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Dual control policies aim to effectively reduce energy consumption and carbon emission by setting targets for total volume and intensity control. With global climate change becoming increasingly serious. China, as a large energy-consuming and carbon-emitting country, faces a huge challenge to reduce carbon emissions. The transition from the "dual control of energy consumption" to the "dual control of carbon emissions" in China is necessary to optimize energy structures, promote energy conservation, reduce carbon emissions, and reach carbon neutrality. This study utilizes multi-regional input-output models to evaluate the results toward both goals from production-based, consumption-based, and income-based perspectives. The findings indicate that " dual control of carbon emissions" is a more precise approach than " dual control of energy consumption". Some provinces have met the latter goal while still falling short of the former. Provinces having met their production-based energy intensity and carbon emission intensity targets, but having failed their consumption-based and income-based targets, are identified to develop a comprehensive and accurate assessment of these targets. A net outflow of embodied energy and carbon emissions is observed among provinces in less-developed central and southern regions to more-developed eastern and northern regions. Suggestions and policy implications based on these findings include establishing a comprehensive evaluation of energy and carbon intensity, considering both consumption-based and income-based perspectives, as well as facilitating enhanced cooperation among developed and developing provinces. • Dual control of energy consumption and carbon emissions are evaluated and compared. • "Dual control of carbon emissions" is a more precise approach. • Both goals are evaluated from perspectives of production, consumption and income. • Consumption-based and income-based methods can reveal real non-compliant provinces. • Interprovincial leakage of embodied energy and carbon are analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon leakage has become a key issue in global climate initiatives. This study aims to examine the effectiveness of various policy solutions for mitigating carbon leakage, as explored extensively in the literature. Employing a meta-regression analysis, this paper analyzes 416 leakage ratio estimates extracted from 39 economic studies published in English and Chinese between 2004 and 2022. These estimates evaluate the effects of diverse climate policies and modeling assumptions on carbon leakage. The results confirm that both 'intra-region' and 'cross-border' anti-leakage policies significantly impact carbon policy regions. The findings imply to policymakers that, although the implementation of border carbon adjustments provokes international debate under current WTO regulations, the 'intra-region' policies, which are more politically feasible, can achieve comparable effectiveness. • Intra-region anti-leakage policies significantly impact carbon policy effectiveness. • Cross-border anti-leakage policies significantly impact carbon policy effectiveness. • Intra-region policies reduce the carbon leakage ratio while avoiding trade tensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addressing global carbon inequality constitutes an important task for both international negotiations on climate-change mitigation and the achievement of sustainable development goals. Soaring international trade might become a vigorous modifier for reducing global carbon inequality through production reallocation and economic boosts in different countries. However, this effect remains largely unexplored, not only because of little awareness of the windfall benefits from international trade but also because of debates on quantifying global carbon inequality from both production- and consumption-based perspectives. To avoid incomplete implications from a single perspective, this study first adapted a producer-consumer shared responsibility to evaluate global carbon inequality using the technology-adjusted consumption-based accounting method for 189 countries from 2006 to 2016. A dynamic panel data model was developed to examine the different channels through which international trade affects global carbon inequality in developed and developing countries. The results demonstrate that even with increasing carbon emissions, less global carbon inequality was witnessed from 2006 to 2016. International trade plays an important role in reducing global carbon inequality, mostly by stimulating the economy and increasing household income in developing countries. However, production reallocation via international trade fails in reducing the emission responsibilities of developed countries, rendering this futile in alleviating global carbon inequality. Carbon leakage that transfers carbon-intensive production across borders can lead to this unintended result, and more stringent cross-border regulations such as the carbon border adjustment mechanism can be effective. This study not only highlights the pivotal role of international trade in reducing global carbon inequality but also the future direction of international cooperation on climate change mitigation in a globalized world. [Display omitted] • We explore the relationship between international trade and global carbon inequality. • We assess the global carbon inequality with the adaptation of shared responsibility. • Global carbon inequality has been reduced from 2006 to 2016. • A mitigation effect exerts via production re-allocation and economic boost. • Developed countries fail in alleviating carbon inequality as carbon leakage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global south countries, including China, have faced a challenging dilemma of reducing carbon emissions while maintaining rapid economic growth. The low-carbon