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The report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China further clarifies the major development goal of accelerating the transition to a model of green development. Improving carbon emission efficiency is undoubtedly a necessary way to achieve this goal. At present, with the pressing goals of reaching peak carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality and the tendency of the financial industry to be diverted out of the real economy, the high-quality development of the financial industry has become an objective need to improve carbon emission efficiency and promote the realization of the 'dual carbon' goals as scheduled. However, there are obvious differences in carbon emission efficiency and financial industry high-quality development between different regions, which makes it urgent to realize efficient collaboration between inter-regional carbon emission efficiency and high-quality development in the financial industry. This paper used the coupling coordination degree model, the Dagum Gini coefficient decomposition method, and the spatial Kernel density estimation method to measure the coupling coordination degree between China' s carbon emission efficiency and the high-quality development in the financial industry and to fully reveal its spatio-temporal evolution characteristics. The results showed that: ① The coupling coordination degree between carbon emission efficiency and high-quality development in the financial industry basically stabilized at the intermediate coordination level. The key to advancing this coupling coordination degree to a high-quality coordination level was to improve the level of high-quality development in the financial industry. The eastern region rose to a good coordination level. The western and central regions were stable at the intermediate coordination level. The northeastern region was mainly at the primary coordination level. ② The coupling coordination of carbon emission efficiency and high-quality development in the financial industry had a problem of spatial distribution imbalance. Inter-regional differences were the main source of spatial differences. The contribution rates of intra-regional differences and the intensity of transvariation to spatial differences were relatively low. ③ There was a multipolar differentiation phenomenon in the coupling coordination between carbon emission efficiency and high-quality development in the financial industry in the central region. The coupling coordination in both the western and northeast regions showed a polarization trend. ④ Under the condition of considering spatial factors and time span, most provinces and their neighboring provinces had a spatial connection between the coupling coordination of carbon emission efficiency and high-quality development of the financial industry. These findings are conducive to the promotion of the construction of a collaborative linkage pattern between inter-regional carbon emission efficiency and the high-quality development in the financial industry. They can serve as an important decision-making reference for realizing the overall transition to a model of green development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's coalbed methane (CBM) industry is in an extremely important "climbing period" and "strategic opportunity period", which can be generally characterized by "three low and one small": low degree of exploration and development, low adaptability of main technology, low return on investment and small development scale. Under the "carbon peak and neutrality" background, the development status of CBM industry is systematically combed. The resources, technology, management problems and reasons are analyzed. Strategies and countermeasures to accelerate the industrial development are put forward according to the factors such as efficient development of resources, major technical breakthrough, talent team training, policy formulation and implementation, return on investment and so on. The existing problems are as follows: (a) The overall occurrence conditions in China are complicated and the development is difficult compared with the other countries. (b) The research precision accuracy of CBM resource conditions is not enough. (c) The adaptability of technology is poor. (d) The management mode is not suitable. In view of these problems, this paper puts forward the "two steps" development strategy and the technical and management countermeasures of "five in one". The corresponding "five in one" technology and management countermeasures are the formulation and implementation of relevant safeguard measures in accordance with the principle of collaborative innovation in five aspects: resources, technology, talents, policies and investment. Through the above measures, the dream and grand blueprint of CBM industry shall be realized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China’s marine environment has enormous volumes of oil and gas (O＆G) resources and immense “blue carbon” potential. In the 14th Five-Year Plan, developing the marine economy, using marine resources, and protecting the marine ecological environment are one of China’s important socioeconomic development goals. However, the relationship between the exploitation of offshore O＆G resources, the protection of the marine ecosystem, and the goal of carbon peak and carbon neutrality has not been fully elucidated. This study expounds