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Abstract China transport energy consumption grows greatly along with dramatically escalated carbon dioxide emissions. Saving energy in transportation is requested for both reducing energy pressure intensity and decreasing relevant emissions. Large scale energy conservation and emission reduction are Chinese automotive industrys' fundamental objectives. This paper addresses a nonlinear hybrid fuzzy based proportional integral derivative (PID) control methodology to reduce the automobile fuel over-consumption and gases over-emission. After introducing the mathematical model of the automobile Pierburg mechatronic actuator of nonlinear character with parameter uncertainties, its angular displacement is controlled via the proposed PID-fuzzy logic control (FLC) approach. The outputs of the PID controller are the entries of the series-connected FLC. The hybrid topology merges the simplicity and robustness advantages of both the classical PID and the FLC methods respectively. The feedback controller, based on FLC technique, is designed to desirably maintain the angular displacement towards their desired reference values with possible least steady state errors. The proper steady state error elimination will lead to considerable gas emission reduction together with improved energy efficiency. Through Matlab/Simulink tools, the numerical simulations significantly illustrate that the hybrid PID-FLC technique can contribute efficiently in ameliorating the system dynamic behavior in presence of parameter uncertainties. The overall system behavioral analysis enhancement and the proposed controller robustness are experimentally validated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the climate change impact on cooling energy consumption of office buildings in four major architectural climate zones in China. The results show that there are apparent differences in the responses of monthly or yearly cooling loads to climatic change in different climates. Dominant factors affecting monthly cooling loads change from dry bulb temperature (DBT) to wet bulb temperature (WBT) with the climate zones changing from severe cold to hot. The yearly cooling load was mainly afftectd by DBT in severe cold climate, whereas the WBT had the dominant effect in the other climates. With the continuous warming climate, the yearly cooling load did not rise significantly for any climate zone except for severe cold climate zone where cooling load had a significant increase ( p  < 0.01). More importantly, the cooling load showed a weak decrease in Guangzhou. These results suggest that different measurements for buildings cooling energy conservation should be made in different climate zones. The humidity effect should be fully considered to improve buildings energy efficiency, especially in the hot climate zones. The continuous increase of temperature in the future does not necessarily increase cooling loads of buildings in the cold, hot summer & cold winter and hot summer & warm winter climate zones, and change trendency of humidity in the future need to be considered to predict cooling energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese government committed to reduce its national CO 2 emissions intensity by 40–45% until 2020 in response to climate change. This paper quantitatively evaluates the performance of CO 2 emissions reduction over the period 2005–2020 from the historical and prospective perspectives by using a combination of decomposition analysis and scenario analysis, aiming to provide suggestions about how to achieve the target in key emissions reduction fields. Unlike traditional index decomposition methods, this paper incorporates the total energy conversion efficiency effect into the model, and further decomposes it into a final energy mix effect and a final energy conversion efficiency effect by a multilevel decomposition procedure, allowing to measure the contributions of primary energy structure low-carbonization, the final energy mix electrification, and the energy conversion efficiency improvement. The results show that the carbon intensity could decline over the period 2005–2020 by 47.8%, 50.9%, 48.0%, 44.5% and 47.5% in the Business as Usual, S1, S2, S3 and S4 scenarios, respectively. This shows that the 40–45% target is very likely to be achieved. The final energy intensity effect is always the most important driving factor, causing carbon intensity to decrease by 24.0% and 22.1%, again respectively, from 2005–2012 to 2012–2020. Moreover, the energy conversion effect was another major driver during 2005–2012. The Chinese government needs to make more efforts to adjust the industrial structure, which could cause carbon intensity to decrease by 3.6% during 2012–2020, and to adjust the primary energy mix, which could cause carbon intensity to decrease by 7.1% during 2012–2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Household fuel-use (HFU) patterns are strongly associated with multiple effects, including air quality, human health, and regional climate change. This paper presents the results from the first Chinese Environmental Exposure-Related Human Activity Patterns Survey (CEERHAPS), carried out among 91,121 households located in 9108 villages, 636 towns, and 159 counties in 31 provinces. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with each participant to obtain information about the type of fuels used for cooking and heating. The main objectives of this paper were to investigate HFU for cooking and heating in China, to validate the World Health Organization (WHO) model, and to help inform local evaluation models. In China, gas and biomass fuels, the dominant energy fuels for cooking, are used by 44.8% and 32.1% of households, respectively. Approximately 34.1% of families have no household heating during the cold season, and 16.7%, 15.6% and 12.8% of households rely on coal, electricity, and biomass, respectively, for household heating when no central heating was available. The proportion of households using solid fuels has generally decreased during the last two decades. Considerable spatial variation was evident in the HFU patterns for both cooking and heating. The data revealed that the predominant fuel for cooking was biomass (47.6%) in rural populations, whereas urban households were more likely to cook with gas (65.8%). In terms of heating, coal (21.4%) and biomass (19.0%) were the main fuels used in rural households, while electricity (23.6%) and coal (10.5%) were more commonly used in urban areas. The overall HFU results for cooking from this study were comparable to those predicted using the WHO model. We also developed models at the provincial level to estimate HFU for cooking and heating in China; it is expected that the model, if confirmed by future studies, could be used for future research on household air pollution, domestic human exposure and burden of disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently the expansion of urban-rural income inequality and the rapid growth of fossil-energy consumption have become two significant challenges China should address to achieve its ambitious goals. For the first time, this study uses the Chinese provincial panel data during the period of 1996–2013 to perform a quantitative analysis on the relationship between the urban-rural income gap and the per capita electricity consumption. Fully considering the potential endogeneity problem, this paper uses the orthogonal-difference Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) as the benchmark estimation method. To ensure the robustness of the estimations, the Theil index and per capita urban-rural income are utilized to measure the urban-rural income gap. The estimation results indicate that the influences of urban-rural income inequality on electricity depend on the income level. At the current stage of economic development, the income disparity has significantly negative impacts on provincial per capita electricity consumption. Moreover, there is also strong evidence for the existence of the inverted U-shaped relationship between per capita electricity consumption and GDP per capita. Furthermore, other economic and social factors, including the enhancement of urbanization and industrialization levels, the adjustment of the population structure, and the development of import-export trade may also promote electricity consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurately understanding the real situation of China’s carbon emissions at the provincial level is not only crucial for realizing carbon mitigation in China, but also of great importance for tackling climate change on a global scale. This paper uses detailed energy consumption data subdivided within each fuel type and sector-specific emission factors, to calculate both direct and indirect energy-related CO 2 emissions for China’s provinces, and offers provincially-targeted policy proposals on emission reductions. The results uncover large divergences in calculation of provincial CO 2 emissions between production-based and consumption-based accounting approaches. Considering the large amount of interprovincial CO 2 emission transfers embodied in secondary energy deployment, the consumption-based accounting performs better in reflecting the actual features and responsibilities of carbon emissions in the provinces of China. From the consumption perspective, Shandong, Hebei, Jiangsu, Inner Mongolia, Guangdong, Henan, Liaoning and Shanxi contributed to the majority of China’s carbon emission growth during the period of 1996–2013, while Xinjiang, Sichuan, Anhui, Tianjin and Hunan were playing an increasingly important role. These two groups of provinces should be regarded as the key regions for national emissions abatement. Meanwhile, the energy industry was the top sectoral contributor to CO 2 emissions growth in most provinces, while service and household sectors made increasingly significant impacts on driving up provincial emissions. Together with ongoing efforts in the energy sector, the mitigation of CO 2 emissions in service and household sectors deserves much more attention, especially in the transportation and urban household sectors. Furthermore, the temporal trends of carbon emissions in various provinces, as well as their factor and sectoral driving forces, varied greatly with each other. Therefore, each of the provinces should formulate emission reduction policies according to their own situation, and target the key driving factors and sectors of carbon emissions at the current stage or in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A method for spatiotemporal coordination of multienergy systems is proposed. • Virtual energy storage gain is calculated based on spectral analysis. • The hydropower regulation ability affects the virtual energy storage gain. • The optimal coordination range between multiple energy sources is obtained. Utilizing the spatial heterogeneity and climate periodicity of various available renewable energy sources can enhance the multienergy complementarity, which will further reduce the energy storage demand and contributes to the "virtual energy storage gain." In this paper, we propose a spatiotemporal coordination method based on spectral analysis for a wind-PV-hydropower system that targets the maximum virtual energy storage gain. The complementary effect of hydropower on wind and PV power can be seen as changes in the regulation ability resulting from the hydropower construction development as well as a decreased variance in the total system production output. This method is used to determine the optimal coordination distance of multiple energy sources that are matched over different periods representing typical climate variation. A case study in the Yalong River basin in China obtains the best range of hydropower bundling surrounding wind power and PV power stations under different hydropower construction planning scenarios, and it reveals that increased regulation capacity of hydropower will reduce the optimal coordination distance but can achieve more energy balance if both