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The power sector is one of the major CO2-emitting industries in China. It is also the first key emissions control industry included in China's national carbon trading market established in 2021. Therefore, based on the data of 30 provinces and cities in China from 2015 to 2022, this study analyzes the impact of the national carbon market policy on the carbon emissions of the power industry based on the generalized Difference-in-Difference (DID) model. Based on the method of text analysis, this paper constructs the carbon market policy intensity index of each region and incorporates it into the DID model. Empirical analysis finds that the national carbon market policy can significantly inhibit the carbon emissions of the power industry. However, the heterogeneity analysis of 30 provinces and cities shows that the national carbon market policy has a significant impact on the regions that already have a carbon pilot, but not on the non-pilot regions. Therefore, this paper demonstrates the effectiveness of the national carbon market policy in the power industry emissions control, and also exposes the heterogeneity between regions, providing an important empirical basis for the inclusion of other energy-intensive industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of carbon neutrality does have economic costs; however, few studies have measured the cost and the economic neutral opportunities. This paper uses a dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to simulate China's carbon neutrality path from 2020 to 2060 and analyzes its economic impact. This paper innovatively adjusts the CGE modeling technology and simulates the boundary of the Porter hypothesis on the premise of economic neutrality. The results show that the carbon neutrality target may reduce the annual GDP growth rate by about 0.8% in 2020–2060. To make the carbon pricing method under the carbon neutrality framework meet the strong version of the Porter hypothesis (or economic neutrality), China must increase its annual total factor productivity by 0.56–0.57% in 2020–2060; this is hard to achieve. In addition, the study finds that China's 2030 carbon target has little impact on the economy, but the achievement of the 2060 carbon neutrality target will have a significant effect. Therefore, the paper believes that the key to carbon neutrality lies in the coexistence of technological innovation and carbon pricing to ensure that we can cope with global warming with the lowest cost and resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing electric vehicle (EV) energy storage technology is a strategic position from which the automotive industry can achieve low-carbon growth, thereby promoting the green transformation of the energy industry in China. This paper will reveal the opportunities, challenges, and strategies in relation to developing EV energy storage. First, this paper clarifies the strategic value and potential of developing EV energy storage under the carbon neutrality goal. Second, this paper demonstrates strategic opportunities and challenges during the development. Third, this paper proposes methods for creating a good market environment and business models. Finally, this paper suggests that relevant policies and regulations should be formulated and charts the course of technology development. The results show that EV energy storage technology has potential in terms of technology, the scale of development, and the user economy. The proposal of the carbon neutrality goal, the increasing market share of EVs, lower-cost and higher-efficiency batteries, etc., have all further accelerated the development of EV energy storage. The EV energy storage field should focus on developing battery technology, make advancements toward delivering longer cycle lives and improving the safety and availability of battery materials, and ramp up the R&D efforts with respect to developing vehicle-to-grid (V2G) management technologies. Simultaneously, it is necessary to create a business ecosystem centered on V2G operating platforms, constituting a process to which various players can contribute and achieve mutually beneficial results. It is also essential to formulate top-level strategic plans across industries and organizations, develop an electricity-trading mechanism as soon as possible, and promote the implementation of technical standards related to EV energy storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2023, China's crude steel production amount reached 1.019 billion tons, and the energy consumption of China's steel industry amount reached 561 million tons of coal. China's steel industry, with its dominant reliance on coal for energy and the primary use of blast furnaces and converters in production processes, as well as its massive output, has become the main field for achieving China's "carbon peaking" and "carbon neutrality" goals. Firstly, this article summarizes the current production status of the steel industry and the situation of carbon emissions in the steel industry. Secondly, it discusses the dual-carbon policies based on the national and steel industry levels and outlines the future directions for China's steel industry. Subsequently, it analyzes the current state of research and application of mature and emerging low-carbon technology in China's steel industry and details the low-carbon plans of China's steel companies using the low-carbon technology roadmaps of two representative steel companies as examples. Finally, the article gives policy suggestions for the further carbon reduction of China's steel industry. The purpose of this paper is to show the efforts and contributions of China's steel industry to the early realization of its "carbon peaking" and "carbon neutrality" goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate anomalies are affecting the world. How to reduce carbon emissions has become an important issue for governments and academics. Although previous researchers have discussed the factors of carbon emission reduction from environmental regulation, economic development, and industrial structure, limited studies have explored the carbon emission reduction effect of a city's spatial structure. Based on 108 Chinese cities from the Yangtze River