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Climate change mitigation and adaptation are common global challenges, and how to accelerate carbon neutrality and green recovery is a major global issue. Market-oriented emission reduction policy has been widely concerned for its unique advantages, but most of the current market-oriented emission reduction policies are based on the consideration of end-of-pipe governance and lack of effective control of source reduction. Energy quota trading (EQT) is an innovation of an energy-saving and emission reduction system, which is based on the idea of source reduction. However, it is unknown about the evaluation of the effect of the EQT policy from the macro perspective. Based on the related statistical data of energy consumption, combined with the ARIMA model, STIRPAT model, and the synthetic control method (SCM), this paper analyzes the energy consumption distribution in China from 2001 to 2020 and comprehensively evaluates the effect of EQT in the pilots. The results show that: (1) The overall energy consumption in China shows a steady upward trend, and its distribution is unbalanced. (2) In absolute perspective, EQT can realize the "double control" of the total amount and intensity in energy saving and emission reduction, and the intensity control effect is better than the total amount control effect. (3) In relative perspective, EQT can enhance the potential of energy saving and emission reduction in the pilots, in which it needs to take the regional characteristics into account. The policy effect is still significant when eliminating some unobservable factors, which indicate that the policy is effective and can be replicated nationwide. The study comprehensively evaluates the effect of ETS from multiple perspectives, which can effectively avoid the misjudgment of the policy effectiveness caused by the single dimension evaluation, while it can also be used as a reference for the government to perfect the policies of energy management system and emission control system. Furthermore, the development of EQT is an important catalyst for policymakers to coordinate policies to accelerate the achievement of carbon-neutral targets and a more resilient low-carbon development model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global warming induced by the emission of greenhouse gases, especially the carbon dioxide, has become the global climate and environmental issues. China has been working in the CO2 emission reduction and carbon sinks with the purpose of becoming the carbon-neutral country by 2060. The CO2 capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies and the reforestation technology represented by the Conversion of Cropland to Forestland Program (CCFP) have great potential for sinking CO2 emission. However, the trade-off among CCFP, CCS/CCUS and Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus are not well evaluated. In this paper, the remote-sensing data are collected and used to evaluate the sustainability of CCFP by analyzing the variation of land use and land cover (LULC), crop production, etc. The results show that 13.29% of the cropland in 2001 vanished and converted to grassland (8.3%), mosaic cropland (3%) and urban land (0.98%) in 2019, demonstrating that the CCFP is successful in both WEF nexus and carbon sink. The total crop production has increased around 50% between 2001 and 2019, implying that the CCFP will not lead to the food risk during the conversion of croplands into other types of land in China. A sustainable implementation of CCFP and other environmental Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) policies in 2019–2060 could reach an estimated total growth of 7.462 billion m3 in comparison of that in 2018 and the total plantation forest stock of about 10.852 billion m3 in 2060, with a corresponding minimum CO2 sink of 2.90 billion tons in 2060. The estimated peak of net equivalent CO2 emissions before 2030 is about 11.0 billion tons and could not be reduced to zero by 2060 without the large-scale application of the CCS/CCUS technologies as geological sequestration of CO2. Besides, the application of CCS/CCUS can be beneficial for WEF, e.g., through replacing the water by CO2 during energy production, especially in the shale gas production in the regions with high water risks in China. In one word, CCS/CCUS and CCFP are two decided pathways of carbon sequestration and should be systematically applied to achieve China's carbon neutrality by 2060. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research of carbon neutrality is summarized in this paper. First, the general concept of carbon neutrality is described. Then, the impact of carbon neutrality on energy and electric power industry is introduced. Finally, this paper introduces the solution of the new power system to achieve the objective of carbon neutrality, from the perspective of power system. This study provides some reference for the exploration of carbon neutrality solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subnational entities are recognizing the need to systematically examine options for reducing their carbon footprints. However, few robust and comprehensive analyses are available that lay out how US states and regions can most effectively contribute. This paper describes an approach developed for Georgia—a state in the southeastern United States called "Drawdown Georgia", our research involves (1) understanding Georgia's baseline carbon footprint and trends, (2) identifying the universe of Georgia-specific carbon-reduction solutions that could be impactful by 2030, (3) estimating the greenhouse gas reduction potential of these high-impact 2030 solutions for Georgia, and (4) estimating associated costs and benefits while also considering how the solutions might impact societal priorities, such as economic development opportunities, public health, environmental benefits, and equity. We began by examining the global solutions identified by Project Drawdown. The resulting 20 high-impact 2030 solutions provide a strategy for reducing Georgia's carbon footprint in the next decade using market-ready technologies and practices and including negative emission solutions. This paper describes our systematic and replicable process and ends with a discussion of its strengths, weaknesses, and planned future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of China's environmental regulations, with a focus on the green credit policy, on green innovation in pursuit of the "carbon peak and carbon neutrality" goal. Given the implementation of the 2012 Green Credit Guidelines, this paper employs the Difference-in-Difference Method (DID) and conducts a quasi-natural experiment to empirically examine the interactions among the central government, local governments, and high-pollution and high-emission enterprises by exploring the impact of green credit policies on green innovation of these enterprises. Relying on 4503 samples of 237 high-pollution and high-emission enterprises listed in the main board in China from 2003 to 2021, this study reveals that the green credit policy can improve green innovation of these enterprises. Specifically, this study explores the detailed mechanism through which the green credit policy enables these enterprises to increase their market concentration and then the monopoly profits, which in turn promotes their green innovative productivity. In addition, this paper also reveals how local governments' political and financial incentives may serve as positive and negative moderating factors, respectively, within the impact mechanism. This study has valuable implications for how to effectively formulate and implement environmental regulations by balancing the interests of the central government, local governments and enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is increasing crucial to improve the sustainable use rate of energy and contribute to carbon neutrality and environmental footprints reduction. This work features cutting-edge selected extended papers and developments that were presented at the 25th Conference on Process Integration, Modelling and Optimization for Energy Saving and Pollution Reduction, held on 5–8 September 2022 in Bol, Croatia. More than 400 papers were accepted and presented at this conference. Out of these papers, the 45 contributions in this Virtual Special Issue represent a selection of the most cutting-edge developments in the topic of the Sustainable Use of Energy Contributes to Carbon Emissions Neutrality and Environmental footprint reduction. This paper provides a review of these contributions and above, and groups them into four research themes: (1) Energy Conversion, Storage, Recovery and Efficiency Improvement, (2) Energy Management, Planning and Optimization, (3) Energy, Environment and Economy, and (4) Heat Transfer, Heat Pumps and Heat Convection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Identify three key factors impacting carbon neutrality in rMSW management. • Perform LCA comparison of environmental impacts for different treatment technologies. • Comprehensive comparison of rMSW characteristics in China, Germany, Japan, and the USA. • Identify four major challenges hindering low carbon rMSW management in China. • Present a three-stage road-map for "low-, zero-, and negative-carbon" management models. Solid waste management is rapidly developing and undergoing technological transformation in China. However, Waste Classification (WC) methods and the corresponding end-of-pipe technologies have not been fully harmonized, resulting in large volume and complex residual municipal solid waste (rMSW) that poses challenges for waste management. To achieve carbon neutrality in solid waste treatment, a well-designed rMSW management system is necessary. In this paper, we identified the common factors influencing the carbon emissions in solid waste management. Then we presented a comprehensive assessment of four emerging low-carbon rMSW technologies, including their advantages, disadvantages, project examples, and environmental impacts. Finally, with reference to the experiences of Germany, Japan, and the United States, and based on the history and current status of rMSW management in China, we summarized the challenges faced by China and proposed a low-carbon development pathway. This paper aims to offer support for the early achievement of carbon neutrality in solid waste management in China. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urgent need to address climate change has led to global efforts towards achieving carbon neutrality. However, it is crucial to recognize the existence of carbon inequity, where certain regions or communities bear a disproportionate burden of carbon emissions compared to others. This paper explores the concept of carbon inequity and highlights the importance of considering driving factors in the pursuit of just energy transition. By examining the socioeconomic, environmental, and policy-related factors that contribute to carbon emissions, a comprehensive understanding of the underlying causes of carbon inequity is gained. The study emphasizes the need to address systemic issues such as economic development patterns, industrial structures, energy consumption habits, and social inequalities that perpetuate carbon inequity. It further discusses the significance of collaborative and inclusive approaches to carbon reduction, focusing on bridging the gap between regions with high and low carbon emissions. Policy implications are derived to guide decision-makers in formulating effective strategies for achieving carbon neutrality while ensuring equity and fairness. By considering both the overarching goal of carbon neutrality and the distributional aspects of carbon emissions, a more holistic and equitable approach can be adopted to accelerate the transition to a sustainable and low-carbon future. • It is crucial to recognize the existence of carbon inequity to address climate change. • This paper explores the concept and importance of carbon inequity of just energy transition. • Policy implications are derived to guide decision-makers while ensuring equity and fairness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to reach carbon neutrality, GHG emissions from all sectors of society need to be strongly reduced. This especially applies to the construction sector. For those emissions that remain hard to reduce, removals or compensations are required. Such approaches can also be found within the built environment, but have not yet been systematically utilized. This paper presents a review of possible carbon storage technologies based on literature and professional experience. The existing technologies for storing carbon can be divided into 13 approaches. Some are already in use, many possess the potential to be scaled up, while some presently seem to only be theoretical. We propose typologies for different approaches, estimate their net carbon storage impact and maturity, and suggest a ranking based on their applicability, impact, and maturity. Our findings suggest that there is an underutilized potential for systematically accumulating atmospheric carbon in the built environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zhejiang Province, charged with the task of opening "an important window", should take the lead in the implementation of the national "carbon peak, carbon neutral" strategy. The intention of this study is to start from the intersection of economics and geography, and on the basis of GIS analysis, use the spatial Dubin model to study the spatio-temporal evolution trend, key influencing factors, and spatial spillover effects of forest carbon sequestration in 72 districts and counties of Zhejiang Province from 2000 to 2020, to provide a theoretical and practical reference for how to formulate regional synergistic forest sink enhancement measures and help Zhejiang achieve the goal of carbon neutrality. The conclusions are as follows: (1) From 2000 to 2020, the overall growth of forest carbon sequestration in all regions and counties of Zhejiang Province was relatively high, but the regional differences were large. The concentration center and range moved to the southwest. (2) If the spatial effect is considered, the increase of per capita GDP, road density, and deforestation will reduce the forest carbon sequestration, and the conservation of ecological public welfare forests will have a significant positive relationship with the forest carbon sequestration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the built environment is among the main contributing sectors to climate change, it is needed to investigate new paradigms to push decarbonization efforts towards the ambitious objectives defined internationally. It is a shared understanding that shifting the perspective from the single building to the district perspective is required to fully take into consideration the complexity of all interactions undergoing within the built environment, thus the concept of Positive Energy District emerged as a district with annual net zero energy import and net zero CO 2 emission working towards an annual local surplus production of renewable energy. In this framework, this paper explores the investigation of the potential for achieving the level of Positive Energy District in a group of non-residential buildings in Balaguer, Catalonia, Spain. These buildings, occupying 8,825 m2 in the city centre, require significant refurbishment for improved energy performance. The analysis includes building energy modelling and simulation, renovation studies, several alternative balance calculations, and carbon emissions assessment. The paper also considers mobility and embodied energy and their impact on energy/carbon balances. The results show that Positive Energy Districts carbon and primary energy balances are not met with rooftop PV installations when retrofitting an existing district towards the Positive energy target but further significant PV areas (roughly + 50%) are required to meet merely the use stage balances: negative results are traced when mobility and embodied energy are computed. A formulation alternative to the simple mathematical balance to facilitate the diffusion of Positive Energy District as catalyst of urban decarbonisation could be needed, including context factors and alternative systems (e.g., rating systems). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is striving to achieve "carbon dioxide peaking" in 2030 and "carbon neutrality" in 2060. In addition to optimizing and upgrading the industrial structure and increasing industrial emission reduction, afforestation is an important way to increase forest carbon sinks and achieve carbon dioxide peaking and carbon neutrality. Improved seedlings are significantly better than general seedlings in terms of afforestation adaptability, growth and stress resistance. The use of improved varieties for afforestation can improve the quality of afforestation from the source. Although the growth cycle of economical tree species is short, and the carbon storage does not increase after directional cultivation, they significantly improve the quality and yield, and indirectly reduce carbon emissions compared with ordinary seedlings. Therefore, in agricultural and forestry production, the transformation and utilization efficiency of improved varieties should be improved and the planting structure should be optimized to improve the quality and efficiency and significantly improve the yield and carbon storage, and the management of plantations should be strengthened to help achieve the goal of "carbon neutrality" as soon as possible. This paper analyzed the current situation of improved varieties and plantation management in China, and put forward corresponding countermeasures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's energy transformation has been accompanied by potential energy security issues. However, the influence degree and driving mechanism behind this phenomenon remain unclear. In this paper, we developed a complex network-based technical resilience assessment framework and quantified both the historical trajectory and the prospective pathway of energy technical resilience in China. We proposed to reveal the relationship between cleaner energy supply and technical resilience by defining three energy technology resilience indicators: energy robustness, energy recovery rate, and energy performance loss. The results showed a consistent decline in energy technical resilience within China, predominantly characterized by an average