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The pulp and paper industry is a high energy consuming and polluting sector, and carbon emissions emitted from this sector are worthy of attention. This article, based upon an analysis of China’s Pulp and Paper Industry (CPPI), provides estimates of each of the following: carbon emissions from energy consumption, pre-treatment sector, combustion of condensed black liquor, and methane emitted from incomplete aerobic digestion during sewage treatment of CPPI. During the study period (2005–2012), total CO 2 emissions ranged from 126.0 Mt to 155.4 Mt. Energy consumption was estimated to be the largest source of carbon emissions, however, due to the application of the local emission inventory rather than the IPCC inventory, energy consumption decreased by 4.7%, a lower percentage than was calculated in a previous study. According to this study’s estimation, the emissions caused by the recovery of biomass energy contributed 26–29% of the total CO 2 emissions. CH 4 generated from sewage treatment accounted for 9–11% of the total carbon emissions. The CO 2 intensity dropped during the study period, which reflected the improvement of energy efficiency in the pulp and paper industry. The outcome of this study provides not only detailed information about CPPI’s carbon emissions, but also a calculation framework for studying carbon emissions from pulp and paper sector in the other regions. It suggests that the local carbon emissions inventory should be used for estimating carbon emissions and to reduce the fossil fuel energy, increase energy recovery from biomass, and that promoting cleaner production is essential to achieve a low carbon development of the pulp and paper industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The realization of national climate change commitments, as agreed through international negotiations, requires local action. However, data is still insufficient to make accurate statements about the scale of urban emissions (UNHABITAT, 2011). The need of comparable emission inventories at city level, including smaller cities, is widely recognized to develop evidence-based policies accounting for the relation between emissions and institutional, socio-economic and demographic characteristics at city level. This paper presents a collection of harmonized greenhouse gases (GHG) emission inventories (the "CoM sample 2013") at municipal level directly computed by the cities and towns that participate in the EU Covenant of Mayors initiative. This is the mainstream European movement of local and regional authorities who voluntarily commit to reduce GHG emissions by 20% or more by 2020. The "CoM sample 2013" (http://edgar.jrc.ec.europa.eu/com/data/index.php? SECURE=123, doi:10.2904/EDGARcom2013) has been carefully checked to ensure its internal consistency and its congruity with respect to internationally accepted guide values for emission factors. Overall, it provides valuable data for the analysis of the heterogeneity of final energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The excessive carbon emissions not only intensify the global climate change, but also seriously restrict the sustainable development of social economy. However, improving industrial carbon emissions efficiency is the most directly effective way to reduce emissions. Therefore, accurate measurement and analysis of carbon emissions efficiency and evolution characteristics of China's industrial system is the basis for China to improve carbon emissions efficiency. Based on this, we adopted energy consumption method and input-output method to calculate and analyze the industrial carbon emissions efficiency and evolution characteristics of China from 2002 to 2015. The results show that (1) If carbon emissions from cement production are ignored and only energy-related carbon emissions are considered, the calculation results of carbon emissions efficiency of heavy industry will be overestimated about 30%. (2) Compared with 2002, China's industrial carbon emissions efficiency increased by about twice in 2015. Specifically, the optimization of carbon emissions efficiency in agriculture, construction, light industry and service industry is very obvious, which has increased by 5.65, 5.00, 4.69 and 4.68 times respectively; The optimization of carbon emissions efficiency in power sector, heavy industry, transportation and chemical industry was obvious, which increased by 2.55, 2.01, 1.86 and 1.47 times respectively; The carbon emissions efficiency of the fossil energy sector has decreased by 0.36 times. (3) The carbon emissions efficiency of various industries has significant differences. Among them, agriculture, service industry, light industry and construction industry are generally industries with higher carbon emissions efficiency, while power sector, fossil energy sector, transportation industry, chemical industry and heavy industry are generally industries with lower carbon emissions efficiency, especially power and fossil energy sectors. Based on these, this paper provides policy implications and scientific evidence for accurately improving carbon emissions efficiency from the perspective of carbon emissions efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses existing trends and prospects for decarbonization in the Commonwealth of Independent States (the CIS), an international organization that regroups Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The CIS occupies a significant share of Eurasia, representing a large share of global energy consumption and production with a corresponding carbon footprint. These countries and their decarbonization prospects are rarely discussed in the English-language scientific literature. This paper fills in this gap by offering a comprehensive analysis based on statistical data, policy documents, and scenario-based future projections. The results underline that revisiting Nationally Determined Contributions, increasing energy efficiency, and decoupling GDP growth from greenhouse gas emissions are essential to the implementation of the Paris Agreement. The future energy mix should include larger shares of renewable