitigation policies. The results show that the synergistic effect helps to reduce GDP loss by approximately 5.44 billion CNY, which accounts for 2.83% of the overall GDP losses caused by ETS and ECT. Additionally, the synergistic effect reduces an additional 5.25 million tons of CO 2 emissions and decreases the negative impact on social welfare resulting from the two policies. Although these achievements are commendable, there are costs associated with this synergy. The effect on energy security presents mixed results and leads to increased carbon leakage. Therefore, policymakers should take heed of the potential "cocktail effects" that may arise in their pursuit of carbon neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Towards the target of carbon neutrality, the need for deep decarbonization in iron and steel industry is increasingly recognized. Existing studies rarely mention the effects of collaboration with its source industries for carbon emission reduction in ISI. Furthermore, the fundamental laws of CO 2 emission reduction capacity with cost change of source substitutions for various steel production routes under market economics are unclear. To avoid the blind substitution of clean sources for meeting the urgent requirements for decarbonization in China's steel industry, which may result in increased carbon emissions and uneconomical carbon reduction from a lifecycle perspective. This paper integrates the production and utilization processes of source resources into the steel production process, establishes coupling models of carbon and value flows for four main types of steel production routes, and aims to quantitatively analyze the specific CO 2 emission reduction potential and costs. Three economic market development scenarios from 2021 to 2060 are set, and the marginal carbon prices of various source substitutions are determined. Subsequently, decarbonization pathways with the goal of minimizing production costs are developed. Finally. The future resource demand and the carbon emission reduction contributions of source industries collaborated are predicted. The results show that (1) about 81.7–89.9 % of CO 2 emissions could be reduced in the scenarios; (2) the demands of electric power and hydrogen energy will reach 54.48–511.90 BkWh and 7.47–10.31 Gt in 2060, respectively; and (3) collaboration with source industries could make 18.3–18.3% of CO 2 emission reduction contributions. All in all, this study could provide scientific support for the low-carbon transformation of China's steel industry. • Carbon and value flows of BF-BOF, Scrap-EAF, DRI-EAF, MOE-EAF routes are analyzed. • CO 2 emission reduction potential with marginal carbon price is determined. • Decarbonization paths during 2021–2060 for China's steel industry are developed. • Quantify the contribution of collaborative carbon reduction with source industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hybrid shared energy storage based on electro-thermal coupling is an economical and effective way to solve the mismatch between the demand and supply of multiple multi-energy microgrids (MEMGs). However, its impact on the environment is often ignored. How to take into account economic development and environmental protection by optimizing its capacity configuration has become a key challenge. From the perspective of economy and environment, this paper explores the comprehensive benefits and capacity configuration of electro-thermal hybrid shared energy storage (ET-HSES) while considering the carbon trading mechanism and the coupling system of power to gas (P2G) and carbon capture system (CCS). Firstly, an energy sharing framework between the ET-HSES and the MEMGs is built. Secondly, a bi-level optimization model is constructed for the optimal scheduling problem of different stakeholders. Thirdly, Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) optimality conditions and Big-M method are used to transform the bi-level model into a single-level model. The results show that ET-HSES can effectively save the capacity of energy storage equipment, significantly reduce the operating costs and carbon emissions of MEMGs, and improve the income of ET-HSES operator (ET-HSESO). The combination of carbon trading mechanism and coupling system of P2G and CCS can effectively reduce the operating costs and carbon emissions of MEMGs. Meanwhile, it will also reduce the benefits of ET-HSESO. [Display omitted] • The coupling system of P2G and CCS is integrated into the MEMG system. • The energy trading mechanism between ET-HSES and MEMGs is presented. • A solution of the bi-level programming model based on KKT condition is proposed. • Realize a balance between economic development and environmental protection for MEMGs by introducing an ET-HSES. • The benefits of ET-HSESO are reduced by combining the carbon trading mechanism and coupling system of P2G and CCS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals are proposed by the Chinese government, which aims to reach the highest level of CO 2 emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. It is of great significance to accelerate green production and lead high-quality development. Energy carbon emissions account for 88% of total CO 2 emissions, while forest carbon sequestration account for 80% of China's terrestrial ecosystems. In this paper, we analyzed the spatial and temporal evolutions of industrial energy consumption carbon emissions and forest carbon sequestration of Hubei Province, then demonstrated the offsetting effect of forest carbon sequestration on the industrial CO 2 emissions. Our results documented energy carbon emissions and forest carbon sequestration in Hubei Province both increased from 2000 to 2020, with the growth rates of 4.9423 Mt/yr and 0.28015 Mt/yr. Forest carbon sequestration could offset energy carbon emissions before 2005, while the offsetting effect was weak due to the continuous increase in industrial energy consumption after 2005. Significant spatial heterogeneity was observed in both energy carbon emissions and forest carbon sequestration. Wuhan had the biggest carbon emission with annual average carbon emission of about 20.046 Mt, while Enshi had the biggest carbon sequestration with annual average forest carbon sequestration of about 14.411 Mt. Spatial autocorrelation between energy carbon emissions and forest carbon sequestration was significant in Hubei Province in the past two decades. Our findings provided evidence that local-scale forest carbon sequestration could offset carbon emissions caused by industrial energy consumption at a certain extent, helping to draw up the scientific energy-saving and emissions-reducing measures. [Display omitted] [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 European Union's aim to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 relies on reducing emissions from the industrial sector. There is a lack of guidance and technical support at the organisational level for industrial organisations, particularly for non-energy-intensive industries. Existing approaches do not offer structured pathways to carbon neutrality. This study involves the development, verification, and validation of a novel modelling tool aimed at assisting Irish industrial organisations in achieving carbon neutrality. The generated outputs are an organisation-specific carbon neutrality waterfall as the roadmap, and a financial analysis to indicate the breakeven year where the financial savings equal the investment costs of implementing the proposed measures. This modelling tool is a decision-support tool capable of scenario modelling, which provides the user with an overview of possible decarbonisation timelines and financial impacts. First, this paper presents the user-defined and built-in inputs, followed by the first-principles mathematical model that forms the basis of the modelling tool. Then, the modelling tool is verified by a code-to-code process using representative dummy data, and is found to be accurate against the mathematical model. The final step is the use of an actual dataset from an industry partner in a validation process to determine the applicability of the modelling tool to industrial organisations. It is found to be applicable in terms of the type of data output (carbon neutrality waterfall and financial analysis). However, the inaccurate negative emissions balance of the waterfall indicates that the modelling tool is not applicable in its current state; this highlights the importance of considering the interaction effects of implementing multiple emissions-reduction measures, which is the next step in the tool development. Moreover, this tool is applicable to organisations that have completed energy audits, heat studies, and renewable energy studies and have created a register of performance improvement measures that serve as the model inputs. As such, it has a niche