diminution of 6.83% in energy robustness from 2010 to 2018. Taking carbon neutrality as a target, China's energy system transformation, characterized by increasing clean energy supply, leads to a significant improvement of 7.73% in energy robustness from 2020 to 2060. Conversely, the nationally determined contribution scenario exhibited negligible changes (±0.57%) in energy robustness, while a decline of 2.21% was noted under the business as usual scenario. Furthermore, energy robustness exhibited increments of 12.07%, 2.3%, and 4.17% for every 10% rise in the share of clean energy supply during 2020–2060, demonstrating greater resilience for cleaner energy systems against disruptions, including energy import interruptions, malicious attacks, and random failures. It has been concluded that enhancing the supply of clean energy can significantly contribute to bolstering China's energy technical resilience, while simultaneously addressing climate change concerns. • Network analysis is used to assess China's energy technical resilience. • Energy technical resilience is evaluated regarding robustness, recovery rate, and performance loss. • Energy system robustness significantly increases under carbon neutrality scenario. • Increasing clean energy supply strengthens resilience against shocks. [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's climate and environmental problems remained prominent. Energy transition was the key to improve climate and pollution, and it was at a critical period. Previous studies mostly focused on the impact of climate policies on the reduction of air pollutants and the environmental health impacts of individual sector or pathway policies. Thus, focusing on the synergistic abatement of CO 2 and air pollutants and health effects of energy transition in carbon neutrality was significant for building beautiful and healthy China. LEAP-HEA model was constructed to project energy demand, CO 2 and air pollutants, and assess energy transition's environmental health effects from 2020 to 2060. LMDI model was adopted to decompose the abatement contribution. Synergistic assessment index was used to estimate the coordinated abatement effects. Cost-effectiveness of energy transition and regional heterogeneity of PM 2.5 toxicity were not considered. The results indicated: (1) energy demand would decrease and structure would be optimized significantly under deep energy transition scenario. (2) Deep energy transition could promote earlier realization of carbon neutrality. It would contribute significantly to CO 2 and air pollutants abatement with strong synergistic effects. (3) Energy transition would reduce health risks with large economic benefits. Recommendations were proposed based on the conclusions. The framework of LEAP-HEA model. [Display omitted] • The synergistic abatement and health effect of energy transition were explored. • The models of LEAP, LMDI, exposure-response and the data of 2020 were used. • Energy transition would have significant synergistic abatement and health effect. • The paper has significance for promoting carbon neutrality and healthy China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intensification of global climate change has led to a widespread consensus on carbon reduction, with the power industry being the principal contributor to carbon emissions necessitating an inevitable transition of its energy structure. Concomitantly, the escalating frequency of natural disasters caused by extreme weather presents formidable challenges to both secure power supply and the low-carbon transition of the power system. To fulfill the developmental requirements of a low-carbon power system and address the carbon emission risks imposed by natural disasters, this paper proposes a bi-level model for generation expansion planning (GEP) that incorporates constraints on the carbon emission trajectory and the influence of natural disasters. The planning-level model optimizes investment costs of various generation technologies and energy storage (ES), as well as the overall operational expenses over the planning period, with an objective to minimize them. It incorporates carbon emission trajectory constraints and policy constraints, such as carbon peaking, carbon neutrality and renewable energy (RE) penetration rates, in order to optimize the planning installed capacity of power sources. The operational-level model aims to minimize typical daily operating costs while also simulating power unit outputs in routine and disaster scenarios. A case study is conducted in a disaster-prone province in southern China to analyze the power generation expansion planning and the trajectory of carbon emissions from 2020 to 2060 under different scenarios. The simulation results show that compared to thermal power, the planning scheme mainly focused on RE with ES is better suited to achieve the goal of a low-carbon transition of the power grid. Moreover, after considering natural disasters, the cost and carbon emissions of power system planning are higher, and the risk of carbon emissions increases with the severity of disasters. • A multi-time scale bi-level low-carbon GEP model is proposed. • Natural disaster scenarios and low-carbon policy constraints are considered in the GEP model. • Carbon emission trajectory of the planned power system is estimated and introduced as a constraint into the GEP model. • Evaluation indicators that comprehensively consider low-carbon performance and economic feasibility are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As global concern shifts from developed countries—many of which have made significant strides towards carbon neutrality—to developing nations, an urgent need arises: how can the latter effectively borrow and adapt strategies that have proven successful in the former? This review thoroughly explores the successes and challenges encountered by developed countries in terms of emission accounting, mitigation strategies, and transitioning to renewable energy sources. We then explore how these strategies can be feasibly integrated into the economic, social, and political contexts of developing countries. Furthermore, this paper highlights the importance of customizing these strategies to the unique challenges and opportunities of developing nations, rather than simply replicating efforts. Through a comparative analysis, we present a roadmap to carbon neutrality that acknowledges the distinct contexts of these developing countries while drawing inspiration from global successes. This approach underscores the necessity of a collaborative, global effort in addressing climate change, recognizing the interconnectedness of all nations in this endeavor. It also sets the stage for future research and policy development that are both locally informed and globally conscious. [Display omitted] • Comprehensive analysis of emission accounting successes in developed countries. • Exploration of the unique challenges and opportunities in developing nations. • Emphasis on tailoring, not duplicating, carbon neutrality strategies. • Proposing a cohesive, global approach grounded in local context and solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A CGE model elaborately depicting six CCS technologies was developed. • Impacts of four CCS incentive scenarios on decarbonization pathways were simulated. • CCS can sequester 960 ∼ 1,604 MtCO 2 annually in China by 2060 with policy incentives. • CCS incentives can reduce China's future primary energy demand by 7.7 ∼ 17.4 %. • CCS incentives can increase GDP by 5.64 ∼ 6.59 % compared to no policy scenario. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, considered as a pivotal tool in mitigating climate change within the fossil energy system, particularly in China, has experienced slower development than expected. The exploration of direct incentive policies to facilitate its growth remains relatively underdeveloped. This study developed a hybrid dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to simulate the substantial impacts of CCS incentive policies on China within the context of carbon neutrality target. Two potential incentive policies, carbon emission trading system (ETS) and 45Q tax credit, were simulated, with different sectoral coverage. The results indicate that CCS technologies can reduce carbon emissions by 960 ∼ 1,604 MtCO 2 annually by 2060 through the strategic implementation of these incentive policies. The 45Q tax credit demonstrates its effectiveness in promoting early-stage research and development (R&D) and demonstration of CCS, while the ETS policy facilitates the commercial development of CCS in the later stage of development. By 2060, the implementation of CCS incentive policies could potentially result in 7.7 ∼ 17.4 % reduction in China's primary energy consumption, 71.2 ∼ 82.7 % decrease in the carbon price of ETS and 5.64 ∼ 6.59 % increase in the GDP compared with the no-policy scenario. In addition, the sectoral output in various sectors and the welfare of urban and rural households also increase. This paper provides an important reference for the realization of China's carbon neutrality goal and the model framework can be applied to other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the global goal of carbon neutrality being emphasized, the