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Our study focuses on the carbon emission and mitigation potential in the domain of daily travel in Beijing. Using a sample with the focus on working class, the average individual carbon emissions from daily travel are computed as 1.46 kg/day•person and 2.40 kg/day•person for weekday and weekend. Except for residents who need to conduct more long-distance trips, the main contributor to the emissions of the rest high emitters are not the need of longer daily travel distances or the need to conduct more long distance trips, but the need to use cars more intensively for trips with similar distances compared with low emitters. High emitters are associated with the characteristics of being male, having higher income, owning cars, and being in the age between 30s and 40s. On the other hand, living within fifth ring and having good accessibility to public transport are associated with lower emissions. We innovatively use trip-based information to obtain a more relevant and realistic assessment of mitigation potential through mode shift under the current transport system. The mitigation percentage can be as high as 20%–25% if only travel time is considered, but will be substantially constrained by practical barriers. Therefore mitigation policy for daily transport should not only focus on improving travel time of low emission modes to comparable levels with cars but also tackle practical barriers for car drivers to use low emission modes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dibutyl phthalate (DBP), a typical persistent organic pollutant, is of extensive attention because of its universal detection in soils and its impact on soil ecology. However, the ecological effects of DBP on ecologically fragile salinized soils are unclear, especially as soil salinization can result in soil degradation and thus affect the soil carbon cycle. Therefore, in this study, a typical salinized soil (agricultural soil in the Yellow River Delta) was selected and treated with DBP at different doses (1.0, 10, and 50 mg kg−1) and incubated for 30 d. The results revealed that DBP exposure significantly decreased the abundance of soil microorganisms. Molecular ecological network analysis showed that some taxa related to the carbon cycle gradually became key taxa in the network, changing the composition and structure of the bacterial community. The decrease of cbbLG , cbbLR and cex , and the increase of sga , glx and mcrA functional gene abundance affected carbon conversion. Molecular docking indicated that DBP could bind to soil invertase and β-glucosidase proteins, and change the enzyme activity. These results emphasized the critical impact of DBP on microbial communities and carbon cycling in salinized soils, and will play an essential role in DBP ecological risk assessment. [Display omitted] • DBP reduced the number of bacteria, archaea and fungi in salinized soil. • The interconnections of soil microorganism were more tightened under the interference of DBP. • DBP exposure has led to the emergence of carbon cycle-related taxa as key taxa in the network. • DBP has a negative impact on the carbon cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adaptation at farm level is an effective measure to cope with global climate change. The study aims to clarify farmers' intentions and decisions regarding global climate change adaptation. Logistic regression models were used to examine the influences of socioeconomic factors and climate adaptation communication processes on farmers' decision to apply adaptation strategies against drought and flood. Specifically, for a thorough understanding of non-adapting farmers, the theory of planned behavior was incorporated, to assess these farmers' intention to adaptation. Results showed that farmers' perceptions were consistent with the weather data over a short period, reporting a rise in temperature and a greater decrease in precipitation. Agricultural experience, farm income, training, social capital, and effective climate adaptation communication were statistically significant in increasing the probability of farmers' adaptation. For farmers who do not perceive climate change but adapted nonetheless, social capital played a major factor, driving their belief in, and behavior to adaptation, of which the most important aspects were neighbors and peer groups. Farmers' intention to adapt was mostly affected by perceived behavioral control factors, followed by attitude and subjective norms. Therefore, successful policies to enhance farmers' perceptions and adaptive capacity can encourage both actual and intended adaptation farmers. Adaptation strategies require the participation of multiple players from all related sectors engaging with local communities and farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is an attractive option to help reduce China's carbon emission. This paper analyzes the impacts of subsidy for electricity generation on CCS retrofitting investment and carbon abatement in China's coal power plants, considering the coaction of carbon market and subsidy policy. To this end, this paper builds up a real option model, considering carbon prices, electricity prices and coal prices' uncertainties. For decision of CCS investment, we consider two important aspects: whether to invest and when to invest, i.e. CCS investment's potential and timing. Some major findings include: 1) The impacts of subsidy on CCS investment and carbon abatement are affected by carbon market conditions: initial carbon price can determine the magnitude of subsidy's impacts, while carbon prices' uncertainty level can determine subsidy's marginal impacts. 