Search

This paper studies the optimal vehicle fleet planning and collaboration problem for a fuel vehicle (FV) transport service provider, a commercial electric vehicle (CEV) transport service provider, and a carbon emission treatment agency under carbon neutrality. The FV transport service provider pays a fixed fee or a portion of its sales revenue to a carbon emission treatment agency in exchange for technology to reduce its carbon emissions, and it can adopt three strategies (i.e., no emission reduction, purchasing technology for emission reduction, and entrusting a carbon emission treatment agency). We derive each party's optimal fleet size, price, and profit in the three scenarios. Our results suggest that carbon emission reduction strategies may improve the market performance of the FV transport service provider. Then, we find no certain strategy is always preferable to another: the optimal cooperation strategy between the transport service provider and carbon emission treatment agency depends on the fixed technology fee, ratio of revenue sharing, government penalty, the transport service market potential, and consumer green preference, as well as the cost per CEV. This paper gives the transport service provider and carbon emission treatment agency a full picture of whether, when, and how to collaborate in green commerce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 18th National Congress of Chinese Communist Party, ecological civilization construction has been incorporated into Five-sphere Integrated Plan, that is, to promote coordinated progress in the economic, political, cultural, social, and eco-environmental fields. The Chinese government has proposed the goal of "carbon peak" and "carbon neutrality". Low-carbon transportation becomes the mainstream. To achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality in public transport, this paper takes Beijing's public transport sector as a case study, using system dynamics model with relevant policies and the current situation. It calculates and predicts carbon emissions under electric vehicle substitution scenario, clean energy generation, and carbon capture, utilization and storage scenario for the period of 2020–2060. The following main conclusions are obtained: Direct carbon emissions have peaked and started to decline based on the current measures, while indirect carbon emissions have peaked and started to decline under the suggested intervention. The direct carbon emissions peaked at 2.58005 × 106 tons in 2014. The indirect carbon emissions peaked at 1.59027 × 106 in 2025. They all achieved carbon neutrality under the suggested intervention. Electric vehicle substitution and carbon capture, clean energy generation, utilization and storage are the main factors of carbon emission reduction. The outcomes of this study can provide essential information for policy-makers to advance Beijing's future low-carbon development in public transport. The electric vehicle substitution, clean energy generation and carbon capture, utilization and storage provide a new perspective to research carbon emissions in the transport sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the introduction of national carbon neutrality targets, carbon emission reduction actions in developed countries have become a hot topic as part of the international community's drive to take action to mitigate climate change. Carbon emission efficiency is an important indicator that can be used to measure progress toward carbon emission reduction targets. The relationship between green technology innovation and carbon emission efficiency has not been adequately studied, and the transmission mechanism is not yet clear. Based on the above research gaps, taking 32 developed countries that have proposed carbon neutral targets as research samples, this paper used spatial econometric models to explore the impact of green technology innovation on carbon emission efficiency and adopted spatial mediation model and spatial moderation model to analyze the transmission effects of economic development, urbanization, and financial development on environment-related green technology and carbon emission efficiency. This paper aimed to provide a policy basis for developed countries to mitigate carbon emissions and achieve carbon neutrality goals as soon as possible. The following results were obtained: (1) Luxembourg, Norway, and Switzerland were found to be efficient in terms of carbon emissions, while most developed countries were in an inefficient state. (2) Environment-related green technology innovation significantly improved carbon emission efficiency. (3) Economic development and urbanization had a mediating role on green technology innovation and carbon emission efficiency. In other words, green technology innovation could have an indirect impact on carbon emission efficiency by influencing economic development and urbanization. (4) Financial development could positively moderate the sensitivity of carbon emission efficiency to green technology innovation. Improving the level of green technology innovation is one way to improve carbon emission efficiency, and the mediating effect of economic development and urbanization can be used as a focus point