implementation of carbon-neutral strategies has become a crucial task across various domains. As an integral part of social activities, physical education also necessitates considerations on how to reduce carbon emissions and implement carbonneutral strategies within the teaching process. This study focuses on physical education and explores carbon-neutral strategies based on an end-to-end architecture with an attention mechanism. Firstly, we introduce an end-toend framework that enables the integration and optimization of various aspects within the teaching process to achieve comprehensive carbon-neutral objectives. This framework serves as a unified optimization platform, facilitating the collaboration of different components involved in teaching activities and balancing the reduction of carbon emissions with teaching effectiveness. Secondly, we employ Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) as the foundational model within the end-to-end architecture. Through training the CNN model, we automate the analysis of carbon emissions during the teaching process and provide corresponding carbon-neutral recommendations for different segments. Most importantly, we incorporate an attention mechanism to enhance the effectiveness and interpretability of the carbon-neutral strategy. The attention mechanism assists the model in automatically focusing on features or regions closely related to carbon-neutral objectives, thereby achieving more accurate and efficient carbon-neutral strategy recommendations. Finally, we conduct training and testing on the proposed model using a dataset constructed from carbon-neutral scenarios in physical education (the country where physical education occurred and digital energy have been scrutinized). The results demonstrate that the improved model surpasses a 90% threshold in mainstream evaluation metrics such as Action Recognition Accuracy (ARA), Action Recognition Recall (ARR), and Action Optimization Rate (AOR). The enhanced model exhibits notable improvements in inference speed and accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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It is of great scientific value to study the spatial differences and influencing factors of carbon emission intensity (CEI) in urban agglomerations (UAs), and it also has reference significance for China in formulating energy-saving and emission-reduction policies to achieve the target of carbon neutrality. Taking 165 prefecture-level cities in 19 UAs in China from 2007 to 2019 as the research object, this study investigated the spatial differences of CEI in UAs using exploratory spatial data analysis and explored the influencing factors of CEI via Geodetector. The results showed the following: (1) The CEI of the UAs showed a downward trend. (2) The CEI of the UAs has typical spatial agglomeration characteristics, where the North comprises mainly high-high and low-high types, whereas the South is primarily high-low and low-low types. (3) The influencing factors of CEI have undergone a transformation from industrial structure to population urbanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on recent interest and on the importance of the ongoing climate change catastrophe, this article provides the basics of global carbon cycle modelling as required for the assessment of the degree of carbon neutrality of biomass energy, and its underlying dynamics. It is aimed at clarifying the question "Are biomass fuels carbon neutral?". The "Combined Energy and Biosphere Model" (CEBM) computes annual carbon flows including growth and decay of plants on 2.5 × 2.5° grid elements of the continents' surface and offers detailed results on the changes of after implementation of large-scale biomass energy strategies worldwide. The main (and possibly unexpected) effect is the long-term depletion of the soil organic compartment after extraction of biomass fuels. When comparing CEBM model runs using (i) biomass energy sources and (ii) carbon-free energy sources (such as solar or wind), it becomes quantitatively clear already on the theoretical level (i.e., even without taking into account efficiency losses) that biomass is only "half as carbon neutral" as ideally assumed, to express a rule of thumb—mainly because of soil carbon depletion. Still, biomass energy will play an important role when fighting global warming, even if efforts to lower energy demand are preferable as a fundamental strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrialization has increased global carbon emissions, necessitating effective climate change mitigation measures. China, the most populous developing nation, faces the challenge of strategizing emissions to meet national carbon neutrality objectives. However, research on specific regions' carbon emissions drivers and causal factors is limited, particularly across prefectural-level cities. This study estimates the spatial and temporal patterns of carbon emissions across China's prefectural cities and utilizes both OLS regression and stepwise regression models to analyze the impact of various factors influencing carbon emissions in these cities. Results reveal the following: (1) The country's overall 20-year carbon emissions continue to grow from 3020.29 Mt in 2001 to 9169.74 Mt in 2020, with an average annual growth rate of 5.71%; the eastern region has seen a gradual deceleration in emissions, whereas the western region continues to experience an increase. Carbon emissions in cities within each subregion consistently rise. (2) Carbon emissions in Chinese prefectural-level cities exhibit strong spatial autocorrelation and clustering (Z > 1.96, p < 0.05), with hot spots primarily in the eastern coastal areas and cold spots in the northwest to southwest regions. (3) Economic and demographic factors significantly increase carbon emissions, while climate and urbanization effects are more complex and variable. Economic growth and population increase are the most significant influencing factors, but regional variances exist in carbon emissions determinants in subregional prefectural cities. These insights provide valuable insights into national emission dynamics at the prefectural level, providing a theoretical basis for enhancing carbon emission strategies across various jurisdictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though China has mapped out different policies targeting the mitigation of its environmental degradation, the country still occupies the 1st position in the ranking of carbon emissions due to excessive utilization of non-renewable energy sources in its domestic economic activities. From a theoretical and empirical point of view, factors like economic growth, financial development, export diversification, technological innovation, and renewable energy can be considered to play a vital role in environmental quality. Therefore, this study exposes the environmental performance of China amidst export diversification, financial development, innovation, and clean energy use. Due to the non-availability of data, the annual data of China are converted to quarterly data from 1995Q1 to 2018Q4, and autoregressive distributed lag-(ARDL) and Granger causality approaches are adopted in this study for quantitative and insightful analysis. The findings from both approaches expose the environmental implications of the selected variables (renewable energy, financial development, technological innovation, and export diversification) to China's sustainable development. ARDL approach has confirmed the inverted U-shaped link between financial development and emissions of carbon for China, a negative link between renewables, technologies, and carbon emissions, and a direct association exists between the diversification of export, economic growth, and emissions of carbon. This pattern points toward mitigating environmental dilapidation with renewable energy, technology, and financial development. The Granger causality output lends support to the ARDL findings; hence, a policy initiative that will promote the renewable energy sector and technological innovation through financial programs is advised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a politically and culturally important city cluster, the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region (BTH) has huge electricity and water consumption, while the local power generation capacity and water resources may not be sustainable long term according to the current power generation ratio. We introduced up-to-date strategic policies in China, carbon peaking and carbon neutrality (dual carbon goals), to assess their impact on environmental protection and economic development. Thus, we constructed a dynamic multi-regional computable general equilibrium model to simulate these changes in BTH. We designed four carbon reduction scenarios to explore the impact of policies including carbon taxes, investment, and renewable energy subsidies individually or combined. The findings reveal that implementing these policies together can increase the proportion of renewable energy in power generation to 17.2% (Beijing), 9.4% (Tianjin), and 33.2% (Hebei) by 2060. Under various policy scenarios, the Tax Scenario shows the largest water withdrawal savings, while the Investment Scenario shows the largest GDP growth by 