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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]

The Chinese government's use of fiscal policy, which includes fiscal income and spending, is crucial in its fight against environmental pollution and climate change. Innovation‐driven has arisen as a new alternative to reconcile economic success with environmental conservation in light of tighter resource restrictions and the suggestion of the Chinese High‐quality Development policy. The paper uses an econometric model to examine the connection between institutional resource consumption efficiency and carbon neutrality, using a data set consisting of Chinese inter‐provincial panel data from 2007 to 2020 as a research sample; fiscal decentralization is also discussed as a potential moderating factor. Collaborative innovation positively boosts ecological efficiency and produces geographical spillovers, and the findings suggest so long as the economic distance is considered. When it comes to increasing ecological efficiency, collaborative innovation plays a more important role than financial decentralization alone. Among these is the improvement of carbon neutrality, which is best achieved via the joint promotion of ecological efficiency and industrial organizations. By reducing the intensity of the positive effect of innovative cooperation on ecological efficiency, the moderating effect suggests that fiscal decentralization is a critical factor in this relationship. Promoting China's ecological efficiency necessitates a fair distribution of local budgetary spending. China should also actively encourage the degree of synergy between institutional resource consumption efficiency and associated institutions to improve eco‐efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental regulation plays an important role in enhancing urban land green use efficiency (ULGUE), while economic and environmental performance evaluation may also impact ULGUE in the Chinese context. Using data from 282 prefecture‐level cities in China from 2006 to 2019, this article empirically tests the impacts of performance evaluation and environmental regulation on ULGUE by establishing a two‐way fixed‐effect model. The results show that environmental regulation has a significant contribution to ULGUE. However, environmental regulation also significantly increase carbon emissions from urban construction land, which is mainly influenced by the Chinese government's performance assessment. Therefore, the effect of performance evaluation is also examined. Economic performance evaluation is detrimental to environmental regulation and ULGUE, while environmental performance evaluation significantly contribute to both. Furthermore, economic performance evaluation and environmental regulation can synergistically promote ULGUE, however, environmental performance evaluation failed to have the same synergistic effect. Notably, when the ratio of economic performance evaluation to environmental performance evaluation was 2:8, performance evaluation and environmental regulation reached the optimal level for promoting ULGUE. Therefore, to improve ULGUE, it is necessary to establish and strengthen the constraint mechanism of environmental regulation on carbon emission from urban construction land. Meanwhile, local governments' performance assessment mechanism must be improved and the ratio of economic to environmental performance evaluation should be reasonably configured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluates optimal carbon‐neutral power supply strategy in China up to 2060 with a multi‐region high spatial and temporal dynamic optimal power expansion planning model. Furthermore, this study explores installable potential of hydrogen and fuel cell system and analyzes the influences of its capital cost reduction at different levels. The results show that the national installed capacity would rise to be over 9000 GW in 2060, in which wind and solar PV will take up around 61%; the intermittency of renewable power generation is mainly managed with hydrogen production, power output curtailment and charge and discharge of energy storage; hydrogen and fuel cell system would improve the capacity factor and reduce the curtailment rate of renewable power generation. © 2023 The Authors. IEEJ Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Engineering published by Institute of Electrical Engineer of Japan and Wiley Periodicals LLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With growing global concern for mainstreaming of environmental protection measures, the promotion of climate change and sustainable development policies, the international community, represented by international organizations, research institutions, and world‐wide businesses, has focused on green finance. Existing research on green finance in the context of environmental trends has been reviewed in terms of the products and determinants of green finance. This study aims to assess the impact of green finance on the decarbonization of economies in the context of a review of current and potential problems and prospects. Based on the examples of the People's Republic of China, the Russian Federation, and the United States of America, the study suggests that today green finance has not yet demonstrated a tangible effect in these countries. Based on the results of the study, it can be argued that in the three countries, the main tool of green finance in the field of decarbonization is green bonds; other types of green finance are used to a limited extent. The progress of the United States and China is not so obvious, but based on the overall involvement of relevant government agencies and businesses in the green bond market, it can be assumed that the results will be observed in the near future. [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]

In 2021, China launched a series of reform initiatives including common prosperity, a property tax, a regulatory crackdown on technology firms, a roadmap for peak carbon dioxide emissions and carbon neutrality and other policies aiming to improve people's lives. This study reviews each of them and finds that they are centred around common prosperity and guiding resource allocation. Based on Google Trends search results, this study creatively created a series of common prosperity policy indices, showing that China in 2021 may have experienced the most important policy shift since at least 2004. Based on EGARCH and ARDL models, this study finds that the whole economy, proxied by two popular composite indices, i.e. the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index and the China Securities Index 300, responded positively to the common prosperity policy. Stock market responses also show that China's policies have successfully guided the resource allocation from the soft technology sector to the hard technology one. This study also discusses the broad implications, such as the role of the government and the evolution of private ownership in the Chinese economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]