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Low-carbon is a part of China's efforts to pursue the national strategy of "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality." Meanwhile, the path of low-carbon transformation of logistics has become a topic of global concern. This study constructs a technical framework of logistics carbon emissions (LCE), which is composed of carbon emission evaluation, carbon emission prediction and low-carbon strategy. All 13 prefecture-level cities in Jiangsu, China, are the application objects in empirical research. Then, the influence analysis of the LCE efficiency based on the panel Tobit model and the evolution of LCE under different scenarios are explored. The results show that: (ⅰ) during the study period (2013–2020), the LCE in Jiangsu showed an overall upward trend, with Xuzhou, Suzhou and Nanjing being the cities with the highest carbon emissions; (ⅱ) the static efficiency of LCE in Jiangsu is at a medium level, with fluctuations in Suzhou, Changzhou, Zhenjiang, Nantong, and Suqian caused by the technical change index; (ⅲ) economic level, industrial structure, fixed asset utilization rate, and ecological environment in Jiangsu are significantly positively correlated with LCE efficiency, while education popularization and energy intensity are negative; (ⅳ) LCE in Jiangsu has been drastically reduced in the low-carbon scenario compared to the baseline scenario. On the above basis, this study proposes suggestions for the low-carbon development strategies of logistics in Jiangsu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has implemented a variety of energy efficiency policies to achieve energy saving and carbon abatement targets. While the national carbon market has been launched and China has opted to give market-oriented policies a greater role in achieving net zero, energy efficiency policies still constitute a significant portion of the policy mix. However, the substantial drawback of energy efficiency policies compared to carbon trading, the rebound effect, has made energy efficiency policies debatable. It is crucial to precisely understand the magnitude of the rebound effect to design and implement effective energy policies. Our study estimates and compares the direct energy rebound and output expansion effects in China's manufacturing and service sectors using firm-level data from 2013 to 2016 and employing panel regression analysis. We also analyze the impact of firm characteristics such as ownership status, geographical location, and industry type on enterprises' rebound effects. We found a 33.5% direct rebound effect and a 19.3% output expansion effect in the manufacturing sector. In the service sector, the direct energy rebound effect was 57.9%, a larger one than the manufacturing sector. We also estimate direct energy rebound effects for key manufacturing and service enterprises. Our findings reveal that key manufacturing enterprises exhibit a larger rebound effect compared to the overall manufacturing sector, while key service enterprises show a smaller rebound effect than the overall service sector. Public, foreign, and heavy service enterprises show a smaller energy rebound effect, while northeastern manufacturing and service enterprises exhibit a larger rebound effect. We suggest that China's carbon market should also cover key service enterprises. For those below the threshold, enhancing energy management is essential to mitigate the rebound effect. Aligning with carbon emission cap targets, rather than relying solely on energy efficiency policies, could more effectively achieve energy savings and carbon abatement. • Direct energy rebound effects are identified in manufacturing (33.5%) and service (57.9%) sectors. • Output expansion drives rebound energy use in high-consumption firms. • Rebound effect weakens the effectiveness of China's energy efficiency policies. • Explore the impacts of firm-level characteristics on energy rebound effects in China. • We suggest that China's carbon emission trading scheme cover key service enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Now, China has made it clear that it will strive to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060 (the "dual carbon" goals), based on the logic that carbon peaking is a prerequisite for carbon neutrality. The year 2021 is the first year of China's 14th Five-Year Plan period. As the main battlefields to achieve the "dual carbon" goals, cities are also required to build on their pathways towards such goals under new conditions. Based on the progress China has made with pilot cities for low-carbon development and the discussion on 60 cities by category, this paper identifies the commonalities and differences between Chinese cities' pathways towards carbon peaking, and concludes that Chinese cities need to peak their carbon emissions in an organized and step-wise way on the basis of classification and according to their own development level and emission characteristics. In light of the above conclusion, this paper provides feasible suggestions for Chinese cities' carbon peaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important tool to control CO2 emission, carbon emission trading (CET) has been highlighted in prior studies for its positive effects on firms. However, we are concerned about the role of the CET in corporate financing. Through a quasi-natural experiment from China's CET pilot, regarded as the start-up stage of China's emission trading system, we investigate the manufacturing corporate financing (i.e., debt and commercial credit financing). The results show that the firms in China's CET market have less debt financing. Additionally, in the heterogeneity analysis, we found that (1) the CET is negatively related to corporate