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The double-carbon goal proposal has made it imperative for China's power industry to address the urgent issue of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants and promoting their clean and efficient use. A new approach to achieving peak-shaving and improving grid stability is the combination of carbon capture and storage (CCS) facilities with coal-fired power plants, which offers a strategic solution for mitigating climate change. Nonetheless, the viability of CCS retrofitting for coal-fired power plants in China hinges on its economic feasibility. The technical characteristics, economic analysis, and policy implications of clean coal-fired power plant equipped with CCS (CCP-CCS) technologies are evaluated in the paper. A comparison of the characteristics of different clean coal power generation technologies, including capacity, efficiency, coal consumption, and environmental performance, is conducted. The paper analyzes the economic feasibility of four typical clean coal power generation technologies, namely Supercritical (SC), Ultra-supercritical (USC), Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC), and Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB), both with and without CCS, using the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) model. Financial parameters, investment parameters, operation and maintenance parameters, tax parameters, and capacity parameters are all considered in the LCOE model. The results indicate: (1) If CCS is not installed, the LCOE of USC power plants is the lowest at 0.37 yuan/kWh, while the LCOE of IGCC power plants is the highest at 0.44 yuan/kWh. (2) If CCS is installed, the LCOE of CFB units is the highest at 0.74 yuan/kWh, while the LCOE of USC units is the lowest at 0.60 yuan/kWh. (3) In sensitivity analysis, coal prices have the most significant impact on LCOE, followed by expected annual operating hours, while the cost of carbon capture equipment is the least sensitive. (4) The cost of retrofitting CCS on clean coal-fired power plants (CCP) is currently high, with an LCOE increase of around 40 to 70%, which is comparable to that of renewable energy electricity. This paper presents policy recommendations, including preferential loans, tax incentives, and R&D funding, to promote the development of CCP in China based on the economic analysis results and challenges faced by CCP. Additionally, the paper proposes relevant policy implications such as preferential loan policies, a diversified financing system, R&D and innovation, and the establishment of a carbon trading market for CCS in China to provide practical guidance for the promotion of CCP-CCS technologies in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the largest energy consumer, China's control of carbon emissions from energy consumption plays a pivotal role in world climate governance. However, few studies have been conducted to explore the emission reduction pathways that promote a high level of synergy between China's economic growth and the " carbon peaking and carbon neutrality " goal from the perspective of energy consumption. Based on the measurement of energy consumption carbon emissions, this paper reveals the spatial and temporal distribution and evolution trends of carbon emissions in China at the national-provincial level. The multi-dimensional socio-economic factors such as R&D and urbanization are taken into account, and the LMDI model is used to decompose the driving effects of energy consumption carbon emissions at the national-provincial levels. Further, this paper combines the Tapio decoupling index with the LMDI model to decompose the decoupling states of China year by year and at the provincial level in four periods to explore the reasons for the change of carbon decoupling states. The results show that: (1) China's energy consumption carbon emissions grew at a high rate before 2013, and slowed down after that. There are significant differences in the scale and growth rate of carbon emissions among provinces, which can be classified into four types accordingly. (2) The R&D scale effect, urbanization effect, and population scale effect are the factors driving the growth of China's carbon emissions; while the energy structure effect, energy consumption industry structure effect, energy intensity effect, and R&D efficiency effect inhibit the growth of China's carbon emissions. (3) Weak decoupling is the most dominant decoupling state in China from 2003 to 2020, and the decoupling state varies significantly among provinces. According to the conclusions, this paper proposes targeted policy recommendations based on China's energy endowment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of the farm biogas project is a perfect measure to deal with the increasingly nervous global climate problem and energy crisis and can support the accomplishment of urgently needed carbon peaking and carbon neutrality effectively. But the poor economic benefits hinder its better development. Thus, this paper aims to enhance the economics of farm biogas projects and explore a win–win model for economic and environmental benefits by studying the economic impact of participation in carbon trading on three types of farm biogas projects. First, economic analysis of farm biogas projects based on life cycle cost is carried out using case analysis. Second, the greenhouse gas emission reductions are calculated and benefits from carbon trading are considered. Then, the economic robustness was tested. Specifically, the economics of all three types of farm biogas projects is improved after carbon trading. The ecological farm biogas project has the best economic performance, with a net present value of $551,689.11, internal rate of return of 49%, and payback period of 2.39 years. In addition, the emission reductions of 5045.79 t CO2e, 7420.28 t CO2e, and 148.41 t CO2e are very significant. Based on these, suggestions for developing farm biogas projects and introducing biogas projects to carbon trading are put forward for the reference of governments and investors when making investments and reforms. According to the result, participation of farm biogas projects in carbon trading can effectively enhance economic benefits and accelerate the achievement of the greenhouse gas emission reduction target which is of great significance to the urgent goal of global green and low-carbon transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of sustainability and carbon neutrality, green innovation has become a focus of China's manufacturing enterprises. However, how a new chief executive officer (CEO) reacts to this situation is less discussed. This paper relies on agency conflicts, employing upper echelons theory and