city pilots (LCCPs) policy in China is a demonstration of how state power intervenes and commands national low-carbon development through voluntary policy tools. Our study, based on panel data of 331 cities from 2005 to 2019, evaluates the policy effect of all three batches of LCCPs and presents an analysis of time-varying effects through batch decomposition and synthetic difference-in-difference models. The study found that implementing low-carbon policies can significantly reduce total carbon emissions and carbon emissions per capita. However, the reduction in carbon emissions per unit of GDP is insignificant, and the policy effect varies according to the batches and their characteristics. The reduction effects in the first and second batches, as well as the insignificance or even increasing effects of the third batch, may be due to carbon leakage between different batches of LCCPs. Overall, this research provides novel and quantitative evidence on low-carbon development in China, making theoretical and empirical contributions to the field, and expanding econometric assessment methods to evaluate the effectiveness of environmental and climate change policies. [Display omitted] • The overall and heterogeneous effect of three batches LCCPs in China was assessed. • LCCP could reduced carbon emissions by 6.5% and emissions per capita by 7.3%. • The reduction effect on carbon intensity is insignificant. • The third batch of LCCPs significantly increased emissions by 2.31 million tons. • The impact of LCCPs varies maybe due to industrial transition and carbon leakage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The carbon dioxide embodied in Chinese exports to developed countries increased rapidly from 1995 to 2008. We test the extent to which institutional reforms in China can explain this increase. We focus on five areas of reforms: trade liberalization, environmental institutions, legal and property rights, institutional risk and exchange rate policy. Our results show that trade liberalization, weak environmental institutions, exchange rate policy, and legal and property rights affect emissions. Our results also indicate that the lack of reform in the utilities sector is an important factor in the rapid increase in embodied emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how cross-country differences in environmental regulatory stringency among member states of the world's largest multinational cap-and-trade system, the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS), influenced the FDI location choice of listed multinationals (MNEs) regulated by the environmental policy. After controlling for other country characteristics driving FDI location choice, we find that the likelihood of EU ETS-covered MNEs locating new FDI projects in less environmentally stringent member states strongly depends on firm- and industry-specific environmental characteristics during the system's first two phases. Our results are robust to different measures of environmental stringency and provide evidence for the existence of an intra-regional pollution haven effect (PHE). This investment behavior by MNEs is, moreover, only found in the industries least compensated for the environmental costs induced by the policy. This suggests that the EU inadvertently promoted an intra-regional PHE not only by allowing cross-country variation in environmental stringency but also by overly focusing on and compensating for external carbon leakage risk. Our conclusions have major implications for countries and regions currently establishing or implementing an emissions trading system. • We examine the largest multinational cap-and-trade scheme in the world, the EU ETS. • Current research on the pollution haven effect focuses on FDI outside the EU ETS. • We explore intra-EU ETS differences in environmental stringency among member states. • Using a conditional logit model, we find evidence of an intra-regional PHE. • PHE driven by most polluting firms in industries with limited strategic flexibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the features of accounting for the national carbon emission inventory under four different system boundaries, including the presently operational territorial production-based accounting (PBA) practised by the UNFCCC. Using a recently published input-output table with the base year for 2013–2014, the study calculates India's 'Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC)' to the mitigation of carbon emissions using production-based, consumption-based, sharing-based and equity-based accounting. The study finds India as a net importer of carbon emissions, especially for its high emission-intensive capital and energy goods import such that the country is bearing the minimum burden of emission reduction responsibility. However, the study intends to analyse this burden of responsibility in terms of the criteria of justice and effectiveness and addresses the future policy priorities for India to become a net exporter of industrial goods. We recommend India for supporting and implementing an alternative system boundary of emission inventory accounting which would be more consistent with the provisions of 'equity' subscribed under the UNFCCC while at the same time, helpful for achieving the climate goals by appropriately trace and track the sources of 'carbon leakage'. • We explore accounting features of the national carbon emission inventory in India. • India is a net importer of C O 2 emissions with less burden of emission responsibility. • Besides accounting of the emission inventory, the concept of 'emission responsibility' accommodates the criterion of 'justice' and 'effectiveness'. • The existing system boundary of emission inventory accounting could be an obstacle to achieve carbon-neutrality for India. • India must implement alternative system boundary of emission inventory accounting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]