financing when their financing constraints are weak, whereas it only reduces long-term debt for the firms with strong financing constraints. (2) The impact of the CET on corporate financing is not significant for the firms located in first-tier cities in China, but in other cities, the CET negatively influences firms' long-term debt and contributes to commercial credit financing. (3) The CET only plays a negative role in long-term debt and a positive role in commercial credit financing for firms in high energy-consuming industries. This study enlightens the government to improve the emission trading system and increase financing support to manufacturing firms in the CET market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although central to the promotion of regional economic development, industrial parks discharge large quantities of air pollutants and CO2, counter to the goals of air quality improvement and CO2 reductions in China. In this study, 13 industrial parks in seven cities in Henan Province were chosen to evaluate their emission of air pollutants and CO2 in 2017, their reduction potential under different green measures, and their air quality improvements under a Green Upgrade scenario. The results show that: (1) The total emissions of SO2, NOx, CO, PM10, PM2.5, VOCs and CO2 in the 13 industrial parks were 43, 39, 351, 19, 7, 18, 2 kt and 36 Mt, and would decrease by 72, 56, 19, 30, 26, 77 and 30%, respectively, under the Green Upgrade scenario. (2) The industrial process was the major source of CO, PM2.5, VOCs and NH3, whereas power plants were the largest source of SO2 and NOx, and they would be reduced by 93, 59, 94, 91, 23 and 28%, respectively, under the Green Upgrade scenario. (3) The terminal energy use sector (including industrial boilers and industrial process sources) was the main source of CO2, accounting for 75% of total CO2 emissions, and would be reduced by 76% under the Green Upgrade scenario. (4) WRF-CMAQ simulation results show that, under the Green Upgrade scenario, the concentration of PM2.5 in a transmission channel city would be improved by 1–36 μg/m3, with an annual average value of 9 μg/m3. Our results demonstrate the significant effect of the synergistic reduction in air pollutants and CO2 emissions using Green Technologies in industrial parks and the subsequent improvement in regional air quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This work meticulously details strategies for enhancing CO 2 mass transport in eCO 2 RR. • A comprehensive discussion on the effects of electrode are provided. • Effects of electrolyzer designs and electrolysis conditions are also discussed. • Potential solutions for CO 2 mass transfer in eCO 2 RR industrialization are summarized. The imperative to address climate change and CO 2 emissions has elicited substantial interest in the field of electrochemical CO 2 reduction reaction (eCO 2 RR) as an avenue to both environmental sustainability and the production of value-added fuels. However, the selectivity and efficiency of eCO 2 RR remain below the industrial requirement for its implementation at high current density. One pivotal strategy to ameliorate this deficiency involves augmenting the mass transport of CO 2 to electrode, thereby alleviating the competing hydrogen evolution reaction and consequently enhancing eCO 2 RR performance. Herein, we primarily discuss the CO 2 mass transport enhancement strategies through electrode and electrolyzer designs, as well as electrolysis conditions. The electrode designs are first presented, including wettability regulation, porous substrates construction, catalyst layer and gas diffusion layer designs. Then, we highlight state-of-the-art electrolyzer designs, including the bipolar membrane structure, interdigitated flow field and in-situ exsolution of CO 2 structure. The electrolyzer based gas–liquid Taylor flow is also introduced. Following this, we delve into the impact of various electrolysis conditions, encompassing the electrolyte, electrolysis potentials, CO 2 pressure, CO 2 flow rate and reaction temperature. Finally, we conclude this review by delineating persisting challenges and potential solutions aimed at advancing CO 2 mass transport for the industrial implementation of eCO 2 RR technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the need for innovative low-carbon technologies in the chemical industry in China. Currently, most chemical processes rely on fossil fuels, resulting in significant CO2 emissions. The article highlights the potential of green electricity and green hydrogen as clean energy sources that can be coupled with various processes to achieve a low-carbon chemical industry. It provides examples of how these technologies can be applied to ammonia synthesis, syngas production, and CO2 reduction to produce ethylene. The article also mentions the challenges and future prospects of developing these low-carbon technologies. Overall, the article emphasizes the importance of transitioning to renewable energy sources in the chemical industry to achieve carbon neutrality. [Extracted from the article]

