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The support of digital technology is urgently needed to promote low-carbon development and green economic and social transformation and to realize the goal of "carbon neutrality" early. This paper utilizes the "Golden Tax III" project for the digital transformation of China's tax collection and administration and empirically confirms that digital tax collection and administration significantly reduces carbon emissions based on the panel data of 30 provinces (municipalities directly under the central government and autonomous regions) in China from 2010 to 2020, i.e., digital technology plays a positive role in carbon emission reduction. The mechanism test shows that digital technology indirectly affects carbon emissions through industrial structure, technological innovation, and tax structure. Heterogeneity analysis shows that digital technology has a significant inhibitory effect on carbon emissions in the northern region, non-Yangtze River region, provincial administrative areas with heavy local government debt, and a large proportion of tax revenue from the secondary industry and tax revenue from state-owned enterprises. Under the requirement of high-quality and green development of the economy, this paper is of great theoretical and practical significance for using digital technology to ensure the governance functions of tax, help low-carbon development, and reach the goal of "carbon neutrality" at an early date. • This study assesses the impact of digital technology on carbon emissions from the government's perspective. • This study enriches the mechanism by which digital technology affects carbon emissions. • This study provides suggestions to promote the digitization of government affairs and carbon emission reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The difficulty of the sulfur dioxide (SO 2) pollution control task has deepened step by step in recent years, while the marginal cost of environmental protection in China has also been higher. Therefore, it is necessary to study the main impact factors of China's industrial SO 2 pollution. Based on China's Industrial Environmental Statistics Database from 2004 to 2013, this paper extends the Index Decomposition Analysis (IDA) with firm entry and exit to conduct a micro-level decomposition study. The industrial SO 2 emission in China is decomposed into scale effect, composition effect, firm growth effect, and firm selection effect. Also, we use the Dagum Gini coefficient to analyze the spatial differences of firm growth effect and selection effect between the eastern, central, and western regions in China. This paper finds that the main contribution of industrial SO 2 emission control in China is the firm growth effect, which was −103% between 2004 and 2013. And the second largest contribution term is the firm selection effect, which is −18%, while the composition effect is −15%. In terms of temporal patterns, the size of the firm growth effect shrinks as time grows, and the composition effect changes from negative to positive after 2009. For spatial difference analysis, the Dagum Gini coefficient of technique effect and firm growth effect between different regions have become smaller and smaller over time, while the spatial differences of firm selection effect between regions remain unchanged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing amount of resources is being utilized to combat the pollution problem in China. Measuring and improving the efficiency of this resource allocation is an effective way to promote pollution treatment at the present technical level. This paper utilizes a two-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) model to attain allocation results based on the zero-sum gain and fixed-sum gain assumptions. We divide all the inputs into discretionary and non-discretionary inputs and construct two models for allocating resources based on the environmental efficiency scores. The new models are applied to calculate the performance and resource allocation scheme of 30 Chinese provinces from 2011 to 2015. Most provinces are inefficient at controlling pollution emission or treating pollution while using the given level of input resources. Based on the production possibility set of each province in 2015, the processing capacity of wastewater and gas could be increased by 1% and 3%, respectively, by reallocating resources for pollution treatment among different provinces. Environmental efficiency scores and resource allocation plans based on various assumptions are obtained in this paper to enlighten the corresponding decision-makers. Image 1 • The paper constructs two resource allocation models based on the DEA approach. • This research considers the allocation of public pollution treatment resources between different sectors. • Two strategies for resource allocation are composed to deal with different conditions relating to resources. • We apply the new models to measure the performance of 30 regions in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China facing the challenge of coordinated development of "ecology, economy, and well-being". Scholars have conducted some research on the relationship between enviromental regulation and employment, but there is less research on the role of clean technology innovation in the employment effect of environmental regulation, which is the purpose of this paper. Using the panel data of 22 industrial sectors in China, the paper uses the number of clean technology patents to measure the level of clean technology innovation, and examines the moderating effect of clean technology innovation in the employment effect of environmental regulations. The results show that: (1) With the gradual improvement of environmental regulation, the impact of environmental regulation on employment presents the characteristics of inhibition first and then promotion. (2) Clean technology innovation has a moderating effect on the employment effect of environmental regulation. It should encourage the green upgrading of traditional technologies, support the development and optimization of private enterprises in various industries, so as to promote enterprises to effectively reduce pollution emissions and create jobs through green technology upgrading at the initial stage. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Faced with the dual constraints of economic growth and energy conservation and emission reduction, the unified environmental regulation policy has posed a dilemma for China. First, this paper adopts the method of Metafrontier Malmquist-Luenberger (MML) to analyze the influence of technology gaps and pollution emissions on the total factor productivity (TFP) of Chinese industry in the period of 2000–2016. Second, from the perspective of heterogeneity, the paper uses the threshold model to investigate the nonlinear dynamic influence of different types of environmental regulations on the environmental total factor productivity (ETFP) of industrial sectors, attempting to identify the optimal intensity of the environmental regulation and tools combination. The results indicate that due to the presence of industry heterogeneity, the different types of environmental regulations exerted heterogeneous influences on the ETFP in different industries. In heavy-pollution industries, an excessively high intensity of environmental regulation weakened the technological innovation of these enterprises. In moderate-pollution industries, there was found a medium intensity of environmental regulation, with the command-and-control and market-based types of environmental regulation being quite well coordinated. Among slightly polluting industries, there was a significant "N-shaped" characteristic between the market-based type of environmental regulation and the ETFP. The outcomes further imply that considering the presence of obvious industry heterogeneity, the establishment of environmental regulations should avoid both the unified adoption of static standards and the blind increase of regulation intensity. Based on the characteristics and realities of different industries, flexible and dynamic regulatory standards should be adopted, and multiple regulation instruments should be used. Highlights • ETFP presented a pattern of progressive decrease going from slight-pollution industries to moderate-pollution industries and finally to heavy-pollution industries. • Different types of environmental regulations exert heterogeneous influences on the ETFP of industries. • Environmental regulations should avoid both the unified adoption of static standards and the blind increase of regulation intensity. • A balanced regulation system should be established to stimulate a more strategically based economic response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As China's longest-implemented market-based environmental regulation policy, emission charges have contributed outstandingly to improving the ecological environment and reducing firms' pollution emissions. We assess the impact of emission charges on the innovation quality of Chinese firms based on the perspective of firms' breakthrough technological innovation. By observing Chinese A-share listed firms with heavy pollution from 2011 to 2020, we find that corporate breakthrough technological innovation positively moderates the emission charges to enhance the quality of corporate innovation. Our mechanism tests suggest that emission charges and breakthrough technological innovation positively affect innovation quality by improving the means of green innovation of enterprises. In addition, heterogeneity analysis shows that emission charges and firms' breakthrough technological innovation are only effective in improving the innovation quality of state-owned firms, and the effect on the innovation quality of non-state-owned firms is not significant. Our findings suggest that the imposition of emission charges and incentives for firms to embark on breakthrough technological innovation can effectively improve the quality of innovation. • The article is probably the first literature to explore the effects of breakthrough technological innovation and emission charges on the innovation quality of heavily polluting enterprises in China, enriching the research on the impact of enterprise innovation models on environmental regulation. • Based on the IPC information of enterprise patent applications, the paper distinguishes enterprise innovation patterns and explores the moderating effect of breakthrough technological innovation on emission charges to enhance the quality of enterprise innovation. • This paper provides micro evidence on the impact of environmental regulation on innovation quality based on the perspective