market and represents an initial approach to carbon neutrality planning, with the future focus on expanding its applicability by developing a heuristic knowledge-based modelling tool that acts as a recommender system. [Display omitted] • Modelling tool developed to aid carbon neutral industrial manufacturing. • Open access, cross-sectoral tool aimed at the organisational level. • Functions as a decision-support tool based on scenario modelling. • Generates waterfall graph as the carbon neutrality roadmap. • Generates a financial analysis graph to indicate breakeven year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon emission trading, a market-incentive environmental regulation, plays a critical role in leading China towards the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. To improve the national carbon emission trading in China, we analyze the effects of the policy in pilot provinces and pilot A-share listed firms from 2008 to 2016. Particularly, to explore the pilot policy's environmental and financial impacts, this paper applies a difference-in-difference method. After the robustness check, the results confirm the carbon emission trading pilot's significantly positive impact at both firm- and province-level regarding carbon emission reduction. Meanwhile, corporate innovation seems to partially mediate the relationship between the policy and corporate carbon emission reduction. Plus, the policy promotes firms' market-based financial performance but such impact on accounting-based financial performance is insignificant. Ultimately, the operational mechanism of the policy is proved to be effective. In this paper, industry- and firm-level carbon emissions databases are established via environmental extended input-output table, which fill the research gap of China's firm-level carbon emissions. To ensure the reliability of results, the list of covered firms is sorted out manually in accordance with the disclosed data of seven carbon trading markets. Our results are meaningful for avoid productivity reduction and mechanism re-design in the context of the national carbon emission trading launched in 2021. Specifically, encouraging firms to further improve their productivity and competitiveness by innovation could eventually achieve a win-win situation between economic performance and environmental merits in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting low-carbon development in the iron and steel industry (ISI) is essential for China to achieve the carbon neutrality targets. This paper separately adopts the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) technique and the Mean Impact Value (MIV) method to analyze the impact of driving factors on the CO 2 emissions of ISI in the historical and future dimensions. Furthermore, this paper establishes the extreme learning machine model optimized by the bat algorithm (BA-BP) to explore the carbon emission reduction pathways of ISI in the business-as-usual (BAU) scenario, the low-speed, medium-speed and high-speed development scenarios considering the constraints of carbon neutrality targets. The results reveal that: (1) Production capacity and energy efficiency are important drivers of CO 2 emissions in ISI; (2) The emission reduction situation is not optimistic under the BAU scenario, and it is difficult to accomplish the carbon neutrality goals by 2060; (3) Under the most ideal emission reduction pathway (corresponding to the high-speed development scenario), ISI will reach its peak in 2022 with the peak value of 2143.42 MtCO 2. Compared to the peak year, the CO 2 emissions will be reduced by 654.69 MtCO 2 and 1558.61 MtCO 2 in 2030 and 2050, respectively. Moreover, the achievement of short-term and long-term emission reduction targets depends on production capacity decline and technological progress, respectively. The optimal emission reduction pathway provides a reference for ISI to formulate periodic emission reduction targets. • The improved extreme learning machine is employed to predict the carbon emissions. • The emission reduction pathways are explored under the carbon neutrality target. • Controlling production capacity is a crucial reduction strategy. • The energy rebound effect is supposed to be weakened. • The application of advanced technologies will greatly promote emission reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The digital economy is of great significant for carbon emission reduction. To estimate the impact on carbon emissions of digital economy, this paper conducts nonlinear analysis with the combination of spatial DURBIN model (SDM) and panel threshold model (PTM). Moreover, this paper decomposes the carbon emissions reduction effect into direct part and spatial spillover part, further analyzes the action mechanism from the perspective of technology progress, energy use and industrial structure. The empirical results indicate that the digital economy and carbon emissions have inverted U-shaped relationship. Similarly, the spatial spillover effect of digital economy on carbon emissions is also inverted-U shape. The digital economy increases first and then reduces the carbon emissions. The robustness tests and endogenous analysis both support above conclusions. Compared with the indirect effect, the direct effect of digital economy on carbon emissions is significantly greater. Moreover, the long-term effect of digital economy on carbon emissions is greater than the short-term effect. The impact of digital economy on carbon emissions exists regional heterogeneity. Different from the eastern and central regions, the digital economy in western region promotes carbon emissions monotonically. The impact of digital economy on carbon emissions faces significant resource endowment thresholds, urban scale thresholds and innovative capability thresholds. The increase of energy use and non-green technology progress are the main paths to influence local carbon emissions in short term, while the green technology progress and industrial structure upgrade become dominant paths in long term. The active demonstration of industrial structure upgrade and technology spillovers drive the spillover effect of digital economy on carbon emissions in long term. This paper suggests that, the realization of carbon peak and carbon neutral needs to strengthen the digital economy and promote the regional cooperation in environmental governance. The green integration of digital economy and traditional industries is of great significant for carbon emission reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming caused by the excessive combustion of fossil fuels has become the focus of the international community. China's carbon emission reduction policy plays a vital role in international climate change, carbon emission neutrality and domestic environmental pollution control. This paper summarises the progress of China's Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) pilots from 2011 to 2021, including trading volume, carbon emissions price, and the effect of carbon emission abatement. By calculating the carbon emissions intensity decrease rate of China's ETS pilot and non-pilot regions, the ETS and carbon emissions tax are compared in terms of emission reduction effectiveness, emission reduction cost and implementation resistance to provide theoretical support for the Chinese government to select and develop carbon emission reduction tools. The development of the Clean Development Mechanism in China is also compared with China Certified Emission Reduction (CCER), and the offsetting rules of CCER are summarised. After the whole analysis and assessment, the results show that from 2013 to 2018, the average carbon emissions intensity decline rate in the ETS pilots was 7.3% and that in non-pilots was 4.29%. Some problems of China's carbon emissions trading market are also concluded. The trading volume is small (only 43.4 × 106 t in 2020) and is discrepant greatly in the different ETS pilots. The carbon emissions price is low (only 33.45 Yuan/t in 2020), with high volatility and large price differences among the ETS pilots. Based on the existing problems, this paper proposes some suggestions for improving China's emission trading market and provides theoretical and decision-making support for promoting carbon emission reduction and neutralisation for China. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the process of low-carbon transformation of power system in China, providing enough flexible service from coal-fired power units (CFPUs) is one of the most crucial answers to reduce or even avoid the operation risk which is caused by large-scale expansion of variable renewable energy (VRE). To spur CFPUs release flexibility, this paper suggests a two-stage optimal model, taking into account various peaking compensation mechanisms (VPCM) in a day-ahead power and carbon emissions trade (CET) joint market. Pre-clearing is the first stage, which maximizes social welfare, and formal clearing is the second stage, which maximizes the profit of the coal-fired power system. In contrast to the existing fixed peaking compensation mechanism (FPCM), the variable and fixed costs associated with providing peaking regulation are calculated by the VPCM. In addition, the work considers the CET market as an external carbon emissions constraint and internal constraint and no constraint are set to study the effectiveness of the current CET market. The result indicates that the VPCM can adapt more successfully to the cost of CFPUs when providing peaking regulation and increase the profit of the coal-fired power system. Then, "VPCM + external carbon constraint" enables larger profits for coal-fired power systems, whereas "FPCM + internal carbon constraint" stimulates VRE integration and reduces carbon emissions. Finally, the current CET market mechanism is insufficient to support coal-fired power plants in reducing carbon emissions as VRE rises. • This research aims to make following contributions: • A two-stage optimization model for coal-fired power system is constructed. • VPCM is proposed in electricity-carbon emissions joint market. • Various carbon constraints are tested to discover the existing problems of the CET market. • Explored the policy mix suitable for coal-fired power system at various VRE penetration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving carbon neutrality is the ultimate goal of the global economy. By leveraging Internet of Things (IoT) technology to gather users' data, smart home devices can effectively achieve energy conservation and reduce carbon emissions. The strategic allocation of investment by smart device producers towards environmentally-friendly functionality and choosing the optimal sales mode have emerged as significant research questions. Addressing consumer concerns regarding data privacy sensitivity, this paper presents a game-theoretical model, involving manufacturers, e-commerce platforms, and consumers, to explore the intricate dynamics among investment in smart environmental functionality, sales mode selection, and pricing strategies. The results indicate that manufacturers consistently benefit from such investments. If the number of data-sensitive consumers is considerable, manufacturers will subsidize the platform to encourage the purchase of smart devices, thereby gaining from cross-selling opportunities. When the commission ratio is low, the equilibrium strategy shifts from the agency selling mode to wholesale pricing one, in response to the advent of investments in smart environmental functionality. Furthermore, the commission ratio, consumer perceived environmental value, and unit carbon emissions collectively impact social welfare. This study offers valuable theoretical insights for manufacturers in making informed decisions regarding pricing strategies and sales mode selection, by analyzing the interplay between profit margin and cross-selling income resulting from demand expansion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The predominant utilization of fossil fuels for hydrogen production in China leads to substantial carbon emissions, posing a challenge to China's objective of achieving carbon neutrality. With the rapid development of wind power in China, hydrogen can be produced through water electrolysis powered by wind-generated electricity. This process offers the potential to gradually replace the hydrogen production from fossil fuel (grey hydrogen), thus promoting the low-carbon transformation of China's hydrogen energy industry. However, further investigation is required to determine the potential displacement of grey hydrogen through the production of hydrogen from wind power in China in the future. To address this issue, this study first obtained wind speed data for the entire China region from the MERRA-2 database. Subsequently, based on the wind speed data for each specific area, the wind turbine model with the lowest power generation cost was selected from the eight available wind turbine models. On this basis, the mixed integer linear programming method is used to construct the cost analysis model of wind power-hydrogen production (WPHP). Based on the local wind power generation data, calculations are performed to determine the optimal installed capacity of the wind turbine, electrolyzer, and hydrogen storage tank within the WPHP system. Additionally, the optimal scheduling of the WPHP system is determined. These optimizations collectively result in the best WPHP cost. Based on this research, the optimal cost of WPHP for each geographical grid in China can be calculated and compared with the local grey hydrogen cost. The analysis reveals that in some areas of Xinjiang, Gansu, and Guizhou, exhibit low costs of wind power. This suggests that the substitution of grey hydrogen with WPHP can be achieved in these areas. Based on technological progress and changes in carbon trading prices, this paper predicts that WPHP in China could potentially replace 16.35–28.69 million tons of grey hydrogen by 2040. Moreover, by 2060, WPHP in China is projected to replace 76.72–92.01 million tons of grey hydrogen. According to the sensitivity analysis conducted, it has been determined that the efficiency of the electrolyzer and the price of the wind power equipment exert the greatest impact on the cost of hydrogen production. • Precisely assessing the substitution of grey hydrogen with wind power-generated hydrogen in future China. • More accurate calculation of wind power costs across China. • Identifying priority areas for future development of wind power-based hydrogen production in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the goal of "carbon peaking" and "carbon neutrality" in China, it is significant to explore whether green finance contributes to carbon emission reduction. Therefore, based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2005 to 2020, this paper empirically examines the impact of green finance on carbon emissions and its mechanism using the FE model, GMM model, DID, and the mediating effect model. Results find that green finance can significantly promote carbon emissions reduction, and this promotion remains still after robustness tests. The heterogeneity analysis shows that green finance's carbon emission reduction effect is more significant in developed and western regions. Moreover, the results of policy intervention effects confirm that green finance reform and innovation pilot zones (GFRIs) for carbon emission reduction are more pronounced than in other regions. Finally, the mediating effects reveal that industrial structure and green innovation are the core transmission channels through which green finance influences carbon emission reduction. These findings offer meaningful implications for formulating reasonable carbon emission reduction plans and determining the future development direction of green finance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an energy-sharing market coupled with carbon emission trading to quantify peer-to-peer energy-sharing markets' economic and environmental influences. We establish a bi-level peer-to-peer energy sharing market considering the interaction between energy prosumers and the system operator. An interaction algorithm and generalized Nash game are thus applied in this work. With the simulation results, we find that the daily disutility of provincial systems is reduced by about 7 ¥ when time-of-use electricity rates are applied. This pricing strategy can encourage prosumers to participate in energy-sharing transactions. The subsidies of electricity rates, carbon prices, and renewable energy investments can improve the social welfare of the whole system. Considering the development of power generation technology and emission reduction targets, the change of optimization parameters in the next 30 years is analyzed in the example. It can be concluded that the total CO2 emission in 2050 will be reduced to almost half of that in 2020 in the energy-sharing markets. The subsidy of renewable energy generation and stricter CO2 emission constraints may accelerate the reduction of carbon emissions. [Display omitted] • It is the first time to assess the environmental effect of peer-to-peer energy trading with actual data. • We analyze the peer-to-peer energy trading impacts on the carbon emission amount in China. • We compare the market participants' revenue and CO2 emission considering the different scenarios. • We develop a bi-level coupled emission right trading market to verify whether total emission is reduced. • The development of technologies and various energy structures are considered quantitatively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to examine how carbon trading policies impact total factor carbon productivity