Reducing China's carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions primarily involves efforts from energy-intensive sectors, including the construction and hygienic ceramics manufacturing industries. Although the majority of extant studies have focused on estimating marginal abatement cost (MAC) of CO 2 emissions, there are mainly four shortcomings: (i) most of studies have explored this issue at industrial level or provincial level, the evidence at the enterprise level is limited; ii) the selection of emissions abatement measures and strategies is normally arbitrary; iii) the characteristics of MAC changing with the amount of emissions reduction is usually ignored; and iv) the analysis of influencing factors for MACs is not included. Here, this study provided an innovative MAC estimation for China's 913 construction ceramics enterprises and 360 hygienic ceramic enterprises. A quadratic directional distance function method, including multiple emissions abatement measures and all possible directional vectors representing different emission reduction strategies, is applied to calculate the lowest MAC. We further incorporate the abatement level from 1 to 99% into MACs estimation, and investigated its influencing factors. The results mainly illustrated three relevant findings. (i) The average MAC for construction ceramics manufacturing is 2203 CNY/t CO 2 , which is lower than that for hygienic ceramics manufacturing of about 8416 CNY/t CO 2. (ii) Construction ceramics production enterprises would be willing to downscale production to achieve the lowest cost for emissions reduction, whereas hygienic ceramics production enterprises tend to choose increasing the intermediate input. (iii) Energy use efficiency positively influences MACs for both construction and hygienic ceramics production enterprises, while intermediate input rate, energy consumption structure (the proportion of fuel coal consumption in total energy) and profitability are negatively related to MAC. Results and findings can provide references for the formulation of carbon emission reduction policies in China's construction and hygienic ceramics manufacturing industries. • China's construction and hygienic ceramic manufacturing industries are analyzed. • Marginal abatement cost of CO 2 emissions is used in the abatement cost estimation. • All possible directions are considered in quadratic directional distance function. • The least costly abatement measure and influencing factors of MAC are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To achieve the carbon peaking and neutrality targets in China, carbon price and technological innovation will play increasingly important roles in recent future. It is widely-known that carbon price and technological innovation can contribute significantly to emission reduction, respectively; but it is still unclear whether the cooperation effects of carbon price and technological innovation would be positive or negative. In this paper, we assume that there are 3 types of emission reduction measures in China's industrial enterprises, which are improvement of energy efficiency, adjustment of energy structure, and substitution of pollution inputs and non-pollution inputs; then we introduce carbon price and technological innovation respectively and simultaneously, and establish 12 scenarios based on the Data Envelopment Analysis models combined with material balance principal (DEA-MBP), and estimate the additional emission reductions and additional production costs of China's industrial enterprises when carbon price and technological innovation exist respectively or simultaneously. The counterfactually estimating results show that there would be significant regional and sectorial heterogeneities in carbon emission reduction characteristics for China's industrial enterprises. If low-carbon technologies in some sectors have the ability to reduce carbon emissions at the expense of high additional production cost, carbon pricing policies would encourage enterprises to adopt new mitigation technologies and increase additional emission reduction by more than 20%, especially technologies focusing on the adjustment of energy structure and the substitution of pollution inputs by non-pollution inputs. However, in some sectors which have already been covered by carbon pricing policies, the additional carbon pricing policy may not have a significant effect on emission reduction, and the emission reduction would decrease by 10%. [Display omitted] • Cooperation effects of carbon price and technological innovation are estimated. • DEA-MBP models and multiple emission reduction measures/scenarios are applied. • Introduction of carbon price would encourage the adopting of new mitigation technologies. • Carbon price and technological innovation would have overlapping effects. • Significant regional and sectorial heterogeneities exist in emission reduction features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the industrial spatial layout and propel regional coordinated development, China has implemented the policy of NIRDZs since 2010. However, there is little literature focuses on the relation between NIRDZs and carbon emissions. Based on the balanced panel data from 284 China's prefecture-level cities during 2003–2019, this article combines the time-varying DID model, mediating model, and spatial DID model to systematically qualify the impact of NIRDZs on urban carbon emissions. The results show that: (1) NIRDZs effectively reduce recipient cities' carbon emissions, which has been confirmed by a variety of robustness checks. (2) NIRDZs' carbon reduction effect is more pronounced in cities in the central region, cities with poverty-stricken counties, large-scale cities, and resource-based cities, but exacerbates environmental demonstration cities' carbon emissions. (3) Industrial structure upgrading, foreign capital attraction, and government financial support are the three important channels through which NIRDZs influence urban carbon emissions. (4) NIRDZs have a significant spatial spillover effect on urban carbon emissions, and can significantly reduce carbon emissions in both neighboring pilot and non-pilot cities. These findings have substantially vital theoretical and practical implications for China to achieve low-carbon transformation in cities in the process of industrial transfer. • A time-varying DID model is adopted to quantify NIRDZs' impact on urban carbon