actual storage and virtual storage is accounted for. This approach can realize energy delivery with the optimal coordination distance to meet intensive and efficient development needs, which can provide guidance and support for the planning and construction of wind-PV-hydropower storage systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latent heat thermal energy storage technologies based on phase change materials (PCMs) are found to be significantly efficient and viable methods for thermal energy storage. These energy storage techniques have been proved to be with positive effects on buildings energy efficiency. The integration of appropriate thermal energy storage system and selection of suitable PCMs plays a very dominating role in the upgrading of energy efficiency. Short and long term storage helps in the reduction of energy demand or shifting peak load for both heating and cooling. However, a comprehensive study for the application of these technologies adopting Chinese built environment is lacking which can relate to climate, energy storage and energy efficiency. The goal of this paper is to provide coherent picture of current status on PCM-based techniques that have been studied with the focus of application in China and analyse the selection and suitability of PCMs and techniques in Chinese regions. The results show that many PCMs and techniques are promising to be used in China however studies can be conducted with the consideration of changing climate rather than winter/summer only. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanization has exerted substantial pressure on China’s energy system and contributed to climate change. To find the key drivers of urban residential energy consumption and CO 2 emissions, this paper uses an extended Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology (STIRPAT) model that employs city-level data to examine the influences of population scale, income level, population compactness and price on house-based residential energy consumption, energy-related CO 2 emissions and private vehicle ownership. The empirical results indicate that factors such as population scale, affluence, and population compactness can lead to increases in residential energy consumption and CO 2 emissions. In terms of transportation, income and population scale positively drive the growth of private vehicle ownership, while the fuel price negatively influences private vehicle ownership. Moreover, population scale is the most important factor in residential energy consumption and CO 2 emissions. Finally, policy recommendations are suggested for China’s urban development strategy and urban design and to encourage technology innovations that reduce residential energy consumption and CO 2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper systematically presents a survey of the empirical literature studying the embodied CO 2 emissions in China’s foreign trade (ECCT). Based on the bibliometric method and the online version of Science Citation Index-Expanded (SCI-E) and Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), this study summarizes the latest publications regarding ECCT in peer-reviewed journals in terms of quantities, most productive countries, institutions, authors, citations, and disciplines. By using synthetic analysis of keyword frequency, this study reveals the most popular methodologies applied in measuring ECCT, discusses the variation of numerical results in the literature, and reasons and countermeasures for the results uncertainties. Continuous investigation of the literature releases the methodology employed for measuring ECCT becoming more reasonable and the results more critical. However, the numerical results of ECCT are of great discrepancies within given year by different considerations on methodology specification, accounting principles, and data sources and processing. For instance, the estimates of CO 2 embodied in China’s exports changed from 478 Mt to over 3000 Mt and those of in China’s imports ranged from 140 Mt to over 1700 Mt in 2007. Therefore, overcoming data inherent limitations and reducing discrepancies among available databases should be urgently considered. The results imply that the prospective research tendencies on ECCT are to (1) improve China’s regional input-output data and energy intensity data to more precise estimates under global perspective; (2) estimate China’s carbon emission at firm level by different firm ownerships in production and consumption worldwide; (3) assess China’s carbon emission from processing or non-processing trade by compiling more detailed multi-regional input-output table; (4) evaluate city level carbon mitigation capacity in China under global MRIO model; (5) explore new carbon management experience in China’s carbon trading market and new trade expansion policy of ‘ one belt and one road’ in her new growth era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change which is induced from energy consumption and CO 2 emissions has got people's attention; hence, many strategies and ways are being adopted to mitigate CO 2 emissions. Energy substitution is crucial to the promotion of energy conservation and CO 2 emissions reduction. The purpose of this paper is to estimate both inter-factor and inter-fuel substitution in China's iron & steel industry during the period 1985–2011. Empirical results show several conclusions for China's iron & steel industry: (1) own-price elasticity of energy is negative, so increase in energy price will reduce energy input; (2) energy and capital, and energy and labor are substitutes, and the substitution in energy/capital is relatively stronger; (3) though coal, oil and electricity are also substitutes, the substitution effect is not so obvious because of pricing distortions in China. The driving forces of energy efficiency change are further discussed and the results show that technology progress is the key factor determining energy intensity. Therefore, market-oriented reforms in terms of energy prices, improvement in energy substitution (including inter-factor and inter-fuel substation) and promotion of energy saving technologies are important means for ensuring future energy conservation and CO 2 emissions reduction practices in China's iron & steel sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2015 Paris climate change negotiations represents the most ambitious worldwide effort to date to combat climate change. As the largest energy consumer and carbon emitter, China pledges 60–65% cut in carbon intensity below 2005 levels by 2030. To accelerate China's climate efforts, China has also committed to cap its primary energy use at 4.8 billion tons of coal equivalent in 2020. This paper proposes an equitable and efficient scheme to disaggregate this national goal among provinces. A three-step disaggregation procedure is proposed which takes into account the initial allocation, national redistribution and inter-provincial adjustment. First, this study allocates the incremental energy quota, taking 2010 as the base year. Second, part of the energy quota is set aside by the central government for redistribution purposes, while an incremental energy quota index comprising equity and efficiency criteria is used for initial allocation among provinces. Finally, historical efforts and inter-provincial energy flows are considered for inter-provincial adjustment. This disaggregation scheme is flexible and can be easily extended to allocation and management of other resource and environmental targets. The empirical findings can assist decision-makers in identifying which provinces are likely to over-consume the energy quota relative to the proposed allocation and which provinces are likely to perform better in energy conservation. Moreover, the results show that the energy cap set for 2020 is unachievable without further action. Market-based instruments, such as an energy allowance trading market, are strongly recommended to achieve the energy use target in an equitable and cost-effective manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Chinese government has promulgated a wide variety of low-carbon initiatives to control the rapid growth of energy consumption and carbon emissions in the cities. Past records, however, show that the central government's policies are often poorly implemented or distorted by local officials. Using a case study from the city of Changchun, this paper examines how and why the issue of poor implementation persists despite the establishment of the Energy Conservation Target Responsibility System (ECTRS). As a key institutional mechanism providing local officials with political incentives to implement low-carbon policies, the ECTRS has been constrained by a number of problems, including a poorly designed scoring system, weak targets, the use of energy intensity instead of absolute energy consumption as a policy objective, and the lack of reliable local energy statistics. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Renewable energy and energy efficiency (REEE) policies have far-reaching implications for energy security, climate change, economic competitiveness, pollution, and human livelihood. For these reasons, REEE has become a national priority for the Chinese government, particularly since 2005. This paper aims to critically review China's REEE policies in six sectors: electricity, industry, transportation, buildings, and local government. In addition to examining the progress China has made in the development and implementation of REEE policies, this review also identifies limitations and room for improvement. Finally, five policy recommendations are presented. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Climate change has become the most globally concerned environmental issue. As the world's largest carbon dioxide emitter and primary energy consumer, China has strong incentives to change its coal-dominated electricity structure. Various renewable powers such as wind and solar are suitable and necessary options for carbon emission reduction. The 12th Five-Year (2011–2015) and the mid-term until 2020 are critical periods for the development of Chinese renewable powers. In this paper individual renewable electricity sources were introduced based on their characteristics. Based on the introduction, the targets as well as their effects in the medium and long-term were presented and explained; challenges China has to face in the periods were discussed in detail, and emphasis was put on hydro, solar and wind power, which is highlighted in the plans. Also solutions against these challenges were recommended. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Hainan province is the only tropical and island province in China, with the unique climatic and geographical features. It has a different energy performance in public buildings from those in the inland areas. This paper investigated the current situation of energy consumption of the sampled public buildings, including 26 hotels, 24 office buildings and 7 department stores, through analyzing utility billing data, on-site survey and measurement, and site operational records. The breakdowns of energy consumption found out that the electricity dominated the energy consumption for all the sampled buildings and the air conditioning system played a key role in the energy consumption of major building services. By analyzing the main factors for building energy consumption, the annual average energy use indexes were calculated to be 141.63kWh/m2, 87.70kWh/m2, and 166.95kWh/m2 for hotels, office buildings and department stores, respectively. Besides, the comparison between Hainan province and other areas revealed that the building energy consumption of this tropical province was at a low level. Because indoor environment quality can influence the health and work efficiency of humans in buildings, field tests on the indoor environment quality were also carried out, and the performance of indoor environment quality was rated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: China has strived to develop new and renewable energy resources to meet its energy demands due to issues of pollution, sustainability, and climate change related to the consumption of fossil fuels. Offshore wind power development in coastal China has attracted more and more attention because it can not only utilize the abundant natural resources but also relieve power constraint in coastal China. This paper studies the development of offshore wind power in China, providing information including the wind resources in China''s coastal areas, policies promulgated by the central government to favor the sound development of offshore wind power, regional planning and progress of offshore wind power, R&D of offshore wind power technology and theory, as well as the pilot projects set up in Shanghai and Jiangsu. In addition, challenges related to offshore wind power development are depicted, and recommendations are provided. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The concern on climate change leads to growing demand for minimization of energy use. As building is one of the largest energy consuming sectors, it is essential to study the impact of climate change on building energy performance. In this regard, building energy simulation software is a useful tool. A set of appropriate typical weather files is one of the key factors towards successful building energy simulation. This paper reports the work of developing a set of weather data files for subtropical Hong Kong, taking into the effect of future climate change. Projected monthly mean climate changes from a selected General Circulation Model for three future periods under two emission scenarios were integrated into an existing typical meteorological year weather file by a morphing method. Through this work, six sets of future weather files for subtropical Hong Kong were produced. A typical office building and a residential flat were modeled using building simulation program EnergyPlus. Hourly building energy simulations were carried out. The simulated results indicate that there will be substantial increase in A/C energy consumption under the impact of future climate change, ranging from 2.6% to 14.3% and from 3.7% to 24% for office building and residential flat, respectively. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Yangtze River Delta (YRD), one of China’s most developed, dynamic, densely populated and concentrated industrial area, is growing into an influential world-class metropolitan area and playing an important role in China’s economic and social development. The formation and the urbanization process of YRD are inseparable from climate change. This paper explores such interrelationship from two perspectives. On one hand, using historic data, we summarized the urbanization process in the YRD, and concluded that climate change has been shaping the Delta and its socioeconomic development. On the other hand, the urbanization process of the Delta has shaped its geography and built environment, which, however, are not adaptable to future climate change. Potential disruptive effects include large flooded land area, flood disasters, production and energy inefficiency, and other environmental threats. It is imperative to adopt policies and programs to mitigate and adapt to climate change in the fast urbanization process. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the reasons for ever growing energy consumption in buildings and to give enhanced supervision strategies for reduction of building energy consumption compared to regular ones. A case study of Ningbo city was used to make a detail analysis. Several factors were determined as the reasons for ever growing building energy consumption including climate change, household electricity load increase, the growth of real estate, fast-growing household electrical appliances, high energy consumption in existing buildings, changes in industrial structure and the lack of enhanced government supervision. Then the discussion of suitable countermeasures shows that only enhanced supervision strategies are currently applicable. Finally, it is concluded that enhanced government supervision strategies, including the establishment of a strict control system for new built buildings through information integration and encryption, establishing an energy efficiency supervision system of large-scale public building and a carrot-and-stick approach with added expert checklist for the building application of renewable energy, showed great advantages in promoting building energy efficiency in Ningbo, compared with other cities. These supervision strategies are applicable in other cities as they are in the similar situations in the enforcement of building energy efficiency. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Forecasts of energy demand, the fuel mix meeting that demand and the associated emissions are a key requirement for informed energy planning and policy decisions to ensure energy security and address climate change. While there have been many studies on China focusing on the short and medium term (to 2020 and 2050) there is little in the literature focusing on the long term (to 2100). This paper seeks to address those gaps on sectoral energy demands and emissions on long term by following a two-stage approach. It develops key energy indicators on useful energy demand, transport mobility and end use fuel demand for various sectors. The main drivers of these indicators are socio-economic parameters. The indicators are used to project energy service demands and emissions forward for China in TIMES G5 model at least cost approach. The results from this reference scenario suggest that China will require approximately 4 Gtoe of primary energy, by the end of the 21st century to deliver 3 Gtoe final energy consumption, 10 PWh of electricity generation, 1.3 Gtoe of energy imports, which will results in 10 Gt CO2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The automobile industry in China has rapidly developed in recent years which resulted in an increase in gasoline usage and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Focus