2) Subsidy from $0.01 to $0.05/kWh can raise CCS investment potential by 9.66%–39.18%, shorten CCS investment period by 0.39–1.95 years and bring carbon abatement potential of 0.10–1.89 GtCO 2 , considering different carbon market conditions. 3) With the benchmark carbon market and affordable subsidies, triggered CCS investments in coal power plants have an economical-efficient carbon abatement potential up to 20% of China's carbon emission in 2030. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seeking new practical approaches as alternative ways for greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation to incentivize farmers’ behaviors regarding farming is a challenging point. Thus, five alternative crop rotations (rice, corn, mung bean, soybean and watermelon) under ten alternative cropping systems were investigated. Data were collected using field surveys and structured questionnaires at the same 144 farms (in irrigated and rainfed areas of 72 farms equally) covering two crop years. GHG emissions were evaluated based on the concept of the life cycle assessment of the greenhouse gas emissions (LCA-GHG) of products. Economic analyses of each cropping system were preformed: cost-benefit analysis, net profit and marginal abatement cost (MAC). Results revealed that rice cultivation was the major source of GHG emissions, particularly due to the planting and burning of rice residue stages, while GHG emissions of crop rotation systems were generated mainly from the land preparation stage. On a per area basis, large farms show significantly higher GHG emissions than small and medium farms. Conversely, for per kg of crops produced, small farms generated the highest GHG emissions, compared to the other sizes of farms. This study strongly supports the implementation of a triple cropping system in irrigated areas, which suggests that crop rotations after the first and second rice harvesting with mung bean gained the highest B/C ratio at 1.48; the negative abatement potential was −5.47 ton CO 2 eq ha −1 , the negative abatement cost was −2378.31 Baht ha −1 and the negative MAC was −434.86 Baht ton −1 CO 2 eq. For rainfed areas, the double cropping system with selecting mung bean is recommended because it is the most profitable as the B/C ratio is 1.52, the negative abatement potential is −7.34 ton CO 2 eq ha −1 , the negative abatement cost is −2161.11 Baht ha −1 and the negative MAC is −294.48 Baht ton −1 CO 2 eq. Alternative cropping systems with selecting crop rotation not only reduce GHG emissions in the rice field but also increase the benefits to farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seeking new practical approaches as alternative ways for greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation to incentivize farmers' behaviors regarding farming is a challenging point. Thus, five alternative crop rotations (rice, corn, mung bean, soybean and watermelon) under ten alternative cropping systems were investigated. Data were collected using field surveys and structured questionnaires at the same 144 farms (in irrigated and rainfed areas of 72 farms equally) covering two crop years. GHG emissions were evaluated based on the concept of the life cycle assessment of the greenhouse gas emissions (LCA-GHG) of products. Economic analyses of each cropping system were preformed: cost-benefit analysis, net profit and marginal abatement cost (MAC). Results revealed that rice cultivation was the major source of GHG emissions, particularly due to the planting and burning of rice residue stages, while GHG emissions of crop rotation systems were generated mainly from the land preparation stage. On a per area basis, large farms show significantly higher GHG emissions than small and medium farms. Conversely, for per kg of crops produced, small farms generated the highest GHG emissions, compared to the other sizes of farms. This study strongly supports the implementation of a triple cropping system in irrigated areas, which suggests that crop rotations after the first and second rice harvesting with mung bean gained the highest B/C ratio at 1.48; the negative abatement potential was −5.47 ton CO 2 eq ha −1 , the negative abatement cost was −2378.31 Baht ha −1 and the negative MAC was −434.86 Baht ton −1 CO 2 eq. For rainfed areas, the double cropping system with selecting mung bean is recommended because it is the most profitable as the B/C ratio is 1.52, the negative abatement potential is −7.34 ton CO 2 eq ha −1 , the negative abatement cost is −2161.11 Baht ha −1 and the negative MAC is −294.48 Baht ton −1 CO 2 eq. Alternative cropping systems with selecting crop rotation not only reduce GHG emissions in the rice field but also increase the