to improve carbon emission efficiency. The pressure of carbon emission reduction can be moderated by finance development. The results of this study provide theoretical support that will assist developed countries in achieving their carbon neutrality targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers a supply chain formed by a manufacturer with constrained capital and a retailer with sufficient capital. By using the Stackelberg game theory, we discuss the manufacturer's and retailer's optimization decisions for bank financing, zero-interest early payment financing, and in-house factoring financing under both normal and carbon neutrality scenarios. In the carbon neutrality scenario, numerical analysis shows that improving the efficiency of emission reduction drives manufacturers to switch from external to internal financing methods. The impact degree of green sensitivity on the supply chain's profit depends on the carbon emission trading prices. In the framework of green sensitivity of products and emission reduction efficiency, manufacturers' financing decisions are affected by carbon emission trading prices rather than by whether emissions exceed the standards or not. When the price is higher, internal financing is easier to obtain, whereas the space for external financing is constrained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon emissions embodied in anthropogenic activities represent the major cause of global warming. Countries, regions, and cities have implemented comprehensive, multi-level and multi-scale measures to reduce emissions and move towards carbon neutrality. The demand for carbon emission reduction (CER) is made more challenging by different geographical locations, country-owned natural resources, and economic development stages. The main objectives of this paper are to conduct a bibliometric analysis to map the frontiers and directions of CER and to explore the paths and development models of CER from the perspective of spatio-temporal, multi-scale, multi-sectoral, and multi-responsible subjects. This study reveals that carbon emission evaluation and prediction, correlation and causal relationship analysis, and CER-related policy simulation and optimization are the most critical hotspots. Additionally, we point out the shortcomings of and future developments for the three study dimensions above. The bibliometric analysis also highlights the fact that a cooperative global value chain as well as amendable policies and mechanisms for CER will help with climate change mitigation and adaptation through the use of advanced carbon capture and storage technologies. We review the technical measures for and policy responses to CER adopted by different countries and industries at the theoretical and practical levels and provide new recommendations. Our work provides important information for climate actions in different countries and sectors and for developing more effective CER strategies and policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon emissions are a critical concern in the realm of energy consumption, with many nations committed to curbing them and striving for carbon neutrality. This research addresses a specific gap in the literature by focusing on carbon emission reduction in the industrial sector through the application of supply chain management (SCM) principles under a monopolistic competition context and by utilizing carbon neutral indicators. Specifically, we develop a mathematical model integrated into an agent-based simulation framework and employ experimental design methods to determine the most optimal decision-making processes for incorporating supply chain carbon neutral indicators. Our findings highlight the effectiveness of two specific carbon neutral indicators within SCM: green-credit policies and the promotion of green products. These measures contribute significantly toward reducing global carbon emissions. This paper offers insights for government decision-makers regarding ideal implementation levels and strategies for green credit policies and the promotion of green products within supply chain environments. It also provides guidance to manufacturers on how to achieve profit maximization while progressing towards carbon neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy conservation and efficiency enhancement are the options to achieve carbon neutrality in coal‐fired power plants. Wet electrostatic precipitator (WESP) is an important pollutant removal and energy consumption equipment in coal‐fired power plants, which emits a large amount of CO2 indirectly and has a great potential for emission reduction. In this paper, the emission reduction characteristics of multiple pollutants and energy consumption were analyzed by collecting 158 datasets of WESP. The results showed that WESP was effective at removing PM, PM2.5, SO3, droplets, and Hg with the following concentrations at the outlet: 1–10, 3, 1–5, 15, and 5 µg/m3, respectively. The emission factors of different pollutants were sorted in the descending order of size as droplets (average value 51.59 g/MWh), PM (19.15 g/MWh), SO3 (17.32 g/MWh), PM2.5 (8.21 g/MWh), and Hg (9.74 mg/MWh). Specific power/water/alkali consumptions were found as 0.5–2.5×10–4 kWh/m3, 10 × 106 t/m3, and 0.06–9.79 ×10–8 t/m3, respectively. These consumptions were negatively correlated with the inlet concentration of PM/SO3. The average annual emission of CO2 per unit installed capacity by the application of WESP was found to be 13.88 t/MW. It was estimated that the CO2 annual emissions by using WESP in coal‐fired power plants in China were 1.68×106 t. The CO2 annual emission reduction of 7.33×105 t could be achieved through grade 2 energy efficiency WESP (7.83 t/MW) of GB/T 37484‐2019. A further reduction of 3.18×105 t could be achieved if it could be controlled at grade 1 (5.20 t/MW). This study can provide a valuable reference for the subsequent operation of ultra‐low emission units to conserve energy and reduce CO2 emissions. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon neutrality lays out a grand blueprint for carbon emission reduction and climate governance in China. How to reduce energy consumption is the key to achieving this goal. The economic development and energy consumption show a very large gap at the provincial level, and this paper divides China into six regions (North, Northeast, East, Mid-South, Southwest, and Northwest) and analyzes the dynamic changes and reveals the driving factors that have affected CO2 emission changes from 1997 to 2017. Then, the driving forces including energy intensity, energy structure, energy efficiency, economic activity, and population scale were discussed employing the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) based on provincial panel data. The results show that CO2 emissions from energy consumption show an upward trend, from 4145 Mt in 1997 to 13,250 Mt in 2017, with an annual average growth rate of 1.06%; coal consumption is the main source of CO2 emission. The regions with the highest proportion of CO2 emissions are the East and North, which account for 50% of total emissions. China's CO2 emissions from energy consumption, coal consumption, and output have shown significant spatial autocorrelation at the provincial scale. According to coal consumption, energy consumption CO2 emissions are divided into three stages: phase I (1997–2002), the increase in CO2 emissions in six regions was attributed to significant and positive impacts of energy intensity, economic activity, and population scale, the effects of which exceeded those of the energy structure and energy efficiency; phase II (2003–2012), the economic activity effect on CO2 emissions was highest in the East region, followed by the North and Mid-South regions; phase III (2013–2017), the East, Mid-South, and Southwest regions of China were dominated by the positive effects of energy intensity, economic activity, and population scale. The major driver of CO2 emissions is economic activity; the energy efficiency effect is an important inhibitory factor. Regional economic development and energy consumption in China are unbalanced; we conclude that differentiated emission reduction measures should be of particular concern for policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because transport in the port hinterlands heavily depends on roads with negative externalities, much social interest has been in modal shifts (MSs) to rail and shipping with lower environmental impact. Currently, leading industry sectors to ambitiously embrace technological innovations to decarbonize—consequently, in line with these changes, the significance of MSs should change; however, no previous studies have comprehensively presented the overall CO 2 emissions and transport mode shares for future regional cargo transport. This paper presents a scenario analysis of CO 2 emission reductions in the Japanese domestic hinterland of international maritime container transport based on future scenarios of technological innovation and change in shipper behavior. The simulation results using the global logistics intermodal network simulation model showed that up to 87% CO 2 reduction is possible, and the primary driver for this is technological innovation. Moreover, the significance of MSs fluctuates depending on the advancement of technological innovation, suggesting that MSs hold a degree of import as a decarbonization measure during the transitional phase toward carbon neutrality (CN) as technological innovation advances. The results of this study, which fluctuated considerably by scenario and timing, have policy implications with respect to the path to be followed toward CN, including whether to promote MSs. • Scenario analysis of CO 2 emission reductions in Japanese maritime transportation. • Up to 87% CO 2 reduction possible using technological innovation. • Significance of modal shifts fluctuated with the degree of technological innovation. • Policy implications suggesting that the path toward carbon neutrality is crucial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has set an ambitious national determined contributions target to peak CO 2 emissions by 2030 and aims to be carbon neutral by 2060. One of China's top energy consumers and CO 2 contributors, the steel industry accounts for 13% of the country's total consumption and 15% of CO 2 emissions. In response to the present global warming trend, there is an urgent need to cut energy