on the importance and vulnerability of marine ecosystems. Then it combines the status of offshore O＆G exploration and exploitation to present a conceptual model of offshore O＆G-ecology carbon feedback cycle, the pathway of deep connection, and the necessity of synergic development in carbon neutrality process. This paper advocates strategies such as closer combination of marine protection with offshore O＆G design and development, evaluating the carbon budget in the regional ecological assessment and developing low-carbon green oilfield materials to improve the sustainable development and utilization scheme of marine resources. This study aims to provide scientific and theoretical support for relevant institutions and promote in-depth collaboration across marine departments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is currently the biggest environmental challenge facing sustainable development in human society, and it is an inherent requirement for achieving sustainable development by actively addressing climate change. Under the increasingly strict constraints of climate governance, developed countries such as the United States, European Union countries, and Japan have responded and actively formulated low-carbon development goals and policy measures that are in line with their national conditions. These policies mainly involve various fields such as low-carbon technology, energy conservation and emission reduction, and circular development, with clear policy guidance. In this paper, the evolution of policies on marine carbon sink and carbon trading in China is summarized, providing support for better understanding the background of formulating relevant international and domestic policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integration or segmentation of regional carbon prices implies that barriers may hinder prices from adjusting efficiently and impede linkages between regional carbon markets. Past studies have found that crossregional carbon prices in China tend to diverge, indicating unbalanced regional markets and that carbon cap-and-trade policies may be insufficiently effective. China's carbon trading pilots opened in 2013. Is the integration efficient? This is the research question addressed in this study. This paper uses the carbon prices of four carbon-trading pilot regions in China (i.e. Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Guangdong) over the period of January 1, 2014, to March 23, 2021, to explore whether prices are correlated across three dimensions: long-term convergence, short-term correlation, and volatility transmission by adopting a vector error correction model with heterogeneous variances. And by using longer-term daily data and empirical tests that can account for the multiple-faceted correlations, this paper provides evidence showing that long-term convergence and risk transfer between the four regional carbon prices exist, which indicates significant regional integration. The results indicate that the price behavior of the Beijing pilot is efficient and that the Shanghai pilot has the lowest volatility. The paper also documents an information transfer pattern. For example, the Beijing pilot is shown to be the leading risk transfer market, whereas the Shanghai pilot is shown to be the market where most risk is transferred. Contrary to findings elsewhere, our main results demonstrate that China's carbon markets exhibit integration efficiency and no imbalance between regions. This may be because the efficiency of China's carbon markets has improved over time. The evidence also implies that if a multi-dimensional correlation has not been considered, it may underestimate the efficiency of regional carbon prices' integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving tourism carbon neutrality is essential for sustainable tourism development. This paper uses the coupled coordination distance model, modified gravity model and social network analysis to attempt to construct a nationwide tourism carbon neutral spatial network to clarify the role of each province in the process of achieving China's tourism carbon neutrality. The results show that: (1) only seven provinces will achieve tourism carbon neutrality in the target year of carbon neutrality in China (2060). (2) From 2001 to 2060, most provinces are at the stage of coordinated development of tourism carbon emissions and tourism carbon sinks, but the degree of coordinated development is low. (3) The structure of China's tourism carbon-neutral spatial network tends to be looser from 2001 to 2060. As the time series progresses, the role of each province in the spatial network will be gradually clarified. (4) In the process of achieving the goal of China's tourism carbon neutrality, the number of tourism carbon sink input areas is much larger than that of tourism carbon sink output areas. Accordingly, this paper proposes countermeasures from three aspects: government-led, market system and voluntary mechanisms, in order to promote the achievement of China's tourism carbon neutrality goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2010 to 2019, this paper measured the coupling coordination development of energy-economy-carbon emissions and investigated its regional differences and spatial convergence. The research methods in this paper include entropy weight technique method for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution, coupling coordination degree model, Dagum Gini