energy, hydrogen, fossil fuels (highly efficient with carbon capture), and nuclear energy to achieve energy security and decarbonize the economy of the region in the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emissions reduction, energy security and energy affordability constitute core energy problems facing countries today. At the heart of these problems is the key issue of decarbonisation. Although there is an international drive to address the issue within the United Nations climate change regime, the domestic policy regime in the United States of America seems to be in conflict.While California has made, and is still making, positive strides in emissions reduction at a state level, the Trump administration seeks to lower the United States' fuel efficiency and emissions reduction standards at the federal level. Potentially this has multiple domestic, regional and international ramifications. This is in addition to the unpopular US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Change Agreement in 2017 by Trump. Accordingly, there is a need to understand the jurisprudential and philosophical underpinnings behind its changing stance and its relationship with the world. Against this backdrop, this paper critically examines the policy implications of these issues and argues for policy alignment between components of the federal structure and the need for persistent and concerted efforts by the nations to address climate change. The paper is divided into three parts. Part one examines the conflicting emissions reduction policies within the American federal system. Part two critically analyses the policy implications and need for policy alignment within the context of climate policy and part three draws conclusions and presents insights for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of smart cities, sustainability is an essential dimension. One of the ways to achieve sustainability and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases in smart cities is through the promotion of sustainable energy. The demand for affordable and reliable electrical energy requires different energy sources, where the cost of production often outweighs the environmental factor. This paper aims to investigate the ways smart cities promote sustainability in the electricity sector. For this, a systematic literature review using the PRISMA protocol was employed as the methodological approach. In this review, 154 journal articles were thoroughly analyzed. The results were grouped according to the themes and categorized into energy efficiency, renewable energies, and energy and urban planning. The study findings revealed the following: (a) global academic publication landscape for smart city and energy sustainability research; (b) unbalanced publications when critically evaluating geographical continents' energy use intensity vs. smart cities' energy sustainability research outcomes; (c) there is a heavy concentration on the technology dimension of energy sustainability and efficiency, and renewables topics in the literature, but much less attention is paid to the energy and urban planning issues. The insights generated inform urban and energy authorities and provide scholars with directions for prospective research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the dynamic causal relationships between carbon emissions, deadweight tonnage (DWT) of the total global shipping fleet, fuel oil consumption, and economic activities for marine transportation using cointegration, error-correction, and Granger causality techniques. The intensity of carbon emissions and energy consumption, in addition to the elasticity of emissions and DWT, is discussed. It is concluded that (1) there exist long-run relationships between these variables for the period of 1980 and 2006; (2) the higher levels of economic activities induce more DWT growth than the growth ofemissions; and (3) the fuel oil consumption is a weak exogenous variable to produce theemissions. This paper also found that the cost of mitigation is increasing, and thus carbon finance is likely to become more common in the future. These results also provide policy recommendations to combat climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Economic growth in Asia has increased in the past three decades and has heightened energy demand, resulting in rising greenhouse gas emissions and severe air pollution. To tackle these issues, fuel switching and the deployment of renewables are essential. In the present paper, we discuss the environmental regulations, mainly carbon pricing, implemented in Asia and discuss their achievements. Empirical studies using microdata have shown that carbon pricing in Asia can reduce carbon emissions by promoting energy efficiency. At the macro level, we observe some evidence of fuel switching from coal to natural gas among major emitters. However, more carbon pricing is necessary in Asia if we aim for the decarbonization of the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cameroon has experienced economic growth accompanied by increasing energy demand and inadequate supply. The increased inefficient use of energy in almost all sectors of the economy leads to increased greenhouse gas emissions and high consumer energy costs. The country largely depends on hydropower and acute shortage of energy is often experienced in almost all sectors especially during the dry season when the volume of rivers drops. With the negative impact of climate change on water resources, there is a need for hydropower- reliant country such as Cameroon to diversify and integrate other renewable energy forms into its energy mix. Cameroon is blessed with abundant renewable energy resources that can be exploited to boost economic development. Given that policies for promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency have played a crucial role in accelerating the deployment of these technologies in many countries, this paper examines the legal and policy framework influencing the deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency in Cameroon. An analysis of the significant renewable energy policy, regulatory and