consumption and CO 2 emissions to promote low-carbon growth. This paper attempts to provide a detailed analysis of the steel industry's CO 2 emission reduction path to carbon neutrality. Further efforts in terms of industrial structure, material efficiency, energy efficiency, and low- or zero-carbon technologies are required to achieve a low-carbon transition. Given that decarbonization is a significant priority in the steel industry in many countries, this study focuses on the goals and technological paths of low-carbon emissions projects to optimize existing technology priorities and propose development directions. Deep decarbonization is also projected to be achieved by combining CCUS and hydrogen metallurgy technologies. The steel industry requires collaborative efforts to standardize CO 2 emission accounting methodologies and establish a carbon trading system to strengthen carbon emission management. • The steel industry is one of the key contributors to carbon neutrality which needs to accelerate decarbonization. • Reducing energy consumption and CO 2 emissions to keep up with the current global warming trend are reviewed. • This paper selects low-carbon emission projects to optimize current technology priorities and provide development directions. • Policy recommendations and next steps for low-carbon transition are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

This study answers four research questions by contextualising the background to Japan's "carbon neutrality and net-zero" (CNN) policy, which was announced in October 2020, and identifying important changes in Japanese climate policy between 1990 and 2020. What is the link between the problem of fairness under the Kyoto targets and the Japanese government's initial reluctance towards ambitious carbon emission reductions? Why did the Japanese business sector initially resist the possibility of ambitious carbon emission reductions? How has the term "climate crisis" contributed to the need for CNN policy? Why did the Japanese government change its reluctant stance and announce the CNN policy in October 2020? Four main findings were extracted from a narrative technique-based analysis of Japan's policy documents related to CNN. The following are the findings: [i] the framing of climate change as a "climate crisis" by influential Japanese climate stakeholders was a key motivation for Japan to formally announce its CNN policy in October 2020; [ii] pressure from the international community and the political leadership of the Yoshihide Suga administration are essential factors that led the Japanese government to change its stance and announced this policy; [iii] it is possible that the policy could have been announced sooner, but concern among Japanese climate stakeholders about the problem of fairness in the Kyoto Protocol's emission reduction targets likely impeded such an announcement; and [iv] this concern underpinned Keidanren's (or the business sector's) consistent opposition to the introduction of regulatory schemes. These results emerge for the first time in a study of Japan's carbon neutrality, particularly in terms of the broader context of climate politics. Finally, we offer a possible explanation for Suga's deliberate announcement of the CNN policy. This opens up space for future research to complement our study by providing important indicators on the trajectory of this important policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon emission trading, a market-incentive environmental regulation, plays a critical role in leading China towards the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. To improve the national carbon emission trading in China, we analyze the effects of the policy in pilot provinces and pilot A-share listed firms from 2008 to 2016. Particularly, to explore the pilot policy's environmental and financial impacts, this paper applies a difference-in-difference method. After the robustness check, the results confirm the carbon emission trading pilot's significantly positive impact at both firm- and province-level regarding carbon emission reduction. Meanwhile, corporate innovation seems to partially mediate the relationship between the policy and corporate carbon emission reduction. Plus, the policy promotes firms' market-based financial performance but such impact on accounting-based financial performance is insignificant. Ultimately, the operational mechanism of the policy is proved to be effective. In this paper, industry- and firm-level carbon emissions databases are established via environmental extended input-output table, which fill the research gap of China's firm-level carbon emissions. To ensure the reliability of results, the list of covered firms is sorted out manually in accordance with the disclosed data of seven carbon trading markets. Our results are meaningful for avoid productivity reduction and mechanism re-design in the context of the national carbon emission trading launched in 2021. Specifically, encouraging firms to further improve their productivity and competitiveness by innovation could eventually achieve a win-win situation between economic performance and environmental merits in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting low-carbon