institutional literature to examine the effects of CEO turnover on green innovation. By using a sample of 1,915 listed manufacturing firms in China, we find that CEO turnover leads to greater green innovation quantity but not lower innovation quality. This result does not verify the greenwashing perspective and shows that CEO turnover is a promoter of green innovation. In addition, we observed that formal and informal factors (represented by environmental regulation and media coverage) have different moderating impacts on the quality and quantity of green innovation. This study provides new insight into green innovation governance mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essential to achieving the 2060 carbon neutrality target in China lies in the performance of the construction industry. Decoupling economic development from CO2 emissions is the main strategy for reducing emissions in the construction industry. This paper is based on panel data for China and its 30 provinces during 2009–2019. A Tapio decoupling model is constructed to analyze the decoupling state of economic development and CO2 emissions in the construction industry. The logarithmic mean Divisia index model is constructed to continue the decomposition of the drivers of the decoupling state and CO2 emissions. The results show that (1) the economic development level of most provinces is positively correlated with their CO2 emissions; (2) Beijing and Jiangsu reach the ideal strong decoupling state, and Heilongjiang has the worst decoupling state. The same type of decoupling state shows a certain aggregation phenomenon in space; (3) economic output plays a critical role in promoting CO2 emissions and decoupling of the construction industry in China and the provinces. The main driver of decoupling is indirect carbon intensity; (4) energy intensity has a greater impact on CO2 emissions reduction in regions with more developed economic levels. Understanding the drivers of the decoupling state in China's construction industry provides a valuable basis for energy efficiency and emission reduction efforts in China and other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental protection and innovation performance are key issues that affect the sustainable development and value growth of cities. Using data of 272 prefecture-level cities during 2002–2016 and 2,169 listed companies, and the air ventilation coefficient and government environmental regulations, as the instrumental variables for PM2.5 concentrations, this paper applies two-stage OLS (2SLS) to investigate how air pollution affects China's technological innovation and its realization mechanism. The results indicate that the rise in air pollution significantly inhibits the technological innovation level of regions as a whole as well as individual enterprises. When considering the spatial effect of the spread of PM2.5 concentrations, due to positive spillover effects on innovation activities, the spread of air pollution has negative impacts on technological innovation activities in surrounding cities. Human capital and labour costs are important channels through which air pollution influences China's technological innovation. The implementation of pilot carbon trading policies can effectively reduce air pollution and then contribute to the achievement of the goals of the green growth strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the power unbundling reform in 2002, China's power industry has been a typical sector moving towards marketization. The supply-side structural reform that began in 2015 has intensified the competition among China's power generation enterprises. In this context, this paper combines a data envelopment analysis (DEA) game cross-efficiency model with the Malmquist index approach to investigate the dynamic environmental efficiency of China's power generation enterprises in a competitive market. Furthermore, the system generalized method of moments (SYS-GMM) is employed to analyze the influences of factors on the dynamic environmental efficiency. The results show that: (1) Compared with the basic DEA Charnes–Cooper–Rhodes (CCR)-Malmquist index model, the DEA game cross-Malmquist index approach can enhance the discrimination among the decision making units (DMUs). (2) The change in the overall dynamic environmental efficiency of China's power generation enterprises mainly comes from the catch-up effect, while technological progress has not played a role as significant as expected. (3) The installed capacity growth rate, implementation of carbon emission trading pilots, economic growth rate, and enterprise ownership all affect the dynamic environmental performance of China's power generation enterprises during the study period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To reduce carbon emissions, the Chinese government is considering introducing a differentiated industrial carbon tax on enterprises outside the carbon trading market in the future. An efficient carbon tax must consider not only how carbon taxes impact the current economy but also how the size of the tax should be adjusted across time due to external changes. To calculate the optimal industrial carbon tax for China which is subject to certain constraints, this paper investigates the economic and environmental effects of four possible industrial carbon tax rate models under carbon intensity constraints from 2021 to 2030 by a dynamic input–output optimization model. The results show that the dynamic tax rate model leads to larger fluctuations in GDP growth than the other tax models, with a low initial tax rate in the beginning and a high tax rate exceeding ¥180/t in 2030. Second, a large quantity of capital stock is distributed across the energy-intensive industries, which leads the existing capital investment structure to be path-dependent. This offsets the performance of carbon taxes. Third, indirect energy-intensive industries such as construction and transport are insensitive to the industrial carbon tax. Finally, comparing the impacts of the four tax rate models, the optimal industrial carbon tax for China is found to be a fixed differentiated tax rate, in which energy-intensive sectors are taxed ¥75/t and low-carbon sectors are taxed ¥50/t. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural carbon emission reduction is an important issue in environmental protection and development in China and the world. The farmland spatial transition is an important path for agricultural modernization in developing countries such as China. How can farmland spatial transition promote agricultural carbon emission reduction? This paper aims to explore the mechanisms and spatial-temporal effects of farmland spatial transition on agricultural carbon emission density. To study the mechanisms and effects, we establish the random effect model, the threshold model, and the GTWR model with 2018 counties in China from 2000 to 2020. The research shows the farmland spatial transition mainly promotes agricultural carbon emission reduction through the interaction mechanism of large-scale production and specialized production, intermediary, and threshold mechanisms of agricultural technology. The result also shows that specialized farmland management is the main driving force of agricultural carbon emission reduction for farmland spatial transition. Moreover, the impact of farmland spatial transition on agricultural carbon emission reduction has significant spatial and temporal differences. The most significant regions are located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River plain, while the least are the north and southwest. Besides, the impact of the farmland spatial transition on agricultural carbon emissions reduction has a "V" shape over time, indicating China's agricultural carbon emission reduction is facing enormous economic and social development challenges. Our research reveals the various mechanisms and spatial-temporal effects of the transition of farmland spatial morphology on agricultural carbon emission with an evaluation framework, which is crucial to low-carbon agriculture with proper farmland use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has abundant agricultural and forestry waste resources that are crucial sources of energy for substituting fossil fuels and achieving the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. These resources play an essential role in reducing carbon dioxide emissions and promoting sustainable development. This paper presents an estimation of the number of biomass resources that can be used for energy in 2020 by using parameters such as the grass-to-grain ratio coefficient and excretion coefficient. Moreover, the potential for conversion of biomass resources into biomass energy is evaluated by using parameters such as lower heating value and gas production coefficient. Finally, based on the whole life cycle theory, the potential of biomass energy utilization to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and its impact on carbon peaking is calculated. It was found that the total amount of fossil fuels that can be replaced by biomass energy is 256 million tons of standard coal. Utilizing biomass energy can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 520 million tons, with a peak impact of 4–6% on carbon peaking. The research results presented in this article can provide valuable data to support the promotion of green transformation in various regions. The findings can serve as a useful reference for formulating localized biomass utilization plans and designing effective emission reduction policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some developed economies have run emission trading scheme (ETS) to mitigate carbon emissions. However, we know little about the effectiveness and heterogeneity of ETS in a context of developing economy. This paper evaluates the effectiveness and heterogeneity of China's pilot ETS, the first ETS run in a developing economy. Difference-in-difference (DID) and difference-in-difference-in-difference (DDD) methods are employed to analyze provincial industrial-level data. The heterogeneity of ETS effects is also explored from regional and industrial perspectives. The empirical results show that the pilot ETS can effectively reduce pilot industries' carbon emissions. The reduction effect of the pilot ETS has a substantial heterogeneity for different pilot provinces and industries. Carbon emissions are reduced by the pilot ETS through technological innovation and the adjustment of industrial structure. The empirical results suggest that policymakers may consider establishing a national ETS and differentiating carbon quota allowance in covered regions and industries in the current pilot ETS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The international community has generally recognized the key role of developing countries' cities in reducing carbon emissions, an elemental way to mitigate climate change. However, few have empirically analyzed the impact of market-based instruments such as emission trading system on urban carbon emissions in developing economies. This paper examines the effect of China's pilot carbon trading markets, the first emission trading system in developing economies, on cities' carbon intensity. We also explore the mechanism by which the emission trading system achieves its influence. The PSM-DID method is used to analyze the panel data including China's 273 prefecture-level cities from 2010 to 2016. The results illustrate that the emission trading system significantly decreased pilot cities' carbon intensity and this effect endured; as time progressed, the reduction effect was increasing. Through mediating effect analysis, we find that the emission trading system reduced the carbon intensity via increasing the proportion of tertiary industry output value in GDP and decreasing the energy intensity. Overall, the empirical results suggest that the Chinese government should drive the establishment and improvement of a national carbon market, proactively adjust industry structure, and consider the possible influence caused by the potential energy rebound effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transport sector is a major consumer of fossil fuels and, consequently, one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutant emissions. In recent years, global transport's emissions have experienced a remarkable increase and will become a crucial cause of global warming in the next few decades. The public has become well aware of the issues regarding carbon emissions in this sector, and reducing greenhouse gases has also become a regulatory agenda of governments around the globe. Emissions trading schemes are considered one of the most cost-efficient ways of controlling greenhouse gas emissions and have been implemented by many countries around the world. While several countries have already incorporated the transport sector into their emissions trading schemes, China is in the process of incorporating a part of the transport sector into its emission trading scheme pilots. Introducing a market mechanism to reduce carbon emissions in the transport sector is still at a nascent stage and much is still to be explored. This paper explores the current development and challenges of applying carbon trading mechanisms in the transport sector around the world. Then, the paper analyzes the policies and current developments of incorporating the transport sector in China's carbon trading pilots. Several