benefits to farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding corporate preferences for domestic policy instruments is crucial to designing and planning the sectoral market mechanism in China. Based on a detailed overview of nine domestic policy instruments under the sectoral market mechanism, this paper evaluates corporate preferences and identifies their relationship with potential determinants through an ordinal logistics model. The data was collected from 113 respondents in all 11 prefecture-level cities of Shanxi province, China. The results show that providing economic incentives is the most preferable policy for companies. The policy instrument in which installations with voluntary targets receive tradable units is not recommended unless the inequity in the distribution of responsibility could be reduced or alleviated effectively. If the government applies a mandatory policy, it is more effective to give companies mandatory targets and to allocate tradable units to them in order to offer more flexibility. This paper discusses policy implications in designing domestic policy instruments based on the determinants that impact corporate preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes an analysis of choice preferences of Chinese companies to the design options of carbon tax policy. The data were collected from 201 companies, with around half of them based in the western Shanxi Province and the other half from the eastern Jiangsu Province. Modeling analysis of the discrete choice dataset confirms the statistically significant relationships between the company's preferences to carbon tax policy with the policy attributes, including tax rate, tax relief measures and the revenue utilization. From the viewpoint of Chinese businesses, the option of carbon tax policy with tax rate at 10–30 Yuan/t-CO 2 , allowing tax relief to energy-intensive sectors, using the revenues specific for climate change and starting as early as the 13th five-year plan period (2016–2020) would be preferable and realistic. The results of this research may be referred for the discussions and development of carbon tax policy in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production of biogas from lignocellulose by anaerobic digestion (AD) has attracted much attention recently. However, the over-acidification phenomenon and low biogas yield often occur during the AD of lignocellulose. In this work, the liquid-state fermentation mode using pretreatment liquor from dilute acid treated rice straw without detoxification for continuous biogas production in a 100 L internal circulation reactor was studied. The highest biogas yield reached 0.66 m3/kg CODconsumption while the methane yield was 0.38 m3/kg CODconsumption. The pH values of outlet were maintained at 6.9–7.4, and even the inlet pH values were lower than 6.0. Furthermore, from the second day to the end of fermentation, the COD removal rates were more than 90%, even though the inlet COD was close to 20000 mg/L. The organic substances from acid pretreated rice straw were efficiently degraded by AD, which was confirmed by substrate metabolism analysis. These results indicated that the whole fermentation process of AD was very stable and showed great potential for industrial application. [Display omitted] • AD of pretreatment liquor from dilute acid treated rice straw without detoxification. • The COD removal rate during the AD process was more than 85%. • The sugars and organic acids could be utilized efficiently. • Continuous biogas production in a 100 L IC reactor was investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to high oil content and complex composition, Kitchen waste (KW) is refractory for biotreatment and easily causes environmental burden, especially in Sichuan area with greasy cooking habits. To facilitate KW composting, a nitrogen-retaining & decomposing-promoting microbial agent (NRDPMA) was constituted with functional bacteria to decompose refractory substances, retain nutrients, and reduce gas emission. With NRDPMA, high-temperature period was achieved 2 days earlier and extended by 6 days, shorting the process by 15 days. 36.57% less NH 3 and 22.30% less H 2 S were released. The total nitrogen of the compost product was increased by 17.14%. Functional bacteria in NRDPMA (e. g. Bacillus , Pseudomonas , and Oceanobacillus) displayed obvious advantages throughout composting, which reshaped microbial community composition and drove material transformation. PICRUST2 prediction confirmed a higher gene occurrence related to metabolism of lipid, lignocellulose, and nitrogen. The great decomposing and transformation capacity made NRDPMA an alternative to improve the efficiency of composting on recycling such lipid-containing waste. And functional bacteria targeting refractory components should be included for biotreatment of waste. This study should give a new perspective on industrial KW composting. [Display omitted] • 6 days longer high-temperature period with 36.57% less NH 3 and 22.30% less H 2 S. • NRDPMA conserved 17.14% higher nitrogen with 15 days shorter composting period. • Functional bacteria of NRDPMA targeting lipid, starch, and cellulose played a crucial