and subsequently provide recommendations for sustainable regional development. Through analyzing the trends in total factor carbon productivity and its mechanisms, this paper suggests that carbon trading policies can significantly enhance total factor carbon productivity. Additional mechanistic tests reveal that carbon trading can promote technological progress, factor accumulation, scale allocation and energy substitution effects; all contributing towards a low-carbon economic transition. These four effects serve to both promote economic growth and contribute towards carbon reduction targets. Therefore, to encourage low-carbon and high-quality development of the region's economy, policymakers must focus not only on constructing and expanding carbon markets, but also emphasize the synergies between these different effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over hundreds of years, the global coal mining has created 24.236 billion cubic meters of underground goaf, which not only wastes billions of square meters of land resources but also poses significant safety hazards and environmental risks. Combining the treatment of mined-out areas with carbon dioxide (CO 2) storage can provide the new idea for solving the above problems in a low-carbon way. Therefore, based on an analysis of the status of mined-out areas and CO 2 storage principles, this paper proposes a method of using high-water materials to solidify supercritical CO 2 and fill mined-out areas. The feasible, safety and carbon fixing capacity of using high-water materials to solidify CO 2 and fill mined-out areas has been proved by theoretical analysis and indoor experiment. Combining the estimated underground mined-out area space of major coal-producing countries globally, proving that solidifying and sealing CO 2 in mined-out areas has significant application prospects. Finally, the issues and technical difficulties faced in promoting the use of high-water material to solidify supercritical CO 2 and fill mined-out areas are pointed out. The research results have important significance for major coal-producing countries worldwide to achieve "carbon peak and carbon neutrality". [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]

Under the background of the gradual scarcity of terrestrial resources and the increasingly fierce competition for global marine resources, the task of green development of marine economy and green transformation of marine industry is imminent. Carbon finance is a product of low-carbon economic development and a derivative of green finance. It is an effective way to alleviate the global climate crisis and promote the transformation of the global economy to a low-carbon economy to achieve sustainable development. Studying the mechanism of carbon finance on the development of marine economy will help to grasp the influencing factors of the green transformation of the marine industry in an all-round way, better promote the sustainable development of China's marine economy, and realize the strategy of marine power at an early date. Based on this, this paper selects China's data from 2006 to 2020, and uses the AHP-entropy method to select 26 indicators from five levels: economic growth, energy conservation and emission reduction, marine ecology, structural adjustment and scientific and technological innovation to construct a comprehensive evaluation index system for the green transformation of China's marine industry. Based on the PLSR model, the impact of carbon finance on the green transformation of China's marine industry is empirically analyzed, and the results show that: (1) The comprehensive score of China's marine industry green transformation from 2006 to 2020 fluctuates and rises: from 2006 to 2009, the comprehensive score of China's marine industry green transformation is low, and the transformation effect is not obvious. From 2009 to 2012, the comprehensive score of green transformation of the marine industry improved significantly. From 2012 to 2018, the comprehensive score of China's marine industry green transformation fluctuated little and showed a slow growth trend, while China's marine economic transformation grew steadily at a low speed. In 2019–2020, due to the impact of the epidemic, the speed of transformation has decreased again. (2) The carbon ratio and the green credit balance of commercial banks have a role in promoting the green transformation of China's marine industry, while the carbon trading volume and carbon intensity have a restraining effect on the green transformation of China's marine industry. From the perspective of effect, carbon intensity has the strongest effect, followed by carbon ratio, carbon trading volume is slightly weaker, and the role of green credit balance of commercial banks is the weakest. Based on the research conclusions, relevant policy recommendations were put forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The carbon peaking and carbon neutrality strategy have become China's national strategy. Given the significant regional differences in China, the Chinese government has proposed "one policy for one province" guiding principle for carbon emission reduction. This study takes Tianjin as a representative of "a province-level city with high degree of industrialization and prominent emerging industries", and Gansu Province a representative of "a province with a low degree of industrialization but the potential for green energy". Using the integrated modeling frameworkthis study conducts a comparative analysis of the hidden flows generated by inter-provincial inward and outward transfers and extracts a feasible model for carbon neutrality transformation. The study also focuses on carbon emission, GDP changes, carbon hidden flow change in trade and carbon emission reduction path. By comparing the results, this study identifies the mechanism of the industrial spillover effect and carbon emission spillover effect between the two regions. Then it concludes the "cross-regional transfer mode of high-carbon industries" of industrial carbon neutral transformation: more carbon emission allowances are allocated to developing regions represented by Gansu Province, implement regionally differentiated carbon emission reduction constraint policies, and achieve industrial spatial transfer through more inter-provincial transfer. The paper found that in implementing a regionally differentiated carbon emission reduction constraint policy (DE scenario), the transfer of high-carbon industries can achieve the "superposition effect" through inter-provincial transfer. Accordingly, three carbon policy mechanisms for cross-regional transfer of high-carbon industries are summarized. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the ladder-type carbon tax in the carbon quota market is a relatively macroscopic large-time scale concept, and the volatility and uncertainty of new energy generation output and the load, it is currently difficult to accurately predict and control carbon trading cost in the multi-time scale scheduling of integrated energy system (IES), there is a lack of in-depth research on dynamic adjustment and ground implementation in small time scale. To address the challenges of these problems, this paper proposes a multi-objective optimal scheduling model for IES considering the multi-timescale ladder-type carbon trading mechanism. Optimization models and algorithms were developed for day-ahead, intraday and real-time scheduling time scales, enhancing scheduling accuracy and usability. Day-ahead scheduling minimizes comprehensive cost and pollutant emissions while considering the ladder-type carbon trading mechanism; intraday scheduling dynamically adjusts carbon trading cost functions based on day-ahead results and equipment output; and real-time scheduling establishes new carbon trading ladder-type cost functions according to intraday results and emissions. A novel particle swarm optimization algorithm was introduced, integrating uncertainty models for wind, photovoltaic power, and load, along with electric vehicle charging strategies. The multi-time scale model in ladder-type carbon trading exhibits approximately 5% more economic advantage and 2% more environmental benefit. • Developed IES model with LTCTM for improved carbon trading cost prediction. • Proposed an improved Particle Swarm Optimization for multi-objective scheduling. • Constructed uncertainty models with EV strategies for robust scheduling process. • Demonstrated ladder-type carbon trading advantages through a case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Balancing environmental protection and economic development is critical in climate policy-making. The carbon trading policy is an important market-based climate strategy that aids in achieving the national carbon neutrality goals. However, empirical evidence at the industry level has not yet