Economic Belt between 2003 and 2017, this paper examines the impact of the city cluster policy on city carbon emissions using the difference-in-differences (DID) method. We find that: (1) The city cluster policy has significantly reduced the cities' carbon emissions by 7.4%. Furthermore, after a series of robust and endogenous tests, such as parallel trend and PSM-DID, the core conclusion still remains. (2) We further identify possible economic channels through this effect, and find that city cluster policy would increase city productivity, city technological innovation, and industrial structure optimization. The conclusions of this paper have important practical significance for China to achieve carbon neutrality and facilitate future deep decarbonization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The launch of the national carbon emissions trading (CET) market has resulted in a closer relationship between China's CET market and its electricity market, making it easy for risks to transfer between markets. This paper utilizes data from China's CET market and electric power companies between 2017 and 2023 to construct the spillover index model of Diebold and Yilmaz, the frequency-domain spillover approach developed by Barun'ik and Křehl'ik, and a minimum spanning tree model. The comparison is made before and after the launch of the national CET market. Subsequently, this paper examines the market spillover effects, as well as the static and dynamic properties of network structures, considering both the time domain and frequency-domain perspectives. The research findings suggest the following: (1) There is a strong risk spillover effect between China's CET market and the stock prices of electric power companies; (2) There is asymmetry in the paired spillover effects between carbon trading pilot markets and the national CET market, and differences exist in the impact of risk spillovers from power companies between the two; (3) The results of the MST model indicate that the risk contagion efficiency is higher in the regional CET pilot stage compared to the national CET market launch stage, with significant changes occurring in key nodes before and after the launch of the national CET market; (4) Both the dynamic spillover index and the standardized tree length results demonstrate that crisis events can worsen the risk contagion between markets. Besides offering a theoretical foundation and empirical evidence for the development of China's CET and electricity markets, the findings of this paper can provide recommendations for financial market participants as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the proposal of China's "carbon peak, carbon neutral" strategy, the increasing awareness of low carbon production among consumers, and the government's introduction of carbon trading mechanism and low carbon consumption subsidy policies, enterprises are facing good opportunities for development. However, how the government can reasonably formulate low carbon policies and how enterprises can implement optimal low-carbon production decisions are still key issues in China's low-carbon transition development. In this context, this paper is based on the carbon trading mechanism and carbon consumption subsidies. In this context, based on the carbon trading mechanism, this paper focuses on green production and green consumption, considers the impact of low-carbon consumer preferences and government subsidies on enterprises' low-carbon production decisions, and uses the optimal theory to study the optimal pricing strategy and the optimal carbon reduction strategy. The study shows that the increase in carbon price has a positive effect on the increase in enterprise profit; the increase of carbon emission has a negative effect on the increase of enterprise profit and the high carbon price will intensify this effect. In addition, changing the intensity of government subsidies to consumers will lead to the change of enterprise carbon emission strategy. The study of this paper provides a certain reference for the government to reasonably formulate carbon trading prices and consumer low-carbon subsidies. In addition, considering consumer low-carbon preferences is also conducive to promoting green production practices of enterprises, thus promoting the realization of the carbon neutral strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper combines the green industrial strategy and green financial policies for the construction industry implemented in China in the context of carbon neutrality. A total of 67 listed companies in the construction industry from 2017 to 2020 were taken as the research sample, the green financing efficiency was measured, and its influencing factors were identified based on the three-stage DEA and systematic GMM method. The findings show that the green financing efficiency of listed companies in the construction industry is not high overall, although it is increasing. There are obvious differences in subsectors, among which, the efficiency of architectural design and service industries is relatively high. Overall, the financial environment, and the interaction between the government and the financial market, significantly and positively influence the green financing efficiency. In addition, the macroeconomic environment and the government–enterprise relationship has a complex impact on the green financing efficiency. The ownership concentration and having corporate executives with a financial background have a significant positive impact on the green financing efficiency, and the enterprise size, the debt maturity structure, and the R&D and innovation capability have a significant negative impact. The findings of this paper have implications for the improvement of the policy system that supports green development in the construction industry, and provide guidance for the strategic adjustment of the construction industry itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction industry is the backbone of most countries, but its carbon emissions are huge and growing rapidly, constraining the achievement of global carbon-peaking and carbon-neutrality goals. China's carbon emissions are the highest in the world, and the construction industry is the largest contributor. Due to significant differences