2060. The combined implementation of these policies may minimize the negative impact on the economy while developing an environmentally friendly region. The results of the Combination Scenario are closest to carbon neutrality, narrowing the gap to 10.71%, 9.98%, and 9.85%, respectively. Conservation (water and electricity) and carbon reduction can provide significant support for carbon neutrality and sustainable development strategies. This study contributes to the evaluation of mitigation policies in BTH and provides a concrete policy option to achieve carbon neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: We conduct a multidisciplinary systematic literature review on climate neutrality in the supply chain. While carbon neutrality has gained prominence, our study argues that achieving carbon neutrality alone is not enough to address climate change effectively, as non-CO2 greenhouse gases (GHG) are potent contributors to global warming. Design/methodology/approach: We used multiple databases, including EBSCO, ProQuest, Science Direct, Emerald and Google Scholar, to identify articles related to climate neutrality in the context of non-CO2 gases. A total of 71 articles in environmental science, climate change, energy systems, agriculture and logistics are reviewed to provide insights into the climate neutrality of supply chains. Findings: We find that, in addition to CO2, other GHG such as methane, nitrous oxide, ozone and fluorinated gases also significantly contribute to climate change. Our literature review identified several key pillars for achieving net-zero GHG emissions, including end-use efficiency and electrification, clean electricity supply, clean fuel supply, "GHG capture, storage and utilization," enhanced land sinks, reduced non-CO2 emissions and improved feed and manure management. Originality/value: We contribute to the literature on climate neutrality of supply chains by emphasizing the significance of non-CO2 GHG along with CO2 and highlighting the need for a comprehensive approach to climate neutrality in addressing climate change. This study advances the understanding of climate neutrality of supply chains and contributes to the discourse on effective climate change mitigation strategies. It provides clear future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine if blockchain-supported carbon offset information provision and shipping options with different cost and environmental footprint implications impact consumer perceptions toward retailers and logistics service providers. Blockchain and carbon neutrality, each can be expensive to adopt and complex to manage, thus getting the "truth" on decarbonization may require additional costs for consumers. Design/methodology/approach: Experimental modeling is used to address these critical and emergent issues that influence practices across a set of supply chain actors. Three hypotheses relating to the relationship between blockchain-supported carbon offset information and consumer perceptions and intentions associated with the product and supply chain actors are investigated. Findings: The results show that consumer confidence increases when supply chain carbon offset information has greater reliability, transparency and traceability as supported by blockchain technology. The authors also find that consumers who are provided visibility into various shipping options and the product's journey carbon emissions and offset – from a blockchain-supported system – they are more willing to pay a premium for both the product and shipping options. Blockchain-supported decarbonization information disclosure in the supply chain can lead to organizational legitimacy and financial gains in return. Originality/value: Understanding consumer action and sustainable consumption is critical for organizations seeking carbon neutrality. Currently, the literature on this understanding from a consumer information provision is not well understood, especially with respect to blockchain-supported information transparency, visibility and reliability. Much of the blockchain literature focuses on the upstream. This study focuses more on consumer-level and downstream supply chain blockchain implications for organizations. The study provides a practical roadmap for considering levels of blockchain information activity and consumer interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying the differentiated effects of different environmental regulations is the basis for promoting China's zero carbon emissions and carbon neutrality. We used Chinese provincial panel data from 2003 to 2017 to empirically test the impact of different environmental regulations on carbon neutrality through spatial measurement models. The highlights of the study are as follows: (1) Environmental regulations exert significant impact on carbon emissions, but different types of environmental regulations exert significantly different effect on carbon emissions. Public participation environmental regulation has a control effect on regional carbon emissions, while command-based and market-based environmental regulations had no significant effect on regional carbon neutrality. (2) The heterogeneity of the impact of different types of environmental regulations on carbon emissions can also be identified from the regional impacts heterogeneity and lags impact heterogeneity. (3) The combined mandatory and market-based environmental regulations and the combined mandatory and public-participatory environmental regulations significantly inhibited regional carbon neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon neutrality is the future development direction of China. Achieving the goal of carbon neutrality requires the combined efforts of all industries, especially heavy industries. As one of the heavy industries, the mining sector contributes significantly to China's national economic development. This paper calculates China's mining sector's rebound effect and explores the impact of market-oriented reform on its rebound effect. We use the Shephard energy distance function to measure energy efficiency and analyze the effect of marketization on the rebound effect with the threshold model. Based on our results, the mining sector's average rebound effect is 46.4%. Moreover, with the increase in the decision-making flexibility of mining enterprises, the rebound effect presents an upward trend. We conclude by urging policy-makers to implement energy price reforms and promote energy consumption permits [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The low-carbon technologies (LCT) in realizing urban carbon neutrality are reviewed. • More than 150 papers with high citation rates are selected for specific analysis. • Three main aspects are investigated: LCT, ECER and CCSU. • Building energy consumption is a huge carbon emitter and poses a challenge for SUD. This work aims to study the role and current situation of Low-Carbon Technology (LCT) in realizing urban Carbon Neutrality goals and Sustainable Urban Development (SUD). This work focuses on the three main aspects of Carbon Neutrality by means of investigation: the new energy-supported LCTs, building-oriented Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction (ECER), and Carbon Capture, Storage, and Utilization (CCSU) technology. The research of the past ten years (2013–2022) is reviewed from the Web of Science, Google Academic, and other literature databases. Over 20,000 articles are selected by using the keywords "Carbon Neutrality Technology," such as "IEEE," "Elsevier," and other journal documents. Finally, more than 150 papers with high citation rates and relatively novel research results are selected for specific analysis. This work also establishes a case study of urban green development with multiple co-governance and a case study of building energy conservation and carbon reduction solutions. Finally, suggestions are put forward for achieving SUD. China's energy consumption and Carbon Dioxide (CO 2) emissions have increased year by year, but the Carbon Peak has not yet been reached. About 85% of CCUS technologies extract CO 2 from the air and use it for other emission reduction processes. In addition, the carbon storage time and storage efficiency need to be improved, and the general level can only reach about 60% of the storage efficiency. The secondary use of CO 2 by technology is of practical significance to many industries and must be fully implemented from the perspective of the whole life cycle. Especially building energy consumption is a huge carbon emitter and poses a challenge for SUD. How to take effective measures to control emissions is still an arduous task [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the goal of carbon peak and carbon neutrality, fossil energy is becoming increasingly exhausted. Optimizing energy structure and saving energy and reducing consumption are the top priority. With the rapid development of modern science and technology, vacuum refrigerator has been greatly applied and popularized in various fields, such as food production, medicine and biology. However, in the actual operation process, the energy consumption of vacuum refrigerator is high, which does not meet the concept of energy conservation and environmental protection. The inner and outer push–pull