institutional frameworks is undertaken with focus on key policy mechanisms and programmes that lead to the boost or setback in renewable energy and energy efficiency deployment. The paper identifies major barriers to large scale deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies and proffers possible solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, due to global climate change, increasing resource scarcity, and environmental constraints, countries have prioritized energy conservation and emissions reduction. However, enterprises are primarily responsible for energy saving and emissions reduction. To encourage industrial enterprises to engage in energy conservation and emissions reduction, high-carbon enterprises must purchase carbon emission rights from low-carbon counterparts. Common modes of energy conservation and emission reduction of industrial enterprises include reducing production scale, improving energy utilization efficiency, and expanding renewable energy. This article constructs three differential game models to identify the applicable scope of various energy conservation and emission reduction strategies, comparing and analyzing the equilibrium results. The study concludes that when the cost of changing the production mode and the income obtained from the production of unit product is large, the low-carbon enterprise can obtain the maximum benefit by reducing the production scale mode. Otherwise, low carbon enterprises can be maximized through improving energy efficiency mode. For both low-carbon and high-carbon enterprises, reducing production scale is the fastest way to enhance efficiency when the costs of energy conservation and emission reduction are substantial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ongoing concern over climate change has led to interest in replacing fossil energy with bioenergy. There are different approaches to quantitatively estimate the climate change effects of bioenergy systems. In the present work, we have focused on a range of published impact assessment methods that vary due to conceptual differences in the treatment of biogenic carbon fluxes, the type of climate change impacts they address and differences in time horizon and time preference. Specifically, this paper reviews fifteen different methods and applies these to three hypothetical bioenergy case studies: (a) woody biomass grown on previously forested land; (b) woody biomass grown on previous pasture land; and (b) annual energy crop grown on previously cropped land. Our analysis shows that the choice of method can have an important influence on the quantification of climate change effects of bioenergy, particularly when a mature forest is converted to bioenergy use as it involves a substantial reduction in biomass carbon stocks. Results are more uniform in other case studies. In general, results are more sensitive to specific impact assessment methods when they involve both emissions and removals at different points in time, such as for forest bioenergy, but have a much smaller influence on agricultural bioenergy systems grown on land previously used for pasture or annual cropping. The development of effective policies for climate change mitigation through renewable energy use requires consistent and accurate approaches to identification of bioenergy systems that can result in climate change mitigation. The use of different methods for the same purpose: estimating the climate change effects of bioenergy systems, can lead to confusing and contradictory conclusions. A full interpretation of the results generated with different methods must be based on an understanding that the different methods focus on different aspects of climate change and represent different time preferences. There are different approaches to quantitatively estimate the climate change effects of bioenergy systems. In the present work, we review fifteen different methods and apply these to three hypothetical bioenergy case studies. Our analysis shows that the choice of method can have an important influence on the quantification of climate change effects of bioenergy. The use of different methods for the same purpose can lead to confusing and contradictory conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers and policy-makers have suggested tools to mitigate CO2 emissions worldwide. However, there appears to be uncertainty in terms of policy effectiveness. The objective of this paper is to develop an innovatively effective CO2 internalizing mechanism worldwide which builds on currency in circulation as its core operational tool. The study is based on a large sample of countries. Findings show that urbanization, electric power consumption and trade positively impact on CO2 emissions. No evidence is found in favour of the Environmental Kuznets Curve while the use of renewable energy reduces the level of CO2 emissions. The paper proposes a Central Bank Carbon Dioxide Emissions Internalizing Fund which rests on quantitative and qualitative tools to ensure a truly effective mechanism in CO2 emissions abatement. Quantitatively, this implies the use of a direct tax on currency in circulation and a conversion penalty in the fund. Qualitatively, there is the need to establish a global institution which would ensure that funds flow to the most polluting sectors in each country in view of unleashing the strongest decline in CO2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the many criticisms that Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs)—the bedrock of mitigation analysis—have received in recent years. Critics have asserted that there is a lack of transparency around model structures and input assumptions, a lack of credibility in those input assumptions that are made visible, an over-reliance on particular technologies and an inadequate representation of real-world policies and processes such as innovation and behaviour change. The paper then reviews the proposals and actions that follow from these criticisms, which fall into three broad categories: scrap the models and use other techniques to set out low-carbon futures; transform them by improving their representation of