between provinces in pressure, potential, and motivation to reduce emissions, the "one-size-fits-all" emission reduction policy has failed to achieve the desired results. This paper empirically investigates the spatial and temporal evolution of carbon emissions in China's construction industry and their decoupling relationship with economic growth relying on GIS tools and decoupling model in an attempt to provide a basis for the formulation of differentiated construction emission reduction policies and plans in China. The study shows that, firstly, the changes in carbon emissions and carbon intensity in the provincial construction industry are becoming increasingly complex, with a variety of types emerging, such as declining, "inverted U-shaped", growing, "U-shaped", and smooth fluctuating patterns. Secondly, the coefficient of variation is higher than 0.65 for a long time, indicating high spatial heterogeneity. However, spatial agglomeration and correlation are low, with only a few cluster-like agglomerations formed in the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta, Bohai Bay, Northeast China, and Loess and Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau regions. Thirdly, most provinces have not reached peak carbon emissions from the construction industry, with 25% having reached peak and being in the plateau stage, respectively. Fourthly, the decoupling relationship between carbon emissions from the construction industry and economic growth, as well as their changes, is increasingly diversified, and most provinces are in a strong and weak decoupling state. Moreover, a growing number of provinces that have achieved decoupling are moving backward to re-coupling, due to the impact of economic transformation and the outbreaks of COVID-19, with the degraded regions increasingly concentrated in the northeast and northwest. Fifthly, we classify China's 30 provinces into Leader, Intermediate, and Laggard policy zones and further propose differentiated response strategies. In conclusion, studying the trends and patterns of carbon-emission changes in the construction industry in different regions, revealing their spatial differentiation and correlation, and developing a classification management strategy for low carbonized development of the construction industry help significantly improve the reliability, efficiency, and self-adaptability of policy design and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development mode of expanding agricultural scale will inevitably lead to an increase in agricultural carbon emissions but the impacts of agricultural technology progress on agricultural carbon emission and carbon sink are still not quite clear. This paper firstly discuss the definition of agricultural technology level. Then the estimating methods of agricultural technology, agricultural carbon emission and carbon sink are introduced. Based on the China's provincial panel data with 31 province from 2000 to 2019, the indicators are calculated and statistically analysed. After that, the representativeness of the three secondary classifications of the agricultural technology is empirically checked. Panel data regression models especially the fixed effect model is employed to estimate the effects of agricultural technology level as well as its components on agricultural carbon emission and carbon sink. Results show that the agricultural carbon sink is approximately 10 times higher than agricultural carbon emission. Agricultural technology level in general has significant effect on the carbon emission rather than the carbon sink. Our suggestion is that (1) it is not necessary to worry about the agricultural carbon emission since the net effect of agriculture is carbon neutrality; (2) the development of agricultural production technology and agricultural management technology needs strong support, and the two need to develop coordinated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing number of countries worldwide have committed to achieving net zero emissions targets by around mid-century since the Paris Agreement. As the world's greatest carbon emitter and the largest developing economy, China has also set clear targets for carbon peaking by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. Carbon-reduction AI applications promote the green economy. However, there is no comprehensive explanation of how AI affects carbon emissions. Based on panel data for 270 Chinese cities from 2011 to 2017, this study uses the Bartik method to quantify data on manufacturing firms and robots in China and demonstrates the effect of AI on carbon emissions. The results of the study indicate that (1) artificial intelligence has a significant inhibitory effect on carbon emission intensity; (2) the carbon emission reduction effect of AI is more significant in super- and megacities, large cities, and cities with better infrastructure and advanced technology, whereas it is not significant in small and medium cities, and cities with poor infrastructure and low technology level; (3) artificial intelligence reduces carbon emissions through optimizing industrial structure, enhancing information infrastructure, and improving green technology innovation. In order to achieve carbon peaking and carbon neutrality as quickly as possible during economic development, China should make greater efforts to apply AI in production and life, infrastructure construction, energy conservation, and emission reduction, particularly in developed cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To cope with huge carbon emission pressure, China has implemented a carbon emissions trading pilot policy that aims to provide reasonable suggestions for the smooth operation of the national carbon market. This paper selects the provincial panel data in China from 2005 to 2019 and uses the propensity score matching-difference in difference (PSM-DID) method to evaluate the carbon emission policy's reduction effect. Based on carbon emissions (CE) and carbon emission intensity (CI), provinces and cities are divided into four regions, and each region is verified by spatial difference analysis. Furthermore, the mediating effects of carbon emission reduction through the dual aspects of technological progress and industry structure are also discussed. Results