coefficient and decomposition method, Moran's I index, σ convergence model and β convergence model. The study found that the coupling coordination degree of energy-economy-carbon emissions in China has been continuously improved and has obvious regional and stage characteristics, but it is still on the verge of imminent disorder; the overall difference in the coupling coordination degree of energy-economy-carbon emissions shows a decreasing and then increasing trend, the main source of which is inter-regional differences; the coupling coordination degree of energy-economy-carbon emissions has a positive spatial correlation; except for the Southern Coastal Economic Zone and the Middle Yangtze River Economic Zone, there is no significant σ-convergence and β-convergence in the coupling coordination degree of energy-economy-carbon emissions system in other economic zones; the coupling coordination degree of energy-economy-carbon emissions changes fastest in the Middle Yangtze River Economic Zone. The innovation of this paper is to measure the coupling coordination degree of energy-economy-carbon emissions and to analyse its regional differences and spatial effects. It is of great practical significance to promote the coupling coordination development and regional balanced development of energy-economy-carbon emissions in China under the background of "dual carbon". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Carbon neutrality" refers to the total amount of carbon dioxide or greenhouse gas emissions directly or indirectly produced by a country, business, product, activity or individual over a period of time. Through afforestation, energy saving and emission reduction, etc., to offset the carbon dioxide or greenhouse gas emissions generated by itself, to achieve positive and negative offset, to achieve relative "zero emissions", which belongs to the same term as "carbon peaking" in energy saving and emission reduction. "Carbon" means carbon dioxide, and "neutralization" means a positive and negative balance. The carbon dioxide or greenhouse gas emitted is offset by afforestation, energy saving and emission reduction, which is called "carbon neutrality". Goal decomposition is the process of gradually completing the overall goal according to multiple fields to form a goal system. Target decomposition should be carried out according to the principle of integration and integration. That is, the overall goal is decomposed into sub-goals of different levels and departments, and the synthesis of each sub-goal reflects the overall goal and ensures the realization of the overall goal. This paper aims to study the decomposition of building carbon neutrality goals to sustainable energy development strategies, combining energy conservation and emission reduction with the building industry to reduce environmental pollution and energy waste. Based on the theory of sustainable development, combined with the development characteristics of China's new energy industry, this paper makes a theoretical analysis of the sustainable development of the new energy industry from the three systems of economy, society and ecology. Using the new growth theory and the dissipative structure theory, the restricting effect of the depletion of basic energy on economic development and the influence on the alternation of industrial structure are discussed. The experimental results of this paper show that the building energy consumption intensity will reach 1.43tC/10,000 yuan, 1.25tC/10,000 yuan in the ideal scenario, and 1.1tC/10,000 yuan in the low-carbon scenario. [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]

As a raw material for clean energy supply for the new generation, the soybean is conducive to the realization of global energy transition and sustainable development in the context of "carbon neutrality". However, global warming has been affecting soybean yields in recent years. How to clarify the correlation between meteorological factors and soybean yields, so as to ensure the security of soybean growth and development and the stability of renewable energy development, is a key concern of the government and academia. Based on the data of temperature, precipitation, sunshine duration and active accumulated temperature during the soybean growing season in Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region from 1951 to 2019, and soybean yield data of the city from 1985 to 2019, this paper adopted statistical methods such as the Trend Analysis Method, the Rescaled Range Analysis Method and so on to analyze the trends of yield changes, characteristics of abrupt changes and periodic patterns of climate factors and soybean yields in Hulunbuir. A Pearson Correlation Analysis and a Grey Relation Analysis were used to explore the correlation between climatic factors and soybean yields, followed by a comprehensive impact model of the combined effect of temperature and precipitation on soybean yields established by the Method of Integral Regression. The results showed that temperature and active accumulated temperature are the dominant factors affecting soybean yields in Hulunbuir, while the decrease in precipitation is unfavorable to the improvement of soybean yields. Meanwhile, temperature and precipitation have different effects on the growth and development of the soybean at different stages. The conclusion of this paper is of great practical significance for Hulunbuir to promote the sustainable development of clean energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can China's carbon trading policy promote regional green total factor productivity? What are the specific influencing processes and mechanisms between the two? In this paper, we construct an indicator framework for China's green total factor productivity from the perspective of green development, which comprehensively considers various inputs and outputs. This paper uses a more scientific Super-EBM model considering the mixed distance to accurately measure the regional green total factor productivity in China. The static and dynamic effects and multiple mediating effects of carbon trading policy on green total factor productivity were studied by using DID model combined with stepwise regression method. The robustness of the results was tested by parallel trend test and placebo test. The mediating effects of total energy consumption, energy consumption structure, technological innovation and the moderating effects of financial development level and intellectual property protection degree are studied. The results show that carbon trading policy significantly improves China's regional green total factor productivity. The effect of carbon trading policy on green total factor productivity in pilot areas increased to decreased; Total energy consumption and energy consumption structure have a partial intermediary effect on the relationship between carbon emission trading policy and regional green total factor productivity in China, while technological innovation has a masking effect. Regional financial development level and intellectual property protection intensity play a moderating role in the relationship between carbon emission trading policy and regional total factor productivity. Based on the above conclusions, some suggestions are put forward for the improvement of China's carbon trading policy system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the gradual implementation of strategies to achieve the goals of reaching peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality, the heterogeneous performance of low-carbon technological progress driving carbon emission reduction in different situations has become an important basis for targeted technological carbon reduction. As an important special subject of national energy resource security and carbon emission reduction, whether resource-based cities can reach peak carbon emissions simultaneously is a key to the achievement of the ' dual carbon' goals. This paper reviewed the theoretical literature on low-carbon technology progress and carbon emissions in resource-based cities, and extracted the their driving mechanisms. Based on the panel data of 116 prefecture-level resource-based cities in China from 2005 to 2019, this paper innovatively considered six undesirable outputs with resource-based city characteristics to define the low-carbon technological progress of such cities, and used the DEA-Malmquist index model, STIRPAT model, and threshold model to clarify the current situation of low-carbon technological progress and carbon emissions in resource-based cities. The study also carried out a deep analysis of the driving relationship and threshold effect between low-carbon technological progress and carbon emission reduction, and compared and analyzed their multiple heterogeneity. The study found that during the sample period, the low-carbon technology progress of these 116 prefecture-level resource-based cities showed a phased upward trend, and that carbon emissions had obvious regional heterogeneity and type heterogeneity. The progress of low-carbon technology in resource-based cities had a certain inhibitory effect on carbon emissions and presented type heterogeneity, regional heterogeneity, and a double threshold effect. In different threshold ranges, the driving effects of low-carbon technology on carbon emission reduction effect and carbon emission reduction rebound effect were different. The driving effects of other seven control variables, such as gross domestic product, command-based environmental regulation, market-based environmental regulation, voluntary environmental regulation, industrial structure, energy consumption structure, and foreign direct investment, on carbon emissions were also different. Finally, based on the research conclusions, regarding different regional resource-based cities, different types of resource-based cities, and different levels of low-carbon technology progress in resource-based cities, policy recommendations related to low-carbon technology progress and carbon emission reduction are proposed in a targeted manner, aiming to promote the improvement of low-carbon technology progress in resource-based cities and the simultaneous achievement of carbon emission reduction targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the background of the global value chain (GVC) crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, using methods of risk analysis of input-output table and geopolitical deduction, and based on the latest datasets of carbon dioxide emissions and the world energy trade, this paper analyzes the global value chain risks and energy security issues from three dimensions: climate governance dilemma, the global value chain crisis, and energy security and energy transition. It then presumes changes in world energy trade and geopolitical evolution and assesses their impact on China. The main findings and viewpoints of this paper are