structure of the sealing door makes it occupy too much space when opening the door, which is very inconvenient. In this paper, a vacuum refrigeration energy-saving device and the TRNSYS 16 software are used to simulate the energy-saving device. The results show that the device can reduce the number of vacuum refrigeration pumps and greatly reduce the loss of energy consumption. In addition, the new sealing door structure can also reduce the space occupied during its expansion and improve the utilization of space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As major strategic development areas in China, the provinces around the Yangtze River are facing the pressure of large aggregate CO 2 emissions and high per capita CO 2 emissions. The study on the pathway of reducing CO 2 emissions and increasing carbon sequestration will help China better clarify the ways realize the goals of carbon peak and carbon neutrality as soon as possible. In this paper, the extended STIRPAT model and OLS regression were used to establish a prediction model to estimate the CO 2 emissions during 2010–2060 under different scenarios. Meanwhile, the InVEST model was used to estimate the carbon sequestration, and the comparison with the CO 2 emissions was analyzed. The results show that Qinghai and Yunnan have achieved the goal of carbon neutrality in 2010. Under the low-carbon and energy-saving scenario and the baseline scenario, all provinces within the study area are anticipated to attain their emissions peak by 2030 or earlier, and the CO 2 emissions peak value of the whole study area is 3111 Mt and 3199 Mt, respectively. While under the high emissions scenario, only Chongqing and Qinghai will reach the emissions peak in 2030, and the whole study area will reach the emissions peak in 2040, with peak value of 3470 Mt. Under the three scenarios, the whole study area cannot achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. Only Sichuan and Hubei can achieve carbon neutrality in 2050 and 2060 under the low-carbon and energy-saving scenario. All provinces and municipalities in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River are facing huge pressure of emissions reduction. The research reveals that the goals of carbon peak and carbon neutrality should be achieved by developing clean energy, transforming industrial structure, increasing carbon sequestration and improving carbon emissions trading system. [Display omitted] • The CO 2 emissions showed a pattern of increase during 2010–2020. • The whole study area will achieve carbon peak by 2040 or earlier. • The whole study area cannot achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. • The realization pathway of carbon peak and neutrality was proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development and utilization of wind energy can help promote the carbon neutrality. Condition monitoring and fault diagnosis based on supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) can effectively improve wind turbine reliability and reduce operation and maintenance (O&M) costs. However, the complex data characteristics (e.g., time-varying and distribution-free) make it difficult to use a unified model to comprehensively evaluate the turbine state. To finely detect and analyze the turbine faulty mode, a hierarchical condition monitoring and fault diagnosis (CMFD) method is proposed, which consists of variable-level and turbine-level. First, the SCADA data is divided into two blocks: the nonstationary part with time-varying distribution, and the stationary part with time-invariant but non-Gaussian distribution. At the variable-level, this paper proposed a local monitoring unit based on sparse cointegration analysis (SCA) and independent component analysis (ICA) to detect faulty samples of different variable blocks. And the fault-related variables are isolated based on the proposed distributed reconstruction. At the turbine-level, the evaluation results from variable-level are fused: on the one hand, Bayesian inference is used to integrate monitoring statistics of stationary and nonstationary parts to comprehensively evaluate the operational state of the turbine; on the other hand, the root fault subsystem is deduced from the fault-related variables isolated from the two parts based on Gaussian process regression. The proposed method is applied in the operation and maintenance of a real wind farm, and the performance advantages are verified by the comparison with popular benchmarks. • An innovative hierarchical CMFD strategy for wind turbines is proposed which consists of variable-level and turbine-level methods. • At the variable-level, the monitoring and isolated methods are proposed based on SCA and ICA. • At the turbine-level, Bayesian inference is used to integrate variable-level monitoring results, and the root faulty subsystem is deduced based on Gaussian process regression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Putting climate neutrality on the urban agenda inevitably requires a re-imagination and delineation of the boundaries of the city, both at the geographical level, with regard to its inscription in history and concerning the social groups it is composed of. Such an exercise of (re-)imagination or representation is a profoundly political act. It is on the level of this symbolic representation that the (de)politicised nature of sustainability projects must be assessed. Leuven Klimaatneutraal 2030 (LKN2030), a project which aims to make the city of Leuven (Belgium) carbon neutral by 2030, is a case in point. The way it delineates its spatial boundaries, inscribes itself in time and conceives of the main actors representing the city generates profound forms of depoliticisation. Our contention is that these can explain some of the obstacles the project currently faces, whereas it initially triggered a lot of enthusiasm. Though mechanisms of in- and exclusion and agenda-setting inevitably take place in every sustainability project, in LKN2030 these choices tend to be neutralised behind a technical, managerial and scientific discourse. As a result, the project risks to translate potentially interesting dynamics into a consensual project for urban renewal and city marketing, whereby sustainability goals are reframed into marketing objectives and economic opportunities. Drawing on post-foundational political theory, this paper assesses this evolution, but also explores the potential forms of repoliticisation that are emerging in its wake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Carbon neutrality has become a key strategy to combat global climate change. However, current methods for predicting carbon emissions are limited and require the development of more effective strategies to meet this challenge. This is especially true in the field of sports and competitions, where the energy intensity of major events and activities means that time series data is crucial for predicting related carbon emissions, as it can detail the emission patterns over a period of time. Method: In this study, we introduce an artificial intelligence-based method aimed at improving the accuracy and reliability of carbon emission predictions. Specifically, our model integrates an Improved Mahjong Search Algorithm (ISSA) and GRU-Transformer technology, designed to efficiently process and analyze the complex time series data generated by sporting events. These technological components help to capture and parse carbon emission data more accurately. Results: Experimental results have demonstrated the efficiency of our model, which underwent a comprehensive evaluation involving multiple datasets and was benchmarked against competing models. Our model outperformed others across various performance metrics, including lower RMSE and MAE values and higher R2 scores. This underscores the significant potential of our model in enhancing the accuracy of carbon emission predictions. Discussion: By introducing this new AI-based method for predicting carbon emissions, this study not only provides more accurate data support for optimizing and implementing carbon neutrality measures in the sports fi eld but also improves the accuracy of time series data predictions. This enables a deeper understanding of carbon emission trends associated with sports activities. It contributes to the development of more effective mitigation strategies, making a significant contribution to global efforts to reduce carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese government announced the clear goal of attaining carbon neutrality by 2060, in order to gradually achieve net-zero carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, whose impact on global warming needs to be reduced while also a sustainable industry needs to be promoted. Recognizing the critical role of Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) in supporting green innovation and achieving the carbon neutrality agenda, this study aims to fill a research gap by emphasizing this overlooked nexus. The former examines the influence of GHRM, green innovation, and carbon neutrality on environmental performance by carefully analyzing the current literature on China's achievement of carbon neutrality and its implications for environmentally friendly performances. The current study assesses the planning