Search

In the context of climate change, innovative financing solutions and the rapid development of financial technology (fintech) offer great potential for the growth of renewable energy. Based on panel data from 30 provinces in China, this paper explores the impact of fintech on renewable energy growth by employing the instrumental variable-generalized method of moments (IV-GMM). We also pay attention to the nexus between fintech and renewable energy growth at different quantiles. This paper also explores the moderating role of the digital economy and the mediating role of green technological innovation. The main results indicate that (1) fintech positively affects renewable energy growth in China; (2) the positive effect between fintech and renewable energy is stronger in provinces with lower levels of renewable energy growth; (3) the digital economy, on the one hand, can significantly accelerate renewable energy growth; on the other hand, under the help of the digital economy, fintech can play a more effective role in increasing renewable energy growth; and (4) fintech indirectly promotes renewable energy growth by increasing the level of green technology innovation. The findings provide meaningful references for governments and policymakers and encourage the accelerated adoption of fintech in the sustainable energy sectors. • The role of financial technologies "fintech" on renewable energy growth is explored. • Fintech successfully stimulates the development of renewable energy. • The impact of fintech on renewable energy growth is asymmetric. • Digital economy facilitates the positive role of fintech in increasing renewable energy growth. • Green technology innovation is the path through which fintech affects renewable energy growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions and climate change risk have become constraints on global economic sustainable development. Environmental regulation (ER) is a key method for achieving synergy in CO 2 and pollution reduction in China. This paper is the first study to explore the effects of ER on CO 2 emissions by exploiting the National Environmental Protection 11th Five-Year Plan (NEP11-FYP). The implementation of the NEP11-FYP significantly decreases CO 2 emissions by 19.73% in key environmental cities relative to other cities. Heterogeneity analyses suggest that this negative impact is larger in western cities and cities with more pressure to reduce CO 2 emissions. Scale effects, structural effects, and technical effects might be three potential influencing channels through which ER contributes to the CO 2 reduction effect. In addition, the results of the spatial externality of the NEP11-FYP demonstrate a positive spillover effect in neighboring cities within a distance of 300 km and a negative spillover effect in cities more than 500 km away. Our empirical findings provide policy implications for implementing low-carbon transition strategies and reducing CO 2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of extreme precipitation on Chinese industrial output and its total factor productivity (TFP) using data from the annual survey of industrial firms (ASIF) and daily weather data. The findings demonstrate a significant reduction in industrial firm output as a result of precipitation, with extreme daily precipitation decreasing output by approximately 1.22%. We provide an explanation for this precipitation-industrial output relationship from four perspectives: per capita wages, labor productivity, inventory, and depreciation. The effects of extreme precipitation are more pronounced in high-income and high-precipitation regions, as well as among foreign firms and low-technology firms. Our research suggests that extreme daily precipitation poses a serious obstacle to the development of the manufacturing industry. These results are crucial for understanding the economic impact and concealed costs of climate change, highlighting that extreme precipitation should be recognized as one of the primary sources of damage associated with climate change in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking China's provincial panel data from 2010 to 2020 as an example, this paper verifies that climate change, especially extreme climate change, can destabilize China's financial stability and explores the transmission path of climate risks with meteorological disaster losses as the channel variable. Our empirical results demonstrate that: (a) only after the extreme climate change breaks through a certain threshold, thus causing a significant impact on the financial system; (b) we cannot ignore the improvement of disaster prevention and reduction ability brought by the improvement of social and economic development level; (c) the impact of extreme climate change will spread to the financial system through the economic losses caused by meteorological disasters; (d) there is obvious regional heterogeneity in the spread of meteorological disaster losses to the financial system. Our results are robust to a wider battery of checks and have important policy implications. • This paper empirically tests the impact of climate change on financial stability. • Extreme climate change will damage China's financial stability. • The economic losses caused by climate disasters will spread to the finance. • The transmission of such losses has obvious regional heterogeneity. • This paper provides policy implication for coping with climate risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is currently facing a critical challenge in completing its second radical energy transition from fossil to zero-carbon energy amidst the impacts of climate change and the international landscape. In order to clarify the concept of energy transition and the challenges facing China's energy transition, this paper adopts a research framework with Multi-Level Perspective to sort out China's energy history. Drawing on China's energy transition experience, this paper derives four key conclusions. Firstly, the energy transition is a comprehensive transformation of the energy system, which is influenced by the macro landscape, socio-technical regime and innovation niche. Secondly, based on the intensity of the transition, the historical energy transitions can be divided into two categories: incremental energy transitions and radical energy transitions. Thirdly, China's past energy transitions are mainly incremental energy transitions. Influenced by the macro environment and socio-technical regime, the transition process is mostly iterative and tortuous. Fourthly, China's energy transition is facing significant challenges in the current stage, with a tight schedule and heavy tasks, and a lack of basic scientific and technological theories and niche innovations. Building on these findings, specific recommendations to policy makers are provided. • The energy transition is a comprehensive transformation of the energy system. • China's past energy transitions are mainly incremental energy transitions. • China's energy transition faces great difficulties at this stage. • China must champion robust institutional reforms and expedite niche innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Partnerships emerge as part of an environmental governance paradigm shift towards less hierarchical, more collaborative, and non-regulative steering arrangements. This paper examines the prevalence of partnerships in environmental governance on an urban level in a semi-authoritarian setting, by exploring climate initiatives in cities in China. The paper presents exploratory qualitative analysis of governance in urban China through analysis of a database of 150 climate initiatives in 15 cities, which are seen at the forefront of climate protection. The analysis suggests that climate partnerships are used as a governance strategy in China. Moreover, partnerships perform a range of essential governance functions, from rule-setting and provision of public infrastructure and services, to supporting technology development and low carbon demonstration projects. The results indicate that partnerships can facilitate local climate action by creating access to resources, such as information, technology, and funding, as well as contribute to introduction of emission reduction technology and new policy approaches. However, the inclusion of non-state actors in the formulation and delivery of climate mitigation projects redefines the lines of authority over public issues. This draws attention to two key governance challenges in the context of a comparatively state-controlled, top-down political system: skewed participation and lack of deliberative opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terrestrial vegetation plays pivotal roles on land-atmosphere interactions, and even global climate change. However, limited attempts have been taken to elucidate the responses of vegetation activity to weather-related drivers (e.g., droughts, floods). This is especially in China with vast area and changeable meteorological conditions. In this paper, the performance of two satellite-based indices, namely vegetation condition index (VCI) and vegetation health index (VHI) were analyzed to detect the vegetation responses to weather-related variations. The dynamics of vegetation activity in China were further examined