as follows: (1) The brokage, fragmentation, cutoff, and even production stoppage of the global value chain have done huge damage to the world economy, and it is urgent to rebuild a safe, stable, resilient, and green global value chain in the post-COVID-19 era. (2) Due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the flow direction and volume of the world' s energy trade have changed greatly, and the energy supply chain has gradually formulated into five formulas: the ' Europe-U.S. supply chain,' the ' Eurasian supply chain,' the ' U.S., Japan, Australia, and India supply chain,' the ' OPEC supply chain,' and a ' new Europe supply chain.' Among them, the United States has increased rapidly its LNG exports to Europe, and Russia has significantly increased its energy exports to Asian countries, inducing a new ' Eurasian energy supply chain.' (3) The world' s energy geopolitics is evolving in such a way that the United States is strengthening its grip on Europe to jointly restrain Russia' s power and initiating a Asia-Pacific ' four-sided mechanism' to counter China' s rise. Consequently, energy security has been bound to geopolitics. (4) China should act as a geopolitical ' power of equilibrium' to avoid the increasing risk of a new Cold War or a ' quasi-Cold War' to ensure its own energy security, to promote its dual goals of reaching peak carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality actively and gradually, and to steadily follow the path of peaceful development. We conclude that: the ' dual carbon' goals set up a timetable for China' s transitions in terms of energy, economy, and development mode. At the same time, the strategy of 'decoupling with China' promoted by some countries gives China an opportunity instead and forces China to accelerate its industrial transition, trade upgrading, and optimization of economic structure, in order to build an upgraded version of the ' world factory' and fully realize a high-quality, green, sustainable development with a goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of climate warming on world agricultural production and food security has become increasingly obvious. As an important source of carbon emissions and the carbon sink system, the green development of agriculture is one of the important ways to alleviate the crisis and achieve China' s goals of reaching peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality. Exploiting the potential of agricultural carbon sinks and accurately calculating agricultural net carbon emissions are of great significance to promoting the green development of agriculture meeting the ' dual carbon' goals. Based on the dual characteristics of the agricultural carbon cycle, this paper sorted out the logical relationship between agricultural green development and the agricultural carbon cycle, incorporated the role of agricultural carbon sinks into the calculation framework of agricultural carbon emissions, and measured China' s agricultural net carbon emissions from 2000 to 2019 by time and region. The decoupling model of agricultural net carbon emissions from agricultural economic growth was constructed. The results of the study found that the total amount of carbon emissions from agricultural sources increased from 277.899 million t in 2000 to 308.383 1 million t in 2019, with an average annual growth rate of 0.52%, but the agricultural carbon emission intensity showed a trend of continuous decline; the agricultural carbon sink increased from 99.539 9 million t in 2000 to 133.039 million t in 2019, with an average annual growth rate of 1.46%, and the agricultural carbon sink resources were considerable. The intensity of agricultural carbon source emissions was higher in the west than in other regions and there was a clear gap with the eastern region. The total amount of agricultural carbon source emissions, carbon sinks, and net carbon emissions all showed a medium-high pattern. The decoupling relationship between agricultural economic growth and agricultural net carbon emissions was mainly manifested in two decoupling states: strong decoupling and weak decoupling. Nearly 50% of the provinces achieved the ideal strong decoupling state in terms of agricultural green development, while the remaining provinces were in a weak decoupling state, and the decoupling state was generally ideal. Finally, this paper puts forward targeted countermeasures and suggestions to promote the green development of agriculture and help achieve the ' dual carbon' goals: we should accurately locate the carbon source; ensure the ' double bottom line' of food security and pig production capacity under low-carbon agriculture; resolve the resource endowment differences between regions; explore the potential of the agricultural carbon trading market; create a new path for farmers to increase their income, maintain the strong and improve the weak; and strive to achieve the ' package' of strong decoupling in agriculture to help achieve the ' dual carbon' goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing carbon emissions have been a major concern for most countries around the world. And as a result, every country is concerned about developing appropriate strategies to curtail it. As a major economy and the largest carbon emitter in the world, China has pledged to reduce the carbon intensity by 60–65% by 2030, compared with 2005 levels, and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. Therefore, the analysis