suggestions are then provided in regard to options on transport sector entities coverage, initial allowance allocation models, integration of carbon trading policies with existing policies, collection of transportation statistics and rolling out a nationwide carbon trading system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether or not China can succeed at the forefront of international development in the coming decades will largely hinge on its ability to adapt to low-carbon economic development and its efforts to promote the Unified National Emission Trading System (UNETS). To understand the evolution of China's carbon market, this paper firstly divides the development of China's regional carbon markets into three phases: pilot construction (phase 1, before 31 May 2015), preparation for the UNETS (phase 2, 1 June 2015–19 December 2017), and formal construction of the UNETS (phase 3, 20 December 2017–present). Then this research reviews the trading performance and employs four robust variance ratio (VR) tests to capture structural changes and examine the efficiency of China's eight regional carbon markets in different periods. Results show that compared to phase 1, smaller price volatility, larger daily trading volume, and higher market liquidity are more frequent at the later stages of majority markets. Despite these improvements, results from the VR tests indicate that the statistic in majority of China's regional carbon markets is insignificant in any given period and, therefore, they are not weak-form efficient. The additional detrended cross-correlation analysis demonstrates that market liquidity affects market efficiency in the Hubei market only, which implies that Hubei, where the market liquidity reaches almost 100% in phase 3, is highly likely to be weak-form efficient shortly. Finally, several recommendations are provided to improve the efficiency and maturity of China's carbon markets, including strengthening legislation, improving the market design, and constructing information platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

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

Background: Conducting an extensive study on the spatial heterogeneity of the overall carbon budget and its influencing factors and the decoupling status of carbon emissions from economic development, by undertaking simulation projections under different carbon emission scenarios is crucial for China to achieve its targets to peak carbon emissions by 2030 and to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. There are large disparities in carbon emissions from energy consumption, the extent of land used for carbon absorption, and the status of decoupling of emissions from economic development, among various regions of China. Results: Based on night light data and land use data, we investigated carbon budget through model estimation, decoupling analysis, and scenario simulation. The results show that the carbon deficit had a continuous upward trend from 2000 to 2018, and there was a significant positive spatial correlation. The overall status of decoupling first improved and then deteriorated. Altogether, energy consumption intensity, population density of built-up land, and built-up land area influenced the decoupling of carbon emissions from economic development. There are significant scenarios of carbon emissions from energy consumption for the study area during the forecast period, only in the low-carbon scenario will the study area reach the expected carbon emissions peak ahead of schedule in 2027; the peak carbon emissions will be 6479.27 million tons. Conclusions: China's provincial-scale carbon emissions show a positive correlation with economic development within the study period. It is necessary to optimize the economic structure, transforming the economic development mode, and formulating policies to control the expansion of built-up land. Efforts must be made to improve technology and promote industrial restructuring, to effectively reduce energy consumption intensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, production costs have grown, while human and economic resources have been reduced. COVID-19 epidemic costs can be reduced by implementing green financial policies, including carbon pricing, transferable green certificates, and green credit. In addition, China's tourist industry is a significant source of revenue for the government. Coronavirus has been found in 30 Chinese regions, and a study is being conducted to determine its influence on the tourism business and green financial efficiency. Econometric strategies that are capable of dealing with the most complex issues are employed in this study. According to the GMM system, the breakout of Covid-19 had a negative effect on the tourism business and the efficiency of green financing. Aside from that, the effects of gross capital creation, infrastructural expansion, and renewable energy consumption are all good. The influence of per capita income on the tourism industry is beneficial but detrimental to the efficiency of green finance. Due to the current pandemic condition, this report presents a number of critical recommendations for boosting tourism and green financial efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is making a challenging effort to achieve its ambitious goal of becoming carbon–neutral by 2060. Therefore, the Chinese government should develop effective policy tools to improve its carbon neutrality plan. Due to this importance, an empirical study is required to examine the comprehensive effect of the carbon neutrality policy on CO2 emissions in China. Also, the role of economic development on the environment, the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in the carbon neutrality-CO2 emissions nexus, has yet to be examined. Considering this gap, the present study investigates the impacts of carbon neutrality policy and the economy on CO2 emissions at China's provincial and regional levels from 2006 to 2017. We use a comprehensive approach to measure the carbon neutrality policy through the source control and sink increase perspectives. This study performs the panel-corrected standard errors (PCSE) and the feasible generalised least squares (FGLS) regression techniques to control the heteroscedasticity and cross-sectional correlation issues. The results show that an improvement in energy efficiency and renewable energy power generation decreases the per capita CO2 emissions at the provincial level from the source control perspective. From the sink increase perspective, only green space development affects CO2 emissions reduction; the development of carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) does not. Also, this study shows that the EKC