emissions. • NIRDZs can effectively reduce carbon emissions in recipient cities. • NIRDZs' carbon reduction impact varies across different recipient cities. • Industrial structure optimization, foreign investment attraction, and government financial support are the three important channels through which NIRDZs affect recipient cities' carbon emissions. • NIRDZs have significant spatial spillover effects on carbon emissions in neighboring and non-pilot cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving carbon neutrality requires efforts from the energy industry as well as contributions from the financial sector. However, the exact impact of the financial sector on carbon neutrality is not yet fully understood. Given the great significance of breakthrough innovation in renewable energy for reducing carbon emissions, we investigated the impact of green credit on breakthrough technological innovation based on a green credit policy implemented by China's financial sector. Under this policy, banks are required to assess the environmental risks when issuing loans, and to support carbon emissions reduction. Our quasi-natural experiment study showed that green credit not only stimulates breakthrough technological innovation in renewable energy firms, but also promotes incremental technological innovation and balances these two types of innovation by weakening the financing constraints faced by those firms. Heterogeneity analysis showed that green credit has a positive impact on breakthrough and incremental technological innovation for renewable energy firms with high production efficiency and lower government subsidies. Our findings provide evidence to help understand the role of the financial sector in achieving carbon neutrality. Specifically, the financial sectors can provide external financing support to the energy industry to enhance its capacity for innovation. • Green credit policy from the financial sector in China plays a positive role in carbon neutrality. • Green credit stimulates both breakthrough and incremental technological innovation for renewable energy firms. • Green credit also contributes to balancing two types of technological innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Owing to China's escalating demand for renewable energy and carbon emissions reduction, and given its prominent position as one of the fastest-growing nations in photovoltaic (PV) development, a comprehensive assessment of the potential of both centralized and distributed photovoltaic systems in China is crucial. However, current research on PV potential assessment presents several challenges. Therefore, this study presents a five-dimensional assessment model, encompassing geographical, technical, economic, CO 2 mitigation, and realizable potential, to systematically map China's centralized photovoltaic (CPV) and distributed photovoltaic (DPV) potential. The findings underscore the vast PV potential across the country, with areas of 3.11 million km2 and 252.72 thousand km2 deemed suitable for CPV and DPV development, respectively. This corresponds to a technical potential of 416,383.27 and 28,261.53 TWh/yr for CPV and DPV, respectively. Furthermore, this study explored the economic potential of CPV and DPV, revealing that the generation costs of both CPV and DPV in China are in proximity to the feed-in tariffs. With technological advancements and economies of scale, a broader PV potential is projected to be economically feasible by 2030. Full implementation of the current economic potential can yield an annual CO 2 mitigation of 54.20 and 8.39 gigatonnes (Gt) using CPV and DPV, respectively. Notably, China's PV potential exhibits distinct regional heterogeneity, with CPV potential concentrated primarily in the western region and DPV potential distributed predominantly across the eastern provinces. This study identified the most resource-intensive areas in the western region of Inner Mongolia for CPV and in the coastal regions of Guangdong and Shandong provinces for DPV. Considering policy imperatives and the development status, China's PV sector holds tremendous potential to significantly contribute to carbon reduction targets. Based on the findings, policy recommendations are proposed, emphasizing the imperative of jointly developing CPV and DPV systems, as well as implementing phased and planned growth strategies for PV growth. • A five-dimensional assessment estimated China's PV feasibility and CO 2 mitigation. • China has 416,383.27 TWh/yr CPV potential and 28,261.53 TWh/yr DPV potential. • China's CPV and DPV are at a critical point: the LCOE is close to the feed-in tariff. • Photovoltaic development can contribute to China's carbon reduction goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The distribution of trade-embodied carbon emissions has frequently been a contestation in international climate negotiations. The proposed shared responsibility approach developed by Jakob et al. (2021) is based on economic benefits derived from generating emissions without paying for associated social costs, which are represented by the carbon price. The impacts of the real tariffs on economic benefits were not considered. Here, we improve the proposed approach by introducing the real import and export tariffs and using tariff and elasticity data specified at both country- and sector-level. We re-investigate the responsibility for trade-embodied carbon emissions sharing between 141 economies for 2017. Results show that the improved shared responsibility approach leads to a less extreme distribution of responsibility among countries. The top three emitters, China, the EU27, and the USA, were allocated 939, 761, and 702 million tons of trade-embodied carbon emissions that are 32% below, 39% above, and 50% above