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With global climate change becoming increasingly serious, carbon neutrality, a key strategy to mitigate climate change, has attracted widespread attention. However, due to the multidisciplinary and complexity of carbon neutrality studies, as well as the diversification of research content, a comprehensive review and systematic synthesis of which is quite limited. In this paper, a bibliometric analysis on the topic of carbon neutrality is conducted to reveal the research progress from a quantitative and visual perspective and describe the evolution of research hotspots. The results show that carbon neutrality research is abundant at both the macro and micro levels. Low carbon development is the premise of carbon neutrality, and emission reduction and carbon sinks are the basis of carbon neutrality. The degree of research varies significantly in different countries, with China dominating in the number of publications, followed by the USA and the UK. The realization of carbon neutrality cannot be fully achieved by one single perspective and requires a comprehensive and systematic analysis of technology, economy, and society. Carbon neutrality is a technology-driven process guided by policy. Economically, carbon taxes and carbon markets are two important market mechanisms for reducing carbon emissions. Technically, researches of negative carbon technologies and renewable energy are growing rapidly. Carbon market, carbon negative technology, circular economy, and green energy will become the focus of future research. This paper helps scholars to understand the overall state of carbon neutrality research and provides a historical reference for future research. • The evolution of carbon neutrality research is identified by a bibliometric method. • Visualizes research status and outlines research foci, frontiers and prospects. • Retrieve 5271 articles published over 25 years in SCIE and SSCI databases. • Carbon neutrality is a technology-driven process guided by policy. • Circular economy and carbon markets are new areas of carbon neutrality research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The excessive use of fossil energy in industrialization has caused the frequent occurrence of global warming and environmental pollution issues, which seriously threaten the sustainable social and economic development of South Korea and other countries. In response to the international community's call to effectively address climate change, South Korea has announced achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. In this context, this paper takes the carbon emission of South Korea from 2016 to 2021 as a sample an d focuses on using the GM(1,1) model to predict the carbon emission change trajectory of South Korea in the process of achieving carbon neutrality. The results show: first, in the process of carbon neutrality, South Korea's carbon emissions show a downward trend, with an average annual rate of 2.34%. Second, by 2030, carbon emissions will decline to 502.34 Mt CO 2 e, down about 26.79% from the 2018 peak. By 2050, South Korea's carbon emissions will decline to 312.65 Mt CO 2 e, down about 54.44% from the 2018 peak. Third, it is difficult for South Korea to achieve its carbon neutrality target by 2050 based solely on its forest carbon sink storage capacity. Therefore, this study is expected to provide a reference for improving the carbon neutrality promotion strategy in South Korea and strengthening the construction of relevant systems of carbon neutrality, and so can provide some reference for other countries, including China, to improve policy design to promote the green and low-carbon transformation of the global economy. • A GM(1,1) model is used. • By 2050, South Korea's carbon emission will drop to 312.65 MtCO2e. • South Korea will achieve the carbon neutrality target in 2050. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Process-related carbon emissions, which cannot be completely eliminated by the improvement of processes and energy structure, are recognized as an enormous challenge for in-depth decarbonization. To accelerate the achievement of carbon neutrality, the concept of 'artificial carbon cycle' is proposed based on the integrated system of process-related carbon emissions from high-emitting industries and CCU technology as a potential pathway towards a sustainable future. This paper conducts a systematic review on the integrated system with the case of China, which is the largest carbon-emitting and manufacturing country, to provide a clearer and more meaningful analysis. Multi-index assessment was used to organize the literature and draw the useful conclusion. Based on literature review, the high-quality carbon sources, reasonable carbon capture approaches and promising chemical products were identified and analyzed. Then the potential and practicability of the integrated system was further summarized and analyzed. Finally, key factors of future development including technology improvement, green hydrogen, clean energy and industrial cooperation were stressed to provide a theoretical reference for future researchers and policy makers. • Demonstration on the rationality and importance of applying CCU technology on process-based carbon emissions. • Multi-index assessment on adoptable carbon sources, possible pathways of carbon capture and carbon conversion. • Analysis on the potential and practicability of the integrated system to accelerate carbon neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The carbon trading policy seeks to control carbon emissions by putting a price on carbon emissions and establishing a corresponding carbon market for trading. It is a significant move by China to address climate issues and achieve its Carbon Neutrality target. Therefore, assessing the policy effects of carbon trading is fundamental to its implementation nationwide. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces and cities in China from 2008 to 2018, this paper uses the Synthetic Control Method and Differences-in-Differences method to assess the effects of carbon trading policy on achieving Carbon Neutrality. By measuring the net carbon emissions, this research explores the level of Carbon Neutrality in each region. Based on the Five-sphere Integrated Plan (which covers the economy, politics, culture, social and ecological civilization), this research further verifies the impact paths of carbon trading policy on Carbon Neutrality. The results show that: First, carbon trading policy has a significant and sustainable effect on Carbon Neutrality. Second, from the perspective of the Five-sphere Integrated Plan, the carbon trading policy can help to reduce carbon sources and increase carbon sinks by adjusting the industrial structure, coordinating low-carbon policies, promoting cultural dissemination, increasing green space construction, and reducing energy intensity to achieve Carbon Neutrality. Third, cultural construction plays the most significant role in mediating carbon trading and Carbon Neutrality, followed by political construction. • This paper examines the effectiveness of carbon trading policy for Carbon Neutrality. • We use the Synthetic Control Method and Difference-in-Differences method. • The impact paths of carbon trading policy are examined from the Five-sphere Integrated Plan perspective. • Carbon Neutrality should be incorporated into the Five-sphere Integrated Plan. • A cross-perspective study of the Five-sphere Integrated Plan, carbon trading with Chinese characteristics has been formed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This investigation explores whether sustainable finance and renewable energy could facilitate U.S. carbon neutrality. We perform the time-varying parameter-stochastic volatility-vector auto-regression (TVP-SV-VAR) model to obtain the changing relations among U.S. sustainable finance (SF), renewable energy (RE) and carbon dioxide emission (CO2). The empirical outcomes reveal a short-term negative effect from RE to CO2, indicating that renewable energy consumption could promote U.S. carbon neutrality. This effect is asymmetrical, and it could be observed that RE increase has a greater effect on CO2 than RE reduction. Also, the development of sustainable finance could facilitate U.S. carbon neutrality, and the direct impact is longer and more significant than RE, but the indirect effect of SF on CO2 by influencing RE is hysteretic. Besides, the asymmetric effect reveals that the negative direct impact of SF increase on CO2 is smaller than SF reduction, and the latter's indirect effect is more rapid than the former. Against the backdrop of global warming and frequent extreme weather, the above conclusions have meaningful practical applications for the U.S. to achieve carbon neutrality targets through developing sustainable finance and renewable energy. [Display omitted] • This paper explores the effects of SF and RE on U.S. carbon neutrality. • The facilitation of SF on U.S. carbon neutrality is more influential than that of RE. • There is a hysteretic indirect effect of SF on CO2 by influencing RE. • The negative effect of RE reduction on CO2 is smaller than that of RE increase. • The direct and indirect effects of SF on CO2 are asymmetric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we identify the causal effects of the industrial transfer policy (ITP) on carbon emissions. Specifically, we treat the demonstration zones of undertaking industrial transfer in China as a quasi-natural experiment and evaluation its carbon mitigation effects using the difference-in-differences (DID) and matching DID strategies. Our findings suggest that the ITP exerts a significant negative impact on carbon emissions. In particular, both the DID and matching DID estimates indicate that the ITP leads to mitigate carbon emissions by approximately 4.9 and 4.7 million tons, respectively. We also investigate the heterogeneous carbon mitigation effects of the ITP. Moreover, various checks and falsification tests are also presented to confirm the causal effects, including the placebo test, concurrent events test, alternative measures of the ITP and carbon emissions, alternative estimation method and matching technique. The results indicate that our key conclusion, the carbon mitigation effect of the ITP is robust. These results indicate that policymakers should seize the carbon mitigation dividend of the ITP to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality. Policymakers should also reduce the regional development differences, improve the level of opening to the outside world, strengthen the construction of green demonstration zones for industrial transfer to mitigate carbon emissions. • The carbon mitigation effects of the demonstration zones of undertaking industrial transfer in China are investigated. • The industrial transfer policy leads to mitigate carbon emissions by approximately 4.7 million tons. • The heterogeneous carbon mitigation effects of the industrial transfer policy are examined. • The results are supported by robustness and falsification checks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]