frameworks of the country, explores the concept of achieving carbon neutrality, and evaluates the practical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has committed to achieve net carbon neutrality by 2060 to combat global climate change, which will require unprecedented deployment of negative emissions technologies, renewable energies (RE), and complementary infrastructure. At terawatt-scale deployment, land use limitations interact with operational and economic features of power systems. To address this, we developed a spatially resolved resource assessment and power systems planning optimization that models a full year of power system operations, sub-provincial RE siting criteria, and transmission connections. Our modeling results show that wind and solar must be expanded to 2,000 to 3,900 GW each, with one plausible pathway leading to 300 GW/yr combined annual additions in 2046 to 2060, a three-fold increase from today. Over 80% of solar and 55% of wind is constructed within 100 km of major load centers when accounting for current policies regarding land use. Large-scale low-carbon systems must balance key trade-offs in land use, RE resource quality, grid integration, and costs. Under more restrictive RE siting policies, at least 740 GW of distributed solar would become economically feasible in regions with high demand, where utility-scale deployment is limited by competition with agricultural land. Effective planning and policy formulation are necessary to achieve China's climate goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using panel data for Chinese prefecture-level and above cities from 2003 to 2017, we employed the difference-in-differences (DID) method to explore whether innovative city constructions reduced carbon emissions. The results show that innovative city constructions significantly curb carbon emissions in Chinese cities, which is supported by a series of robustness tests. Specifically, we found that innovative city constructions could reduce carbon emissions by 5.21%, which is equivalent to a total of about 5.46 million tons. In addition, we provided evidence that innovative city constructions curb carbon emissions by promoting technological innovation, industrial upgrading and industrial green development, ecological improvement, and government intervention. Furthermore, heterogeneous results indicate that the carbon reduction effect of innovative city constructions is mainly found in eastern cities and cities with better industrial development and human capital base. Our findings further enrich the study on the environmental benefits of national innovation incentives and public policies and provide important insights in carbon neutrality and achieving sustainable development, especially for developing and emerging market countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global climate change is increasingly recognized as a critical factor influencing economic performance, thereby making the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance of businesses a vital indicator of sustainability. In the context of China's "dual-carbon" objective, this study examines the relationship between climate transition risk and the ESG performance of listed Chinese companies. Utilizing text analysis techniques, this research quantifies the Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) sections of annual reports from 2014 to 2019 to extract information on climate transition risks. A multiple regression analysis is then applied to assess the impact of these risks on companies' ESG performance. The findings indicate that climate transition risk has a measurable effect on the ESG performance of enterprises, suggesting its role as an incentive for achieving carbon neutrality. Specifically, the analysis shows that climate transition risk is associated with improvements in certain aspects of ESG performance, including environmental stewardship, social responsibility, and governance quality. Additionally, the study reveals that non-state-owned enterprises, those with diversified business strategies, decentralized management structures, and audits conducted by Big 4 firms, tend to exhibit better ESG performance in the face of climate transition risks. These results demonstrate the nuanced impact of climate transition risk on ESG performance, particularly within the framework of China's carbon reduction goals, and highlight the importance of firm characteristics in moderating this relationship. This evidence provides a foundation for stakeholders, including enterprises, policymakers, and investors, to consider climate transition risks in their efforts to enhance ESG performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest biomass is expected to remain a key part of the national energy portfolio mix, yet residual forest biomass is currently underused. This study aimed to estimate the potential availability of waste woody biomass in the Aizu region and its energy potential for local bioelectricity generation as a sustainable strategy. The results showed that the available quantity of forest residual biomass for energy production was 191,065 tons, with an average of 1.385 t/ha in 2018, of which 72% (146,976 tons) was from logging residue for commercial purposes, and 28% (44,089 tons) was from thinning operations for forest management purposes. Forests within the biomass–collection radius of a local woody power plant can provide 45,925 tons of residual biomass, supplying bioelectricity at 1.6 times the plant's capacity, which could avoid the amount of 65,246 tons of CO2 emission per year by replacing coal-fired power generation. The results highlight the bioelectricity potential and carbon-neutral capacity of residual biomass. This encourages government initiatives or policy inclinations to sustainably boost the production of bioenergy derived from residual biomass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In recent years, the world has faced increasingly severe climate change and ecological environmental problems. As an important part of the ecological system, rural areas also face many challenges. Rural ecological construction and carbon neutrality, as a solution, have attracted widespread attention. However, achieving the coordinated development of rural ecological construction and carbon neutrality requires more in-depth research and effective methods. Methods: This study aims to explore how to promote the coordinated development of rural ecological construction and carbon neutrality through the combination of a Transformer-RNN model and cross-attention mechanism. We propose a deep learning framework that combines the parallelism and global dependency capturing capabilities of the Transformer model with the temporal information handling capabilities of the RNN model. By integrating these two models, we leverage their respective strengths to improve the performance of the model. Furthermore, we introduce a cross-attention mechanism that enables the model to simultaneously focus on the relationship between rural ecological construction and carbon neutrality. Through cross-attention, the model accurately captures the impact of rural ecological construction measures on carbon neutrality and the feedback effect of carbon neutrality on the rural ecological environment. In our experiments, we collected relevant data on rural ecological construction and carbon neutrality, including environmental indicators, socio-economic factors, land use patterns, energy consumption, and carbon emissions. Results and discussion: We preprocess the data and train the combined Transformer-RNN model with the cross-attention mechanism. The trained model demonstrates promising results in capturing the complex dependencies and relationships between rural ecological construction and carbon neutrality. The significance of this study lies in deepening the understanding of the coordinated development relationship between rural ecological construction and carbon neutrality and providing a novel deep learning-based method to solve related problems. By introducing the Transformer-RNN model with a cross-attention mechanism, we provide decision-makers with more scientific and accurate decision support, promoting the improvement of the rural ecological environment and the achievement of carbon neutrality goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism serves as a crucial means of funding national development and ensuring the sustainability of local livelihoods in growing countries such as Brazil. Nevertheless, the accelerated growth of tourism in various nations might lead to significant environmental consequences due to heightened energy consumption. This surge in energy usage contributes to the exacerbation of global warming through the amplified release of carbon dioxide (CO2). In light of the increasingly evident impacts of climate change on the natural environment, a multitude of endeavors have been undertaken with the aim of attaining ecological sustainability. The objective of this study is to examine the dynamic effects of economic growth, energy consumption, and tourism on carbon emissions in Brazil by analyzing time series data spanning from 1990 to 2019. The stationarity of data was assessed through the application of unit root tests, while