role. • NRDPMA participated in all the composting periods, drove microbial community change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper develops an analytical framework based on the reasoned action theory and discusses the environmental activism (EA) of residents living close to the polluting companies. The data was collected by a questionnaire survey conducted in August of 2009 in Suzhou city of Jiangsu Province, China, which successfully obtained a total of 343 valid responses. The survey suggests that the residents are reluctant to act against their neighboring polluters. Nearly 10% respondents have never taken any action against the polluters, and the occasional EA participators account for 66.2% of the total. The items of EA, which require the residents to directly communicate with the governments or polluters, achieve very low ratios of participations (with a range of 5–25%). The path analysis confirms that there are large influences of certain attitudinal components on EA involvement. Understanding of corporate environmental information significantly determines the resident’s intention of EA practices. The residents have an obvious tendency to act collectively against the polluters. An essential message of this study is that the strategy of corporate environmental information disclosure may effectively increase the resident’s readiness of EA participation. The government shall responsively support the residents’ EA efforts since successful environmental protests will greatly convince them to jointly act against their neighboring polluters. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The appropriate design of the emission trading scheme (ETS) plays a crucial role in promoting companies to conduct low-carbon technological innovations. Based on a questionnaire survey, this paper examines how the design of the ETS and identified determinants have impacted corporate low-carbon technological investment decisions. The data was collected from 99 companies in the eight areas that are implementing the ETS in China. The results indicate that five attributes significantly influence the possibility of corporate investments in low-carbon technologies and thus need more attention in designing the national ETS, including allowance allocation for existing installations, compliance period, allowance allocation for new entrants, allowance banking and policy stability. From the viewpoint of the surveyed companies, the ETS that allocates allowances for existing installations based on the benchmark, has a long compliance period, allocates allowances for new entrants based on a uniform benchmark and allows companies to bank allowances could effectively encourage companies to conduct the low-carbon technological investment. The results of this study are important in light of ongoing discussions and developments of the national ETS in China. [Display omitted] • This paper examines the innovation influencing mechanism of ETS design features and other determinants. • Data were collected from 99 companies in the eight areas that are implementing ETS in China. • The policy attributes significantly associated with corporate low-carbon technology investment decisions are identified. • We also identify the determinants that are closely related with low-carbon technology investment decisions. • Policy implications for designing the national ETS are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The setting of air quality standards is highly significant in controlling widespread pollutants and mitigating environmental risks. The selection of influential drafting units is a major step for the improvement of the systematicness, harmony, and compatibility of standard systems, which further leads to high air quality. To this end, this paper presents a novel social network-based methodology to assess the influence of drafting units based on a dynamic two-layer standard network model with the publicized data of the national air quality standards of China. Firstly, network theory metrics are aggregated with the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) to evaluate their importance dynamically; Secondly, three measurements of participation degree, cooperation degree, and contribution degree are deliberately designed to assess the influence of drafting units. The results show that most of the key standards vary over time driven by policy reform, while the volatility of critical drafting units is relatively stable. It is also interesting to find that most of the influential drafting units are research institutes rather than enterprises. In view of the results, we assert that government agencies should strategically support influential drafting units and encourage them to make great efforts in drafting important standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Common reed (Phragmatic australis) is a vigorous growing wetland plant that forms dense monotypic stands in the Baiyang Lake in the Xiong'an New Area (XNA) of Hebei Province in north China. As a result of untimely harvesting, it has recently developed into an endogenous invasive plant. We assessed the feasibility of reed biochar addition in soils from the ash tree (Fraxinus