hypothesis holds true in China nationally and in the central region. Due to differing regional development patterns, the impact of carbon neutrality policy on CO2 emissions varies across regions. This study suggests specific policy implications such as increasing R&D investment per unit of GDP to support CCUS technologies at provincial and regional levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The government corruption and resource misallocation are important factors that inhibit economic transformation and environmental governance. Using a study sample of 30 provinces in China, this study employs the spatial econometric methods and threshold model to investigate the relationship between regional corruption, resource misallocation, and CO2 emission. The results show that there is a clear spatial dependence and correlation of CO2 emissions. Government corruption is a neglected contributor to carbon emissions, and this promotion effects are attributed to a promotion in resource misallocation. Moreover, the CO2 emissions are significantly promoted by local labor misallocation and capital misallocation, and the increasing effect is more pronounced in areas with high corruption. For spatial spillover effects, there is also no evidence that local CO2 emissions are significantly promoted by capital misallocation of surrounding areas. Additionally, the promoting effect of corruption on CO2 emissions is more pronounced in regions with weak environmental regulation, low marketization process, and the central and western of China. This work elucidates the mechanism of the impact of corruption on environmental pollution from the perspective of resource allocation, and provides an important reference for the effective management of environmental pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, large-scale deployment of photovoltaic (PV) power leads to management challenges for recycling PV module waste in China. With the growth of waste PV volumes, it is necessary to figure out the spatio-temporal distribution of PV waste at the provincial level. Based on China's carbon neutrality goal by 2060, six development pathways of PV installed capacity are proposed to identify in-use stocks of PV capacity. In particular, we develop the retired flow estimation model for PV modules that is constructed by three PV module degradation scenarios. The results show that a relatively large scale of PV waste will be started to emerge in China by 2030 and the cumulative waste is expected to reach 1100 ∼ 1450 GW by 2060. Our findings also indicate an unequal distribution of PV waste across regions and the highest PV waste volumes by 2060 is the East China region at 31.4%, with Shandong (8.99%) and Hebei(8.65%) ranking as the top provinces. This prospective research will help the PV industry plan the location and capacity of recovery facilities at an appropriate time to advance toward a more resource efficient and circular economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disentangling the heterogeneous effects of environmental regulations on firms' productivity and reducing the destructive effects of policies are important for achieving the goal of sustainable development. However, there is insufficient discussion of the micro-mechanisms of regulation. This study takes advantage of the good exogenous impact of China's first action plan, the Atmosphere Ten Articles, which has been formulated and implemented to solve prominent environmental problems, and constructs a difference-in-difference model based on the data of listed companies from 2012 to 2019. Results show that the policy generally has a significantly negative impact on the companies' TFP. This finding proved to be valid after a series of robustness tests, such as replacing the explained variables, eliminating the impact of penecontemporaneous policies, using propensity score matching, and applying instrumental variable methods. Due to the resource allocation mechanism, the policy undermines the companies' TFP, especially those in PM2.5 regulatory areas and state-owned companies. However, the strict emission reduction constraint instead pushes firms to innovate, and as a result, the policy's innovation mechanism promotes firms' productivity, which eventually offsets the negative effects arising from resource allocation distortions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inclusive green growth (IGG) based on coordinating the society, economy, and environment is a new way to reach sustainable development. However, there is a lack of relevant research in developing countries. To bridge this gap, based on a comprehensive index that includes economy, social, and environment, this study evaluates the urban inclusive green growth index (IGGI) of 282 in China from 2003 to 2020 and analyzes the spatiotemporal dynamics and regional differences. Moreover, the spatial Durbin model is employed to explore the plausible influencing factors of urban IGGI in China. The main results show an increasing trend of IGGI in Chinese cities and imbalanced spatiotemporal dynamics. Furthermore, the econometric regress results show that upgrade of industrial structure, opening up, human capital, and urban innovation have significant positive impact on urban IGGI, while the administrative capacity of the government and urban industrialization show negative impact on urban IGGI; human capital not only affects the local IGGI but also has significant spatial spillover effects to the surrounding cities. This finding provides new evidence for China to achieve its 2030 sustainable development goals and sheds lights on how policy can be improved to boost IGGI levels and achieve carbon neutrality in 2060. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving the carbon neutrality in China has great impact on alleviating global warming. Compost application, an important measure to promote soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration, has been practiced in China since 2015. However, it is still unclear how much carbon can be fixed by cropland soil under compost application in the whole China. China has pledged to strive for the goal of carbon neutrality by 2060, which brought two issues: whether compost application can consistently promote SOC sequestration until 2060, and how much contribution it can make to the carbon neutrality. In the present study, we analyzed the results from 93 literatures to determine the SOC sequestration under compost application in the different agricultural divisions of China. Results showed that there were regional differences in the effect of compost application on SOC sequestration. The annual SOC sequestration in Northern China (NC) and Gansu + Xinjiang (GX) was significantly high than other regions. In