demonstrated whether there is an employment dividend. In this study, we constructed a theoretical framework to analyze the employment effects of carbon trading policies. We quantitatively evaluated the employment effects of policies in the pilot region using the differences-in-differences model. And we considered and explained the adjustment paths of employment dividends from the industry-level onwards. We found a "two-eight split" phenomenon in the employment effects of the carbon trading policy in China—the overall employment level of the region increases while employment in some regulated industries is inspired and it is hindered in others, shifting to other regulated industries and non-regulated regions. The empirical results revealed the following points. (1) After controlling economic and demographic factors, carbon trading policies can bring significant employment dividends to pilot areas. (2) While implementing such policies can improve the employment level of the paper industry, they can also seriously impact the employment development of the petrochemical and building materials industries. (3) Both energy consumption and technology levels effectively dampen the policy's negative employment effects and promote employment in the pilot areas. (4) The high carbon price levels within the range of carbon price fluctuation have inhibited the employment levels of the pilot industries. However, it still promoted the overall employment levels of the pilot areas through the employment transfer effect. As future carbon prices increase, the policy's regional employment dividend may decrease or disappear. Our findings illustrate the employment effect of industry-level carbon trading policies and provide a reference for improving carbon market construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethylene industry contributes significantly to the world economy, but the conventional steam cracking based production process generates huge amount of CO 2 emissions due to massive use of fossil fuels for power and heat supply. Deploying technologies of carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) and renewable energy is urgently necessary to steer the emission-intensive ethylene industry towards carbon neutrality. To attain this goal, this paper proposes a low-carbon ethylene production system with the joint deployment of CCUS, wind turbine, solar heat collector, electric boiler and thermal energy storage technologies. Energy, economic and CO 2 generation/reduction performance models of each equipment are developed first. Based on which, a mixed-integer liner programming framework is constructed to find the optimal capacity configuration and coordinated operation scheme of the multiple devices, laying a foundation for the reliable, economical and low-carbon operation of the integrated system. Case studies on a practical ethylene production system demonstrate that the proposed low-carbon retrofit leads to 57.50% CO 2 reduction at the expense of 15.92% total annual cost increase. Discussions are then carried out to investigate the effects of different decarbonization routes, the impact of carbon emission trading price, the approach to promote the deployment of CO 2 hydrogenation to methanol, and the advantage of taking carbon capture as flexible load, through which, broader insights are provided for the low-carbon transformation of the ethylene industry. [Display omitted] • Decarbonization of ethylene plant by deploying renewable energy and carbon capture. • Optimal capacity configuration of the low-carbon ethylene production system. • 57.5% CO 2 emission is reduced at expense of 15.92% annual cost increase. • Flexible operation contributes to the economic and low-carbon operation. • Discussions are conducted to give insights on decarbonization of ethylene industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synergy is an important step to enhance policy effectiveness and has been discussed in many fields. In order to promote the transformation and upgrading of polluting industries, green policy synergy is urgent to be studied comprehensively. Thus, this paper analyzes the temporal evolution laws of policy content synergy, policy department synergy, and policy type synergy, and further investigates the pollution reduction effect of policy synergy according to the green policy texts issued by Chinese ministries and commissions from 2001 to 2021. The results are as follows. (1) Policy content synergy significantly suppresses the emission intensity of various pollutants. The pollution reduction effect is proportional to the content synergy degree of policies. (2) The policy department synergy significantly reduces the emission intensity of sulfur dioxide, solid waste, and comprehensive pollution, but the suppression effect on chemical oxygen demand and ammonia nitrogen oxygen demand is not obvious. (3) The pollution reduction effect varies with the policy type synergy. Specifically, the synergistic pollution reduction effect of command and control, market incentive, and public participation policies is the best, followed by market incentive and public participation policies, and that of command and control and market incentive policies is the worst. (4) Further research shows that energy consumption significantly negatively regulates the pollution reduction of the policy content synergy and the policy type synergy, but not the policy department synergy. Meanwhile, adjusting industrial structure can promote pollution reduction. This study provides an important reference for enhancing the synergy among green policies and achieving the goal of carbon peak and carbon neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon emission trading mechanism is an important market-based instrument to address global climate change. The auction ratio and price of carbon emission allowances (CEA) are cores of the carbon emission trading mechanism. What combination of CEA auction ratio and auction price is most conducive to carbon emission reduction for emission control enterprises? There are still relatively few studies conducted on this issue, and there is no clear answer from the views of theory and practice. In this paper, the AIM/Enduse model was used to analyze the changes and differences of installed power capacity, power supply, energy consumption and carbon emissions in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Great Bay Area (GBA) with different combinations of CEA auction ratios and prices. Moreover, the best pathway of energy transition was explored in the power industry of the GBA, and the best combination of CEA auction ratios and prices was identified in the GBA. The results show that: (1)The carbon emission constraint starts to work only when the auction ratio of CEA is increased to 50% and the auction price is increased to 60 CNY/ton (Scenario p 3). When the auction ratio of CEA is 100% and the auction price reaches 120 CNY/ton (Scenario p 5), a low-carbon transition of the power sector in the GBA can be achieved. (2) Under scenario p 5 , the total cost of power transition rises and then falls. And the cost of carbon in the power sector increases exponentially as the auction ratio of CEA and the auction price rise. However, the growth in the cost of power supply is relatively flat, which shows that appropriate carbon trading mechanism can improve the economic benefits of power sectors. With the increase of installed capacity of clean low-carbon energy generation and power supply, as well as the decrease of local power cost in the GBA, the proportion of outsourcing power can be appropriately reduced in the future, with an aim to reduce the external dependence of electricity to ensure the security of energy supply. In the end, it suggests that cities in the GBA should give full play to their regional advantages and establish a unified carbon emission trading market in the GBA as soon as possible. This study provides a theoretical basis for the supplementation and improvement of China's carbon emission trading mechanism. • What is the best combinations of CEA auction ratios and auction prices in the GBA? This paper gives a clear answer. • The best transition pathway of the power industry under technological progress and carbon trading policy was suggested. • With the decrease of local power cost, the proportion of outsourcing power can be appropriately reduced in the future. • Provides a theoretical basis for the supplementation and improvement of China's carbon emission trading mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality" is one of the important tasks of China's current and future economic construction and development, but the carbon emission reduction effect of High-speed rail (HSR) has not yet been fully studied. In this paper, based on the panel data of 274 cities in China from 2003 to 2016, we take the opening of HSR in the cities as a "Quasi-natural Experiment", and construct the Multi-period Difference-in-Difference Model to explore whether the opening of HSR can reduce carbon emissions of cities along the route, and use the mediating effect model and moderating effect model to further analyze its internal mechanisms. We find that:①The opening of HSR can significantly reduce the carbon emissions of cities along the route, and the opening of HSR in a city will reduce the carbon emissions of the city by about 2.4% on average, and this carbon emission reduction effect usually manifests significantly in the first year after the opening of HSR, and increases year by year thereafter.