verified that, (1) under the carbon emission trading policy, regional carbon emissions and carbon emission intensity are both significantly reduced. (2) Technological progress helps to reduce carbon emissions, while industrial structure shows no obvious contribution. (3) The four regions all show ideal emission reduction effects, of which the High CE-High CI region shows the best, but is greatly restricted by techniques. The industrial structure of the High CE-Low CI region needs to be further optimized for carbon reduction. In the Low CE-High CI region, the carbon emissions brought by economic development fail to effectively improve per capita GDP. The Low CE-Low CI region contributes greatly to carbon emission reduction with technical advantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's digital economy has been expanding rapidly in the past decade. This expansion is having a profound impact on the country's economy. Using panel data on 97 prefecture-level cities in the Yellow River Basin from 2011 to 2020, this study investigates the multifaceted relationship between the digital economy and total-factor carbon emission efficiency. The research yields three key findings: (1) The digital economy positively enhances overall carbon emission efficiency. This conclusion is drawn with robustness tests. (2) Green technology innovation serves as a partial mediator between the digital economy and total-factor carbon emission efficiency, and this mediation role is influenced by government intervention, which negatively moderates the relationship between the digital economy and green technology innovation but positively impacts the mediation role of green technology innovation between the digital economy and total-factor carbon emission efficiency. (3) The positive impact of the digital economy on total-factor carbon emission efficiency is more significant in the upper reaches, lower reaches, and resource-based cities of the Yellow River Basin. These findings provide new perspectives and empirical evidence for better understanding the relationship between digital economy development and total-factor carbon emission efficiency. They also provide policy recommendations for achieving strategic objectives, including digital economy development, carbon emission reduction, carbon peaking, and carbon neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the level of cooperative governance of open innovation projects is a key bridge and powerful starting point for promoting the full integration and coordinated development of different market systems. Against the background of the synergy of the electricity–carbon market, this study explores how a company chooses a cooperative governance mechanism and the implementation effects of governance mechanisms. The results, based on the sample data from 175 OIPs of companies in China, show that the collaborative dependence of a company promotes the implementation of relational governance; however, it has no significant effect on contract control. Meanwhile, both relational governance and contract control have significant positive effects on knowledge transfer and cooperative performance. Moreover, knowledge transfer plays a mediating role in relational governance, contract control, and cooperative performance. The conclusion enriches the understanding of cooperative governance mechanisms, which has important implications for management research and the practice of open innovation projects. It also has certain practical significance for helping the power industry to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the pursuit of China's environmental targets to achieve a carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060, the carbon emission trading scheme (CETs) has emerged as a critical policy instrument. Since the 14th Five-Year Plan, China has been on a two-wheel drive to prevent pollution and combat climate change and proposes to fight the Blue Sky Defense. Therefore, this study focuses on prefecture-level cities in China and employs a spatial difference-difference (SDID) model to investigate the spatial spillover effects of CETs on urban total factor carbon emission efficiency (TFCEE). Furthermore, a mediating effect model is constructed to explore the channels through which CETs influence carbon emission efficiency. The results show that (1) implementing urban CETs can significantly improve urban itself and the surrounding carbon emission efficiency. (2) The CETs can indirectly promote the improvement of carbon efficiency by optimizing the allocation of labor resources and strengthening the level of green technology innovation. (3) Compared with the cities in central and western China, implementing the CETs has a stronger promotion effect on the carbon emission efficiency of the cities in eastern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The carbon reduction effect of technological innovation in the transportation industry is conducive to China's anticipated realization of carbon neutrality. Therefore, we evaluated carbon emission reduction effect of technological innovation in the transportation industry in China. Based on the panel data of 30 sample provinces in China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Tibet) from 2012 to 2018, using the Moran'I index and Getis-Ord Gi index, this paper analyzes the evolutionary trend and spatial autocorrelation of carbon emission in the transportation industry, and analyzes the impact of technological innovation on carbon emission levels of the transportation industry and its spatiotemporal differences by using the geographical and temporal weighted regression (GTWR) model by using ArcGIS 10.4 software. The conclusions are as follows: The carbon emission level of China's transportation industry generally has been rising steadily, showing a spatial distribution pattern of high emissions in the east and low emissions in the west. The cold spots are concentrated in the western region, and the hot spots are situated in the central and eastern regions. Technological innovation has a carbon reduction effect on the transportation industry in the eastern and north-eastern regions, while the effect in other regions is not obvious. However, there is an obvious "inverted U-shaped" relationship between technological