addition, the annual SOC sequestration was negatively related to the duration of the experiment, while the accumulative SOC sequestration during the experimental period increased with the increase of the duration. According to our results, the total SOC sequestration in topsoil of Chinese cropland was 85 Tg C year−1 under compost application, which will make a 4.4% contribution to carbon neutrality during 2021–2060. In conclusion, cropland soil in China can still sequester carbon for more than 35 years under compost application. Thus, abidingly promoting compost application in China is crucial to accomplishing the carbon neutrality goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous advancement of the technological revolution and industrial transformation, environmental governance supported by digital finance has become an important engine for achieving carbon neutrality. Based on panel data from 30 provinces in China, this study discusses the spatial spillover effect and transmission mechanism between digital finance and environmental pollution. Our research results confirm that the inhibitory effect of digital finance on local environmental pollution gradually increases with the improvement of digital finance. Interestingly, digital finance has a significant positive spatial spillover effect on environmental pollution in surrounding areas. The mediating effect shows that digital finance can alleviate environmental pollution by improving technological innovation, industrial upgrading and industrial structure rationalization. A higher degree of marketization and governmental support can increase the positive influences of digital finance on pollution reduction. This research proves the effectiveness of digital finance in improving environmental governance, and it encourages policy-makers around the world to rely on digital finance to promote ecological governance and achieve high-quality economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few studies have investigated agricultural carbon emissions peaks, especially from the financial development perspective. This study focuses on the effects of financial scale and efficiency to achieve an agricultural carbon emissions peak in China's Henan Province. Using an extended STIRPAT model and scenario analysis, we find: (1) with the inverted U-shaped influence mechanism of rural financial scale and incorporating rural financial efficiency, agricultural carbon emissions in Henan will peak at 14.17 million tons in 2040, 12.50 million tons in 2034, and 11.73 million tons in 2023 under the baseline low-carbon, moderately accelerated low-carbon, and stringent low-carbon development scenarios; (2) without financial efficiency improvements, carbon emissions will peak five years, three years, and six years later, and the peak value will increase 0.97 million tons, 0.65 million tons, and 0.30 million tons. Therefore, agricultural carbon emissions will peak earlier with continuous and strong financial policy adjustment to facilitate financial development. We also find that agricultural carbon absorption exceeds emissions, achieving carbon neutrality. The policy implication is that financial development matters to sustainable agricultural development. Developing countries could learn from the financial development experience (i.e., gradual financial reform and a stable financial environment) in Henan and China in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change has emerged as one of the most important environmental issues worldwide. As the world's biggest developing country, China is participating in combating climate change by promoting a low carbon economy within the context of global warming. This paper summarizes the pathways of China's low carbon economy including the aspects of energy, industry, low carbon cities, circular economy and low carbon technology, afforestation and carbon sink, the carbon emission trading market and carbon emission reduction targets. There are many achievements in the implementation of low carbon policies. For example, carbon emission intensity has been reduced drastically along with the optimizing of energy and industry structure and a nationwide carbon trading market for electricity industry has been established. However, some problems remain, such as the weakness of public participation, the ineffectiveness of unified policies for certain regions and the absence of long-term planning for low carbon cities development. Therefore, we propose some policy recommendations for the future low carbon economy development in China. Firstly, comprehensive and long-term planning should be involved in all the low carbon economy pathways. Secondly, to coordinate the relationship between central and local governments and narrow the gap between poor and rich regions, different strategies of carbon emission performance assessment should be applied for different regions. Thirdly, enterprises should cooperate with scientific research institutions to explored low carbon technologies. Finally, relevant institutions should be regulated to realize comprehensive low carbon transition through reasonable and feasible low carbon pathways in China. These policy recommendations will provide new perspectives for China's future low carbon economy development and guide practices for combating climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China, the county is not only an important component of industrial areas and a large contributor of carbon emissions, but also a key administrative unit for the implementation of carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals and policies. The spatiotemporal variations and structural characteristics of carbon emissions at the county scale are of great significance to China's dual goals of regional carbon policy implementation and low carbon spatial planning. Thus, it is important and insightful to conduct an in-depth and detailed examination of these characteristics while focusing on a typical iron and steel industry county-level city in North China. This study systematically calculated the carbon emissions of the county-level city of Wu'an from 2008 to 2017, and explored their structural characteristics and spatiotemporal variations. The results showed that (1) under the influence of macroeconomic and national policies, the carbon emissions of county-level cities dominated by the iron and steel industry show obvious phased characteristics; (2) there is a significant negative correlation between industry carbon emission concentrations and industrial carbon emissions; (3) within the steel industry system, sintering, iron smelting, steelmaking, and metal product processing are the main sources of carbon emissions, and the coal-based production process of the iron and steel