of firms' breakthrough technological innovation, which has important implications for adopting environmental regulation to achieve a "win-win" situation between pollution control and improving innovation quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the decoupling of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions from agricultural economic growth in 30 Chinese provinces from 1997 to 2014. First, CO 2 emissions from agricultural production activities, farming, and livestock husbandry are computed. Then, this paper explores the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of CO 2 emissions and their intensity in China’s agricultural sector. Finally, this paper compares decoupling of China’s agricultural CO 2 emissions from agricultural output value across different regions and years. The results indicate that fertilizer, in-season rice cultivation, and cattle generated the most CO 2 emissions in the categories of agricultural production activities, farming, and livestock husbandry, respectively. The results also show that East China covered more periods of the strong decoupling of CO 2 emissions from agricultural output value between 1997 and 2014. To decrease CO 2 emissions, this paper suggests imposing a higher value-added tax on fertilizer producers, while waiving value-added tax for organic fertilizer and substituting animal manure for conventional fertilizers where possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The green transformation of economic growth mode is one of the keys to promote high-quality development. This paper starts with the collaborative agglomeration of manufacturing and producer services, demonstrates the impact of collaborative agglomeration on industrial pollution emission through theoretical analysis, and then uses panel data of 285 prefecture level cities in China from 2004 to 2019 to verify the relationship between them. The results show that collaborative agglomeration significantly increased industrial pollution emission, but the effect mainly existed in small and medium-sized cities, cities with more development zones, cities with provincial high-tech industrial parks and the observation range from 2009 to 2015. The results of subdividing producer services show that transportation, warehousing and postal services, finance, information transmission, computer services and software industries have intensified industrial pollution emission in the collaborative agglomeration with the manufacturing industry. Mechanism analysis shows that collaborative agglomeration fosters the city's "low-level innovation preference" and promotes the expansion of the number of enterprises characterized by the entry and extension of the duration of highly polluting enterprises. It objectively forms a "quantity-priority orientation", thus increasing industrial pollution emission. The above conclusions mean that the development of urban industry at this stage should be based on quality and efficiency, rather than pursuing the disordered expansion of quantity. This paper provides beneficial policy implications for reducing local governments' blind behavior and awakening the awareness of environment-friendly economic growth. • Collaborative agglomeration increases industrial pollution emission. • The effect of emission increase varies with different urban and industrial characteristics. • "Low-level innovation preference" and "quantity-priority orientation" are important mechanisms. • The entry and long-term existence of high polluting enterprises led to "quantity-priority orientation". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, China has been facing serious water pollution crises. To address this problem, discharge standards for wastewater treatment plants in China are becoming more and more stringent. Also, the sewage charge for compliant emissions and the penalty rate for non–compliant emissions have increased significantly. This paper comprehensively investigates the economic and environmental implications of such wastewater management policy in China. In this paper, a general framework for the analysis of WWTPs’ behavior and the resulted economic and environmental consequences is presented, and the impacts of discharge standard, charge rate, and penalty rate are analyzed. The trade–offs between the operational cost, environmental impact, and pollutant emissions are identified. This study also provides some insightful management implications for concerned policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal burning is considered to be the main anthropogenic source of air pollutants, which can cause serious environmental pollution. As one of the important coal burning sources, coal-fired boilers have become the important challenges of the policy of "carbon peaking" and "carbon neutrality" of Chinese government. In this paper, the emission inventory of air pollutants (TSP, SO 2 , NO X , VOCs), and greenhouse gases (GHG, including CO 2 , CH 4 , N 2 O) from coal-fired industrial boilers (CFIB) from 2006 to 2020 are established by using the "bottom-up" emission factor method. Besides, Kaya identical equation and Logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) model are used to quantify the driving forces of the changing tendency in pollutants emission based on five driving factors, which include pollution production coefficient (f), control technology level (β), economy (G OV), industrial energy intensity (e) and coal consumption structure of industrial boilers (s). Combined with existing relevant policies, the future emission tendency of air pollutants and GHG in 2025 and 2030 is projected. The result shows that policy adjustment has a significant impact on pollutant emission trends. In 2020, emissions of TSP, SO 2 , NO X , VOCs and GHG from CFIB in China are 679.5 kt, 644.7 kt, 603.9 kt, 40.7 kt and 4.4 × 105 kt CO 2 e, respectively. Control technology level is the main factor to the emission reduction of SO 2 and TSP, which has caused a decrease of 4278.6 kt and 3337.3 kt in emissions of SO 2 and TSP compared to those of 2006 respectively, while the influencing effect on NO X , GHG and VOCs was relatively weak. In addition, in the scenario of improved control technology, pollutant emissions could be reduced by 62.6%–94.9% until 2030. • Policy adjustment can significantly impact the emissions of air pollutants of CFIB. • Control technology level is the main factor of the emission reduction. • The emission reduction rate of energy intensity was lower than coal consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cement manufacturing industry, a resource- and energy-intensive sector, took up more than 15% of total greenhouse gas emissions in China, thus finding a clean technology option for sustainable development is essential. CO 2 curing has emerged as a promising novel method for large-scale carbon sequestration and mechanical properties improvement of cement-based composites. Currently, a body of related works is mainly investigated in the laboratory, and understandings of the behaviors of CO 2 -cured cement-based composites are still less than complete, including, 1) the CO 2 storage potential has plenty of room for improvement due to the influence mechanism of variables factors remains unclear; 2) previous evaluations were mostly based on the subsets of individual result rather than an integrated dataset; 3) whether CO 2 curing is suitable for the manufacturing process of reinforced concrete. Therefore, this paper presents a comprehensive overview covering a wide range of parameters as well as fabrication, mechanical (compressive strength), and environmental (CO 2 uptake value) performances on the basis of a correct understanding of the differences between active and passive carbonation reactions. Notably, the influences of critical factors, including those less understood, e.g., types of curing setup (flow-able, enclosed, and others), components of binder, and aggregate/binder ratio, are also analyzed and the corresponding mechanisms discussed to achieve satisfied curing efficiency. Besides, corrosion-related challenges are also be pointed out to convince the widespread acceptance of this technology. Finally, based on this paper, limitations of existing research are identified and future scope on CO 2 curing regime is proposed. • 170 studies related to CO 2 /carbonation-cured cement-based composites are analyzed. • The differences between active/passive-carbonation together with reaction mechanisms are expounded. • Fabrication and influence factors on engineering and environmental properties are systematically reviewed. • CO 2 -cured cement-based composites exhibit excellent resistance to aggressive conditions. • The challenges and opportunities in the CO 2 curing method are innovatively discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's economic growth is accompanied by air pollution, which has harmed public health. Former scholars have explored the influencing factors of public health from different perspectives with different methods, among which family income and environmental pollution are two important factors. The paper explored the combined effects of economic level and air pollution on public health at the micro and macro level using the multivariate ordered Logit model and panel data regression model. A comparative analysis was also explored between China's eastern and western regions. The results demonstrated that: (1) Both at the micro and macro level, economic level was positively correlated with public health, while air pollution was negatively correlated with it. (2) The improvement of the economic level made public health more susceptible to air pollution at the micro level and at the macro level. (3) The higher the economic level, the lower the effect of economic growth in reducing the adverse effects of air pollution on public health. This paper proposed that sustainable economic growth should be pursued, the emissions of air pollutants should be reduced, regional development should be balanced and the development gap between China's eastern and western regions should be narrowed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in China are energy-related. Thus, full understanding of energy-related GHG emissions is crucial for local governments to establish a baseline for tracking emission trends and developing mitigation strategies. In this paper, we present a survey-based GHG emission accounting method for sectoral energy consumption and apply it in Xiaolan, a typical town of Zhongshan. The method combines scope and sectoral analyses on the basis of local statistical approach, and pays more attention to data collection process. Scenarios of core findings in the study are list as below: (1) The energy-related