chinensis) plantation to evaluate the impact of biochar addition on the soil multi-functionality with a bag trial using a greenhouse incubation approach. The soil nutrient turnover was promoted by increasing the abundance of key functional genes of cbbL , nifH , nirK , and pqqC at the early stage. Bacterial taxa tended to be convergent communities irrespective of biochar addition. Path analysis showed that soil variables and bacterial network parameters were positively correlated with soil function in general, whereas alpha diversity has shown an almost opposite relationship. Biochar increased the number of keystone taxa at the treatment's middle stages and improved the network's stability. The whole primary succession of the bacterial communities remarkably homogenous dispersal, contributing to 80% of bacterial community assemblies, which indicates little competitive pressure. Collectively, these results point to a role for biochar addition in enhancing soil functions in ash tree plantations, which can be considered cleaner production to contribute to the greening efforts of the plantation forest sustainability. [Display omitted] • Biochar addition prompts convergent succession. • Biochar (T60) triggered an abrupt transition in the bacterial community assembly. • Keystone taxa of biochar-treated soils differed entirely from their controls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has always been a great challenge to transform the huge waste PET plastic (wPET) resources into reusable monolithic materials under atmospheric pressure and low temperature. Herein, we reported a novel one-step method for transforming wPET into 3D monolithic structure material (3DMSM) at atmospheric pressure and low temperature (98 °C) without catalyst. The main idea of this paper is to use special solvent (a mixture of C 6 H 5 OH and C 2 H 2 Cl 4 with a 1:1 vol ratio) to dissolve wPET, then introduce polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and aluminum dihydrogen phosphate (AHP) to react and generate new chemical bonds in 3DMSM, so as to transform wPET into 3DMSM with excellent mechanical strength and stability even under extreme conditions. The resulting 3DMSM (0.546 g) can support a beaker containing 5000 mL of water without deformation, and max compressive strength and compressive modulus reaches 5.5 ± 0.5 MPa and 34.3 ± 0.5 MPa 3DMSM can maintain structural stability in extreme conditions such as strong acid and alkali. XRD, FTIR and 13C solid-state NMR analysis confirmed that the chemical bonds of wPET will not break when dissolved in a special solvent, and chemical bond breakage mainly occurred in the reaction process. Utilizing chemical bonds to break and recombine, two new substances, C 9 H 9 ClO 3 (benzoicacid, 5-chloro-2-methoxy-, methylester) and Al 3 (PO 4) 2 (OH) 3 , were formed, and the possible structure formula was provided. The innovation of this work is that it presents a novel method to dispose of wPET at atmospheric pressure and low temperature, which provides a possibility for the subsequent large-scale realization of wPET resources. • We report on a novel method for converting waste PET plastic into high-value TDMSM. • The TDMSM has impressive mechanical strength and stability in extreme conditions. • WPP can be converted at atmospheric pressure and low temperature without catalyst. • The TDMSM can be directly utilized without further separation and purification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is crucial to understand corporate preferences in designing and planning new market-based instruments. Using the method of conjoint analysis, this paper evaluates corporate preferences for policy alternatives of the sectoral crediting mechanism aiming at supporting its discussions and development. Data were collected from 94 companies in all 11 prefecture-level cities of Shanxi province, China. The results confirm that companies are most concerned about three policy attributes; domestic policy instruments, the relationship with the clean developing mechanism, and the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities. From the viewpoint of the Chinese businesses surveyed, the ideal policy alternative has a domestic policy instrument in which installations with voluntary targets receive tradable units, while co-existing with the clean developing mechanism, and providing opportunities to get financial and technical assistance from developed countries. Meanwhile, the coverage of the sectoral crediting mechanism could be expanded to small companies that are the most inefficient and thus have the lowest abatement costs in some sectors. The results of this study are important in light of ongoing discussions and developments of the sectoral crediting mechanism in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Article 6 of the Paris Agreement enables Parties to achieve their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) through direct cooperation or Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMO). Current researches on Article 6 are mostly based on the assumption of unlimited global carbon market link, which may lead to large price volatility and cause concern of policy makers. In