an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach was employed to analyze the relationship between the components, accounting for both the long-term and short-term dynamics. The empirical results indicate that a 1% rise in economic growth, energy consumption, and tourist arrivals leads to environmental deterioration by causing a respective increase in CO2 emissions of 1.37%, 1.06%, and 0.57% in the near term, and 0.72%, 0.62%, and 0.16% in the long term. This article presents policy ideas aimed at achieving carbon neutrality in Brazil by increasing the utilization of renewable energy sources, while simultaneously fostering sustainable tourism as a means to enhance the country's economy. Highlights •This study investigated the tourism-economy-energy-environment nexus in Brazil. •The econometric analysis revealed that tourism, energy use, and economic growth increase CO2 emissions. •This article offers policy suggestions to achieve sustainable tourism and carbon neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work provides a review of economic, technical, sociocultural, political, and technological barriers that impede carbon neutrality in the building sector of countries in the Global South. These barriers include limitations in public and professional awareness, knowledge, and skills in the construction industry, the lack of ambitious energy codes and green building rating systems, the lack of green financing schemes and investment, costs of materials and technology, and limitations in regulations. Finally, this article recommends five transformations to address the critical barriers and enable net-zero emission status in the building sector of countries in the Global South. These transformations include environmental data collection, stringent building energy codes, and green building system certifications, lifecycle-based thinking and circular design, education enhancement and workforce development, and net-zero emission business practices. [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]

• Carbon neutral strategies can help companies implementing short terms solutions while developing long-term carbon reduction projects. • Drivers for agri-food companies are the possibility of saving costs and increasing profit. • Costs and related companies' lack of resources and budget are at the same time one of the main barriers. • The most costly, time-consuming, and complex phase is developing internal offsetting/insetting projects. • Financial enabling factors are receiving free or subsidized certifications/verifications and accessing packages of technical assistance, especially for the supply-chain. Agri-food companies are developing carbon neutral strategies to set long-term targets to reduce carbon emissions while implementing short terms solutions to boost the transition towards a low-carbon agri-food sector. However, the uptake of the carbon neutrality process presents some limitations and difficulties. The paper analyzes the different aspects that characterize the carbon neutrality strategy in the agri-food sector also highlighting both drivers and shortcomings, specifically related to the sector. To better analyze companies' carbon neutrality approaches and to identify the costs of different approaches to carbon neutrality, this paper presents the results of semi-structured interviews with sustainability managers of agri-food companies and consultancy firms that are dealing specifically with the carbon neutrality process. Moreover, a survey was conducted to evaluate the interest of companies in receiving technical assistance, free or subsidized certifications/verifications, and favorable borrowing conditions. Results from this study show how major drivers for agri-food companies are the possibility of saving costs and increasing profit, external pressures, and the possibility of minimizing corporate risks. Moreover, costs related to the carbon neutrality process and companies' lack of resources and budget has been found as one of the main barriers along with the lack of a strong and robust policy framework and carbon offsetting mistrust. Analyzing costs, time, and complexity of the different phases, the paper shows how the development of internal offsetting/insetting projects is the most complicated for companies, contrary to the acquisition of carbon neutral certifications and labels. Finally, from the survey, we found that financial enabling factors for companies are receiving free or subsidized certifications/verifications and accessing packages of technical assistance, especially for their supply-chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has clearly put forward the strategic goals of reaching the "Carbon Emission Peak" by 2030, and achieving "Carbon Neutrality" by 2060. To achieve these goals, it is necessary to precisely understand the spatial distribution characteristics of historical carbon emissions in different regions. This paper has selected a representative national-level urban agglomeration in China, the Harbin–Changchun urban agglomeration, to study the temporal and spatial distribution characteristics of carbon emissions in its counties. This paper has constructed global and local Moran's I indexes for the 103 counties in this urban agglomeration by using the carbon emission values reflected by night light data from 1997 to 2017 to perform global and local autocorrelation analysis on a spatial level. The results show that: (1) the main characteristic of carbon emission clustering in the Harbin–Changchun urban agglomeration is similar clustering; (2) the changes in carbon emissions of the Harbin–Changchun urban agglomeration have a strong correlation with relevant policies. For example, due to the impact of the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" policies, in 2013, the global county-level Moran's I index of the carbon emissions in the Harbin–Changchun urban agglomeration decreased by 0.0598; (3) the areas where high carbon emission values cluster together ("High–High Cluster") and low carbon emission values cluster together ("Low–Low Cluster") in the Harbin–Changchun urban agglomeration are highly concentrated, and the clusters are closely related to the development level of different regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is one of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and has been actively promoting the multilateral global climate governance process. China has advanced its eco-civilization construction and the agenda for combating climate change in a coordinated manner, and delivered positive results. By studying and interpreting the guiding principles of President Xi Jinping's important speeches at the Leaders Summit on Climate and the video summit between China, France and Germany, this paper goes over the basic thinking of China's participation in international climate governance and the Chinese approach to tackling global climate change, and sums up China's achievements in the fields such as transition to green and low-carbon development, energy structure adjustment, greenhouse gases control, the construction of national carbon market, as well as its contribution to tackling global climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a general equilibrium model where individuals voluntarily provide offsets which compensate for degradation of environmental quality by consuming differentiated goods produced by monopolistically competitive firms, this paper examines how the population size affects the equilibrium levels of offsets and net contributions. The results depend on the specification of the utility function. However, when environmental quality converges to a finite level, the offsets are independent of this specification in a large economy with many individuals. Offsets are positive in the large economy, and "carbon neutrality" holds: Net contributions are zero. The comparative statics of parameters are also analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• More reliable modeling assumptions and methods are proposed. • Price regulation may increase industrial output in China. • The reform can lead to a cleaner power mix and better economic structure. • The reform can be of great help to alleviate the fiscal deficit. • Impact mechanisms through cost linkages in different situations are put forward. China promised to achieve carbon neutrality in 2060. However, electricity prices are still regulated, which may affect the effect of carbon neutrality, especially in China, because 70% of China's electricity comes from thermal power generation. In this paper, a dynamic recursive computable general equilibrium model (CEEEA/CGE model) is applied to simulate the electricity market-oriented reform under the target of carbon neutrality from 2020 to 2060. The results show that the target may increase the demand for labor and capital to cope with increasing energy costs, and the reform may reduce GDP. However, power reform can significantly optimize the energy and economic structures and alleviate the fiscal deficit. Moreover, this paper finds and concludes the mechanism causing these effects (such as factor substitution, price advantage, government revenue, and structure), which provides policymakers with a new perspective of power reform. [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]