GHG emissions of Xiaolan in 2010 was 2,072,444 tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO 2 e). Of this, 31.83% was Scope 1 emissions (direct emissions) and 68.17% was Scope 2 emissions (indirect emissions); (2) Emissions from “manufacturing”, “residents”, and “power, gas & water production and supply” made up 90.27%, among which, “manufacturing” represents the biggest emitting sector as 69.09%; (3) In 2010, the per capita GHG emissions was lower than that in most of the other Chinese cities, but higher than several Asian cities including Amman and Tokyo. Some strategic approaches to reduce GHG emissions were proposed: (1) save energy and improve energy efficiency; (2) optimize energy structure and develop low-carbon energy; (3) update manufacturing structure; (4) improve GHG emission management for the resident sector. Finally, we identified a number of key research issues to advance the town level GHG emission method for future research needs. This paper provides a useful method to understand and profile GHG emissions for towns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing concern about carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emission reduction demands knowledge about the production structure of an economy. Information on productive linkages yields insight about forward and backward emission effects associated with sectoral inputs and outputs and serves as an essential starting point to identify the optimised industrial structure under the constraint of CO 2 emission. This paper proposes a combined linkage analysis and multi-objective programming approach to identify the key CO 2 emission sectors and the optimised production structure with respect to emission reduction target. As a demonstration, the proposed approach is applied to data from China in 2007. The result shows that to reduce CO 2 emissions from 5707.16 to 5452.12 million tonnes, China needs to change its industrial structure by focussing on industrial groups as defined by linkage characteristics, which would lead to a subsequent GDP decrease of 82.59 billion Yuan. From a policy standpoint, the analytical techniques described in this paper can provide valuable information for planners and decision makers to formulate feasible and practical industrial polices with implications for CO 2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has adopted cancellation of export tax rebate policies on many occasions to push ahead energy conservation and emission reduction since 2007. By applying a CEEPA (China Energy & Environmental Policy Analysis system) model, this paper simulates the impacts of the cancellation of export rebates on CO 2 emissions and socio-economic consequences in different scenarios so as to figure out whether it works. This paper covers three export rebate scenarios and makes comparisons between the impacts of export rebates on emission reduction effects and that of carbon tax policies. The conclusions are: 1) the current policy which cancels export rebates for key sectors can cut emissions at huge economic cost, yet it is unsustainable; 2) the policy which cancels export rebates for key sectors and meanwhile subsidizes sectoral outputs yields double dividends in the short term, thus can facilitate emission reduction yet the boost is limited; 3) the policy which cancels export rebates and boosts domestic demand helps improving residents' welfare in the short term while it may inflict pronounced social and economic impacts in the long run. So policy of this kind should be adopted with great caution; 4) export rebates generate far more economic costs than carbon tax policies in the long term, and don't contribute to optimizing the energy mix as well as the latter. In summary, canceling export rebates should not be regarded as a priority to encourage emission reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing pressures of global warming, population growth and epidemic occurrence are causing challenges in meeting the growing requirements for water, energy and food. In particular, the contradiction between the supply and demand for water, food, and energy is exacerbated by inefficient resource utilization and carbon emission increase. Incorporation of the interlinked aspects of water, energy, food and carbon emissions from agricultural systems into one water-food-energy-carbon nexus facilitates integrated resource management. Biochar application to farmland is a potential strategy for carbon management and agricultural productivity improvement. The integration of biochar systems and the water-food-energy-carbon nexus is an efficient and coordinated alternative method for sustainable agricultural management and a crucial strategy for addressing water, energy and food security issues. Accordingly, this paper proposes an approach for the synergistic regulation of water, land, energy, and carbon emissions in a circular agricultural system by balancing water supply and demand, land allocation, electricity consumption, and economic upgrading principles. A two-stage circular agriculture framework is constructed, with biochar and electricity generated from agricultural residues at the first stage and employed at the second stage. Economic-environmental-energy harmonization is considered in the methodology, and the agrotechnical potential of biochar is quantified via crop yield increase and greenhouse gas emission reduction functions. This approach can assist decision makers in providing the best policy options given certain agricultural resources to achieve the maximum economic performance of the system while minimizing environmental side effects. In this paper, the model framework is applied to the Sanjiang Plain in northeastern China to verify the feasibility of the approach. The results indicate that the external electricity demand is reduced by 87.8% due to the generation of biofuels. Cropland greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by 34.09%–67.06% via the application of biochar. This study proposes an optimization method with important implications for the improvement of regional cropland management techniques and development of sustainable circular agriculture. This methodology can be extended to other agriculture-centered regions with limited resources and environmental problems. • Carbon cycle is integrated in agricultural water-food-energy-carbon (AWFEC) nexus. • An AWFEC nexus based model is developed for agricultural resources recycling. • Biochar and electricity are optimized sustainably for circular agriculture. • Analysis of resources recycling on economic-environmental balance is performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional collaborative governance has become one of the most significant trends in environmental protection due to its importance in suppressing pollution transfer. This paper employs panel data from 285 cities in China during 2003–2019 and a multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) method to evaluate the influence of regional collaborative governance on air pollution. Results show that regional collaborative governance significantly reduces air pollution. Heterogeneity assessment suggests that the inhibiting impact of regional collaborative governance on air pollution is long-term and increases temporally, whereas the spillover effect of regional collaborative governance is only significant in a specific range and decays spatially. In addition, the mechanism analysis reveals that regional collaborative governance reduces air pollution by increasing environmental regulation intensity, improving environmental governance efficiency, and promoting environmental protection technology. This study provides useful policy insights for policymakers seeking green and sustainable development to curb air pollution and improve environmental quality. • The impact of regional collaborative governance on air pollution is examined. • We employ a multi-period difference-in-differences approach. • Regional collaboration significantly reduces air pollution emissions. • Local effects increase temporally whereas spillover effects decay spatially. • The strongest inhibition comes from promoting environmental protection technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The unprecedented resources and energy needed to support the high growth of urbanization with the emerging issues of environmental degradation and GHG emissions is increasingly dramatic in China. A series of national and local policies have been implemented for achieving the co-benefits of reducing emissions of greenhouse gas (GHG) and air pollution for China's sustainable development. In this paper, the achievement of climate change mitigation and air pollution reduction in different sectors through implementing policies is reviewed. This paper reports on the types of policy measures that have been introduced in two cases (i.e. Tiexi District of Shenyang and Baoshan District of Shanghai) to affect air quality and energy efficiency improvements, which are then collectively examined in terms of their impacts on GHG and air pollutant emissions. Recommendations are made for achieving co-benefits effectively through the integrated approach by comprehensively concentrating on the short and long-term environmental protection and energy conservation at local and national levels based on the analysis made in the paper. The limited coordination and lack of capacity in different government bodies may be the main barriers to the implementation of a co-benefits approach. Enhancing the cooperation and capacity building could overcome these obstacles. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Transportation infrastructure plays a fundamental role in reducing pollution emissions to avert global environmental degradation. However, the mechanisms behind these effects remain unclear. This paper aims to provide empirical evidence by investigating the effects of roads on the intensity of air pollutant emissions. Using a city-level data set for the period 2003–2015, we find that roads help to reduce the intensity of pollution emissions in China and induce greener growth performance. Specifically, we test two possible mechanisms through which roads improve environmental performance, and the results suggest that roads have a more positive and significant impact on air pollution reduction when an eco-industrial park is located in a nearby city. There is also evidence that roads can spur green innovation and hence can contribute to regional green performance. • We use city level data to examine transportation infrastructure's effect on air pollution in China. • We propose two possible mechanisms to confirm the effect of transportation infrastructure. • Transportation infrastructure plays an important role in reduction of air pollution emission. • The implications of policy in emerging economies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Modeling the driving factors and spatial nexus of carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions may be complicated by the fact that trans-provincial transportation of energy- and pollution-intensive products, maybe or to a large extent, transports their emissions to the exporting provinces due to the frequent occurrence of bilateral economic-trade ties and the asynchrony of economic development in China. In this paper, a spatial econometric tool is utilized to examine to what extent CO 2 spillover depends on provinces' bilateral geographical and economic linkages. Besides, different subgroups are built to estimate and compare the degree of spatial interactions among regions under five definitions of spatial dependency, to determine how the spatial effects of CO 2 emissions behave among our selected subgroups. The results demonstrate an N-shaped relationship, either before or after grouping, which shows a strong correlation against the effectiveness of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. Additionally, the results show that economic linkage significantly outperforms all the other linkages in capturing the spatial dependencies between provinces, and the spatial dependence of CO 2 emissions in the high-energy structure group is far greater than that in the low-energy structure group. Our results suggest that even though considering the spatial aggregation effect, the economic relations behind CO 2 emissions can also capture the spatial features more accurately, providing valuable references for policymaking and carbon emission reduction. Highlights • Bilateral economic relations affect CO 2 emissions by the spatial dependence. • Economic spatial neighborhoods excel at capturing spatial dependence of CO 2. • The effect of spatial dependence varies under different energy consumption level. • Spatial dependence effect is more remarkable with high energy consumption level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Improving CO 2 emissions efficiency has become a crucial task faced by China to develop a low-carbon economy and choose a CO 2 emissions mitigation path. Existing researches have focused on estimating national CO 2 emissions efficiency, but have ignored the industrial heterogeneity in the region or explanation for inefficiency. To fill the gaps, this paper applies a metafrontier-Malmquist index analysis method combined with a three-level common frontier model to comprehensively estimate and decompose the carbon emissions efficiency and dynamic changes of China's industries and regions during 2010–2015. First, we use data envelopment analysis with directional distance function by considering three-level frontiers to calculate CO 2 emissions efficiency. Results show that China's overall CO 2 emissions efficiency is at the middle level with an average value of 0.511. The efficiency of CO 2 emissions in the eastern region is the highest, followed by the central and western regions, and the CO 2 emissions efficiency in the tertiary industries is greater than that in the primary and secondary industries. Second, we decompose CO 2 emissions efficiency into technological, industrial and management efficiency, and found that management efficiency is the main reason for low CO 2 emissions efficiency in developed regions and industries. Third, the Malmquist-Luenberger index is utilized to decompose CO 2 emissions efficiency into 9 items, and we obtained that continuous technological progress is the leading cause driving different degrees of improvement in CO 2 emissions efficiency. Graphical abstract Image Highlights • Apply non-radial model to estimate CO 2 emissions efficiency of China. • Use industrial, technical and managerial efficiency to explain inefficiency. • Build three-level metafrontier-Malmquist-Luenberger index to discuss dynamic changes. • Eastern region and tertiary industry have the highest CO 2 emissions efficiency. • Continuous technological progress is the main reason for gaps of efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The literature on financial development and carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions is extensive. However, previous studies have not found the impact of financial development on trade-embodied CO 2 emissions. Therefore, we build a dynamic panel model based on the extension of the STIRPAT model to verify the overall and indirect impact of financial development. We calculate trade-embodied CO 2 emissions of 30 provinces in China in 2000–2014 using the single region input-output model (SRIO) by eliminating the impact of imported intermediate products on CO 2 emissions embodied in exports (EXC). In order to measure financial development in China more comprehensively, we use financial scale development, financial efficiency and financialization to define it. Results show that the environmental Kuznets curve is confirmed at the level of China's provinces. In most provinces, EXC began to increase in 2006 and decline in 2010, but CO 2 embodied in net exports (EC) began to decrease in 2005 and increase in 2010. The results of overall impact indicate that different financial development indicators have different effects on EC. But they all reduce EXC. The results of indirect impact through imitation innovation (IC) and independent research and development (RD) find that financial scale development increases EXC , however, financial efficiency and financialization decreases EXC. Financial scale development and financial efficiency can decrease EC , but financialization increases EC. The results of indirect impact through FDI show that financial scale development and financial efficiency can decrease EXC and EC. Financialization decreases EXC , but the impact of financialization on EC has obvious threshold characteristics. When the level of financialization is lower than the threshold value, financialization will reduce EC. There is regional heterogeneity in the impact of financial development on trade-embodied CO 2 emissions. The conclusions of this paper are of great reference value for improving the level of financial development so as to realize the development of China's green trade. Highlights • We take financialization into consideration to reflect level of financial development. • Calculate regional trade-embodied CO 2 emissions in 2000–2014 in China using SRIO model. • Verify the overall and indirect impact of financial development on trade-embodied CO 2. • Different financial development indicators have different effects on trade-embodied CO 2. • There is regional heterogeneity in the impact of financial development on trade-embodied CO 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is a large country of egg consumption, the study on China's laying hens breeding green total factor productivity (LHBG) is conducive to reducing pollution emissions while improving the productivity of laying hens to promote the cleaner production. Obviously, existing studies on laying hens breeding neglect regional and scale differences as well as serious pollution issues. Therefore, based on the directional distance function (DDF) - Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model, this paper constructs a three-level Metafrontier-Malmquist-Luenberger (MML) index, considering negative output, to evaluate LHBG from 2004 to 2018. Firstly, in terms of scale, the results show that LHBG is the largest in middle scale, followed by small scale and large scale. Secondly, from a regional point of view, the results indicate that China's LHBG presents a reverse stair-step distribution, that is, LHBG is the lowest in the eastern region, followed by the central region and the highest in the western region. The differences between regions and provinces are affected by the traditional farming habits, non-agricultural employment opportunities, the level of urbanization and resource conditions. Thirdly, this paper obtained that the three decomposition efficiencies of LHBG are manifested as the decrease in management efficiency, and the increase in scale structure efficiency and technical efficiency. Fourthly, climate factors have an impact on the laying hens breeding. According to the empirical results, this paper finally puts forward policy suggestions for improving LHBG and environmental protection policy recommendations for layer breeding. • Research on the efficiency of China's laying hens, which subject is innovative. • Environmental factors are introduced into the evaluation system. • The scale heterogeneity and regional heterogeneity of laying hens are considered. • Construct three-levels DDF-MML model and decompose into three efficiencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every country must face the problem of controlling industrial pollution during industrialization. Although low-carbon development has become important to global economic development, industrial pollution remains a problem in rapidly industrializing developing countries. With China as a case study, this paper utilizes the Malmquist index based on game cross-efficiency to measure the industrial pollution mitigation performance (IPMP) in each province of China. Labor and money variables related to industrial pollution mitigation are taken as the input indexes, and the reduction rate of various industrial pollution emissions are taken as the output indexes. From the perspectives of the public and the government, this paper further explores the influencing factors on the IPMP. Considering that there may be a nonlinear relationship between the influencing factors and the IPMP, nonparametric kernel regression is employed to explore the effect by the influencing factors, and the nonparametric bivariate density estimation is used to verify the regression results. The main conclusions of this study are as follows: (1) Due to the concentration of heavy industry, the IPMP is low in northern China. In contrast, the IPMP in central and western China is relatively high. (2) Public supervision has a positive impact on the IPMP. However, the results of heterogeneity analysis show that this effect is different in eastern, central and western China. As a result, under a high degree of public supervision, the regional IPMP will be significantly improved. (3) Public concentration has a positive "U"-shaped impact on the IPMP. The heterogeneity analysis shows that eastern China also has this "U"-shaped characteristic, while the public concentration of central and western China has a positive impact on the IPMP; that is, similar to the public supervision, under a high degree of public concentration, the regional IPMP