real-world processes and their transparency; and supplement them with other models and approaches. The article considers the implications of each proposal, through the particular lens of how it would explore the role of a key low-carbon technology—bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), to produce net negative emissions. The paper concludes that IAMs remain critically important in mitigation pathways analysis, because they can encompass a large number of technologies and policies in a consistent framework, but that they should increasingly be supplemented with other models and analytical approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper determines the effect of selected cultivation technologies, including production chain energy inputs (growing, harvest, heap forming) on greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) to the atmosphere. The data for the study was collected from 13 actually operating family farms ranging in size from 2 to 13 ha, located in the Podlaskie voivodship (Poland). GHG and ammonia (NH3) emissions from natural and mineral fertilisation as well as GHGs from energy carriers in a form of fuels (ON) were estimated. The average GHG emissions from the sources analysed were 1848.030 kg·CO2eq·ha−1 and 29.492 kg·CO2eq·t−1 of the green forage yield. The average NH3 emissions per hectare were 15,261.808 kg NH3 and 248.871 kg NH3·t−1 of yield. The strongest impact on the environment, due to the GHG emissions to the atmosphere, thus contributing to the greenhouse effect, is due nitrogen fertilisation, both mineral and natural. On average, in the technologies under study, 61% of the total GHG emissions came from fertilisation. The GHG emissions were correlated with the energy efficiency, calculated at the previous research stage, of the production technologies applied. There is a negative correlation (r = −0.80) between the features studied, which means that the higher the energy efficiency of the silage maize plantations, the lower the air pollution emissions in a form of the GHGs from the sources under study. It is so important to prevent environmental degradation to continue, conduct in-depth, interdisciplinary research on reducing the energy consumption of crop production technologies and striving to increase energy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores opportunities for the built environment to fulfill a far-reaching greenhouse gas (GHG) emission target in Sweden in 2050, in a context of low or no economic growth. A spreadsheet model was created, allowing for a quantitative estimation of GHG emissions and operational energy use for the built environment. Building on previous qualitative descriptions of four future scenarios, the model was run to investigate what reaching the target would require in each scenario. The results can inform policy discussions and provide insights on what strategies appear to be significant, and what they entail in terms of operational energy use in 2050 and cumulated embodied emissions from investments prior to 2050. It thus appears particularly important to decarbonate the energy mix and reduce floor areas through space sharing and optimization. When emission factors for heat and electricity are very low, the climate impact of construction materials becomes an important issue, on par with operational energy use, and strategies aimed at improving construction processes or avoiding new construction gain relevance. Extensive renovation for energy efficiency exhibits in this case a tradeoff between embodied emissions from prior investments and energy use, as decreasing one means increasing the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This editorial discusses the impact of global industrial manufacturing on carbon emissions and the development of new energy and technologies to reduce carbon. It highlights the importance of reducing carbon emissions to address the challenges of climate change and rising global temperatures. The article presents data on carbon emission trends by country and emphasizes the need for international cooperation to achieve carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. It also includes studies on the correlation between greenhouse gas emissions and financial expenditures, as well as the factors influencing carbon emissions in various industries. The editorial concludes by discussing the contribution of the research topic in exploring the transition to low carbon and providing insights from different perspectives. [Extracted from the article]

The study estimates the amount of emissions resulting from linear sources. There were calculations for a model rural municipality, composed of national, provincial, country, and municipal roads that run through the area. In this study, the following categories of vehicles were assumed to travel along this route: motorcycles, passenger cars, light trucks (vans), heavy trucks without trailers, trucks with trailers, and buses. The analysis used data on the average volume of traffic (SDR) on selected roads on the territory of the sample municipality, based on the frequency of participation in traffic by each mode of transportation on selected road sections. To estimate the emission rates of each pollutant, for each vehicle category separately, the calculations were made based on the emission factor rates for each type of fuel. According to the adopted methodology and based on the adopted assumptions scenarios, pollutants' emissions were estimated. The implementation of the scenarios offered for reducing CO2 emissions has been proposed, and it is estimated that, depending on the variant adopted, the reductions will be between 13 and 21% in variant I, between 3 and 8% in variant II, and between 18 and 34% in combining these variants. The variant with a reduction in private car transportation in favor of bicycle transportation in combination with public transportation showed the most favorable effects on the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addressing climate change requires the efforts of all countries with common but differentiated responsibilities. The mitigation responsibilities one country takes