development in the iron and steel industry (ISI) is essential for China to achieve the carbon neutrality targets. This paper separately adopts the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) technique and the Mean Impact Value (MIV) method to analyze the impact of driving factors on the CO 2 emissions of ISI in the historical and future dimensions. Furthermore, this paper establishes the extreme learning machine model optimized by the bat algorithm (BA-BP) to explore the carbon emission reduction pathways of ISI in the business-as-usual (BAU) scenario, the low-speed, medium-speed and high-speed development scenarios considering the constraints of carbon neutrality targets. The results reveal that: (1) Production capacity and energy efficiency are important drivers of CO 2 emissions in ISI; (2) The emission reduction situation is not optimistic under the BAU scenario, and it is difficult to accomplish the carbon neutrality goals by 2060; (3) Under the most ideal emission reduction pathway (corresponding to the high-speed development scenario), ISI will reach its peak in 2022 with the peak value of 2143.42 MtCO 2. Compared to the peak year, the CO 2 emissions will be reduced by 654.69 MtCO 2 and 1558.61 MtCO 2 in 2030 and 2050, respectively. Moreover, the achievement of short-term and long-term emission reduction targets depends on production capacity decline and technological progress, respectively. The optimal emission reduction pathway provides a reference for ISI to formulate periodic emission reduction targets. • The improved extreme learning machine is employed to predict the carbon emissions. • The emission reduction pathways are explored under the carbon neutrality target. • Controlling production capacity is a crucial reduction strategy. • The energy rebound effect is supposed to be weakened. • The application of advanced technologies will greatly promote emission reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has proposed to achieve the carbon neutrality target by 2060. It is important for China to clearly understand the carbon sink of ecosystems. Most current studies focus on accounting for the carbon sink or carbon emission in the past and ignore the contribution of ecosystems to carbon neutrality in the future. The work presented in this paper projects land use changes in 2030 and 2060 under the business as usual (BAS), rapid economic development (RED), and ecological land protection (ELP) scenarios based on Multiple Objective Programming and GeoSOS-FLUS and calculates the carbon budgets and contributions of ecosystems to carbon neutrality in Qinghai during 2000–2060. The key findings are that the contributions of the terrestrial ecosystem to carbon neutrality in Qinghai are 9.92% (BAS), 10.03% (ELP) and 7.56% (RED) in 2030, and 3.23% (BAS), 3.28% (ELP) and 2.91% (RED) in 2060. These results indicate that the Qinghai ecosystem has carbon sink potential and the reduction of carbon emissions by humans is the core challenge in achieving carbon neutrality. Therefore, some recommendations have been made: 1) optimizing the land use structure to enhance the ecosystem sink in Qinghai; 2) continuing to implement the policies of ecological protection in Qinghai; 3) reducing the anthropogenic carbon emissions is the key to achieving carbon neutrality in 2060. This study not only offers data support and related policy recommendations to realize carbon neutrality goals but also provides a feasible method for future ecosystem contribution assessments under the goal of carbon neutrality. • Current land use policies in Qinghai are partial to ecological land protection. • Terrestrial ecosystem contributions to carbon neutrality are decreasing. • Terrestrial ecosystem contributions are similar in 2060 under three scenarios. • Carbon emission reduction of social system is key to achieving carbon neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We provide the most up-to-date CO 2 emission inventory for China's cement industry. • We construct the G-LEAP model to project the CO 2 emissions of China's cement industry. • The CO 2 emissions could be reduced maximum by 70 percent in 2060, while the remainder will need to come from technological innovation and new growth horizons. This paper aims to assess the emission reduction potential of combined mitigation technologies in China's cement industry, thus transitioning towards carbon neutrality through a suitable technology portfolio and exploring a low-carbon pathway. The G-LEAP model is constructed for future carbon emission projection, incorporating the cement demand projection and technology application. The pathways based on different technology portfolios are developed to estimate the CO 2 emission trajectory of China's cement industry. We maximize the utilization of currently available technologies and assume a high level of innovative technology diffusion rate in the integrated mitigation pathway to explore the maximum abatement potential of the cement industry. The result shows that short-term mitigation mainly relies on improving energy efficiency and alternative low-carbon fuels, which would contribute 9–12% and 17–22% of the cumulative emissions reduction in the integrated mitigation pathway compared