for the period 1982–2013. We found widely-distributed vegetation stresses in the entire country for a long period (about an average of two months per year) from the VCI and the VHI. In addition, both the two indices indicated increasing vegetation activities over most parts of China during 1982–2013. However, there is no consensus between the two indices at spatial pattern and regional totals. This discrepancy can be due to the negative-correlation assumption of the VHI between the VCI and bright temperature. However, we found that the relationship between the VCI and temperature could be changeable in different regions, especially in China with complex topography, diverse climate conditions and different vegetation types. The findings of this paper highlight the necessity to account for dominant controls on vegetation growth when using the VCI and the VHI to analyze vegetation activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses pork as a lens on China's rural transformations. Taking the industrialization of pig farming in the reform era as a trace on broader processes of social and environmental change, it advances three arguments. First, the massive increase in pork production and consumption since 1978 has been propelled by an industrial meat regime. A party-state led and agribusiness-operated regime, it articulates modernist notions of meat-as-progress with the relentless drive for capital accumulation. Second, using Marx's concept of metabolic rift, the paper examines how processes of concentration in the industrial meat regime are at the same time processes of separation. This dialectical approach highlights the contradictions inherent in ongoing attempts to disembed capitalist production from biological and social relations. Finally, while official party-state discourse conceptualizes "the rural" as a production base for surplus value, and/or as a site for preserving environmental integrity, the paper's analysis reveals a further unofficial recasting of the rural: in the process of agroindustrialization, the rural is also a sink for offloading capitalist crises. Between the rivers of manure that flow from industrial livestock operations and contaminate rural waterways; the loss of soil nutrients and food calories in the inefficient conversion of grains and oilseeds into industrial meat; the erosion of agricultural knowledge and practice that accompanies the dispossession of China's farmers; and the shifting values of pigs, pork, and manure, this is a system that "wastes" the rural in service of capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With important implications for global climate change mitigation, the development of a cap-and-trade emission trading scheme (ETS) in China is embedded in distinctive political, economic, and institutional contexts and has been attracting increasing attention in recent years. To offer a clear perspective on current research progress, this paper systematically reviews the recent literature on China’s ETS from three main aspects: mechanism design, policy and regional linkages, as well as impact assessment. The current research consensuses are summarized based upon detailed literature analyses and commentaries, and together with observations of international experience and China’s actual condition, the paper provides policy proposals for the development of China’s national ETS during 2016–2020. Finally, several important controversies in the current literature are discussed with regard to the practical demands of China’s ETS development. Five pressing topics that need to be further studied in the coming years are highlighted, including cap setting, allowance allocation among sectors and enterprises, carbon pricing, policy package and unified carbon market construction, as well as ex-ante and ex-post impact assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper matched the data for all non-financial listed firms in China from 1990 to 2017 with weather data and used temperature and precipitation to represent climate change. Using daily temperature and daily precipitation data, we constructed temperature bins and precipitation bins. This study presents a potential first empirical analysis that applies the risk perception theory to comprehensively examine the impacts of daily temperature and daily precipitation on firms' debt financing costs. Compared to a day with a suitable temperature, a day with temperatures above 30 °C increases firms' debt financing costs by 0.2411%. Compared to a sunny day, a day with torrential rain increases firms' financing costs by 0.2697%. Approximately $122.13 million and $20.49 million in extra costs were incurred across all firms in 2017. We conducted a series of heterogeneity tests. We found that the negative impacts of climate change on debt financing costs are greater for firms that investor considers more vulnerable. Finally, we found two possible mechanisms. First, from the firm's subjective initiative perspective, firms that respond proactively during seasons of high temperatures and heavy rains can reduce the negative impacts. Second, adverse weather caused by climate change may also increase firms' debt financing costs by blocking travel. These results enrich the literature on firms' debt financing costs and contribute to the understanding of climate change's impact on firms. [Display omitted] • An extra high-temperature day increases firms' debt financing cost by 0.2411%. • An extra heavy-rain day increases firms' debt financing costs by 0.2697%. • The negative impacts will be greater for those firms that investor considers more vulnerable. • Firms' response proactively can reduce the negative impacts. • Climate change also may increase firms' debt financing costs by blocking travel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Average start of the photosynthetic period in China was on the 123rd day of the year. • The average start of the photosynthetic period advances at a rate of 4.3 d (10 a)−1. • 64% of the region is temperature controlled, others are precipitation controlled. • Importance of temperature and precipitation determined by pre-season precipitation. • Climate change increases NPP by advancing the start of the photosynthetic period. In the context of global warming, the advancement of spring phenology in northern and temperate regions due to increased temperatures has been widely reported. Early and delayed start of the photosynthetic period (SOP) directly affects the vegetation net primary productivity (NPP). However, the interrelationship between climate change, the SOP, and the NPP is unclear. In this paper, we use the dynamics of decadal daily solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence data to calculate the response of Chinese vegetation photosynthetic phenology to climate change and its impact on the NPP over the last 20 years. The results found that over the last 20 years, the average SOP in China was on the 123rd day of the year, and the SOP has advanced at an average rate of 4.3 d (10 a)−1, with a faster trend of SOP advancement in highland and high-altitude areas. 64% of SOP in China is controlled by temperature; 36% of the SOP in China is controlled by precipitation, and the relative importance of temperature and precipitation was reversed as the precipitation gradient decreased, with SOP dominated by temperature when pre-season precipitation ≧300 mm, and SOP dominated by precipitation when pre-season precipitation ≦300 mm. Finally, we find that climate change indirectly increases vegetation NPP by advancing SOP. Our study emphasizes the importance of precipitation on phenology. It provides a scientific basis for understanding and predicting the response of spring photosynthetic phenology to climate change and the contribution of spring phenology to carbon estimation in terrestrial ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's wide-ranging circular economy (CE) efforts have been studied multiple times from a range of perspectives. Synthesizing the relevant literature, this paper provides a critical reflection on the transition to a CE in China. Key factors for China's success in shifting towards a CE are seen in multi-level indicators and upscaling niches. This paper makes a novel contribution on limitations to progress, based on emerging evidence on CE projects that fail to sustain. Enriched by experts feedback, this paper critically addresses future challenges to a deep transition resulting from implementation gaps between early majorities and mass markets and coordination challenges arising through regional and sectoral differences. In light of China's commitments to climate neutrality by 2060, such challenges are considered serious. Based on feasible policy learning, the paper however proposes synergies between the CE and decarbonisation driven by efficiency improvements, comprehensive core indicators, upscaling and urban policies as trigger for deeper transformations. Finally the paper undertakes broader reflections and an outlook on evidence-orientated policy learning for a CE and decarbonisation in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has been facing increasingly severe water scarcity that seriously threatens the socio-economic development and its sustainability of this country. This paper is intended to analyze and