②The mechanism test shows that the traffic substitution effect, the optimization of the industrial structure and the promotion of economic agglomeration have partial mediating effect on the influence between the opening of HSR and urban carbon emissions. In addition, the increase in the intensity of government environmental regulations can strengthen the effect of the opening of HSR on reducing urban carbon emissions.③The regional heterogeneity research shows that the opening of HSR has a more significant impact on the carbon emissions of cities in the eastern coastal region and western region of China. Moreover, in the western region, the reduction effect of the opening of HSR on carbon emissions is only reflected in the key cities rather than ordinary prefecture-level cities. This paper provides certain reference significance for promoting low-carbon and green economy and helping China to achieve the "Carbon Neutrality" climate action goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the general recognition of the awareness of carbon neutrality, economic development growth momentum for carbon neutrality scenario has become research focus. This paper introduces the carbon neutrality double input level based on the perspective of the initiative, consciousness, and self-discipline of firms and residents to practice green low-carbon behavior. By constructing a balanced economic system of green low-carbon behavior, this paper explores the new endogenous growth power in production and consumption, and finds that there exists a carbon neutrality realization regulation of green low-carbon behavior in the new system. Based on the penetration capacity of green low-carbon behavior, this paper studies the endogenous growth law of economic system driven by the evolution of carbon neutrality double input level. The production and consumption processes are considered in the new economic system in this paper, the production of green low-carbon goods is considered in the production sector and the technical equation under carbon neutrality double input level is studied, the consumption process of green goods affected by environment and carbon emissions is considered in the household, then the household utility function is constructed, and the new growth rate is obtained. Using carbon emissions growth rate of green low-carbon goods and its relationship with absorption rate derive the carbon neutrality realization regulation. Then the general equilibrium solution and growth rate under endogenous growth driven by carbon neutrality double input level are also obtained. Furthermore, the carbon neutrality effects which are the endogenous effect of carbon neutrality double input level and the effect of carbon neutrality realization regulation are obtained by numerical simulation and empirical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming can be solved with carbon trading. When carbon emissions become a commodity, it can be a powerful motivator for companies to optimize production capacity and innovate technologically. The goal of this paper is to examine the way in which China's carbon emissions trading policy (CET) influences firm technological innovation in seven pilot regions, using a sample of firms in eight high-carbon industries. We employ difference-in-difference (DID) as well as DID-based propensity score matching (PSM-DID) models to investigate the influence of China's carbon emission policy on firms' technological innovation by using 4745 observations of 749 A-share listed firms in eight high-carbon industries in mainland China from 2007 to 2021. According to the findings, China's CET policy significantly boosts firms' technological innovation, and this beneficial effect persists even after a series of robustness tests that change the policy's implementation year and the technological innovation measure. Further analysis shows that this positive effect is heterogeneous across high-carbon industries and firms with different ownership. In addition, based on the external governance perspective, we find that CET policy performs better in firms in high-carbon industries with a sizable portion of ownership held by institutional investors. This study suggests the effectiveness of CET policy in promoting firms' technological innovation, confirms empirical evidence for Porter's hypothesis, and provides a basis for Chinese firms to achieve their emission reduction targets by improving technological innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Limiting the negative effects of human-induced global warming is the focus of climate policy worldwide. In the European Union (EU), the target for reaching carbon neutrality is set to 2050, including a proposed renewable energy target of 45% for 2030. In Finland, the government has pledged to reach net-zero emissions already by 2035, which is expected to require large increases in wind and nuclear capacity, as well as sector coupling with, e.g., transport and heating. In view of these plans, this study evaluates the feasibility of attaining carbon neutrality in Finland by 2035, while considering delays from potential bottlenecks, such as limited raw material availability, fuel availability, manufacturing capacity, and import reliance. The literature review highlights the considerable dependence of renewable technologies on critical raw materials and other minerals, largely imported from non-EU countries. Modelling revealed how increased biomass usage considerably reduces the size of national carbon sinks, vital for reaching net-zero emissions in Finland in the coming decade. In light of this, current climate strategy was shown to be partially outdated and short of reaching carbon neutrality by 2035, already without including potential delays from the analyzed bottlenecks. Subsequently, alternative measures to improve sustainability and reduce emissions are presented. The findings of this paper are also relevant for other countries aiming to reach net-zero emissions, especially for those which have climate strategies emphasizing bioenergy and wind power. [Display omitted] • Raw material and manufacturing bottlenecks can delay renewable implementation. • Maintaining carbon sinks critical for climate neutral Finland in 2035. • Limits to biomass usage are needed, but result in adverse industrial impacts. • Further nuclear capacity needed for 2035 climate target and electricity sufficiency. • Finland will rely on electricity imports in 2035, despite plans to become exporter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nexus approaches, aiming at the complex connections among the correlative systems, provide an effective method for analyzing coevolution processes. In the context of urbanization, water, energy, and environment (W-E-E) systems are increasingly connected thus can be profiled as a W-E-E nexus. However, research on urban water-energy interactions and their impact on the environment is still in its infancy. In addition, a generic framework for modeling W-E-E nexus that includes dynamic feedbacks between human and natural systems remains elusive. In an attempt to fill this gap, this paper proposes a sensitivity-based framework consisting of four components: the water balance model, the energy balance model, the environmental response model, and the urbanization model. Community sensitivity serves as the missing link, tying together two feedback loops driven by economy and environment respectively. To demonstrate how such a framework could be applied, Wuhan city was selected as a case study and analyzed for its coevolution under three scenarios: extensive development, common development, and sustainable development. The results show that the proposed framework is competent in modeling the W-E-E nexus in Wuhan. The coevolution process is broadly divided into four cyclic stages (expansion, degeneration, convalescence, and stabilization) and environmental recovery consumes decades or more regardless of the development pattern. However, development patterns exert a salient effect on community sensitivity, with +294.4%, +5.5%, and −17.4% for extensive, common, and sustainable development patterns during the simulation period respectively. And only under sustainable development, can Wuhan