greatly depends on its national emission inventories. As a good complement to the production-based accounting (PBA) principle, consumption-based accounting (CBA) principle has been widely concerned. However, few studies focus on emissions equity issues temporally and spatially. In this paper, we explore the characteristics of production-based and consumption-based CO 2 emissions for 14 major economies through multiple-dimension comparisons to get insight into the emissions equity comparisons among major emitters. In particular, four categories of economies with different dynamic features are divided based on their percentage differences between PBA and CBA emissions. Demographical and economic variables are additionally taken into consideration. The results indicate that France and Russia hold extreme characteristic on evaluating the emission difference between two principles, while China and Chinese Taiwan reveal uniquely increasingly larger gaps between two principle emissions. Besides, the per capita CBA emissions grows more prominently and possesses a more obviously positive correlation with their own per capita GDP which confirms that CBA principle is potentially attractive for estimating national emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientific research plays a vital role for society, but carries a significant environmental footprint, involving intensive use of energy and resources. Scientists are well placed to understand the unfolding climate and ecological crises, but may not appreciate how heavily their research, and other work‐related activities, contribute to emissions and pollution. With the consequences of climate change and ecological breakdown playing out in real time, scientists now have an important, urgent role to play in catalyzing solutions. Here, we explore how research organizations can reduce their environmental impact, share useful resources and encourage the global community to engage in making science more sustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy sector is the main contributor to GHG emissions in Saudi Arabia. The tremendous growth of GHG emissions poses serious challenges for the Kingdom in terms of their reduction targets, and also the mitigation of the associated climate changes. The rising trend of population and urbanization affects the energy demand, which results in a faster rate of increase in GHG emissions. The major energy sector sources that contribute to GHG emissions include the electricity generation, road transport, desalination plants, petroleum refining, petrochemical, cement, iron and steel, and fertilizer industries. In recent years, the energy sector has become the major source, accounting for more than 90% of national CO2emissions. Although a substantial amount of research has been conducted on renewable energy resources, a sustainable shift from petroleum resources is yet to be achieved. Public awareness, access to energy-efficient technology, and the development and implementation of a legislative framework, energy pricing policies, and renewable and alternative energy policies are not mature enough to ensure a significant reduction in GHG emissions from the energy sector. An innovative and integrated solution that best serves the Kingdom's long-term needs and exploits potential indigenous, renewable, and alternative energy resources while maintaining its sustainable development stride is essential. Policy relevance The main contributor to GHG emissions in Saudi Arabia is the energy sector that accounts for more than 90% of the national CO2emissions. Tremendous growth of GHG emissions poses serious challenges for the Kingdom in their reduction and mitigating the associated climate changes. This study examines the changing patterns of different activities associated with energy sector, the pertinent challenges, and the opportunities that promise reduction of GHG emissions while providing national energy and economic security. The importance of achieving timely, sustained, and increasing reductions in GHG emissions means that a combination of policies may be needed. This study points to the long-term importance of making near- and medium-term policy choices on a well-informed, strategic basis. This analytical paper is expected to provide useful information to the national policy makers and other decision makers. It may also contribute to the GHG emission inventories and the climate change negotiations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change and global warming as the main human societies’ threats are fundamentally associated with energy consumption and GHG emissions. The residential sector, representing 27% and 17% of global energy consumption and CO 2 emissions, respectively, has a considerable role to mitigate global climate change. Ten countries, including China, the US, India, Russia, Japan, Germany, South Korea, Canada, Iran, and the UK, account for two-thirds of global CO 2 emissions. Thus, these countries’ residential energy consumption and GHG emissions have direct, significant effects on the world environment. The aim of this paper is to review the status and current trends of energy consumption, CO 2 emissions and energy policies in the residential sector, both globally and in those ten countries. It was found that global residential energy consumption grew by 14% from 2000 to 2011. Most of this increase has occurred in developing countries, where population, urbanization and economic growth have been the main driving factors. Among the ten studied countries, all of the developed ones have shown a promising trend of reduction in CO 2 emissions, apart from the US and Japan, which showed a 4% rise. Globally, the residential energy market is dominated by traditional biomass (40% of the total) followed by electricity (21%) and natural gas (20%), but the total proportion of fossil fuels has decreased over the past decade. Energy policy plays a significant role in controlling energy consumption. Different energy policies, such as building energy codes, incentives, energy labels have been employed by countries. Those policies can be successful if they are enhanced by making them mandatory, targeting