order to investigate the impact of inter-regional carbon market link mechanism on global climate action, here, we designed carbon market link scenarios with different degrees of trading volume limits. We simulated the global and regional carbon markets under different scenarios from 2025 to 2060 using the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM). The findings suggest that as the link limit tightens, both the price volatility of global carbon market and the cumulative mitigation costs saved by carbon market links decrease, which reminds policy makers of the trade-off between economic efficiency and price volatility. The price volatility under the unlimited global carbon market scenario is about 30% higher than that with link limits implemented, while the unlimited market would also save about 0.83 trillion dollars abatement costs than the limited scenario. At the national level, a total of 14 regions are limited in different link limit scenarios, among which China, the United States, EU and India are the most sensitive regions to link limits. Based on the scenario results, we discuss the design of international carbon market link mechanisms, such as absolute link limits and relative link limits. • A trade-off between economic efficiency and price volatility under link limit. • A total of 14 regions are limited in the limit scenarios. • China, U.S., EU and India are the most sensitive regions to link limits. • Regional heterogeneity in sensitivity to absolute and relative limit mechanisms. • The direction of the financial flows remains unchanged with link limits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities and urban agglomerations are carriers of greenhouse gas emissions and show significant heterogeneity. China has entered a transitional period of new-type urbanization, which emphasizes high-quality and coordinated regional development. However, evidence of the spatiotemporal heterogenous effects of new-type urbanization on carbon emissions in cities, and especially in urban agglomerations are still lacking. This study estimated the new-type urbanization level and investigated its spatiotemporal heterogenous impacts on carbon dioxide emissions (CO₂) in 288 Chinese cities and 18 urban agglomerations. The results show that for each 1% increase in new-type urbanization level, the median estimation of CO₂ emissions per capita can decrease by 171.0% (46.8%,338.4%) at city-level. The inverted "U-shaped" relationships between new-type urbanization and CO₂ emissions per capita were observed in more than 60% of the cities. The average impacts of new-type urbanization and its square term of the cities which are located in urban agglomerations are estimated to be approximately 0.8 and 1.7 times of cities that are not, which indicates that cities in urban agglomerations are peaking their CO₂ emissions per capita with a higher enhancement of new-type urbanization. The results add new insights for formulating dynamic phase-to-phase carbon reduction policies and urban planning in cities and urban agglomerations. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biogas is one of the important renewable energy sources, which is expected to significantly contribute not only for the successful achievement of a low carbon transition but also to achieve global climate change policy targets. Private investment is identified as a critical factor for biogas sector to fulfill its expected role. Hence, this paper emphasizes on identifying private stakeholder’s investment criteria in order to increase its active involvement for biogas in China. This study focused on banks, insurance companies, pension funds, private equity funds and high network individuals as the primary stakeholders. It applies an SWOT-AHP-TOWS analysis, in which the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) of stakeholders are identified and then prioritized by using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). Finally, the TOWS matrix supports the development of private investment strategies, which serve as a foundation for Chinese policy makers to promote private investments in the biogas sector. The following strategies have been identified as the most important ones: (1) Promoting financial tailored biogas products in terms of volume, interest rate and duration for banks; (2) Permitting insurance companies and pension funds directly investing into biogas equity; (3) Encouraging public-private partnerships and (4) Improving project cooperation by introducing professional guidance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Households may imperfectly implement energy saving measures. This study identifies two factors resulting in imperfect use of energy-saving technology by households. Households often continue to use old technologies alongside new ones, and the energy-saving technologies have shorter actual lifetimes than their designed lifetimes. These two factors are considered when computing marginal energy conservation cost and marginal CO 2 abatement cost using data collected from a survey of rural households in three provinces in China. The results show that there are cost reduction for most space heating technologies, and their