innovation and the transportation industry's carbon emissions. The technological innovation in the transportation industry will have a significant carbon reduction effect after breaking through the technical pain points. This carbon reduction effect has a higher effect on the western region than on the eastern region. In addition, the economic development level, the fiscal expenditure proportion of the transportation industry, the higher education level, and the proportion of fixed asset investment in the transportation industry have played a positive role in reducing carbon in the transportation industry, but the spatial heterogeneity of this carbon reduction effect is relatively strong. Therefore, during the "14th Five-Year Plan" development period in China, it is necessary to continuously promote the low-carbon development of the transportation industry with technological innovation, while highlighting the differentiated carbon reduction governance, and consolidating the role of talents and fiscal support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The manufacturing industry is the pillar industry of China's economy and a major carbon emitter, and its carbon emission reduction efforts directly determine whether the country's carbon emission reduction target can be successfully met. In the context of the goals of the carbon peak and carbon neutrality policy, we examine the impact of manufacturing structure optimization on carbon emissions from 2003 to 2020 through a spatial econometric model, taking the old industrial centers in Northeast China as an example. We then apply a machine learning model to simulate manufacturing carbon emissions during the carbon peak stage and identify the optimal path for carbon emission reduction, which is important for promoting manufacturing carbon emission reduction in Northeast China. Since the goal of low-carbon economic development has gradually replaced the goal of maximizing economic efficiency in recent years, manufacturing structure optimization has come to focus on energy saving and emission reduction. Therefore, we define manufacturing structure optimization from the dual perspective of technology and energy consumption to broaden the existing research perspective. The results show the following: (1) The overall trend in manufacturing structure optimization in Northeast China is steadily improving, and the level of manufacturing structure optimization from the technology perspective is higher than that from the energy consumption perspective. (2) Manufacturing structure optimization and manufacturing carbon emissions in Northeast China both show a positive spatial correlation. Manufacturing structure optimization in Northeast China can effectively promote carbon emission reduction, and it also has a spatial spillover effect. (3) The carbon emission reduction effect of manufacturing structure optimization from the energy consumption perspective is better than that from the technology perspective, and the carbon emission reduction effect under the institutional innovation scenario is better than that under the baseline scenario and the technological innovation scenario. Focusing on manufacturing structure optimization from both technology and energy consumption perspectives, as well as continuously improving technological innovation and institutional innovation, can help to achieve manufacturing carbon emission reduction in Northeast China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study linking the two economic and social phenomena of rural labor force migration and energy transition can help analyze the underlying causes of rural "Energy Poverty". However, how off-farm employment affects household low-carbon energy consumption and its potential mechanisms requires further research. Using 1351 sampled rural households from the "Rural Energy, Population Transfer and Well-being" survey in 2018 and 2021 to explore response mechanisms through which off-farm employment can influence low-carbon energy intensity. Utilizing the multivariate regression, Sobel test, and moderating effect test, the results demonstrate that off-farm employment, including short-term and long-term off-farm employment, significantly increases the intensity of low-carbon energy use among rural households. Specifically, long-term off-farm employment tends to have a greater positive contribution to the low-carbon energy intensity than short-term off-farm employment. Furthermore, off-farm employment can affect household low-carbon energy intensity through the total income, and effect of the surrounding people in the off-farm employment process also increases their consumption intensity. The research reveals that the rural energy revolution under the constraints of "Carbon Neutral" and "Carbon Peak" should relate to the off-farm development of rural households to achieve "Precise Energy Poverty Alleviation". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on China's goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, this study focused on its coal gasification in 2010–2019. Carbon emissions were calculated from industrial data, and an LMDt model was established to analyze the influencing factors of carbon emissions. Through scenario analysis, the paths of carbon emission reductions in the chemical industry were analyzed, and their emission reduction potential was estimated. The results showed that the carbon emissions in the chemical industry increased rapidly in 2010–2019, reaching 196 million tons in 2019. The emission structure was the most important factor in mitigating carbon emissions, and the emission intensity, industrial structure, economic development level, and labor force scale had different degrees of promotion effects, of which emission intensity was the strongest. The chemical industry can reach a carbon peak before 2030 under the three analyzed scenarios, and the emission reduction potential is the largest under the landing policy scenario. The results showed that carbon capture, usage, and storage (CCUS) technology is key for carbon emission reductions and that it is necessary to adjust the industrial structure, reduce emission intensity, and increase forest carbon sink to achieve carbon neutrality in the chemical industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]