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Abstract: This paper measures the company's awareness and acceptability of market-based instruments (MBIs) for energy saving, and identifies their relationships with pre-classified determinants. The data were collected from 170 respondents mainly from iron & steel, cement and chemical sectors in China. The surveyed companies indicate moderate awareness but good acceptability of MBIs in overall. In contrast to the regulative polices, MBIs and voluntary approaches are more appreciated by the samples. There exist significant and positive relationships between a company's size and its awareness and acceptability of MBIs. This analysis suggests that a company's policy acceptability would be largely determined by the company's perceived policy influences on its comparative competition. The companies would make internal efforts to offset energy cost increases due to the possible introduction of economic pressure policies while being reluctant to simply transfer the policy burden to their clients. Empirical evidences on the conditions for the success of MBIs from this study are meaningful for supporting the future progress of industrial energy saving policies in China. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper estimates the affordability of increased energy costs for Chinese companies due to the possible introduction of carbon pricing policies. The data were collected from 121 valid respondents in Taicang, China, using a multiple-bounded discrete choice (MBDC) format. Estimations indicate that a mean of 8.5% in energy cost increase would be acceptable for the surveyed companies on the whole. Companies from chemical and dyeing industries expressed a slightly higher affordability, with the mean of acceptable energy cost increase being 9.8% and 9.4% respectively. Econometric analysis identified two determinants of affordability for companies. One is the current energy price level, having a significant but negative relationship with affordability. The other is the energy management strategies of companies, significantly and positively associated with affordability. Calculations indicate that the mean of affordable energy cost increases for companies roughly equals a carbon price of 60 CNY/t-CO2 (about 9 USD/t-CO2). This result may be used as a referendum during the development of carbon tax policy and the establishment of a domestic carbon emissions trading scheme in China from the perspective of individual companies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]