industry needs a fundamental reformation; and (4) the carbon emission of Wu'an City shows obvious spatial differentiation characteristics. The geographic distribution of carbon emissions in Wu'an City is very unbalanced and tended to cluster together in urban areas, industrial and mining areas, and major towns. Taking 2014 as the turning point, the spatial pattern of carbon emissions in Wu'an City presents different variation characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green innovation undoubtedly plays a significant role in generating employment opportunities, improving green economic activity, and increasing environmental sustainability. This study scrutinizes the effect of energy efficiency and green innovation on CO2 emissions for China using nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) from 1991 to 2019. Findings show that energy efficiency and green innovation contribute to reducing CO2 emissions in China. Energy efficiency and green innovation are also important nonlinear determinants of CO2 emissions. An increase in energy efficiency and green innovation lowers CO2 emissions, while a fall in energy efficiency and green innovation increases CO2 emissions in China in the long run. Some policy measures are suggested to attain carbon neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the current global goal of carbon neutrality, the relationship between cultivated land intensive use (CLIU) and carbon emission efficiency (CEE) should be explored to address the global climate crisis and move toward a low-carbon future. However, previous work in this has been conducted at provincial/regional scales and few have identified the spatial correlation between CLIU and CEE at the scale of large river basins. Therefore, this study explored the spatiotemporal characteristics of CLIU, cultivated land carbon emissions (CLCE), and CEE, as well as the spatial correlation between CLIU and CEE in the Yellow River Basin (YRB), China. A comprehensive evaluation model, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) coefficient methodology, existing data envelopment analysis model, and bivariate spatial autocorrelation models were used to analyze statistical data from 2005 to 2017. We found that the overall CLIU and CLCE values in the YRB exhibited a continuous increase; the average carbon emission total efficiency and carbon emission scale efficiency first decreased and then increased, and the average carbon emission pure technical efficiency gradually decreased. Areas of high CLCE were concentrated in eastern areas of the YRB, whereas those of high CLIU, carbon emission total efficiency, carbon emission scale efficiency, and carbon emission pure technical efficiency predominantly appeared in the eastern areas, followed by central and western areas of the YRB. Spatial analysis revealed a significant spatial dependence of CLIU on CEE. From a global perspective, the spatial correlations between CLIU and CEE changed from positive to negative with time. Moreover, the aggregation degree between CLIU and CEE gradually decreases with time, while the dispersion degree increases with time, and the spatial correlation gradually weakens. The local spatial autocorrelation further demonstrates that the number of high–low and low–high clusters between CLIU and CEE gradually increases over time, while the number of high–high and low–low clusters gradually decreased over time. Collectively, these findings can help policymakers formulate feasible low-carbon and efficient CLIU policies to promote win–win cooperation among regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China announced its national goal to reach the peak of carbon emission by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, during the General Assembly of the United Nations in September 2020. In this context, the potential of the carbon sink in China's terrestrial ecosystems to mitigate anthropogenic carbon emissions has attracted unprecedented attention from scientific communities, policy makers and the public. Here, we reviewed the assessments on China's terrestrial ecosystem carbon sink, with focus on the principles, frameworks and methods of terrestrial ecosystem carbon sink estimates, as well as the recent progress and existing problems. Looking forward, we identified critical issues for improving the accuracy and precision of China's terrestrial ecosystem carbon sink, in order to serve the more realistic policy making in pathways to achieve carbon neutrality for China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How have 30 years of development in energy and climate policies influenced long-term trends in China and what does this imply for future climate policies? To answer the question, this article examines three decades of energy and climate policies in China. By providing an overarching review, it contributes new and updated research on drivers behind long-term climate policies and whether China's long-term emissions trend can be broken by placing greater emphasis on innovation, technology and low-carbon development. Importantly, it analyses the most recent policy developments in China, such as the likely effects of China's recent 2060 carbon neutrality goal. We conclude that after the Paris Agreement, the biggest policy change has been technological innovation in the power and transport sector. China has prioritized measures, laws and policies for developing renewable energy, especially solar and wind. China has also embraced the 'green growth' approach for responding to the challenges of climate change. These efforts have yielded results, and China has emerged as a world leader in renewable energy. However, there is still a long way to go. The upcoming 14th five-year plan will be critical for accelerating the energy transition, including setting a cap on coal in the national energy-transition strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An effective and powerful regulation is indispensable for the development and smooth operation of a cap-and-trade emission trading scheme (ETS). Seven regional pilot ETSs have been established and gradually improved in China, from which the experiences and lessons learned may provide useful references to facilitate China's national ETS regulation. This article systematically reviews and compares the practices and policies of carbon trading regulation in China's seven pilot schemes from three major aspects of regulatory institutions and subjects, regulatory objects and content, and regulatory means and techniques, and covering both internal and external regulatory architectures. The comparative analysis has demonstrated that the regional pilot schemes have made notable achievements in developing ETS regulatory systems with Chinese