anticipate achieving the goal of carbon neutrality by the 2060s. It is hoped that this framework will aid our understanding of the fundamental interactions in this complex relationship and allow researchers to improve W-E-E nexus modeling through better capture of the key elements in the feedback loops. • Present a sensitivity-based framework for the water-energy-environment nexus. • Build the missing link that connects 2 key loops driven by economics and environment. • Provide urban development pattern decisions for achieving resource sustainability. • Assess Wuhan's development trajectory over the next 2 centuries quantitatively. • Propose a development pattern to achieve carbon neutrality in Wuhan in 2060s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the current technical conditions and power mix in China, flexible modified thermal power units must provide enough flexibility resources for new power system since the potential of flexible resource has not been fully used. In this paper, a bi-level model is proposed to characterize the decision behavior of the generation company in the case of individual rationality and generation-side coordination. The model fully considers the concrete conditions of China and the technical differences between thermal power units in the multi-market (including energy, ancillary services and carbon emission trading market). The bi-level model could be reconstructed into an equivalent MILP model which can be solved directly. The strategic bidding behavior of small capacity units in the energy market show the urgency to enhance the transmission of deep peak regulation price compensation signals. The coupling of multi market is likely to be the most effective policy package to guide large-scale units to play a supporting role and small-scale units to assume the regulating function to play a role in the transition to a low-carbon future. Long-term policy mechanisms should be developed, combining electricity transition with the mechanisms in the carbon emission trading market to achieve the integral maximization of environmental benefit. • A bi-level model coupling energy, ancillary services and CET market is proposed. • A clearing model from the perspective of system integral orientation is proposed. • The technical differences of coal-fired power units are fully considered. • The analysis results provide policy implications tailored to the Chinese context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has a high agricultural output and is a significant carbon emitter; thus, reducing carbon emissions in the agricultural sector is crucial for achieving carbon neutrality. To address this, China implemented the National Agricultural Sustainable Development Experimental Demonstration Zone policy in 2018, in which reducing agricultural carbon emissions (ACE) is a subject of concern. We explore the impact of the policy on agricultural carbon emissions reduction (ACER) using the propensity score matching and differences-in-differences (PSM-DID) methods with a series of robustness tests based on the panel data of prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2020. The results indicate that: (1) the policy significantly reduces carbon emissions and impacts carbon emission sources, with the results passing the robustness tests. (2) According to the mechanism test, agricultural financial support mediates carbon emissions reduction, and the policy reduces these emissions by decreasing the intensity of fiscal support. (3) The heterogeneity analysis illustrates that the carbon emissions reduction effect is more evident in cities with a small urban-rural income gap and a high proportion of agricultural output value. Finally, we provide suggestions to reduce carbon emissions from the perspective of national and local governments. This paper is particularly relevant for achieving sustainable agriculture development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As China's largest source of carbon emissions, the power sector's transition to lower levels of carbon emission intensity is critical to achieving China's carbon emission (CE) reduction commitments. In this paper, the CE intensity of electricity generation (CEIE) in 30 provinces from 2000 to 2019 is calculated, and the temporal evolution and spatial distribution characteristics of CEIE are discussed. Then, the spatial spillover effect of each driving factor on CEIE is calculated using the spatial Durbin model. The CEIE reveals a first increasing and then decreasing trend, and the regional differences gradually decrease. Simultaneously, the CEIE has a significant positive spatial correlation, and the overall spatial distribution pattern is high in the northeast and low in the southwest of the country. Economic development and foreign trade both inhibit CEIE, while electricity consumption, research and development, unit operation level, and power structure all promote CEIE. Each driving factor's influence on regional CEIE exerts a spatial spillover effect. Among them, the spatial positive spillover effects of industrial structure and environmental protection investment are the most obvious, while the spatial spillover effects of other driving factors are not apparent. Furthermore, these findings provide practical insights into policy adjustments and the coordinated interregional development of low-carbon electricity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the goal of pursuing carbon neutrality, this study is aimed to investigate effectively managing distributed renewable energy. Considering the uncertainty of wind power (WP), photovoltaic power (PV), and load, a two-stage robust optimization model for virtual power plant (VPP) is proposed, with a focus on calculating the available capacity of electric vehicle (EV) aggregated virtual energy storage (VES). Time–space distribution characteristics of EVs and the responsiveness of EV users are analyzed and the available capacity calculation model is constructed. In the first stage, the bidding strategy and unit combination of the VPP are determined based on the predicted values of WP, PV, and load. Combining with the pre-decided decision from the first stage, the output of each unit is determined by considering an uncertainty set in the second stage, for achieving the best operational benefit under worst-case scenarios. Robust control parameters are introduced into the model and used to adjust conservativeness. The model is solved by applying the C&CG algorithm. Additionally, a carbon trading mechanism is leveraged to balance the system economy and environmental friendliness. The results show that the optimal scheduling solution helps to reduce fluctuations caused by uncertainties, balancing the economic benefits and operational risks of the VPP. Besides, guidance is provided for VPP operators to formulate reasonable incentives for EV users and the construction of energy storage systems. When the carbon trading price of the VPP proposed in the paper is set at 160 ¥ /ton, economic and environmental sustainability can be effectively balanced. [Display omitted] • Virtual power plant structure featuring electric vehicle virtual energy storage. • Electric vehicle user responsiveness-based available capacity calculation model. • Two-stage robust scheduling model for virtual power plant with electric vehicles. • Scheduling under varied risk achieved by modifying robust coefficients. • Balancing economic and environmental properties via suitable carbon trade parameters. [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]