will be significantly improved. (4) In areas where the enforcement of environmental law is strict, government supervision has a positive impact on the IPMP. By contrast, in areas where environmental law enforcement is not strict, government supervision does not have a positive impact on the IPMP. (5) Due to the failures of policy design and implementation, government concentration has a negative impact on the IPMP. China is the largest developing country in the world. It is of great significance to study its IPMP and the roles of public and government, as it provides other developing countries with insights regarding the experience of industrial pollution control. • The IPMP in northern China is relatively low. • The IPMP in central and western China is relatively high. • Public power can make positive impact on the IPMP with large scale. • Government supervision and concentration fail to improve the IPMP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green innovation and pollutant emissions are currently among the hottest topics in corporate environmental behavior (CEB) research. However, a few previous studies have examined these two concepts together at the choice level of CEB. This paper discusses the internal selection logic of CEB by using multinomial logit (MNL) models that consider the choices of enterprises in green innovation and illegal emissions, both across China and separately in different regions. The objective of this paper is to consider the four choices available to heavily polluting enterprises' dual-target corporate environmental behavior (DTCEB), including alienated, conservative, contradictory, and intimate environmental behaviors. The results of this study show that, under various external pressures, 61.2% of heavily polluting enterprises choose conservative environmental behavior. There is also generally a lack of synchronization between the goals of short-term economic and long-term social benefits. At the current stage, environmental regulation measures should focus on guiding enterprises to change from alienated, conservative, and contradictory behaviors, to intimate. Instead of only focusing on monitoring pollution emissions, the government should focus on green innovation guidance to effectively promote the transformation and upgrading of heavily polluting enterprises. A moderate adjustment of the intensity of command regulation may lead to better regulatory effects. Specifically, the enforcement of laws across China should be slowed; efforts should be made to increase the focus of public participation in the eastern region; the importance of incentive-based tax rate preferences should be increased in the central region, and the intensity of legislation should be strengthened in the western region. Compared with the emphasis on environmental performance in other literature, this article uses comparative thinking to explore the choice logic of the DTCEBs, which attaches different degrees of importance to long-term social benefits and short-term economic benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Severe outdoor haze pollution has brought about associated public health impacts for China in recent years. Haze pollution therefore has become one of the most serious environmental problems in China. To alleviate this, the government issued its National Air Pollution Control NACAP (NAPCAP) in 2013 containing pollution reduction targets for 2017 and beyond. However, there are doubts whether these targets can be achieved. This paper examines this issue by modeling the statistical relationship between PM 2.5 concentration and air pollutant emissions (SO 2 , NO x , etc.), together with wind and neighboring transfer impacts at the city level, to identify ways of calculating intended maximum emission levels in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area. The results indicate that local air pollutant emissions, lagged PM 2.5 concentrations, wind speed, and PM 2.5 concentrations in adjacent areas have a significant impact on PM 2.5 concentrations in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area. The 2017 haze concentration control targets could not be achieved through the current NAPCAP plan, with PM 2.5 concentration levels in many locations being predicted as between two and three times those targeted. However, the 2017 concentration target can be fulfilled given the pollutant reduction rates of NAPCAP plus Enhanced Measures of Air Pollution Control for Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region (EMAPC) under the same wind conditions as 2016. There are large deviations between the simulation and monitor values of PM 2.5 concentration when it is less windy, and the simulation value of most cities are generally lower than the monitor values. The unsuccessful implementation of pollutant reduction measures and inaccuracy of the monitor data are two possible reasons to explain the relatively large deviations involved. Finally, some preliminary institutional causes of haze pollution and solutions for its control in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inter-provincial inequality of per capita CO 2 emissions in China's electricity sector means that their responsibilities for CO 2 emission reduction are different. Considering the spatial separation of CO 2 emissions in power production and consumption, with respect to the large scale inter-provincial electricity trade in China, this paper innovatively investigates the sub-national inequality and polarization degree of per capita CO 2 emissions in China's electric power sector from the perspectives of both production and consumption. The overall tendencies of the sub-national polarization degrees of per capita CO 2 emissions embodied in the both electric power consumption and production in China show an increasing trend. The results indicate that the polarization distribution of per capita CO 2 emissions is still one of the important factors leading to difficulties in achieving the new reduction arrangements. The evolution of the bi-polarization analysis shows that the grouping results of per capita CO 2 emissions are different from production and consumption perspectives, as well as the high- and low-emission groups have significantly different characteristics. The inequality and polarization degree of per capita CO 2 emissions in China's electric power sector have changed as the CO 2 emissions embodied in the electricity trade had been taken into account. One-Size-Fits-All Strategies are unlikely to be successful in advancing the provincial cooperation on CO 2 emissions reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The heat source types in China were not limited to the coal, other types of energy were introduced into the heating energy consumption in recent years, and therefore the specific regional impact of the heating emissions could not be obtained accurately according to the current achievement. Based on this, this study aimed to quantify the impact of the heating emissions on the air quality in an efficient and accurate way. A new method was proposed for investigating the quantitative impact of the heating emissions on the air quality index in this paper and its assumptions and accuracy were verified as well. The data employed in this method is extracted from Ministry of Environmental Protection Data Centre, Qingyue open source and Shanghai Central Meteorological Observatory. The key prerequisites of the proposed method were discussed in this study. By calculating, the averaged absolute difference of the meteorological parameters, namely Clo, WD, WS and P, is 3.58%, 2.40%, 3.21% and 3.94%, respectively. The difference ratio of the industrial emissions relative to the total emissions is as low as 4.3%. The optimal principal component number is six for the proposed method, which can satisfy the accuracy requirement with minimum workload. Compared with the results in previous similar studies, the proposed method showed excellent performance in analyzing the regional impact of the heating emissions on ambient air quality in China. Moreover, a total of 64 North cities in China were analyzed based on the proposed method to promote the knowledge on the influence of heating emissions on the environmental quality and the related parameters were provided in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Applying a parameterized directional distance function approach, this paper estimates the regional eco-efficiency and pollutants' marginal abatement costs in China based on provincial panel data covering the years 2003–2012. We find that China could potentially save capital, labor, land, energy and water by 18.07%, 11.47%, 11.20%, 12.28% and 11.19%, and reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), household refuse and waste water by 11.75%, 11.02% and 11.46%, respectively, on condition that all provinces produced fully efficiently, The south and east coastal areas were the most eco-efficient, while the middle Yangtze River and southwest areas performed relatively poor. For the whole country, the average shadow prices of CO 2 , household refuse and waste water were 717.27 Yuan/tonne, 42,936.98 Yuan/tonne and 306.65 Yuan/tonne, respectively. The shadow price of CO 2 revealed significant regional disparities and that of household refuse showed a rapid increase throughout the study period. Our estimates suggest that policymakers should take measures to avoid ineffective capital investment and improve economic output efficiency in inland provinces, especially in the middle Yangtze River, northwest and southwest areas, and facilitate technological cooperation between developed and undeveloped areas. The regional heterogeneity and flexible price mechanism of various pollutants should be taken into consideration when making the reduction allocations among different areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the impact of the “Carbon Neutral Growth from 2020” (CNG2020) strategy on airline efficiency is analyzed based on the predicted data of 29 international airlines during 2021–2023. The data is predicted through neural network. Following the principle of CNG2020 strategy, we calculate the emission limit for each airline. Two models, Network Range Adjusted Measure with natural disposability and Network Range Adjusted Measure with managerial disposability, are proposed to discuss the efficiency change when the CNG2020 strategy is considered. The following findings are gotten: 1. Under natural disposability, the indices related with undesirable output have a larger role in deciding benchmarking airline. 2. For most of the 29 airlines, CNG2020 strategy has little influence on their efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