net-zero energy building, and increasing public awareness about new technologies. However, developing countries, such as China, India and Iran, still encounter with considerable growth in GHG emissions and energy consumption, which are mostly related to the absence of strong, efficient policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Archetype development, model components and potential applications for UBEM are discussed. • Stochastic and dynamic occupancy models are among the most desired improvements for UBEM. • UBEM could be suitable for high accuracy predictions of future climate change scenarios. • Integration of socio-economic data in UBEM is promising but not currently applied. • Assigning value year from renovation records is tempting but could entail several pitfalls. Due to rapid urbanisation and the significant contribution of cities to worldwide energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, urban energy system planning is growing more important. Urban building energy modelling (UBEM) draws increasing attention in the energy modelling field due to its inherent capacities for modelling entire cities or building stocks, and the potential of varying data inputs, approaches and applications. This review aims to identify best practices and improvements for UBEM applications by examining previous research, with a focus on the currently least established approaches. Different archetype development procedures are analysed for common problems, six main under-developed input approaches or parameters are identified, and applications for future scenario development are surveyed. By analysing previous studies in related fields, this paper provides an overview of gaps in the published research and possible additions to future UBEM projects that can help expanding the existing modelling procedures. Comprehensive human behaviour models with additional aspects beyond occupant presence are identified as a major point of interest. Further research on socio-economic parameters, such as household income and demographics, are also suggested to further improve modelling. This study also underlines the potential for utilising UBEM as a tool for evaluating future climate change scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Consequential life cycle assessment (CLCA) is envisioned as a framework that combines the technological richness of attributional life cycle assessment (ALCA) with basic economic intuition to assess the potential environmental impact of an innovation. However, despite a growing literature, CLCA still lacks general guidelines for system boundary definition. Toward filling this gap, this article invents a new index of vulnerability of the life cycle impact of a product (or activity) to emissions arising from the impact of its large‐scale adoption on market prices. Using corn ethanol as an example, it is illustrated how such an index might aid in the selection of a small set of affected activities for formal consideration in a CLCA. The application to corn ethanol reveals that in addition to land‐cover change, there exist other sources of vulnerability that have not received attention in the context of biofuels. A general procedure for utilizing the vulnerability index as a screening aid for CLCA is outlined. The utility of the vulnerability index is independent of the type of modeling framework (such as multimarket partial equilibrium or computable general equilibrium) that might be employed for a formal CLCA. Finally, this work illustrates how the vulnerability index approach bridges ALCA and CLCA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the first attempt to explore linkages among industrialization, urbanization, energy consumption, CO2 emissions, and economic growth based on estimations in simultaneous equations framework. An economic growth model is extended to incorporate industrialization as shift factor and pollutant emissions as determinant of total factor productivity. A country panel of 30 Chinese provinces/cities and three regional panels, for periods 2000-2016, are estimated employing Augmented Mean Group (AMG) estimator as well as Common Correlated Effects Mean Group (CCEMG) estimator that are robust to both cross-sectional dependence and cointegration. The empirical findings are as follows: (i) the impact of urbanization on economic growth varied from negative to neutral to positive for western-, intermediate-, and eastern-economic zone, respectively, and is known as “urbanization ladder effect,” (ii) moving from western to eastern economic zone, as regions develop, industry expansion has more powerful impact on economic growth, and thus, we define it as “industry expansion effect,” (iii) industrialization promotes rapid urbanization in less developed and less employment saturated regions; hence, we name it as “employment saturation effect,” (iv) economic growth in more developed regions pulled the CO2 emissions downward, while pushed it upward in case of less developed regions; therefore, we call it “growth pull/push effect,” and (v) in bidirectional causality between energy consumption and economic growth, the “feedback effect” of economic growth remained dominant for all four panels. Based on empirical findings, policies are suggested for Chinese economy. Further, these policies have potential to extract implications for the rest of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the influences of different factors on spatial heterogeneity of regional carbon emissions, we firstly studied the spatial-temporal dynamics of regional energy-related carbon emissions using global Moran’s I and Getis-Ord Gi and applied geographical detector model to explain the spatial heterogeneity of regional carbon emissions. Some conclusions were drawn. Regional carbon emissions showed significant global and local spatial autocorrelation. The carbon emissions were greater in eastern and northern regions than in western and southern regions. Fixed assets investment and economic output had been the main contributing factors over the study period, and economic output had been decreasing its influence. Industrial structure’s influence showed