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Compared to cast-in-situ construction, prefabricated construction reduces the generation of construction waste; however, construction waste cannot be entirely eliminated through prefabrication and can be generated at each stage of its life cycle. This paper generates a system dynamics model, comprising two causal-loop diagrams and one stock-flow diagram, to simulate the effectiveness of policies on decarbonizing prefabricated concrete building waste. The model can predict the annual and total construction waste, along with the associated carbon emissions, under different policy scenarios in China by 2030. This paper focuses on prefabricated concrete buildings in China, with specific attention to the wastage of concrete, bricks, mortar, and metal. In single-factor scenario simulations, increasing landfilling fee is the most effective policy for waste decarbonization, potentially reducing carbon emissions by 31%. Increasing prefabrication rate and enhancing regulation degree at the design phase of prefabrication can directly reduce prefabricated building waste generation, subsequently resulting in an 18% and 7% carbon emissions reduction. Multi-factor scenario simulations demonstrate that the simultaneous application of all four policies is most effective, achieving a 44% reduction in carbon emissions. This research establishes a theoretical framework for prefabricated concrete building waste management and provides the Chinese government with practical insights on optimizing policies for waste decarbonization in the dynamic landscape of prefabrication. • This paper develops the prefabricated building waste generation and disposal systems. • The model predicts the construction waste and associated carbon emissions by 2030. • Raising landfill fee is an effective policy for decarbonizing construction waste by 31.06%. • Prefabrication rate reaching 100% can reduce 18.04% of carbon emissions from waste. • Applying all policies is most effective, achieving a 44.34% carbon emissions reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the goal of "carbon peaking" and "carbon neutrality" in China, it is significant to explore whether emission reduction commitments contribute to carbon risk premium. Therefore, based on a sample of Chinese listed companies that publicly disclosed questionnaires in the CDP from 2009 to 2021, this paper empirically examines the relationship between emission reduction commitments and carbon risk premium and their formation mechanism. The results show that emission reduction commitments can effectively hedge the carbon risk premium, which pass several robustness tests. Specifically, the more comprehensive and ambitious the commitment is, the greater the suppression of the carbon risk premium. The mechanism test shows that disclosing emission reduction commitment information can reduce carbon risk by improving investor confidence and attracting political resources. Differences in enterprise emission levels, regional environmental regulation intensity and green financial development result in different risk-hedging effects of emission reduction commitments. Moreover, the greater the substantial pressure from stakeholders, the greater the tendency for firms to set up emission reduction commitments. Finally, the heterogeneity analysis reveals that confidence level of commitments has a significant impact on risk premium. Specifically, enterprises with SBTi validation, higher CDP ratings and higher target completion are more helpful in curbing carbon risk premium. Our findings contribute to corporate commitment to climate change and complement the carbon risk premium hypothesis. [Display omitted] The possible highlights of this study are as follows. • With the help of forward-looking information on emission reduction commitments, we re-examine the conclusion of the carbon risk premium and find that emission reduction commitments can effectively hedge the risk premium, enriching and developing the carbon risk premium hypothesis • This paper brings commitment levels and carbon emission levels into a unified analytical framework to study the correspondence between emission reduction commitments made under pressure to reduce emissions and the carbon risk premium, providing micro evidence for solving the mystery of the carbon risk premium. • Measure emission reduction commitment indicators from various angles, making the data on emission reduction commitments more objective and scientific. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As major strategic development areas in China, the provinces around the Yangtze River are facing the pressure of large aggregate CO 2 emissions and high per capita CO 2 emissions. The study on the pathway of reducing CO 2 emissions and increasing carbon sequestration will help China better clarify the ways realize the goals of carbon peak and carbon neutrality as soon as possible. In this paper, the extended STIRPAT model and OLS regression were used to establish a prediction model to estimate the CO 2 emissions during 2010–2060 under different scenarios. Meanwhile, the InVEST model was used to estimate the carbon sequestration, and the comparison with the CO 2 emissions was analyzed. The results show that Qinghai and Yunnan have achieved the goal of carbon neutrality in 2010. Under the low-carbon and energy-saving scenario and the baseline scenario, all provinces within