marginal abatement cost under full implementation ranges from −60 to 15 USD/t-CO 2 , while the marginal abatement cost of cooking technologies ranges from 12 to 85 USD/t-CO 2 . The marginal abatement costs of the majority of technologies increased after accounting for the two implementation factors. The marginal abatement cost in the imperfect implementation scenario is higher, with a range of −1 to 15 USD/t-CO 2 for space heating, and 18 to 165 USD/t-CO 2 for cooking. Assuming implementation factors are constant until 2035, annually achievable CO 2 abatement by 2035 is estimated to be 57, 11, and 10 Mt-CO 2 /y in Hebei, Guizhou, and Guangxi Provinces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To achieve nationally determined contribution (NDC) targets, China has developed a series of low carbon development plans. Among them, the clean energy transformation is very crucial. This study evaluates the impact of a set of policies including the development of renewable energy, upgrading heavy industry, and energy efficiency improvement on China's income gap between 2012 and 2050. A dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model with detailed representations of economic activity, an upgraded labor market and disaggregated labor types based on statistical and survey data is used. Our research provides support for the necessity of low-carbon policies to achieve NDC targets. Results show some key findings. First, low-carbon policies have the greatest impact on employment across all energy industries, with negative impacts in most traditional energy sectors and positive impacts in most renewable power sectors. Second, labor will continue to migrate from rural to urban areas with the transformation of the economic structure and the urbanization rate will further increase, reaching a maximum of around 70%. The reduction of the rural population will bring new opportunities for the modernization of agriculture, increasing the income of rural residents and realizing the equitable development between urban and rural areas. Third, the income gap among urban residents will widen due to the different level of labor demand for employees with different education levels. • The impact of low carbon policies on employment and income is assessed. • A dynamic CGE model with disaggregated labor types is developed. • Policies have the positive employment impact in the renewable energy industries. • The income gap will decline between urban and rural residents. • The income gap will widen among urban residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Being the largest emitter of carbon dioxide in the world, China also possesses enormous regional disparities in terms of carbon dioxide emissions. Significant carbon emission flows from developed regions to undeveloped regions through inter-regional trade have been observed in China. In order to examine the determining factors of such virtual carbon flows, an index decomposition analysis was conducted to investigate emissions embodied in trades among eight regions, which were grouped with recourse to the latest available provincial I/O tables in China. This paper finds that trade balance and energy intensity are two most salient factors with regard to interregional carbon flows. In the largest outsourcing region, the northwest region of China, the two factors account for 35.6–59.1% of the total carbon surplus, respectively. Thus, China is experiencing more ‘efficiency losses’ than ‘efficiency gains’ resulting from carbon transfers. In order to switch to a future “efficiency gain” situation, policies and supports for technology innovation in and transfer to inland regions, as well as enhanced technology standards for expanded carbon intensive productions in less developed regions are suggested to complement the current policy of carbon intensity target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrogen loss is the main problem in compost and controlling it is the key to the recovery and utilization of composted materials. This study systematically investigated the effect of nitrogen retaining microbial agent (NRMA) on nitrogen retention and the promotion of decay during manure composting and tested its effect on nitrogen conversion and bacterial community structure. During composting, various parameters were dynamically evaluated, including nitrogen loss and transformation, compost maturity and nutrient, microorganism population and bacteria community variation. Results showed that the inoculation of NRMA significantly reduced ammonia loss by 58.8% with 15 days shorter compost cycle. At the end of the composting, the total nitrogen (TN) and nitrate content of the experimental group were 23.3 g kg−1 and 4.5 g kg−1, 22.6% (p < 0.05) and 9.6% (p < 0.05) higher than those of the control group (19 g kg−1 and 4.1 g kg−1), respectively. In contrast, the ammonia emission and ammonium nitrogen in the experimental group (4.9 g and 1.4 g kg−1) were significant lower than those (11.9 g and 1.8 g kg−1) in the control group (p < 0.05). Nitrogen-transforming bacteria such as Paucisalibacillus , Sporosarcina, Sphingobacterium, and Oceanobacillus displayed obvious advantages at high temperatures, while