assess the water security of China. It first attempts to characterize the current status of water security within a risk-based, integrated framework that encompasses five key aspects critical to water sustainability, including water availability, water use patterns, wastewater generation and pollution control, water institutions and management, and health of aquatic systems and societal vulnerability. Based on the above assessment, the paper then analyzes emerging challenges for water security brought by climate change, population growth and rapid urbanization, and the water-food-energy nexus. In the end, the paper discusses China's future prospects on water security, including current achievements, government actions and policy initiatives, and recommendations for management improvement aimed at increasing water security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because China has emerged as the largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter in total annual emissions, to accelerate the pace of GHG emission reduction in China is important to the success of global efforts in addressing climate change. Carbon trading is a market mechanism and key instrument in the mitigation of climate change. This paper explores the policy process and development state to date of China׳s carbon-trade market to understand the emergence and development of that market and to understand what barriers are hampering China׳s carbon-trade market development. To achieve this goal, this paper introduces and analyzes China׳s status in the international market, examines the factors driving carbon-market launching by the Chinese government, and traces the development of mandatory carbon-emission trading and voluntary emission trading. It is argued that China׳s carbon-trading market is confronted with challenges such as the absence of a functional carbon-trading market, inaccuracy of the quota allocation, an imperfect trading mechanism, and lagging legislation. At the present stage, shortcomings such as having no real-time carbon price and dominated spot transactions differentiate China׳s trade market substantially from a functional system. A quick market integration of China׳s carbon market appears remote. It is suggested that specific measures be taken to promote the development of the Chinese carbon-trading market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the climate emergency, it is necessary to model and forecast road transport emissions for implementing more effective climate policy. This paper fills an important research gap by quantifying the challenges, barriers and remedies of achieving road transport emission reduction and air quality improvement in developing countries. It contributes to the debate on top-down and bottom-up approaches to reconcile carbon and other transport related emissions. China and India are chosen as case studies. Using various official statistics and proxy variables, we estimate and compare the road transport carbon emissions of the two countries systematically from 2009 to 2020. Insights from detailed mode-specific estimations of the bottom-up approach are valuable for targeted policies and measures. An analysis of the major components of road transport carbon emissions points to strategies of promoting electric vehicles, reducing transport demand, accelerating modal shift to low-carbon modes, and cleaner electricity to achieve climate policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The innovative effects of three types of carbon-abatement policies (energy-saving goals (ESGs), new energy subsidies (NESs), and carbon emission trading schemes (ETSs)) were examined. • The contributions of both ESGs and NESs policies were relatively stable in the 11th five-year period (2006–2010), but weakened in the 12th five-year period (2010–2015) that followed. • In terms of synergies between policies, no significant estimates for policy coordination were discovered. • Only administrative regulation had a positive effect on the tendency to pursue technology investment. • With an improvement in enforcement strength, the innovation influences from TIPs were not static, but changed differently, even oppositely, on each side of the threshold. Low-carbon technology innovation is considered to be one of the most effective remedial measures for reducing climate change. Based on panel data from 30 provinces in China which were collected firms in operation between 1999 and 2016, this paper used a difference-in-differences (DID) approach to assess whether China's current carbon-abatement policies (i.e. energy-saving goals (ESGs), new energy subsidies (NESs), and carbon emission trading schemes (ETSs)) can direct innovation activities towards low-carbon technologies; then, this paper analyzed the channels involved from the perspective of investment preferences. In terms of policy-induced effects, the contributions of both ESGs and NESs policies were discovered to be relatively stable in the 11th five-year period (FYP) (2006–2010), but weaker in the following 12th FYP, and the ETSs' effect on innovation was found to be not significant. In particular, the estimates for policy coordination were not significant, and the innovation-inducing effects of NESs were moderated by market performance. For the analysis of channels, only administrative regulation had a reinforcing effect on the propensity to pursue technological investment. As enforcement increases, the innovation influence from technology investment preferences (TIPs) has also changed: it is distinct, and even opposite, on each side of the threshold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-level governance (MLG) theory has become the main explanation for how climate action is realized in polycentric, multi-sector, multi-actor policy landscapes. In this paper, we examine processes of climate change governance in a given city in China, Rizhao, and evaluate how MLG arrangements operate. We do so by examining primary data collected through in-depth interviews with local stakeholders. Our results show that the focus on multi-level – and in particular transnational – interactions obscures the ways in which urban low carbon transitions happen in three ways. First, in spite of Rizhao being a well-known case in environmental politics, there is an absence of international actors and non-governmental organizations operating on the ground. Second, the emphasis on opportunities of local authorities to build political agendas through participation in global networks conceals how structures of power, political-economic coalitions, and technological practices are firmly fixed in a local context. Third, the case study illustrates the enduring authority of formal top-down channels of control in this political system. Based on these results, we caution against the uncritical application of MLG theory to environmental politics in settings where deliberative democracy is lacking and the full benefits of multi-level interactions are unlikely to be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The increases of commuting CO 2 emissions are several times larger than the urban size, population, and economics' developments. • Metro services reducing commuting CO 2 emissions near the metro stations is not statistically significant, possibly because the proportions of car users near the metro stations are similar to the two cities' average levels, which is caused by their higher household income and the longer travel time using the metro. • In Beijing, there are the smallest commuting CO 2 emissions in the outer suburbs due to job-housing balances, short distance and large percentage of non-motorized mode uses while the largest commuting CO 2 emissions in the inner sprawl suburbs due to car trips with long distance. Abstract To understand the changing relationships between commuting CO 2 emissions (CCE), travel behavior and urban forms, this paper provides a comparative study between the typical Chinese cities of Beijing (more developed) and Xi'an (rapidly developing). Further, the effects of metro services on reducing CCE were explored, and comparative analysis on CCE between the inner sprawling suburbs and outer suburbs was conducted. It was found that: (i) the increases in CCE are several times larger than the increases in urban size, population, and economic developments; (ii) metro services reducing CCE near metro stations is not statistically significant, maybe because the proportions of car users near the metro stations are similar to the two cities' average levels, which is caused by their higher household income and the longer travel time using the metro; (iii) in Beijing, there are smallest CCE in the outer suburbs due to job-housing balances, short distance and large percentage of non-motorized mode uses while largest CCE in the inner sprawl suburbs due to car trips with long distance. These findings indicate that to cope with the rapidly increasing CCE, more attention should be paid to developing strong industry and real-estate simultaneously; the improvement in the feeder bus and public bicycle systems should also be reinforced to reduce the total travel time of metro users; and satellite cities with job-housing balance are greatly needed. The implications will benefit efforts to reduce CCE and mitigate global climate change, and