on climate change has also accelerated to grow pressure on reducing vehicle weight and improving fuel efficiency. Aluminum (Al) as a light metal has demonstrated a great potential for weight savings in applications such as engine blocks, cylinder heads, wheels, hoods, tailgates etc. However, primary Al production requires intensive energy and the cost of Al is more than traditional steel, which may affect the total benefits realized from using Al in automobiles. Therefore, it is very essential to conduct a study to quantify the life cycle GHG emissions and energy consumption if the plan is to achieve fleet-wide Al intensive vehicles. This paper describes a life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology and the general modeling assumptions used to evaluate the impact of Al intensive vehicle on GHG emissions and energy consumption. The results indicated that the reductions in life cycle GHG emissions and energy consumption were not significant when the maximum Al content in an automobile is 145 kg, which is the average level of Al usage in automobiles in North America. A neural network methodology was used to forecast the vehicle stock in China from 2010 to 2020 and a vehicle fleet model was established to track GHG emissions and energy consumption of the vehicle fleet. A material availability factor was also introduced into the LCA methodology to further assist decision makers in providing rational proposals for a widespread implementation of Al in automobiles. A sensitivity analysis was also conducted to study the impact of the Al content in a vehicle on the final outcomes. The GHG emissions and energy consumption could be further reduced when the Al content in an automobile increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper uses multivariate co-integration Granger causality tests to investigate the correlations between carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption and economic growth in China. Some researchers have argued that the adoption of a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions and energy consumption as a long term policy goal will result in a closed-form relationship, to the detriment of the economy. Therefore, a perspective that can make allowances for the fact that the exclusive pursuit of economic growth will increase energy consumption and CO2 emissions is required; to the extent that such growth will have adverse effects with regard to global climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper identifies the main features of CO2 emission from fossil energy combustion in China. Then it estimates China''s future energy requirements and projects its CO2 emission from 2010 to 2020 based on the scenario analysis approach. China''s rate of carbon productivity growth is estimated to be 5.4% in the period 2005–2020, while the CO2 intensity of GDP will reduce by about 50% but CO2 emission in 2020 will still be about 40% higher than prevailing in 2005 because of rapid growth of GDP. This estimation is based on the assumption that China will implement a sustainable development strategy in consideration of climate change issues. The main objectives of the strategy are to implement an “energy conservation first” strategy, to develop renewable energy and advanced nuclear technology actively, to readjust the country''s economic structure, and to formulate and legislate laws and regulations, and to build institutions for energy conservation and development of renewable energy. It concludes that international measures to mitigate CO2 emission will limit world fossil fuel consumption. China is not placed to replicate the modernization model adopted by developed countries and has to coordinate economic development and carbon dioxide emission control while still in the process of industrialization and modernization. China has to evolve a low carbon industrialization model. This is the key to the success of sustainable development initiatives in China. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Global warming and climate change have become a common concern to all countries in recent years. As an industrial sector with high energy consumption, the construction sector is facing enormous pressure to reduce carbon emissions. Given the continuous integration of the world economy, the construction sector in each country has extensive linkages with other sectors and countries. By using a multi-regional input–output (MRIO) model and hypothetical extraction method (HEM), this paper aims to further decompose the CO 2 emission linkages of the global construction sector from consumption-based and production-based perspectives in order to identify the key sectors and regions related to global trade. Based on data from the World Input–Output Database from 1995 to 2009, the results indicate that the average internationalization ratios of the net backward linkage and the net forward linkage of the global construction sector increased from 37% to 46% and from 16% to 20%, respectively. The global construction sector mainly imported CO 2 emissions from secondary industry and the transportation industry. The construction sector exported small amounts of CO 2 emissions to other sectors both domestically and internationally. The CO 2 emission flows embodied in the international trade of the construction sector mainly occurred between the USA, China, Russia, Germany, and the Rest of the World (ROW). The construction sectors of the ROW imported the largest amount of CO 2 emissions from China (32.72 Mt). The largest exported CO 2 emission flow was between the construction sectors of the USA and the ROW, with a value of 0.091 Mt. Based on these findings, some corresponding countermeasures are suggested, such as optimizing international trade structures, establishing a mechanism for both consumers and producers to share responsibility for carbon emission reduction, applying new environmental materials, and upgrading industrial structures by reducing dependence on high-pollution sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]