to a frozen scenario. Alternative clinkers can significantly reduce process-related emissions, but the potential is determined by the availability of raw materials, which would contribute 30–39% of the cumulative emission reduction. Post- and oxygen-combustion capture is expected to be deployed by 2030 and contribute about 28–44% to cumulative emission reduction. The technology portfolio in the integrated mitigation pathway would reduce China's cement CO 2 emissions by 63–73% compared to the frozen scenario, and the remainder of CO 2 emission would be 300–400 Mt in 2060, which will need the technological innovation and new growth horizons, such as carbon sink approaches or carbon trading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has announced its goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2060, which will have a profound impact on its energy and economic systems. During this process, the power sector will play a key role in helping the country on its road towards carbon neutrality. This study develops a multi-regional power dispatch and capacity expansion model to combine long-term capacity expansion with short-term power dispatch. The model is built to optimise the carbon-neutral transition pathway from the perspective of economics, focussing on power system stability and reliability under high penetrations of renewables. Using the case study of North China, the cost-effective methods for power system transitions under the targets of reaching peak emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060 are discussed under different scenarios. We find that the future power supply system will rely heavily on renewable energy which will account for more than 89% of power generation. Inner Mongolia will produce more than 84% of power in the North China region. The inter-regional power transmission capacity will be five times higher than its current level. Policy choices will lead to different transition pathways as the early-stage installation decisions will have a lock-in effect on the following carbon emission reduction strategies and determine the importance of technologies adopted in achieving carbon neutrality. Although the transition to a low-carbon economy will result in an increase in cost by 17–19%, it will bring huge climate benefits to the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to achieve the emission peak and carbon neutrality ("30·60" goals), personal carbon trading may be included in China's carbon trading market in the future, based on the corporate-level carbon trading that is already in place. It will be an effective solution to reduce carbon emissions from the consumption side and can be used as a supplement to the corporate carbon trading mechanism and carbon tax. This study constructs a personal carbon trading system based on the fundamental realities of China, which includes four attributes: carbon quota acquisition, trading partner selection, low-carbon behavior offset mechanism, and value preservation mode. Through questionnaire survey and choice experiment, the logit model is used to analyze the influence of the four attributes upon the individual willingness to participate in personal carbon trading and the heterogeneity of the public on personal carbon trading in the context of carbon neutrality policy. The study found that the influence of the attributes on the willingness to participate was ranked as follows: carbon quota acquisition > value preservation mode > low-carbon behavior offset mechanism > trading partner selection. The level of knowledge about carbon neutrality and salary will have a significant positive impact on the attribute-level preference of personal carbon trading. Finally, suggestions are made for designing, applying, and promoting personal carbon trading mechanisms to improve the public's willingness to participate in personal carbon trading and perfect the construction of carbon trading systems at the consumption side. The take-home message of the study is that a well-established personal carbon trading mechanism is an effective solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production of bio‐ethylene is a promising way to replace fossil‐based ethylene production, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and working towards China's carbon neutrality goals. This study elaborates on five bio‐ethylene technological pathways: first‐ and second‐generation bioethanol dehydration, direct and indirect thermochemical synthesis, and methanol‐to‐olefins (MTO). It retrieves information about them from commercial patents and the scientific literature, and comprehensively assesses their potential for application in large‐scale ethylene production in China. The techno‐economic feasibility of these five technological pathways is discussed in terms of feedstock availability, investment level, technological development level, and political issues such as the carbon neutrality goal to which China's government is committed. Overall, two pathways (indirect thermochemical synthesis and MTO) exhibited competitive minimum ethylene selling prices at 5243 yuan/t (822 USD t–1) and 6767 yuan/t (1061 USD t–1), respectively, of which both are lower than the average ethylene market price of 7000 yuan/t (1098 USD t–1). In comparison with the conventional fossil‐derived ethylene, bio‐ethylene could decrease carbon emission by 3.2%–15.1% under a scenario of 20% bio‐ethylene substitution in 2019, showing promising potential for decarbonizing the ethylene industry and contributing to the achievement of China's carbon neutrality goals. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The influencing factors of carbon prices in China's carbon market are analysed. • The influencing factors and historical data are combined to predict the carbon price. • The EEMD-BP-ELM model and the CHINAGEM-E model are constructed and combined. Carbon price is one of the core indicators of the carbon market. Making accurate predictions of carbon prices based on insight into the volatility characteristics of the carbon market will not only provide a scientific basis for investors and regulators to make decisions and greatly promote emission reduction, but also effectively promote the healthy development of the carbon financial market. Based on the historical carbon price data of the national carbon market, this paper constructs the EEMD-BP-ELM model to predict the high and low frequency components of China's future carbon price. On this basis, according to China's goal of peaking carbon emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060, the CHINAGEM-E model is used to predict the trend component of the carbon price under the baseline and the 2060 carbon neutral scenarios. Finally, the trend component is combined with the high and low frequency components to obtain the price range from 2022 to 2060. We find that under the baseline scenario, China's carbon price range in 2060 is [343, 785] CNY/tCO2, while under the 2060 carbon neutral scenario, this price range is [1543, 3531] CNY/tCO2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Constructing a new welfare function considering economy, equity and ecology. • Optimizing carbon emission pathways from multiple perspectives. • Focusing on the emission pathways in China achieving the ambitious targets. With the increasing climate warming, reducing carbon emissions has gradually become a consensus around the world. However, the process of carbon emission reduction will inevitably lead to the transformation of economic structure, industrial structure and energy structure, which will bring huge changes in economic output, employment and other aspects, thus affecting the overall social welfare and equity. Therefore, it is particularly important for each country to determine a scientific and effective carbon emission pathway which take into account both social development and climate targets. As the largest carbon emitter, China has put forward the targets of carbon peak and carbon neutrality. In this regard, the corresponding carbon emission reduction scenarios are designed according to the new situation of China's emission reduction in this paper, firstly. Furthermore, under the premise of maximizing social welfare, an optimization model which integrating economic growth-equity-environment is developed to determine China's emission pathways under different scenarios from 2020 to 2050. Besides quantitatively showing the future total amount and peak value of carbon emissions under different scenarios, the results can also identify its evolution pathway over time. Therein, the peak under most scenarios will concentrate in 2025–2030, which is about 10.7 to 11.8 billion tons. With the increasingly stringent constraints on carbon emission reduction, the cost of emission reduction will increase correspondingly, but the overall social welfare will increase slightly. Finally, our findings provide practical guidance on achieving carbon emission reduction and enlightenments on policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We provide an up-to-date CO 2 emission inventory for China's iron and steel sector. • Conventional technology is estimated to reduce emissions by only 54%. • Innovative technological retrofitting is the key to net-zero emission pathway. As a hard-to-abate sector, the iron and steel industry is responsible for 22% of China's total carbon emissions and therefore plays a crucial role in achieving China's carbon peaking and neutrality target. Nearly 90% of China's iron and steel output is produced with coal-based blast furnaces, which results in high carbon emission intensity. To peak China's carbon emissions and achieve the carbon neutrality target, it is essential to accelerate the application of breakthrough technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) and hydrogen-based steel-making. This paper estimates the future CO 2 emissions from China's iron and steel industry in pathways that consider the influence of different technology portfolios, technology maturity, decarbonization of power systems, and future steel production output. The results show that using currently available technology, China's iron and steel industry can reduce CO 2 emissions by more than 50%. However, it cannot achieve the neutrality target without using innovative technologies. By combining conventional strategies with net-zero emission technologies such as CCS and hydrogen metallurgy, approximately 80–90% emission reduction can