they also provide empirical evidence and reference values for other global cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extreme weather events and anthropogenic activity have severely impacted the Minjiang estuary (MJE) with evolution patterns in recent decades. Determining the estuarine alluvial evolution pattern is crucial for the sustainable development of densely populated coastal areas. Using chart data, this paper analyzed how the MJE's flushing and siltation changed over time (1950–2019). The findings indicate that, in the past 70 years, the MJE has evolved through seven stages of flushing and siltation under the condition of decreasing incoming sediment: "significant siltation - siltation - minor siltation - significant erosion - significant siltation - minor siltation - significant erosion". Despite decreased incoming material, the estuary underwent substantial siltation from 1998 to 2005. Extreme meteorological conditions were the cause of this anomaly. The "severe flushing" phenomenon occurred in the study area from 2011 to 2019, and the comparison of pre-dam and post-dam at the estuary revealed that extreme weather can only adjust in stages and cannot change the overall state of the estuary flushing due to the reduction of incoming sediment in the basin. According to the EOF (Empirical Orthogonal/Eigen Function) study of four sections of the estuary, it is most impacted by incoming sediment from the watershed, followed by severe weather conditions. Our research is crucial for comprehending how human behavior and harsh weather might affect the development of MJE, and it offers sound advice for the long-term management of MJE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional precipitation patterns may change in a warmer climate, thereby increasing flood and drought risks. In this paper, annual, annual maximum, intense, heavy, moderate, light, and trace precipitation are employed as indicators to assess changes in precipitation patterns under two scenarios in which the global mean temperature increases by 1.5 °C and 2.0 °C relative to pre-industrial levels using the regional climate model COSMO-CLM (CCLM). The results show that annual precipitation in China will be approximately 2.5% higher under 1.5 °C warming relative to the present-day baseline (1980–2009), although it will decrease by approximately 4.0% under an additional 0.5 °C increase in global mean temperature. This trend is spatially consistent for regions with annual precipitation of 400–800 mm, which has experienced a drying trend during the past half century; thus, limiting global warming to 1.5 °C may mitigate these drying conditions. The annual maximum precipitation continues to increase from present day levels to the 2.0 °C warming scenario. Relative to the baseline period, the frequency of trace and light precipitation days exhibits a negative trend, while that of moderate, heavy, and intense precipitation days has a positive trend under the 1.5 °C warming scenario. For the 2.0 °C warming world, the frequency of days is projected to decrease for all precipitation categories, although the intensity of intense precipitation increases. Spatially, a decrease in the number of precipitation days is expected to continue in central and northern China, where a drying trend has persisted over the past half century. Southeastern China, which already suffers greatly from flooding, is expected to face more heavy and intense precipitation with an additional 0.5 °C increase in global mean temperature. Meanwhile, the intensity of intense precipitation is expected to increase in northern China, and the contribution of light and moderate precipitation to the annual precipitation is expected to decrease in southeastern China. Therefore, flood risk in northern China and drought risk in southern China should draw more attention for a global air temperature increase from 1.5 °C to 2.0 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is the country with the most population in the world, and its climate is extremely diverse due to tremendous differences in latitude, longitude, and altitude, ranging from tropical in the far south to subarctic in the far north and alpine in the higher elevations of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Accurate assessment of its modern climate change is conductive to addressing global warming threat. Along with the development of Past Global Changes (PAGES) research, the focus has changed from paleo-climate reconstructions to using paleo-data for assessing the present and predicting the future. Previous studies have been devoted to climate change assessment using modern climate observations and simulations. This paper presents a new assessment approach based on the mid-Holocene, which provides a naturally oriented warming that can be compared to modern human-made global warming. A variety of climatic data, including modern observations, paleo-climate records, CMIP5 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5) and PMIP3 (Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project 3) simulations, as well as lake level models, were applied in this synthesis. Numerical climate classification was introduced to evaluate climate change impacts to Chinese climate zones on various time scales. The results show that winter and summer seasons have different response to the naturally oriented mid-Holocene warming but human-made global warming makes the warming trend appear in all seasons. Temperate and continental dry winter climates expand dramatically during the mid-Holocene warm period; however, the future global warming could have few impacts to Chinese climate zones. Furthermore, the East Asian summer monsoon was strengthened obviously by the mid-Holocene warm climate and strong low-latitude insolation. There is no consistent trend both for the winter and summer monsoon on the background of human-made global warming. In this study, a new benchmark was established based on paleo-climate to evaluate the impacts of human-made global warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crop phenology is co-determined by climate change and crop management. Over recent decades, climate change-related alterations in crop phenology have been observed and reported for various global crops. However, attributing changes in crop phenology to climate change is difficult, because there have been concurrent changes in crop management. In this paper, we isolated and quantified the impacts of climate change and crop management on the changes of wheat phenology in China, during the period 1981–2010, using a first-difference multiple regression model. Our results shows: (1) based on observed phenological data, in spring/winter wheat, the mean sowing and emergence date were delayed by 0.91/2.29 and 0.39/0.73 days decade −1 ; mean anthesis and maturity date advanced by 1.05/2.28 and 0.01/1.42 days decade −1 ; mean length of vegetative growth period (VGP) and whole growth period (WGP) were shortened by 1.09/2.86 and 0.89/3.69 days decade −1 ; mean length of reproductive growth period (RGP) was prolonged by 0.55/0.61 days decade −1 . (2) At most stations, changing direction of wheat phenology affected by isolated impacts of climate change or crop management was consistent with that affected by combined impacts of climate change and crop management. (3) For observed trends of most phenological stages and growth periods, relative contribution from climate change was smaller than from crop management, and average temperature contributed the most among the three contributors (average temperature, cumulative precipitation, and cumulative sunshine hours) to isolated impacts of climate change on wheat phenology. (4) Crop management over the three decades was shown to have helped reduce the lengths of VGP and WGP, but increase the length of RGP for both spring and winter wheat, implying that shorter-duration varieties with a higher yield or better yield stability in changing climate might have been introduced by farmers. [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]