City is the core for carbon emission reduction. This paper examines CO 2 emission efficiency and productivity in 286 Chinese cities under different production scenarios using a non-radial directional distance function approach. The examination is conducted via three scenarios, namely CO 2 emission reduction (ER), emission reduction and energy conservation (EREC), and emission reduction, energy conservation, and economic growth (ERECEG). The results show substantial differences in total-factor emission efficiency and productivity across the three scenarios. We also found that total-factor emission efficiency varies considerably across regional and different-sized city groups. However, the distribution dynamics analysis provides strong evidence for the convergence of total-factor emission efficiency across Chinese cities in the long run. Efficiency change contributes of the majority of cross-city variation in productivity growth for the sample period. However, low average total-factor emission efficiency and large disparity in emission efficiency indicate great potential for future CO 2 reduction. Regional development programs tend to drive economic activities into low CO 2 emission performance regions. Our empirical findings provide valuable policy implications for achieving the joint targets of economic growth and CO 2 emission reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alleviating global climate change requires the development and adoption of green innovation. This study compares the impact of cooperative and independent green innovation on carbon reduction based on the panel data covering 252 cities in China from 2003 to 2019. We examine the heterogeneous impacts of cooperative green innovation across units, and explain the transmission mechanism. The two-way fixed effects model and interaction model are adopted. Results show that: (1) Cooperative green innovation can reduce carbon emissions more effectively than independent green innovation. A 1% increase in cooperative green patents (inventions) will reduce carbon emissions by 0.023% (0.037%), while independent green patents or inventions play a weak role. (2) For research and development (R&D) partners, firms' cooperative green innovation has a stronger positive effect on carbon reduction than research organizations. The carbon reduction effect of cooperative green innovation is better for listed firms and universities. (3) Mechanism analysis shows cooperative green innovation can reduce carbon emissions by improving the industrial structure and decreasing energy intensity. These effects are stronger when cities have more talent, funds and higher marketability. (4) We also find that listed firms' cooperative green inventions with a ten-year lag can still reduce carbon emissions effectively. Cooperative green innovation is conducive to carbon reduction among eastern and central cities of China. [Display omitted] • This paper explores the impact of green innovation on carbon reduction from the new perspective of cooperation. • Cooperative green innovation is more effective than independent green innovation in carbon reduction. • Cooperative green innovation of listed firms and universities is more conducive to carbon reduction. • Cooperative green innovation can optimize the industrial structure and decrease energy intensity for better carbon reduction. • Cooperative green innovation with more talent, funds and market has better carbon reduction effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a panel data of 37 industrial sectors in China from 2003 to 2015, adopts the specification of a fixed effect model, and studies the influence of the coordinated development of inward and outward FDI on industrial pollution emissions. A negative correlation is found between the coordinated development level of inward and outward FDI and the industrial pollution emission level, indicating a pollution emission reduction effect associated with the coordinated development of inward and outward FDI. Furthermore, the moderation effect of global value chain position indicates that an industry can benefit from a stronger emission reduction effect associated with the coordinated development level of inward and outward FDI if it evolves to a higher position in the global value chain. In addition, the heterogeneity analysis indicates that industries with lower energy intensity, a lower ratio of state-owned enterprises, and with more green patents benefit from a more obvious effect on reducing industrial pollution emissions that is caused by the coordinated development of inward and outward FDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the acceleration of industrialization and urbanization, the problem of air pollution in China has become increasingly serious. Particulate matter (PM) is a representative indicator of pollutants, and it is of great significance to carry out targeted treatment by studying its periodicity of concentration. In this paper, as a data mining information technology, the Empirical Mode Decomposition-Wavelet Analysis (EMD-WA) model is used to conduct a multi-scale periodic study of the PM 2.5 concentration time sequence in the Yangtze River Delta region in China and it is found that: (1) through the decomposition and reconstruction of the EMD-WA model, the period characteristics of four scales from short to long can be obtained, which are seasonal, short, medium and long period terms respectively; (2) the PM 2.5 concentration in the Yangtze River Delta region shows obvious multi-scale periodicity for the four scales, which includes a seasonal cycle of 46 days (about 1.5 months), a short cycle of 101 days (about 3.5 months), a medium cycle of 294 days (about 10 months), and a long cycle of 671 days (about 22.5 months), respectively. (3) The results are consistent in terms of season, short and middle cycle scales, in north (Jiangsu), east (Shanghai), south (Zhejiang) and west (Anhui) of the Yangtze River Delta region, but there are significant differences in the terms of long cycle scales. (4) The PM 2.5 concentration still shows obvious periodicity within 240 h during severe haze in the Yangtze River Delta region. This paper provides a framework for the government to make policies on energy conservation, emission reduction and air pollution control, and also provides a strong basis for haze prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The exploitation and utilization of mineral resources can induce externality problems. An environmental tax rate directly affects pollution reduction results and the green production of resources industries. Considering the higher pollution emission of resource-based industries, China's environmental tax rate is too low to fully compensate for externality and it impedes technological innovation. This paper firstly calculates the optimal tax rate of China's resource-based industries, based on the statistical relationship between environmental tax rates and pollution emissions. Then, the efficiency of green technology innovation is evaluated. The results show that environmental externalities have a depressing effect on green technology innovation. Furthermore, this paper constructs a threshold effect model of the impact of the optimal environmental tax rate on green technology efficiency. It turns out that the air pollution tax rate has a non-linear effect on green technology innovation, and the implementation standard of tax is lower than the optimal tax rate. In addition, the water pollution tax has no optimal level and has an uncertain impact on green innovation. Therefore, China should gradually increase the environmental tax rate, in order to achieve pollution reduction and technological innovation. • Optimal Environmental tax should be commensurate with the level of emissions. • China's environmental tax rate is too low to compensate for externality. • Environmental externality has a depressing effect on green technology innovation. • The implementation standard of tax is lower than the optimal tax rate. • The air pollution tax rate has a non-linear effect on green technology innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental regulation violations (ERVs) result in pollution incidents and environmental degradation. Although different types of ERVs may have specific determinants, few studies have investigated how determinants are associated with different ERV types. This paper investigates region and firm level determinants of three types of violation: unlicensed facility (UF), improper operation (IO) and excessive emission (EE), based on 629 ERV cases reported in Chongqing, China during 2011–2014. At the firm level, a 10% increase in a firm's registered capital is associated with 0.4% less probability of UF and 0.3% less for IO violations, but 0.7% more for EE. Compared with private firms, firms with sole or collective ownership or joint ownership with non-Mainland China capital reduce the probability of UF violations by 15.3% and 14.3%. Joint ownership with non-Mainland China capital increases the probability of IO by 16.1%, while whole ownership of it decreases IO probability by 26.7%. Sole or collective ownership is associated with 27.4% increase of EE violation. At the regional level, a 10% increase in resident population, industry GDP and number of enterprise are significantly associated with higher probability of UF (7.9%, 5.5% and 5.3% respectively). Increased resident population and industry GDP are associated with 7.3% and 4.3% decrease in the probability of EE, while IO violations are not related with any region level factors except number of enterprises (−6.5%). Thus both firm level and region level factors have significant impacts on type-specific violations of environmental regulations, and these results will contribute to effective environmental management practices and cleaner production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy and environmental concerns have attracted more and more worldwide attention. As industrialization leads to serious environmental effects on sustainable development, China urgently needs to improve its energy-pollution performance without harming industrial growth. This paper proposes two indexes, the energy-pollution efficiency index and the energy-pollution productivity change index, in a unified framework that not only enables a more comprehensive analysis by simultaneously allowing for both static and dynamic performance evaluations, but also sets a sounder best target environmental effect by jointly considering energy conservation and pollution reduction. This research evaluates the industrial energy-pollution performance of regions in China during the period 1995–2014. Findings reveal that its energy-pollution efficiency was unbalanced and hovered at a low