characteristics, but they still have considerable deficiencies. Referencing both international and domestic pilot experiences, this study recommends that China's national ETS improve regulatory institutional basis, foster an extensive participation of pluralistic regulatory subjects with a clear division of powers and responsibilities, establish effective regulatory systems on carbon finance, and continuously enrich regulatory techniques and platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from China are of global concern. As energy-, resource-intensive and greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution emissions, China's cement-related CO2 emissions and environmental effect attracted more and more attention reasonably. A multiple-year's cement CO2 emissions were estimated in China based on actual and projected cement output and CO2 emission factor (EF) from the perspective of technological improvement for the period 1949–2050. The more than 100 years' time scale was divided into three periods: 1949–1979, 1980–2015, and 2016–2050, which mainly based on China's socio-economy and technological improvement (i.e., transformed cement kilns and popularized waste heat recovery, WHR). The bottom-up model was used for calculating cement-related CO2 emissions after analyzing processes of cement production, and we found China's comprehensive cement CO2 EF (CCEF) was about 1694.31 kg CO2 per ton of cement in 1949, and declined to 737.01 kg CO2 per ton of cement in 2015. Furthermore, it is likely that China's cement output is about 1617.50 Mt in 2050. Meanwhile, China's CCEF is about 576.02 kg CO2 per ton of cement which based on likely realistic scenario (LRS), and CO2 emissions are about 931.71 Mt in 2050, which is about half lower than those in 2014. It is important for calculating China's cement emissions in the society and rank around the world. For China's cement CO2 emission reduction, the contribution of technological innovation or improvement (TII) was undeniable, but the degree of CO2 reduction was limited, especially when the technological diffusion rate was close to saturation. The Chinese government is ambitious in controlling cement-related CO2 emissions and should start with controlling cement capacity, utilization of alternative raw materials (ARMs) and alternative fuels (AFs), and establishing a sound carbon trading market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Emission Trading Schemes of China and Europe show that China's envisaged national ETS could bring a major contribution in the international approach against global warming; new perspectives on the use of composite sustainability indicators are also highlighted. China's regional pilot schemes will converge to a (more) uniform price of emission allowances. As China is a major economic and political actor in the world economy, China's progress with ETS is important. At the same time, China's progress in the field of green international competitiveness - standing for a positive revealed comparative advantage in environmentally friendly goods - in the period 2000-2015 is considerable and the improved positioning of China in the EIIW-vita sustainability indicator shows considerable technological dynamics in Asia. The European ETS is working, but it suffers from the rather low price of emission allowances. The long-term time horizon of 2050 in the EU climate policy is rather ambitious and it is unclear whether or not a consistent G20 approach can be achieved - with the EU, China, Japan and the US cooperating amongst each other. There is a lack of a specialized climate stabilization institution in the world economy, the traditional anchoring of climate policy in the UN weakens the practical pressure for efficient cooperation since the UN is very heterogeneous in terms of per capita income and GHG emissions per unit of GDP; G20 might be an institution that is suitable for effective policy cooperation. More initiatives in the field of recycling could be useful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facing requirements of sustainable development and tremendous international pressures, China has initiated a serious of trials for mandatory carbon trading schemes. In this study, to investigate the impact of carbon trading on commodity prices, emissions, outputs and profits of the regulated agents such as power plants in China, a partial equilibrium model is constructed based on the Cournot theory of oligopoly. Three key results were found. First, following the implementation of a carbon trading scheme there is a shift of production from plants with high emission rates to those with low rates. Second, the emission-based updating (EBU) allocation of allowable emissions would provide a buffer in which the reduced outputs and profits of plants with high emissions are alleviated. Third, if the electricity price is market oriented it will vary with the carbon price. Based on these results, we conclude that the carbon constraint will result in cleaner generating technologies and be helpful in promoting the development of low carbon technologies in China. In addition, the EBU allocation is more feasible at the beginning of the national carbon trading in China. Given that electricity prices in China are regulated now, we argue that mandatory carbon trading should be implemented at the beginning of coordinated reforms of market-oriented pricing in electricity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Putting a price on carbon is considered a crucial step for China's endeavor of harnessing the market forces to reduce its energy consumption and carbon emissions. Indeed, aligned with China's grand experiment with low-carbon provinces and low-carbon cities in six provinces and thirty-six cities, the Chinese central government has approved the seven pilot carbon trading schemes. These pilot trading schemes have features in common, but vary considerably in their approach to issues such as the coverage of sectors, allocation of allowances, price uncertainty and market stabilization, potential market power of dominated players, use of offsets, and enforcement and compliance. This article explains why China turns to market forces and is opt for emissions trading, rather than carbon or environmental taxes at least initially, discusses the five pilot trading schemes that have to comply with their emissions obligations by June 2014, and examines a wide range of design, implementation, enforcement and compliance issues related to China's carbon trading pilots and their first-year performance. The article ends with drawing some lessons learned and discussing the options to evolve regional pilot carbon trading schemes into a nationwide carbon trading scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]