Population change is a key variable that influences climate change, ecological construction, soil and water use, and economic growth. Census data are always point data, whereas planar data are often required in scientific research. By using nighttime light (NTL) images and land use data, combined with the fifth and sixth census data of China at the county level, we carried out spatial matching on the population of each county, respectively, and established population density diagrams of China for 2000 and 2010, which had a spatial resolution of 1 × 1 km. The method proposed in this paper is relatively simple and has a high simulation precision. The results showed that during the first ten years of the 21st century, there are some remarkable characteristics in Chinese population spatial pattern change: 1) the “disappearance” of intermediate-density regions; namely, areas with a population density between 500 and 1500 persons/km 2 have decreased by 41% during the ten years; 2) continuous growth of high-density regions; namely, areas with a population density of more than 1500 persons/km 2 have increased by 76%; 3) an expansion tendency of low-density regions similar to high-density regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese Government just released its Energy Revolution Strategy (2016–2030) as an official policy response to President Xi Jinping’s urge. Withdraw of the US from Paris Climate Agreement has turned the global focus on if China can comply with its climate change commitments. The purpose of this paper is to conduct a comprehensive assessment on this utterly important question. We find that the 2030 Strategy is consistent with the GDP CO 2 intensity target but cannot deliver CO 2 peak earlier than 2030. We also explore the possibility for China to realize leapfrog in energy efficiency and contribute more to global society in CO 2 emissions abatement. Given China’s economic restructuring potential, continuous efforts in energy efficiency could lead to much lower primary energy demand than the Strategy proposed and thus peak energy-related CO 2 emissions around 2020. It can also make China a new champion in the world with highest energy efficiency level at comparable income level during the economic development process. A much lower primary energy demand can also facilitate China’s non-fossil primary energy share target and the low-carbon power system transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite rapid economic development, the transport industry has been claimed to account for a major part of climate change. This paper investigates total factor carbon-sensitive productivity growth in the regional transport sector in China and decomposes its dynamic changes over time taking account of the regional heterogeneity of different provinces. Thus, the contemporaneous metafrontier Malmquist-Luenberger approach that combined with non-radial directional distance functions is proposed and define a new indicator called the contemporaneous metafrontier Malmquist-Luenberger carbon emission performance index (CMML). This total factor indicator includes the metafrontier efficiency-change index (MEC), the metafrontier technology-change index (MTC), and the metafrontier technology-gap-change index (TGC). Results show an about 4% increase in overall total factor carbon emission productivity during the period of 2000–2012. Different growth patterns are also observed in the transport sector across different area of China. In the eastern region, the growth of carbon productivity is driven mainly by pure efficiency changes, whereas the central region is driven mainly by innovations in the low-carbon transport technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electric vehicles (EVs) have been regarded as one of the most prominent green technologies, touted to help reduce global energy consumption and carbon emissions. China advocates the development of EVs to address the increasing challenges of climate change, urban air pollution and energy security, but consumers’ enthusiasm for adopting EVs remains low. In this paper, we present a concept model that hypothesizes Chinese cultural values as a key to understanding Chinese consumers’ intention to adopt EVs. Based on a nationwide online survey in China, this study explores Chinese consumers’ attitudes toward two types of EVs—battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles—by identifying the influence of the human–nature relationship, long-term orientation, face consciousness, and risk attitude, as well as the mediating effect of deontological ethical evaluation in decision-making. The results suggest that public policy and social marketing efforts should pay more attention to the role of cultural values when promoting environmentally sustainable technologies, and importantly, that the promotion efforts should differ for different cultural elements and products with different levels of innovativeness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A new repeatable batch processing method is developed for regional SUHI assessment. • A framework is proposed to explain the formation of SUHI effect. • The impacts of most driving factors on SUHI effect are spatial heterogeneous. • More attention should be paid to small cities. The urban heat island (UHI) effect has become a hot topic worldwide because of the double stress of global climate change and rapid urbanization. However, the deficiencies of existing methods hinder the monitoring and assessment of the surface urban heat island (SUHI) effect at the regional scale. This paper presented a new method to assess SUHI intensity, and then applied it in China. The results indicated that: (1) compared with other methods, this new method has some merits like higher accuracy, fewer operational steps, and higher portability. It enables accurate, semi-automated assessment of SUHI intensity at the regional scale. (2) SUHI effect exists in 81.02% of the cities in China. These cities were mainly concentrated in southeastern China, which presented the significant characteristic of spatial agglomeration. (3) Urban-rural differences in relative humidity, vegetation coverage, evapotranspiration, waterbody coverage, and the number of industrial enterprises are the main driving factors for the SUHI effect in China. Furthermore, there are significant interactions among these driving factors. (4) The spatial heterogeneity of the influence directions and intensities of many driving factors is obvious. Therefore, traditional regression models should be utilized more cautiously because they cannot capture the spatial heterogeneity of variables. (5) The hypothesis of "the larger the city size, the higher the SUHI intensity" is not valid, so more attention should be paid to small cities in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agricultural sector is extremely vulnerable to climate change and also plays a very important role in the operation of the entire economic system, leading many studies to evaluate the possible agricultural direct economic damage (ADED) of climate change. However, this damage may have an amplification impact through the intricate industrial linkages that exist among sectors, and this impact may be even greater than the original damage. Therefore, to elucidate the economic cascading effect (ECE) in China caused by ADED and industrial linkage, this paper used the ARIO model to evaluate the total ECE and analyse the differences in the 19 sectors by taking the ADED under future annual mean temperature (AMT) increases of 1–5 °C as the input condition and adjusting the exogenous parameters to enhance the adaptability of the model; the goal was to assess the economic impact of climate change in China. The results show that (i) there is a significant amplifying impact of ECE due to industrial linkage under the influence of warming, ECE will be 4.24–5.25 times that of ADED, and the total economic impact (ADED + ECE) will exceed the GDP of the Chinese capital of Beijing in 2012 when the AMT increases by 1.5 °C, while it will exceed one tenth of China's GDP when it increases by 4 °C. (ii) Manufacturing will be the sector most affected by the industrial linkage under ADED, which accounts for 26.58% of total ECE, followed by agriculture (10.39%) and construction (8.5%). (iii) The decrease in cultivated land area will have a significant impact on the economy; when it is reduced to the minimum demand (1.41% less than 2012), ADED increases by 1.65 times and ECE increases by 2.35 times. This paper aims to provide a new perspective from which to evaluate the economic impact of climate change by studying ECEs behind sectoral interactions. [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]

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]

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]

New developments in consumption-based emissions accounting suggest that the reductions claimed by wealthy, environmentally progressive nations have often come at the expense of increased emissions elsewhere – and thus net growth in global GHG concentrations. This paper traces Sweden's attempts to translate growing recognition of displaced emissions into national environmental policy. Drawing on multi-sited ethnographic research and policy analysis in Sweden and China, we argue that while the logical implications of consumption-based analyses point to the need to address production and consumption as an integrated system, complex governance challenges and the political precariousness of these ideas have thus far limited policy to the reinvention of consumer awareness campaigns and an international extension of long-standing ecological efficiency efforts. We argue that consumption-based emissions indicators justify more ambitious demand-side policy response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eastern China, a populous and economically developed area, is severely affected by various meteorological disasters under the background of global climate change. In recent years, urban waterlogs caused by heavy rainfall has become a major concern threatening urban safety and socioeconomic development. This paper aimed to reveal the spatial pattern of waterlogging risk in 89 prefecture-level cities of Eastern China by a comprehensive analysis on extreme rainfall, socioeconomic exposure and urban adaptability. Hazard intensity index was calculated on 20-year return period value of maximum daily precipitation. Exposure index was based on the total urban population and local gross domestic product, while