level, showing an urgent need for improvement; however, energy-pollution productivity did gradual increase and technology progress was its main contributor. Energy efficiency was higher than pollution efficiency, and their gap increased instead of narrowing. The east area's energy-pollution efficiency ranked first, while its regional discrepancy presented an increasing trend. Energy-pollution productivity improvement was mainly driven by technology progress, while efficiency change exhibited a negative effect. Finally, energy utilization contributed less to energy-pollution productivity improvement than pollution emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of climate change has become an increasing concern for the international community. At the same time, climate change and, particularly, global warming affects the amount of energy required in China and the structure of this demand, thereby influencing the amount of CO 2 (carbon dioxide) emissions produced. To investigate the possible influence of climate change on China's CO 2 emissions, this paper utilizes the degree-day method to calculate the heating degree days (HDD) and cooling degree days (CDD) in 29 provinces in China from 1995 to 2011. A series of appropriate econometric models are subsequently estimated to measure the impact of climate change on CO 2 emissions per capita. To enhance the explanatory power of the estimation results, several indicators, such as income per capita, industry structure, urbanization rate and population density, are incorporated in the estimation equations as control variables. The estimation results indicate that the feedback effect of climate change on China's carbon emissions is statistically significant but not large in magnitude. During the sample period between 1995 and 2011, approximately 1.687% of China's increased total CO 2 emissions could be attributed to climate change. Moreover, the impacts of climate change on different regions of China are notably different. For example, the influence of HDD on CO 2 emissions per capita are most significant in the middle and southern regions, while the impacts of CDD are most significant in the eastern and northern regions. However, there is no obvious evidence that climate change has affected CO 2 emissions in the western region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electric rubber tire container gantry cranes (ERTGs) have already been widely used to replace rubber tire container gantry cranes (RTGs) in many ports of the world, especially in China. ERTGs can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by shifting energy demand from diesel to electricity (energy replacement). It takes almost 6–12 months to change a RTG to an ERTG, and the changed yard cranes cannot work during the replacement phase due to the mechanical reformation and electrical power system construction etc. Therefore, the yard crane network will generate bottlenecks in the container flow and influence the service level when energy replacement happens. This paper focuses on the problem of allocating limited resources for yard cranes to reduce the carbon emissions. The main challenges are how to solve the energy replacement problem at a network level and how to cope with the high uncertainties in the container terminal transportation network. Therefore, we model the energy replacement problem with the purpose of minimizing the carbon emissions by combining an allocation resource mathematical model and a simulation model of the whole transportation network together. The first stage of the energy replacement problem is to make energy replacement decisions each year, while the second stage is to evaluate the value of a seaport's service level based on the realized decisions by running the simulation model. However, the service level indicator is a random variable dependent on the decisions in the mathematical model, which should be controlled to make the seaport work normally at a network level. As an example, the optimization and simulation procedures are applied to a major container terminal in China. The proposed model is general and can be applied to the energy replacement problem of any other seaport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper combines the datasets of the Annual Survey of Industrial Firms and Pollution Emission of Chinese Firms, and uses the difference-in-differences method to explore the impact of environmental regulation on firm chemical oxygen demand (COD) emissions. Using China's COD reduction targets in the 11th Five-Year Plan, we show that environmental regulation reduces firms' COD emissions. The mechanism analysis suggests that the decline of firms' COD emissions caused by environmental regulation is not only driven by the cutting of firm's output but also the falling of COD emission intensity, and environmental regulation's effect on COD emission intensity is much larger. Furthermore, we find end-of-pipe treatment is not at work to the decline of COD emission intensity and front-end preventive control takes effect. Besides, exit of the emission inefficiency firms also contributes to the improvement of firm's COD emissions efficiency. • Environmental regulation reduces firms' COD emissions. • The cutting of output and falling of emission intensity are two reasons for emission declining. • End-of-pipe treatment is not at work and front-end preventive control takes effect. • Exit of the emission inefficiency firms also takes effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an effective technology to reduce traffic pollution emissions, the new energy vehicle industry has developed rapidly in recent years, and the sales of new energy vehicles have doubled in 2021. Accurately forecasting methods provide important references for industrial policy deployment, infrastructure construction and energy demand estimation. In order to predict the development trend of China's new energy vehicle industry under the limited data samples, this paper proposes an optimized discrete grey power model to fit the nonlinear relationship between grey information factor and temporal factor. Firstly, the grey differential equation and its discrete form are directly constructed by using power accumulated data, which simplifies the integral solution process of the traditional grey power model. Secondly, fractional accumulation operator is introduced into the discrete model to ensure the new information priority of the original data. Then, the heuristic algorithm is used to accurately estimate the new parameters of the proposed model. Thirdly, the proposed discrete model is the unified form of two existing discrete grey power models, which expands the scope of modeling and has higher adaptability. Simulation experiments and two numerical cases are used to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. Finally, the proposed method is used to predict the annual sales and ownership of new energy vehicles in China. The predicted results show that by 2025, China's new energy vehicle sales will reach 8.84 million, accounting for about 24% of the total vehicle sales, surpassing the industry development target (20%) set by the Chinese government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The embodied green-house gas (GHG) emissions from the high speed rail (HSR) stations are non-negligible given the considerable scale of modern HSR stations that serve as multifunctional complex. However, the magnitude of the GHG emissions is often underestimated owing to the limited use of reliable inventory data, as well as the simplified modelling that fails to capture the versatile structural/architectural features. To fill the knowledge gap, this paper reviewed the design documents of 117 HSR stations in China to provide more reliable quantification and reveal the factors associated with the GHG emissions. The embodied GHG emissions of the HSR stations were quantified by use of the actual inventory data. Based on the quantification results, a data-driven prediction model was constructed by an optimized general regression neural network (GRNN), which identified a link between the seven design parameters of HSR stations and the embodied GHG emissions. In addition, a cost-benefit analysis was conducted considering the balance between the embodied GHG emissions and serviceability. and discussion The results revealed a non-negligible contribution of HSR stations to the embodied GHG emissions of rail infrastructure. For regional HSR lines, the embodied GHG emissions from the stations could account for over 26% of the whole line. The results also revealed the large stations to be the major source of emissions, for which the embodied emissions per area are 2.84 times of the smaller stations. A Pareto-type distribution exists as the ten largest stations (in station area) contribute nearly 60% of the total emissions of the 117 samples. A canonical correlation analysis (CCA) revealed the station area to be the most prominent factor to the embodied GHG emissions, and the optimized GRNN with CCA-processed input vector make more reliable prediction. The regional HSR lines are subject to higher risk of unsound carbon investment, owing to the low service level of some stations. [Display omitted] • Real inventory data of 117 sample HSR stations in China are used for quantification. • Large stations are responsible for more embodied emissions per station area. • The top 10 largest stations contribute about 60% of the samples' total embodied GHG emissions. • Station area is the most prominent factor affecting the embodied GHG emissions. • Stations of regional HSR lines are more vulnerable to unsound carbon investment due to low service level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Municipal heating by coal contributes considerably to the haze pollution in Chinese cities during cold period, e.g., Beijing 53%. It is widely considered that, as a supplement of natural gas, the use of coal-based synthetic natural gas (SNG) to replace coal for municipal heating is conductive to mitigate the haze pollution in metropolitan areas. Would it still be a good alternative if the whole life cycle of SNG were taken into consideration? In this study, SNG as an alternative for municipal heating is analyzed in comparison with coal. To target cleaner production, life cycle assessment methodology is used to analyze SNG contribution to haze pollutants and greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions, as well as energy consumption. Compared to coal heating route, SNG heating route could reduce 44% of the haze pollutants emissions from life cycle perspective and up to 98% of the emissions in urban area. Thus, if municipal heating were entirely supplied by natural gas and SNG, there would be 