be achieved, thus leading to a carbon neutrality pathway, which can meet the 1.5°C targets of the carbon budget limit either. In the future, carbon emissions' reduction potential will be influenced by the decarbonization of power systems and the diffusion rate of innovative technologies. To achieve carbon neutrality, it is essential to act sooner and faster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The successively proposed carbon peaking and carbon neutrality have not only set new goals for the green and low-carbon development of China’s economy, but also demonstrated China’s further determination and sense of responsibility for a greater contribution to address global climate change. Considering the importance of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality in the course of achieving the Second Centenary Goal (1949-2049), it is necessary for China to make scientific planning for the roadmap of carbon emission reduction, carbon peaking and carbon neutrality to ensure building a great modern socialist country under carbon constraints. More specifically, the optimization and realignment of energy structure, industrial structure, production and consumption structure, the rational planning of afforestation, and the vigorous development of global carbon emissions trading will be the core strategies for boosting green and low-carbon development of China’s economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• CCUS retrofitting China's power plants potentially reduce 5.5–38.5 gt CO 2 by 2060. • The impact of CCUS deployment time and transport distance is quantified. • Great opportunities for CCUS clusters in five major basins are suggested. • Priority provinces with low-cost opportunities for CO 2 transportation are identified. China's carbon neutrality target before 2060 requires a significant CO 2 emissions reduction for the power industry. The application of carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technology in coal-fired power plants (CFPPs) can significantly reduce the CO 2 emissions while avoiding stranded assets loss; however, its contribution to carbon neutrality remains unclear. Based on a CCUS source-sink matching analysis, this paper investigates the role of CO 2 emissions reduction of existing CFPPs in realizing China's carbon neutrality. This research yielded several important findings. (1) During 2020–2060, China's existing 584 CFPPs (670 GW) will totally lock in associated CO 2 emissions of 60.87 Gt CO 2 , and have the CCUS retrofitting potential of 136–560 GW, contributing to the cumulative CO 2 emissions reduction of 5.46–38.48 Gt depending on different deployment time (2025, 2030, and 2035) and maximum transport distance (100 km, 250 km, and 800 km); (2) The best window for retrofitting China's existing CFPPs is quite short and will soon be closed, because the cumulative mitigation potential will drop by 3.76–17.14 Gt (over 40%) if the deployment time is delayed by 10 years from 2025; (3) The geographical consistency of matched CFPPs and storage sites provides great opportunities for the development of CCUS clusters in Bohai Bay Basin, South Huabei Basin, Subei Basin, Songliao Basin, and Junggar Basin; (4) Jiangsu, Henan, Anhui, Hebei, Xinjiang, Heilongjiang, and Tianjin are identified as the highest priority for large-scale CCUS deployment considering that they have low-cost opportunities for CO 2 transportation; (5) CFPPs in Heilongjiang, Shanxi and Jilin are more sensitive to the injection rate capacity of nearby storage sites; (6) 300 km are highly suggested to be the upper limit of transport distance especially for those CFPPs targeting deep saline aquifers (DSA) sites. This study provides low-cost CCUS opportunities for provinces and even power plants, as well as support government policymaking, especially in the appropriate length of onshore pipelines and the locations of CCUS hubs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to large energy consumption and carbon emissions (ECCE) in the building sector, there is huge potential for carbon emission reduction, and this will strongly influence peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality in the future. To get a better sense of the current research situation and future trends and to provide a valuable reference and guidance for subsequent research, this study presents a summary of carbon peak and carbon neutrality (CPCN) in buildings using a bibliometric approach. Three areas are addressed in the review through the analysis of 364 articles published from 1990–2021: (1) Which countries, institutions, and individuals have conducted extensive and in-depth research on CPCN in buildings, and what is the status quo of their collaboration and contributions? (2) What subjects and topics have aroused wide interest and enthusiasm among scholars, and what are their time trajectories? (3) What journals and authors have grabbed the attention of many scholars, and what are the research directions related to them? Moreover, we propose future research directions. Filling these gaps will enrich the research body of CPCN and overcome current limitations by developing more methods and exploring other practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]