adaptability index was an integrated evaluation of drainage pipeline density, river network density and greening rate of urban area. Risk assessment was a synthesis judgment of hazard intensity index, exposure index and urban adaptability index, according to which the cities in Eastern China were classified into five risk levels. The six cities with the highest level of waterlogging risk were Shenzhen, Beijing, Maoming, Yangjiang, Shanwei and Dongguan, which indicates relatively stronger intensity of meteorological hazard, higher density of socioeconomic exposure and the weakness of urban adaptability in these cities. The high risk cities would suffer much more losses than other cities in Eastern China when hit by an extreme rainfall. This paper could provide a scientific basis for urban waterlogging risk identification and governance, as well as for technical measures development and capacity building of disaster prevention and reduction. • A research framework and technical methods for urban waterlogging risk assessment were proposed. • An indicator system for waterlogging risk assessment was raised based on hazard, exposure and adaptability factors. • Urban adaptability of waterlogging disaster was evaluated based on drainage pipelines, river networks and greening level. • Taking Eastern China as a pilot, the paper presented a city risk ranking for urban waterlogs. [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]

Groundwater management in China has been facing challenges from both climate change and urbanization and is considered as a national priority nowadays. However, unprecedented uncertainty exists in future scenarios making it difficult to formulate management planning paradigms. In this paper, we apply modern portfolio theory (MPT) to formulate an optimal stage investment of groundwater contamination remediation in China. This approach generates optimal weights of investment to each stage of the groundwater management and helps maximize expected return while minimizing overall risk in the future. We find that the efficient frontier of investment displays an upward-sloping shape in risk-return space. The expected value of groundwater vulnerability index increases from 0.6118 to 0.6230 following with the risk of uncertainty increased from 0.0118 to 0.0297. If management investment is constrained not to exceed certain total cost until 2050 year, the efficient frontier could help decision makers make the most appropriate choice on the trade-off between risk and return. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the extent and the determinants of global climate change beliefs. In contrast to former studies for the U.S. and other western countries, we focus on China due to its crucial role in international climate policy in conjunction with its vulnerability to global warming. The empirical analysis is based on unique data from a survey among more than 1000 adults in five Chinese cities. In line with former studies, our results reveal that the vast majority of almost 90% of the Chinese respondents believes in the existence of global warming. This seems to be a convenient and necessary basis for the support of costly public adaptation activities in China. Our econometric analysis reveals that already perceived experiences with extreme weather events (and particularly heatwaves) alone are strongly correlated with climate change beliefs and that physical or financial damages due to these events lead to even stronger relationships. Our estimation results additionally suggest females as well as people with a lower education, in medium ages, with higher household incomes, and from Chengdu or Shenyang to be more skeptical toward the existence of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ten-Thousand Enterprises Program is China’s keystone energy conservation and climate change program. The program has effectively created a class of energy-intensive enterprises that are regulated by the government for energy conservation purposes. Through an empirical study conducted in Changchun, this paper shows that the adoption of energy efficiency technologies and practices has been highly uneven in this class of enterprises because of two reasons. First, a de facto two-tier regulatory system has emerged within the framework of the Ten-Thousand Enterprises Program. Central state-owned enterprises are closely regulated by the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) which is a central government apparatus, whereas local state-owned enterprises and privately owned enterprises are regulated by the local government, which has fewer resources and incentives to implement the program rigorously. Second, the Ten-Thousand Enterprises Program bundles together different types of enterprises. This approach places smaller enterprises at a disadvantage and limits their ability to conserve energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global climate change has become one of the greatest challenges to human development, the study of the dynamic evolution of carbon emissions at the building operation stage and its driving mechanism is of great significance for the reasonable control of carbon emissions, and helpful to provide more scientific and reasonable decision support for proposing an implementable carbon neutral pathway. According to the geospatial differences of carbon emissions at the building operation stage, this paper constructs a research framework on the influencing factors and driving mechanisms of carbon emissions at the building operation stage based on CV, kernel density, Geodetector and other methods. The study shows that first, that the carbon emissions at the building operation stage are unequally distributed in space in provinces of China, and the building carbon emissions vary greatly in structure among different regions. Second, different factors vary greatly in influence. Third, there are great differences in the driving mechanisms of carbon emissions over time, but factors such as urban population and refrigerator ownership are both key influencing factors that have a comprehensive influence on the spatio-temporal changes of carbon emissions. Fourth, all the factor pairs are bifactor-enhanced or non-linearly enhanced, and they can be classified into three types of high, medium, and low levels. Fifth, a carbon neutral pathway map for the building sector is proposed based on the spatial distribution of carbon emissions and its driving mechanism, to provide reference for foreign regions with similar conditions. • Calculated the carbon emission at the building operation stage in Chinese provinces. • Analyzed trend and composition of carbon emission at the building operation stage. • Analyze spatial-temporal changes of carbon emissions by GIS. • For the first time, analyzed driving factors of carbon emissions by Geodetector. • Proposed a carbon neutral pathway map for the building sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A first comprehensive and systematic review on the research of extreme precipitation in China. • Variation and regional characteristics of extreme precipitation under non-stationary conditions due to climate change and human activities. • Supports and basis for engineering application and further research on extreme precipitation and flood in China. Recent years have witnessed global massive property losses and casualties caused by extreme precipitation and its subsequent natural disasters, including floods and landslides. China is one of the countries deeply affected by these casualties. If the statistical characteristics and laws of extreme precipitation could be clearly grasped, then the negative impacts triggered by it may be minimized. China is a vast country and diverse in climate and terrain, hence different regions may be suitable for different analyses and research methods. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify the research progress, methods and current status of extreme precipitation across the country. This paper attempts to provide a comprehensive review of techniques and methods used in extreme precipitation research and engineering practice and their applications. The literature is reviewed focusing on seven aspects: (1) annual maxima method (AM), (2) peaks over threshold method (POT), (3) probable maximum precipitation (PMP), (4) non-stationary analysis of precipitation extremes, (5) intensity-duration-frequency curves (IDF), (6) uncertainty in extreme precipitation frequency analysis, and (7) spatial variability of extreme precipitation. Research on extreme precipitation in China is generally based or centered on the above seven aspects. The current study aims to provide ideas for further research on extreme precipitation frequency analysis and its response to climate change and human activities. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is concerned with a comprehensive analysis of building energy efficiency policies in light of improvements in energy performance, living standards and climate change mitigation in China's built environment. In recent years, China has added about 1.7 billion square meters of new floor space in both urban and rural areas on an annual basis. In 2010, the total area of existing buildings in China was approximately 48.6 billion square meters, nearly twice the total of existing buildings areas in the European Union. How to improve energy efficiency in the soaring number of new buildings and accelerate the retrofit of the huge number of existing buildings are two daunting challenges currently facing China in terms of energy security and climate change mitigation at a global level. China has gradually altered the building energy efficiency policy portfolio, from a purely regulatory approach with a mandatory building code at the initial stage to voluntary green buildings initiatives. This paper is structured as a critical assessment of building energy efficiency policies for new and existing buildings. Both strengths and weaknesses of the implemented energy efficiency policies are detailed in each of the studied areas. It also discusses the dilemma of public games in green and sustainable buildings production in the context of Chinese economic development and societal transition. The analysis emphasises the importance of guaranteeing the consistency between policies in the current regulatory framework to maximise the effectiveness of energy efficiency policies in the built environment in China. For this, it is necessary to articulate building energy efficiency policies implementation and broader energy and climate policies. This integrative study provides both a retrospective assessment and prospective direction of building energy efficiency policy development in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the Conference of the Parties held in Copenhagen in 2009 (COP15), the Chinese government announced its 2020 commitment to reduce the carbon intensity of the Chinese economy to 40–45% of its 2005 level. A number of analysts have criticised this target, indicating that these reductions can be achieved without the implementation of any active climate change policy. In this paper, we test this argument using a combined input–output based econometric projection approach and the World Input–Output Database (WIOD). Our results show that the projected carbon intensity for 2020 is likely to be 50% lower than the carbon intensity of 2005, without additional active climate change policy measures performed by the Chinese government. On top of it, our study indicates that the total volume of CO 2 emissions would be by 2020 seven times the volume of the year 2005. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A database consisting of 378 failure cases was established for analyses. • Trends and distributions of heavy rainfalls in China were characterized. • Spatio-temporal distribution patterns of the failures were identified. • Urbanization, climate and geological conditions were key factors. Currently, global warming is increasing rainfall intensities worldwide, particularly in China. This climate change has caused numerous underground infrastructure failures, which threatens the sustainable development of urban environments. Most failures brought about secondary hazards in densely populated areas, which often caused massive damages and casualties and/or injuries. Thus, a summary of such failures and their contributing factors on a national scale is essential for understanding the adverse influences of climate change on infrastructures, which can help urban planners, designers and engineers to improve city resilience. In this paper, an overview of 378 underground infrastructure failures in China associated with heavy rainfall was conducted. First, the latest rainfall characteristics in China were analyzed. Then, a review was conducted in four aspects, i.e., infrastructure types, involved strata, and temporal and geographic distributions. Finally, contributing factors of the failures were discussed. Several major findings were obtained: (1) the failure numbers had increased significantly since 2010, mainly attributed to the intensification of rainfall in rapidly urbanizing regions; (2) the resilience of underground infrastructures against heavy rainfall is governed by the performance of existing drainage facilities nearby; and (3) more failures clustered in the urban environments featuring highly concentrated rainfalls and thick-layered unsaturated coarse-grained soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities, the important locations for scientific research and education, have the responsibility to lead ecological civilization and low carbon transition. Ecological footprint evaluation (EFE) is usually used to measure sustainability of campuses. Although it can provide guidance and reference for overall campus planning, it lacks effective significance for individual behavior, especially when the reduction of carbon emissions is the aim. On the other hand a possible solution can be represented by machine learning. It can identify the key factors that will influence individual's overall carbon emissions caused by students' daily behavior, it can be used to find effective ways to reduce individual carbon emissions. This paper applied EFE and machine learning to comprehensively evaluate campus sustainability and students' carbon emissions. Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), a "University in the Forest", was used as a study case in China. Even if HUST is endowned with a forest coverage of 72%, here we showed that its Ecological Footprint Index was −12.52, indicating strong unsustainability. This is mainly due to the high energy and food consumption, caused by the large population living in the campus and the lacking of energy saving measures. The per capita ecological footprint was relatively high, compared with other universities in the world, which meant more efforts needed to be done on ecological sustainability. Low carbon emission is a key feature for a sustainable campus. Based on the questionnaire survey delivered to 486 students who live in the campus, their daily active data were collected in terms of students' personal clothing, food, housing, consumption and transportation. And their associated carbon emissions were calculated based on emission intensities of Chinese population. Based on 486 detailed datasets, machine learning was then used to identify the key daily behavior to influence students' total carbon emission. Results showed that making behavior changes in air conditioning, food and electric bicycle were the most effective ways to reduce carbon emissions. Finally, while effective suggestions were proposed based on qualitative and quantitative evaluations, it is concluded that it is imperative for universities in China to formulate effective low-carbon policies, to achieve sustainable development and to confront global climate change. • A review of main initiatives of sustainable campus construction worldwide. • An evaluation combining campus ecological footprint and individual carbon footprint. • The ecological footprint of "China Forest University" reflects unsustainable. • Machine learning identifies internal driving force of campus carbon emissions. • Targeted guidelines on campus low-carbon construction are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• 170 rainfall-related excavation failure cases in China were collected for analyses. • 10 conceptual models were developed for illustration of the excavation failures. • Soil conditions and technical factors involved in the failures were summarized. Over the last 30 years, intense rainfall events due to abnormal climate change have brought about numerous excavation failures in the urban areas of China. These heavy rainfall-related engineering failures, characterized by failure or collapse of retaining structures and/or retained slopes, have caused large-scale damages to urban environment as well as injuries and casualties. Thus, a summary of such failures along with corresponding statistical patterns and contributing factors is essential, which can help practitioners further understand the risk of excavation failures associated with heavy rainfall and then could develop or adopt appropriate measures for prevention of future failures. Based on these considerations, this paper reviewed 170 excavation failure cases occurring during 1994–2018 in China, using a method of descriptive statistics. The review mainly focused on their statistical failure patterns (temporal distributions of failures, types of failures and types of failed soil strata, etc.) and contributory factors (e.g., heavy rainfall influences and technical factors). It was disclosed that the failures occurred in those deep excavations in sandy soils during summer more frequently. In general, the failures can be categorized into six basic types, which are mainly governed by 11 kinds of adverse influences of heavy rainfall (e.g., seepage erosion under high hydraulic gradient, intense runoff scouring and water gushing impact from broken storm sewers nearby, etc.) and 16 technical factors (e.g., ignorance or improper protection of adjacent preexisting drainage structures, deficiencies in drainage or dewatering system, and poor construction quality of temporary retaining structures, etc.). The findings and lessons learned from this review are practically useful for designers and contractors to reduce the incidence of future excavation failures in the context of global climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to mitigate global climate change and air pollution, the Chinese