production-based emissions and 62% above, 17% below, and 33% below consumption-based emissions, respectively. Furthermore, we investigate the impacts of introducing tariffs and raising carbon prices on responsibility distribution and find that both will increase import-embodied responsibility and decrease export-embodied responsibility and thus favor net exporters of carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The power sector significantly contributes to global greenhouse gas emissions, making its transition to low-carbon energy crucial for achieving carbon neutrality. Zhengzhou, recognized as one of the China's "National Central Cities", has a high energy demand. Its power sector, which is primarily reliant on coal, is responsible for half of the city's CO 2 emissions. The low emissions analysis platform (LEAP) model serves as an effective tool for exploring the power sector's transition to low-carbon sources. However, studies on the combined reduction in air pollutants and CO 2 at the city level are scarce. This study focuses on Zhengzhou's power sector, examining the power composition, coal usage, CO 2 and air pollutant emissions, social costs, and employment effects across five scenarios using LEAP. The five scenarios are the business-as-usual scenario, the reference scenario, the carbon neutrality scenario, and two optimization scenarios with different carbon peak and carbon neutrality time. CO 2 emissions will peak in 2030 at 34.6 Mt in the reference scenario, and in 2022 at 32.4 Mt in the carbon neutrality scenario. Emissions in the reference and carbon neutrality scenarios will decrease by 64.8% and 75.2%, respectively, from those in the business-as-usual scenario due to emission reduction strategies. In the carbon neutrality scenario, coal power reformation is the most significant measure, accounting for 45.7% of the total CO 2 reduction compared to that in the business-as-usual scenario, followed by the integration of external electricity (17.8%) and solar energy (13.6%). This scenario also demonstrated a strong synergistic effect on reducing air pollutants and CO 2 emissions. Although the carbon neutrality scenario incurs costs 60.4 billion yuan higher than those of the reference scenario, its CO 2 mitigation cost is 66.1 yuan/t lower. This indicated that more rapid CO 2 reduction, despite higher economic inputs, is justified by ambitious CO 2 reduction goals and environmental benefits. Enhancing the use of renewable energy technologies for research and development to lower costs could increase the economic feasibility of the carbon neutrality scenario. In the two optimization scenarios, complete elimination of CO 2 and air pollutant emissions is achieved by 2060, with all the electricity generated from renewable sources, although issues of uncertainty and stability need to be addressed. The study also highlights that renewable energy development will significantly boost employment, with an estimated 1.19 million jobs in 2060 in the carbon neutrality scenario. Finally, the paper concludes with a sensitivity analysis and offers policy recommendations for the power sector's low-carbon transition. [Display omitted] • Low-carbon transition paths of Zhengzhou power sector are investigated by scenario analysis. • Coal power reformation and external electricity are effective measures for CO 2 reduction. • Synergistic reduction of air pollutants and CO 2 is achieved in the CAN scenario. • The CAN scenario has a good cost-effectiveness of CO 2 mitigation. • Policy recommendations for Zhengzhou power sector are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's manufacturing sector faces pressure to reduce its carbon emissions embodied in foreign trade, yet the influence of the sector's structural and path characteristics on reducing embodied carbon emission (ECE) remains unclear. We developed a research framework to analyze the trade-embodied carbon transfer networks of China's 11 manufacturing industries with 48 economies from 2000 to 2019, identifying the key carbon transfer-in industries and paths. By integrating network characteristics, we assessed the ECE reduction pressure on key manufacturing industries and identified factors hindering its decline. ECE in China's manufacturing foreign trade increased by 273.1% from 2000 to 2019, with the ECE in exports to developing countries since 2012 (255.58 Mt) surpassing exports to developed countries (228.31 Mt). China's medium-low and medium-high technology manufacturing are key carbon transfer-in industries, observed large decreases in the importance of the carbon transfer-in paths from Europe, the United States, Japan, and South Korea, versus notable increases from the Row Asia and Pacific region. Metal manufacturing, non-metallic mineral manufacturing, and chemical manufacturing were the top three industries facing ECE reduction pressure. The network structure indicators obstruct the ECE reduction pressure in metal manufacturing, whereas the network path indicators obstruct the pressure in the other key manufacturing industries. To alleviate the ECE reduction pressure within China's manufacturing foreign trade, China's manufacturing sector should enhance trade cooperation with Asia–Pacific countries. The study's insights offer valuable references for China's formulation of domestic manufacturing emission reduction policies and its participation in international climate negotiations. • A novel framework lets us assess the embodied CO 2 reduction pressure. • China's manufacturing sector embodied CO 2 increased by 273.1% from 2000 to 2019. • China's medium technology manufacturing are key carbon transfer-in industries. • Metal manufacturing faced the highest embodied CO 2 reduction pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]