52% less haze pollutants emissions in winter of Beijing. However, this “good” performance is at the cost of transferring haze pollutants emissions from urban areas to SNG-producing regions. It is also at the cost of consuming 90% more coal and emitting 65% more GHGs than the coal heating route from life cycle point of view. To tackle the problems of haze pollutants transfer and the increase of GHGs emissions, the paper suggests implementing ecological compensation and carbon tax policies in the coal-based SNG industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pollution emissions have become a matter of public concern in recent years. However, the vast majority of existing researches on PM 2.5 pollution are from the natural science perspective, and few studies have been conducted from an economic point of view. This paper adopts provincial panel data from 2001 to 2012 and panel data models to analyze the key driving forces of PM 2.5 emissions at the regional level in China. The results show that economic growth is a decisive factor of PM 2.5 emissions. The impacts of urbanization on PM 2.5 emissions vary across regions and decrease continuously from the central region to the western and eastern regions. The effects of private cars and coal consumption on PM 2.5 emissions in the eastern region are greater than that in the central and western regions because of significant differences in R&D investment, private car ownership and total coal consumption. Energy efficiency improvement has greater potential to mitigate PM 2.5 emissions in the central and western regions than that in the eastern region due to its low level of technology. Hence, in order to effectively reduce emissions, the Chinese government should consider all these factors as well as regional heterogeneity in developing appropriate mitigation policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the features of bauxite resources and fuels utilized in China's primary aluminum industry, which was not adequately discussed in previous studies with the existing general CO 2 assessment approach. Targeted at this matter, this article develops a bottom-up calculation and scenario analysis model to estimate CO 2 emissions and reduction potentials for China's primary aluminum industry. In this model, the complex structures of feedstock, technology and electric power are completely considered. CO 2 emissions from alumina and aluminum production in the selected year are calculated using this model, and emissions associated with five distinct refining technologies and smelters in the six regional power grids are examined in detail. Results show that CO 2 emissions of primary aluminum production in China could decrease at various extents through implementing alternative countermeasures for ore quality changes and policies adjustment in the future. It's expected that wide adoption of SBSP and IBP as well as further elimination of LSSP and SPCP have a reduction potential of 6%, which is almost equivalent to the cutting effect of SBP domination. For smelting stage, the maximum reduction potential of 20% is projected for 2020, as the current international best available value of power consumption is achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has been viewed as an emission abatement option with great potential in China as coal has dominated China's energy consumption. China has already started to pay attention to CCS, as well as to the proposed the concept of ‘CCUS’ (which adds CO 2 Utilization into the chain of capture, transportation and storage). However, CCS is still in the early stages of its technological development, and the high cost, with several internal and external uncertainties make the role that CCS can play in China's future emission reduction unclear. From the perspective of general equilibrium analysis, this paper introduces CCS into a regional energy–economy–environment integrated assessment model, and makes a comprehensive evaluation of CCS's potential for future development and contribution to emission abatement in China. At climate policy level, the potential contribution of CCS in emission abatement has been evaluated against different future emission constraint scenarios in China. At technological level, the effects of endogenous learning and policy incentives on CCS have been investigated, and the substitution capacities of CCS and Non-hydro renewables to fossil energy have been discussed, as well as their technology penetration rates. Furthermore, the impact of CO 2 utilization on the development of CCS has also been discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presented a coupled decomposition analysis of CO 2 emissions due to energy consumption in China. The logarithmic mean divisia index (LMDI) approach was adopted to decompose the driving factors of CO 2 emissions in eight sub-periods over 1995 to 2011. Decomposition and heterogeneity analyses of CO 2 emission over multiple spatial series were also conducted for the 29 provinces in China. Twelve driving factors in view of four categories of effects were decomposed. The results indicated that (a) driving directions of the factors were highly consistent. All the factors exhibited consistently positive and negative effects both spatially and temporally. Among these factors, the average labor productivity ( ALP ) was the dominant positive driving factor and energy intensity of production sector ( EIP ) was the dominant negative driving factor, (b) over multiple temporal scales, China experienced the largest energy-related CO 2 emission growth in the sub-periods during 2001–2003 and 2003 to 2005. Additionally, the change in the CO 2 emissions from 1997 to 1999 was negative, unlike the other 7 sub-periods, and (c) over multiple spatial scales, contribution values of the factors in different provinces varied significantly, where in general the positive driving effects outweighed the negative inhibiting effects. In total, CO 2 emissions in eastern provinces increased to the largest degrees, followed by central and western ones. It is suggested that China should coordinate and balance the relationships between economic development and CO 2 emission reduction, further decrease energy intensity of many production sectors, gradually adjust the economic and energy structures, and formulate CO 2 emission reduction policies to accommodate regional disparities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the world's largest carbon emitter, China faces serious air pollution problems. Given that both carbon dioxide and air pollutants mainly come from burning of fossil fuels, the coal-to-gas policy has received widespread attention as a way to steer the public towards cleaner energy. However, inflexibility in the early implementation of the coal-to-gas policy caused a shortage of natural gas, and thus had negatively influenced households' lives. Considering the importance of clarifying the economic and environmental impacts of the coal-to-gas policy, this paper employs a dynamic recursive computable general equilibrium (CGE) model and sets different substitution scenarios, to simulate the impacts of the coal-to-gas policy on gross domestic product (GDP), sectoral output, trade, carbon emission reduction, and air quality improvement. The simulation results show that the long-term damage to GDP will be weaker than the short-term one, and carbon emissions would be reduced by 280 and 300 million tons in 2030 under the high and full substitution scenarios, respectively. The emissions of air pollutants (SO 2 and NO x) would also decrease significantly. Moreover, our results indicate that it is feasible to increase the substitution ratio in a stepwise manner and eventually achieve full substitution, which can not only effectively avoid shortages of natural gas, but also promote the coordinated control of carbon dioxide and air pollution emissions. • Coal-to-gas policy is a more effective way to reduce CO 2 emissions than SO 2 and NO x emissions. • The full alternative scenario with a step-by-step substitution approach should be adopted. • Coal-to-gas policy will reduce GDP, and the long-term impact is weaker than the short-term impact. • Some subsidies or tax incentives could be given to exports of resource-intensive goods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper aims to assess the agricultural losses caused by the 2069 state-monitored heavily air polluting enterprises located in 899 Chinese counties. We examine the correlation between per capita number of state-monitored enterprises and other socio-economic indices to show the negative impacts of sulphur dioxide (SO2) industrial air pollution on agricultural development in the regions. Despite these enterprises being the main drivers of economic development in China's counties, surrounding agricultural land continues to be degraded because of the associated SO2 emissions. The cost of agricultural losses due to pollution is estimated at US$ 1.43 billion, representing 0.66% of the total agricultural value added of the 899 Chinese counties. The findings highlight the importance of cleaner production and have policy implications for dealing with industrial air pollution. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Reducing environmental pressure is a major concern for China but despite the improvements in energy efficiency, its gross carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have maintained an upward trend, consistent with the Jevons Paradox. A fundamental shift is thus needed at all levels, including the household. This paper explores the embedded carbon footprint (ECF) of Chinese urban households associated with activities, such as food, personal transport, communications, education, recreation, health and hygiene. It uses an input–output model for carbon emissions and 2003–2009 urban household data. The results show that the total ECF emission intensity increases when an individual''s consumption is higher than 10,000 Yuan (¥). Structural changes are further observed with consumption expenditure above ¥10,000: food, clothing and other survival-oriented emissions intensities as well as education, health and development-oriented emissions intensities reduce; transport, recreation, housing and enjoyment-oriented emissions intensities increase or remain stable and the total emissions intensity increases. Currently per capita consumption expenditure of Chinese urban residents exceeds ¥10,000 and as income continues to rise, China will remain on a high-carbon track. There is a need for better policies, management and behavioural change and the study provides some policy suggestions, including a carbon quota system to guide individual consumption. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]