government has assigned high priority to expanding low-carbon power generation in China. Recent studies have shown that wind power is one of the most promising renewable energy option in China. Although many studies have estimated the generation potential of onshore wind power, their results vary widely from 1783 TWh to 39,000 TWh. Therefore, we examine the different assumptions in these papers and identify three main factors influencing the results. The three influencing factors are: weather data set, land utilisation factor, and wind turbine configuration. For our model-based analysis, we define a reference scenario which is used to compare the results. Our analysis shows using a different weather data set increases the generation potential to roughly 35,000 TWh. This is 54% higher than the generation potential of the reference scenario. The land utilisation factor also has a large influence, ranging between −10% and −51%. The studies' assumptions and data should be subjected to careful scrutiny, as the calculated wind power potentials are widely used to develop decarbonisation strategies for the energy system. • Study results on wind power potentials in China vary from 1783 TWh to 39,000 TWh • Influencing factors: weather data set, land utilisation, and wind turbine configuration. • Model-based sensitivity analysis with nine scenario settings. • Chosen weather data set has the highest impact on the calculated results with a variation of 54%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, future drought characteristics (frequency, duration and intensity) over China are analysed by using four climate models from CMIP6 under the seven SSP-RCP (shared socioeconomic pathway-representative concentration pathway) scenarios (SSP119, SSP126, SSP434, SSP245, SSP460, SSP370, and SSP585) for three defined periods of 2021–2040 (near-term), 2041–2060 (mid-term) and 2081–2100 (long-term). The corresponding four climate models output from CMIP5 are also used to conduct a comparison analysis between CMIP5 and CMIP6 to address the improvements added to CMIP6 in terms of drought identification. The drought characteristics are identified by applying the standardized precipitation-evapotranspiration index (SPEI) at a 12-month timescale and run theory. The results show that CMIP6 has a robust capability to capture historical (1986–2005) drought characteristics. For the future period of 2021–2040, the decrease in precipitation and increase in potential evapotranspiration will lead to continuous dry conditions in the upper and middle Yangtze River basin and eastern Pearl River basin. Relative to the reference period, drought events will be more frequent and severe with longer durations in the Northwest River basins and middle Yangtze River basin. Furthermore, higher emissions signify a greater increase in drought frequency and intensity in the long-term period. Except for the SSP585 scenario, the lower emission scenario corresponds to the higher drought duration soon and in the mid-21st century (2021–2060). This finding is regarded as a "strange phenomenon", which cannot be detected by the previous CMIP5-based emission scenarios (RCP2.6, RCP4.5 and the unlikely pathway RCP8.5). Therefore, additional "possible future"-based scenarios (SSP119, SSP126, SSP434, SSP245, SSP460, and SSP370) should be included in extreme climate studies, especially for the near future and mid-21st century. Notably, compared with CMIP5, the reduced biases in drought characteristics are more likely associated with improvements in the representation of physical processes in climate models from CMIP6. The results of this study could provide a basis for the development of drought adaptation measures over China. • Latest CMIP6 climate models and seven SSP-RCP scenarios are used to analyze the possible changes in droughts over China. • More robust projections will be presented by CMIP6 than CMIP5, due to the better representations in physical processes. • The higher emission signifies shorter drought duration, lower precipitation and PET in mid-21st century over China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unanticipated environmental shocks impact the livelihoods of many resource users around the world. These shocks are likely to be more unpredictable as the effects of climate change continue to mount. Yet how households adapt to these changing climatic conditions especially in the context of rapidly changing market conditions in most areas of the world, is poorly understood. These interactions have wide implications for both smallholder livelihoods and sustainable use of natural resources. In this paper, we examine the relationship between environmental shocks and stocking rates in livestock herds in the Inner Mongolian grasslands of northern China. We uniquely examine three types of shocks and how households adapt livestock production strategies in response to each. Separately and in aggregate, we look at three common shocks in Inner Mongolia: droughts, snowstorms, and locust outbreaks. We use a difference-in-differences approach to estimate changes in stocking rates among households that experience shocks versus those that do not with a panel dataset from 2009 to 2014 of 597 households. While we find no clear impact from locusts, our results suggest droughts and snowstorms have opposite effects: droughts are associated with increases in herd sizes, but snowstorms result in decreased herds. We suggest these differences are due to interactions between shocks, emerging options to borrow on credit, and livestock markets. Household adaptation to climate change will be strategic and take advantage of both available resources as well as market conditions. • Climate change is causing stronger and more unpredictable environmental shocks. • We use a difference-in-differences model to estimate the impact of shocks on stocking rate. • Drought relates to bigger herds; snowstorms relate to smaller herds. • Households adapt to shocks taking advantage of both available resources and market conditions. • Shaping well-functioning market may reduce opportunistic resource exploitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate warming and subsequent climate extremes have a wide impact on ecosystems and economic society. Scientifically quantitative assessment on climate change risks is an urgent issue attracted the attention of academics and decision-makers. In this paper, the theory of climate change risks was sorted out based on the three component elements of hazard, vulnerability, and exposure. Moreover, the idiomatic assessment methods and their applicability were systematically summarized. Comprehensive analysis found that the impacts of climate change generally showed a negative trend that was more harm than benefit, and further warming would aggravate the risk over China which was manifested to be more prominent in some sensitive sectors and key regions to climate change. Accessible management of the climate change risk should be engaged in effectively improving the methods of comprehensive identification, strengthening the mechanism and quantitative assessment, recognizing the temporal and spatial variation of components related to climate change risk, and reducing the uncertainty of climate change projection. • Theoretical framework of climate change risk was formed based on hazard, vulnerability, and exposure. • Assessment methods of climate change risk and their applicability were systematically summarized. • Climate change risk levels were analyzed in sensitive sectors and key regions over China. • In China, impacts of climate change were more harm than benefit while more warming was very likely to aggravate the risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This study reviews and lists all Chinese papers on Devonian miospores. • The Late Devonian miospore diversity was greatly overestimated. • The rise of land plants and the oxygenation event are discussed. • The spore diversity is affected by both climate and sea-level changes. The microfossil-based pattern of the Devonian land plants of China is revised and discussed based on a new, comprehensive dataset. This dataset compiles the chronostratigraphical distribution of 1677 species belonging to 190 genera of spores and pollen from the primary literature, which covers the history of fossil Chinese terrestrial palynofloras. From this, we describe the patterns and biodiversity dynamics using both range-based and sample-based data to illustrate the main fluctuations of Devonian taxonomic richness, including rarefaction by filtering out uneven sampling. Results show that the apparent terrestrial palynofloral diversity of China increases progressively from the Early to Middle Devonian, with a genuine Givetian peak followed by a plateau persisting during the Late Devonian. Results further suggest that sampling effects may strongly influence the perception of biodiversity trends in China, as well as that the observed Late Devonian taxonomic diversification may have been greatly overestimated. Compiled evidence is discussed in the light of the global evolution of marine-terrestrial ecosystems. We hypothesize that the rise of Devonian floras may have played a remarkable role in an oceanic oxygenation event during this Period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]