The peer-to-peer energy sharing of distributed energy systems supports carbon neutrality targets by promoting self-sufficient local energy systems, energy saving and carbon emission reduction. This paper constructs a multi-energy sharing model to maximize the social welfare of distributed energy systems as the objective function. A marginal cost-based multi-energy pricing mechanism is introduced to fairly and appropriately identify the price of energy transactions among distributed energy systems. Besides, energy-consuming rights and carbon tax policies incentivize low-carbon dispatch of distributed energy systems by enforcing electricity supply restrictions and carbon emission constraints. Finally, a fully decentralized solution to the multi-energy sharing problem is achieved by exchanging energy trading price information and combining it with the dual consensus alternating direction multiplier method algorithm. The case study results show that the proposed multi-energy sharing framework achieves economic operation and low-carbon management of distributed energy systems and generates promising economic and environmental benefits compared to the traditional no-energy sharing paradigm, reducing the cost by 14.14% and carbon emission by 14.76%. • The optimal dispatch of DESs under low-carbon and power supply constraints is studied. • A fully decentralized multi-energy sharing framework is developed. • A marginal cost-based energy pricing mechanism is proposed. • Using the DC - ADMM algorithm completely decentralized to solve the problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sand and gravel aggregate (SGA) transportation accounts for over 30% of the freight volume in China, which is greater than that of any other cargo; low-carbon development can effectively promote the decarbonization of freight transportation. This study presents a four-step evaluation method to assess CO 2 emission reductions in freight transportation; the proposed method helps determine the relationship between the policy, CO 2 emission reductions, demand, and mode market share. Using Beijing as a case study, this paper estimates the potential of reducing CO 2 emissions from SGA transportation under various scenarios. The scenarios are set based on the avoid, shift, and improve strategies; the results of the Beijing case indicate that the CO 2 emission for SGA transportation is 920.86 kt, which is approximately 1% of the total CO 2 emissions in Beijing. The maximum reductions in CO 2 emissions that can be achieved using the avoid, shift, and improve strategies are 0.92 kt (0.1% of total), 560.52 kt (60.9% of total), and 78.59 kt (8.5% of total), respectively. The shift strategy is confirmed to be the most realistic and cost-effective approach for reducing CO 2 emissions from SGA transportation. In addition, the implementation of subsidy policies is discussed. Marginal abatement costs under the subsidy scenarios are higher than 224 CNY/t, which is higher than the price in the Chinese carbon trading market. • We evaluated CO 2 emission of aggregate transportation in Beijing at the OD level. • CO 2 emission reductions of the avoid, shift, and improve strategies were tested. • Shift strategy performed the best in reducing CO 2 emission. • Avoid and improve strategies can reduce CO 2 emission; but the effects were limited. • Subsidizing rail transport reduced more emission than subsidizing electric trucks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions reduction has become a core task with the goal of "emission peak and carbon neutrality", in which green innovation plays an important role. This paper takes the fast-tracking green patent applications (FGPA) system in China as a quasi-natural experiment to empirically study the impact of green innovation incentive-based policies (GIIPs) on CO 2 emissions in Chinese cities by applying a continuous difference-in-difference approach. The results show that the CO 2 emissions of cities in the treatment group are significantly reduced by about 1.6% after the implementation of FGPA relative to that in the control group. After a series of robustness tests, the conclusion is still valid. Furthermore, the significant negative impact on CO 2 emissions is more reflected in cities located in eastern China, cities with lower financial pressure, and cities with more universities. Overall, this study fills up the gap in the empirical research on the impact of FGPA, and casts a new light on the significant environmental performance of GIIPs. The findings obtained through this study are conducive to strengthening and optimizing the implementation of FGPA, and offering policy-makers with a scientific basis of GIIPs to approach the task of reducing CO 2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emission trading scheme (ETS) is considered as a tool to reduce emissions at a low cost, which can effectively promote the carbon peak and carbon neutrality. As the main participants in the carbon emission trading (CET) market, the behavior and strategies for governments and different types of enterprises affect the final emission reduction performance. Taking the national carbon market as an example, this paper constructs a tripartite evolutionary game model including governments and power generation enterprises with different emission reduction capacity to analyze the possible game situations in the development process of the CET market. The results show that with the development of the CET market, the governments and power generation enterprises will have different game results. In order to achieve the optimal stable equilibrium and maximize carbon emission reduction, governments should improve regulatory efficiency and formulate appropriate incentive strategies for excess emission reduction and punishment strategies for insufficient emission reduction. In addition, the initial willingness will not affect the final strategy choice of the three parties. Reasonable free carbon quota ratio, lower technology emission reduction cost and higher carbon price can stimulate the enthusiasm of governments and enterprises to reduce emissions. The above results provide a reference for coordinating the relationships between governments and power generation enterprises with different emission reduction capacity in the construction of the CET market in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To fulfill the goals of sustainable development and emission reduction, China has established the consumption side renewable portfolio standards (RPS) and domestic nationwide carbon emission trading (CET) scheme. However, there are intricate interrelationships between the two mechanisms as they overlap in policy goals and implementation measures, which might lead to policy synergy or policy ineffectiveness. Therefore, investigating the coupling effects in the context of policy coexistence is imperative for policy optimization and realization of the policy objectives. In this study, a simulation model cooperating the electricity market, the excess consumption trading market, the tradeable green certificates (TGC) market and the CET market, based on the system dynamics (SD) methodology is proposed. The paper comprehensively investigated the complex relationship between the four markets and conducted experiments with different scenario settings in RPS quota goal and carbon quota goal. The results illustrate that: (1) Both mechanisms can facilitate the expansion of renewable electricity and improve the power supply structure. (2) The quota goals of the two policies should be reasonably set as they contain both the abovementioned overlapping effects, as well as conflicts in the effects on the total electricity supply and electricity price. (3) The consumption side RPS is conductive for market absorption of renewable electricity with a proper higher RPS quota goal. (4) The TGC market is oversupplied, and the price keep decreasing under the consumption side RPS, more demand incentive mechanisms are required for TGC market. • Implementation mechanism and effects of the consumption side RPS are investigated. • Policy coordination between the consumption side RPS and CET in China are examined. • The effects of consumption side RPS and CET have both overlaps and conflicts. • Ratio of renewable electricity consumption is positively correlated with RPS quota goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the world's largest developing country, China has set the target of "reaching carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060". China's power sector faces many challenges in reducing carbon emissions. This article forecasts electricity consumption from 2021 to 2060 by selecting five influential elements on power demand. Furthermore, the system dynamics model simulates the carbon emission system on the supply and demand side of the power industry. This paper innovatively incorporates the technology factor of carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) into the supply-side model. In this study, the process of carbon neutrality is separated into three stages, including carbon peak stage (2020–2030), deep low-carbon stage (2030–2050) and zero-carbon stage (2050–2060). The factors of energy storage technology and CCUS technology make significant contributions in the latter two stages. Based on the different development levels of the variables, three scenarios are set as business-as-usual scenario (BAU), low carbon scenario(LC) and ultra-low carbon scenario (ULC). Then scenario analysis is employed to simulate the carbon emission in the future. The scheme under the ULC scenario is the optimal solution to achieve carbon neutrality. Improving flexible transition of thermal power units and promoting the growth of renewable energy are China's primary strategies of achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality. • System dynamics model is applied to simulate scenarios on carbon emission. • The carbon emission models of the power supply and demand sides are constructed. • Three scenarios for achieving the dual-carbon target are proposed. • The electric energy substitution and CCUS are investigated in the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]