Longispora and Luteivirga demonstrated clear benefits at the end of the compost. The mechanism of nitrogen loss reduction was proposed, which was regulated by the specific microorganisms in the compost, especially the strains from the NRMA. The strategy of addition NRMA shows great potential for industrial applications of manure compost, which could provide a novel alternative for the recovery of nitrogen resources from animal husbandry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large-scale agricultural extension program in Thailand is established under the economy of scale concept. In this study, we used the life cycle assessment concept for greenhouse gas emissions (LCA-GHG) to evaluate and compare GHG emissions from individually farmed units and large-scale farming operations. Results showed that large-scale farming resulted in GHG emissions 11% lower than those arising from individual farming. Moreover, reducing rice seed and transportation used were outstanding under large-scale farming. Production cost was reduced by 28.3%, whereas farmer's profit was increased by 31.2%. Producing rice seed, open windrows compost, manures, and bio-fermented juice for using inside the farm gate had potential to mitigate GHG emissions by 40.7 (−85.9%), 732.3 (−12.3%), 188.8 (−46.8%), and 115.6 (−75.4%) kg CO 2 eq ha−1 year−1, respectively. Our findings proved that minimal use of external inputs by producing raw materials from co-product and recirculating in the paddy field can reduce GHG emissions and enhance farmers' profits, especially in large-scale farming. Based on these findings, we propose that merging individual farm units into large-scaled units should be encouraged. • Large-scale farming resulted in 11% lower GHG emissions. • A reduction cost of 28.3% and increasing profit of 31.2% for large-scale farming were revealed. • Reducing rice seed and transportation used were outstanding under large-scale farming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism is one of the main economic sectors, which is impacted by climate change on a global scale. Yet, whether and to what extent climate change influences tourism in island countries with tropical weather has not been fully understood. Here, we seek to fill this gap by evaluating the role of climate variables and climate-related extreme events on the number of international tourists in Indonesia empirically. A panel dataset of 5 provinces in Indonesia, which accounted for more than 80 percent of international tourists traveling to Indonesia between 2008 and 2018, was used to perform a feasible generalized least square (FGLS) regression. Consistent with previous findings, the empirical results show that both temperature and relative humidity particularly explain the variations in the number of international tourists in Indonesia. Every 1% increment of temperature and relative humidity is associated with a decrease in the number of international tourists in Indonesia by 1.37% and 0.59%, respectively. This study also suggests that the effect of climate change and climate-related extreme events is not homogeneous among tourists from different regions. These findings develop novel insights for climate change adaptation for policymakers and the tourism industry in Indonesia as well as in other warm destinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the different impacts of urbanization on sectorial carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions at different spatial scales is of great importance for the evaluation of energy transition policies and reduction of environmental inequality. However, how urbanization affects the CO 2 emissions of central heating systems at high spatial resolution in China has not been fully studied before. Based on satellite-observed NPP-VIIRS nighttime light (NTL) data, we develop a 5 km × 5 km annual CO 2 emission inventory for coal boilers, thermal power plants (TPPs), and natural gas boilers in China's central heating systems for the period 2012–2017 by using the geographical and temporally weighted regression (GTWR) model. It is observed that nonurban areas generated 2–4 times the CO 2 emissions of coal boilers in urban areas. The largest increments of CO 2 emissions of gas boilers are observed in urban areas of the eastern (6.80 times) and central regions (2.86 times) in 2013–2014, due to the clean heating policy in the "2 + 26" cities in China. The effects of urbanization on CO 2 emissions from natural gas boilers are approximately 2–3 times those of coal boilers, and the differences are largest in western cities with only minor differences in northeastern cities. Our results will aid in designing low-carbon development goals and provide micro-level information on central heating facilities in urbanized and less developed regions. Image 1 • Gridded CO 2 emissions inventory of central heating systems in 2012–2017 is developed. • The nighttime light data is used to downscale the prefecture-city level emissions. • A GTWR model is built to explore the spatio-temporal heterogeneity among cities. • City development has larger impacts on CO 2 emissions from gas-than coal-boilers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]