a decrease trend and became smaller in 2015. The results of the interaction detections in 2015 can be divided into two types: enhance and nonlinear, and enhance and bivariate. The interactive influences between technological level and fixed assets investment, economic output and technological level, population size and technological level, and economic output and economic development were greater than others. Some policy recommendations were proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change and energy service demand exert influence on each other through temperature change and greenhouse gas emissions. We have consistently evaluated global residential thermal demand and energy consumption up to the year 2050 under different climate change scenarios. We first constructed energy service demand intensity (energy service demand per household) functions for each of three services (space heating, space cooling, and water heating). The space heating and cooling demand in 2050 in the world as a whole become 2.1-2.3 and 3.8-4.5 times higher than the figures for 2010, whose ranges are originated from different global warming scenarios. Cost-effective residential energy consumption to satisfy service demand until 2050 was analyzed keeping consistency among different socio-economic conditions, ambient temperature, and carbon dioxide (CO) emission pathways using a global energy assessment model. Building shell improvement and fuel fuel-type transition reduce global final energy consumption for residential thermal heating by 30% in 2050 for a 2 °C target scenario. This study demonstrates that climate change affects residential space heating and cooling demand by regions, and their desirable strategies for cost-effective energy consumption depend on the global perspectives on CO emission reduction. Building shell improvement and energy efficiency improvement and fuel fuel-type transition of end-use technologies are considered to be robust measures for residential thermal demand under uncertain future CO emission pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three simple, empirical models for growth of power consumption in the renewable energy sector are compared. These are the exponential, logistic, and power-law models. The exponential model describes growth at a fixed relative growth rate, the logistic model saturates at a fixed limit, while the power-law model describes slowing, but unlimited, growth. The model parameters are determined by regression to historical global data for solar and wind power consumption, and model projections are compared to scenarios based on macroeconomic modelling that meet the 2° target. It is demonstrated that rational rejection of an exponential growth model in favour of a logistic growth model cannot be made from existing data for the historical evolution of global renewable power consumption y(t). It is also shown that the logistic model yields saturation of growth at unrealistic low levels. The power-law growth model is found to give very good fits to the data through the last decade, and the projections align very well with the scenarios. Power-law growth is equivalent to the simple law that the relative growth rate y'/y decays inversely proportional to time. It is shown that this is a natural model for growth that slows down due to various constraints, yet not experiencing the effect of a strict upper limit defined by physical boundaries. If the actual consumption follows the power-law curve in the years to come the exponential-growth null hypothesis can be correctly rejected around 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of greenhouse-gas emissions is the cornerstone of carbon pricing and management mechanisms. Here we consider peer-reviewed articles and 'grey literature' related to existing MRV requirements and their costs. A substantial part of the literature is the regulatory texts of the 15 most important carbon pricing and management mechanisms currently implemented. Based on a comparison of key criteria such as the scope, cost, uncertainty and flexibility of procedures, we conclude that conventional wisdom on MRV is not often promoted in existing carbon pricing mechanisms. Quantification of emissions uncertainty and incentives to reduce this uncertainty are usually only partially applied, if at all. Further, the time and resources spent on small sources of emissions would be expected to be limited. Although provisions aiming at an effort proportionate to the amount of emissions at stake - 'materiality' - are widespread, they are largely outweighed by economies of scale: in all schemes, MRV costs per tonne are primarily driven by the size of the source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diverse factors may have an impact in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions; thus, three main contributors, energy consumption, gross domestic product (GDP) and an exergy indicator are examined in this work. This study explores the relationship between economic growth and energy consumption by means of the hypothesis postulated for the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). Panel data for ten countries, from 1971 to 2014 have been studied. Despite a wide gamma of research on the EKC, the role of an exergy variable has not been tested to find the EKC; for this reason, exergy analysis is proposed. Exergy analyses were performed to propose an exergetic indicator as a control variable and a comparative empirical study is developed to study a multivariable framework with the aim to detect correlations between them. High correlation between CO2, GDP, energy consumption, energy intensity and trade openness are observed, on the other hand not statistically significant values for trade openness and energy intensity. The results do not support the EKC hypothesis, however exergy intensity opens the door for future research once it proves to be a useful control variable. Exergy provides opportunities to analyze and implement energy and environmental policies in these countries, with the possibility to link exergy efficiencies and the use of renewables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]