the study area are anticipated to attain their emissions peak by 2030 or earlier, and the CO 2 emissions peak value of the whole study area is 3111 Mt and 3199 Mt, respectively. While under the high emissions scenario, only Chongqing and Qinghai will reach the emissions peak in 2030, and the whole study area will reach the emissions peak in 2040, with peak value of 3470 Mt. Under the three scenarios, the whole study area cannot achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. Only Sichuan and Hubei can achieve carbon neutrality in 2050 and 2060 under the low-carbon and energy-saving scenario. All provinces and municipalities in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River are facing huge pressure of emissions reduction. The research reveals that the goals of carbon peak and carbon neutrality should be achieved by developing clean energy, transforming industrial structure, increasing carbon sequestration and improving carbon emissions trading system. [Display omitted] • The CO 2 emissions showed a pattern of increase during 2010–2020. • The whole study area will achieve carbon peak by 2040 or earlier. • The whole study area cannot achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. • The realization pathway of carbon peak and neutrality was proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the urgency of the transition to renewable energy, this study examines the challenges and opportunities associated with the electrification of heavy-duty vehicles, particularly new energy construction dump trucks, in China. Through a combination of policy analysis and empirical research, it investigates drivers' purchase intentions towards these alternative energy vehicles in a designated study area. The findings reveal that while policies aimed at encouraging adoption are in place, drivers' purchase intentions remain low due to factors such as high costs, technical concerns, inadequate infrastructure, and satisfaction with existing trucks. Specifically, the study identifies key technical challenges, including battery performance and range limitations, and advocates for a shift in policy support towards product development to address these issues. Overall, the paper highlights the need for a comprehensive approach that combines policy incentives with technological advancements to promote the widespread adoption of new energy construction dump trucks in China and achieve sustainability and carbon neutrality goals in the transportation sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to probe collaborative environmental governance (CEG) in China's "1 + N" policy framework for carbon peak and carbon neutrality, this paper applies the Actor-network theory (ANT) as an analytical framework to explore carbon reduction policy coordination. We then model ANT's relations with an evolutionary game theory (EGT) model to examine the evolutionarily stable strategies in CO 2 emission reduction by various actors including the central government, local governments, commercial banks, and polluting enterprises. Our objective is to examine policy coordination as the key enabler for governing success via an ANT-based mechanism design in China's institutional context. Combining the strength of ANT with a four-party EGT model, we investigate how to improve policy coordination to mobilize the actor-network for promoting CEG. Simulations are conducted to examine the effectiveness of policy coordination involving multiple policy instruments for controlling carbon emissions. The central government fulfills leadership in translating the interests of other actors and shaping the desired collaborative network. Without proper coordination, environmental policies may counteract each other. Government transfers and subsidies have direct impacts, but in the long run enhanced competitiveness and profitability of enterprises represent the intrinsic key to CEG success. From a methodology perspective, policy simulation in an EGT framework represents a novel addition to the research toolbox that expands ANT. [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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

Carbon sequestration of blue carbon ecosystems worldwide is as high as 237.6 Tg C/a. China is one of the countries with the most resources of blue carbon, with carbon sequestration of 0.835 Tg C/a. To develop blue economy and facilitate the fulfillment of carbon neutrality, it is of great significance for China to build the blue carbon trading market (BCTM). This paper aimed to improve the participation probability of stakeholders to construct an effective BCTM through evolutionary game theory. First, we constructed a tripartite evolutionary game model including the governments, the suppliers of blue carbon (SBC) and the demanders of blue carbon (DBC), based on the corresponding cost and benefit in BCTM. To further reveal the factors affecting the cooperation of above parties, we analyzed the sensitivity of the stakeholders through five parameters, i.e., proportion of subsidies, unit carbon tax, blue carbon credits, unit price of blue carbon credits, and the cost of carbon emission reduction unit. To verify the game model, a case study of blue carbon credits of mangrove trading was performed. The main conclusions are as follows. In the initial stage of BCTM, the governments need to play a leading role in regulating and incentivizing motivation of the SBC and DBC. Subsidies and carbon taxes are conducive to promoting BCTM to develop into the middle stage. In the middle stage, price and quota of BC credits are two primary parameters to affect the evolutionary results of above three groups. Thus, it's necessary for the governments to adjust these parameters in time. When the trading scale and operation mode of BCTM approaching stable, the market will enter into the mature stage. Then, the governments can reduce subsidies to save fiscal expenditure and lessen the intervention, so as to gradually withdraw from the market. The above conclusions can provide a theoretical basis and reference for the construction of efficient BCTM and promote the integration of blue carbon into the carbon market in China. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emissions trading system (ETS) is a cost-effective way towards achieving the carbon neutrality goal. Based on the gaps in the research on carbon allowance allocation vis-à-vis the carbon neutrality target, this study examines how to allocate carbon allowances equitably and effectively among Chinese provinces. Different from the previous research that mainly considers responsibility, ability, and potential of equity dimensions, this paper proposes a composite indicator allocation approach based on the equity of history, demand, contribution, and guarantee, and it also employs the entropy method and expert survey method to obtain the indicator weight values in different scenarios. Results show that the carbon allowances of some provinces, such as the forest-rich province of Yunnan, vary significantly in five scenarios, but little differences are observed for some provinces, such as the high historical emissions province of Shanxi. More provinces achieve data envelopment analysis efficiency in the preferred scenario. Compared with the objective scenario, the required emission reduction in the preferred gross domestic product (GDP) scenario is 231 million tonnes less, and the emission reduction cost is 190 billion yuan less. It is suggested that the Chinese government should adopt the allocation scheme in preference for the GDP scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With China's aspiration of building a healthy nation and increasing its average life expectancy, the pharmaceutical industry will continue to grow in the coming years. Considering the high energy consumption and emissions in the pharmaceutical industry, striving for sustainability will be essential to achieving the 2030 target of peaking CO 2 emissions and becoming carbon neutral by 2060. This paper quantifies the reduction potential for CO 2 emissions in the pharmaceutical industry to provide policymakers with some references when decomposing the reduction task. By constructing a non-radical metafrontier Malmquist CO 2 performance index (NMMCPI), we find that the NMMCPI in the pharmaceutical industry is improved from 2005 to 2016. The three main factors influencing the changes are technical efficiency, technological advancement and technological leadership. These three factors have contributed to the growth of NMMCPI in the eastern Chinese pharmaceutical industry; however, the technological leadership effect is lacking in central and western China. There is a huge CO 2 emissions reduction potential in the pharmaceutical industry, which can be compared to UK and Brazilian emissions in 2016. In light of this, we recommend some policy implications to reduce the CO 2 emissions of the pharmaceutical industry in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of market-based climate policies represented by the emission trading system (ETS) is an important path for countries to participate in global climate governance and achieve the goals of carbon emission peaking and carbon neutrality. Whether the covered firms can improve financial performance through bearing responsibility for cutting emissions, a "win-win" of environmental and economic achievement, is an important way to evaluate the effectiveness of ETS. Based on the Chinese A-share listed firms in industrial sector during the period of 2010–2017, this paper employs PSM-DID method to investigate the impact of China's pilot ETS on financial performance of the covered firms. The results show that the covered firm's financial performance is improved by the implementation of pilot ETS, which can increase firm's ROA by 0.01 unit. Specifically, the pilot ETS can significantly improve the financial performance of non-state-owned firms, without affecting state-owned firms. Similarly, the financial performance improvement is more significant for firms in non-energy industries. Furthermore, the pilot ETS can motivate the covered firms to gain financial profit through cutting carbon emission as a mediation path, and the mediation effect size of carbon emission intensity is 0.001. Besides, firm's innovation ability weakens this mediation path, and the well-developed institutions in pilot area, proxied by high degree of marketization, only weaken the first part of the path, namely, carbon emission reduction led by ETS. • ETS achieves a win-win of carbon emission reduction and financial performance improvement. • The improvements by ETS are heterogeneous in ownership and industry. • Firm's carbon emission intensity plays a mediation role. • Firms can gain more benefit under the ETS regulation if the market monopoly is strong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]