of the impact of China's carbon intensity is becoming an increasing important topic. Due to the spatial heterogeneity of carbon intensity, various spatial econometric models have been applied in this field. However, the existing literatures failed to consider the cross-products of relevant factors. This paper constructs our dynamic general nesting spatial panel model (GNS) with common factors to deal with the dilemma, and examines the direct and spatial–temporal spillover effects of industrial structure, GDP per capita, investment in anti-pollution projects as percentage of GDP and energy price on carbon intensity in China over the period 2003–2017. Our analysis shows that: (1) China's carbon intensity showed the spatial agglomeration and temporal "inertia" from 2003 to 2017. (2) From the time dimension, the long-term effect of industrial structure first increased and then gradually decreased. (3) From the spatial dimension, industrial structure and investment in anti-pollution projects as percentage of GDP accounted for the main spatial heterogeneity. Furthermore, this paper attempts to provide policy implications to help reduce carbon intensity and achieve carbon neutrality in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photovoltaic power generation (PV) has significantly grown in recent years and it is perceived as one of the key strategies to reach carbon neutrality. Due to a low power density, PV requires much space, which may limit PV expansion in the future. Placing PV on water has therefore become an interesting alternative siting solution in several countries. China has the largest fleet of water floating photovoltaic power stations. Water-based PV is typically installed on inland shores, but now offshore areas may become the next step of development. In this paper, the background of offshore photovoltaic power generation and an analysis of existing offshore photovoltaic systems is presented. Fixed pile-based photovoltaic systems are stationary PV systems in offshore or tidal areas characterized by higher safety, but also a higher initial investment. Wave-proof PV systems are highly modular, easier to install, and more practical in countries with high population density and less available land. Floating platform photovoltaic systems are built on a floating platform with a floating body and frame structure. The photovoltaic module is installed on the floating platform at a certain height, which can avoid the direct action of waves. Floating thin-film PV is one of the most recently developed water-based PV systems. It has a reinforced film that can fluctuate with the waves, adapting to the wave and wind load. This paper finally discusses the challenges encountered by offshore PV and presents future prospects. [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]

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]

Aviation emission accounting is the key to establishing market measures to control aviation pollutant emissions. Based on the fuel percentage method (FPM), this paper applies the improved BFFM2-FOA-FPM (Boeing Fuel Flow Method 2–First Order Approximation FPM) to calculate the emissions of six pollutants (CO 2 , CO, HC, NO x , SO 2 , and PM 2.5) between Chinese and foreign cities from 2014 to 2019, including CCD (climbing, cruising, and descending) emissions and LTO (landing and take-off) emissions. The error rate between the calculated results and the official data is about 2.75 %. The results show that the emissions of six pollutants changed before and after the proposal of the "Carbon Neutral Growth 2020" strategy (CNG2020 strategy). Although the total amount has increased, the average emission per tonne-kilometer of CO 2 , CO, HC, NO x , SO 2 , and PM 2.5 has decreased by 17.77 %, 17.26 %, 25.15 %, 14.32 %, 17.77 %, and 16.35 %, respectively. The results of this paper can provide a data basis and method reference for implementing the CNG2020 strategy and realizing global carbon emission reduction goals. The dataset is available from https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.20071751.v1 (Cui., 2022). [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 carbon emissions of sectors and households enabled by primary inputs have practical significance in reality. Considering the mutual effect between the industrial sector and the household, this paper firstly constructed an environmentally extended semi-closed Ghosh input–output model with an endogenized household sector to analyze the relationship between carbon emissions and the Chinese economy from the supply-side perspective. The structural decomposition analysis and the hypothetical extraction method were remodified to identify the supply-side driving effects of the changes in carbon emissions and investigate the net carbon linkage. The results show that the electricity, gas, and water supply sector was the key sector with the highest carbon emission intensity enabled by primary inputs. The household sector had an above 93% indirect effect of the enabled intensity, with its enabled intensity dropping significantly by more than 55% from 2007 to 2017. The operating surplus and mixed income caused 3214.67 Gt (34.17%) of the enabled emissions in 2017. The supply-side economic activity, measured by the value added per capita, was the main factor of the carbon emission growth, mainly attributed to the development of the manufacturing sector and the electricity, gas, and water supply sector. The emission intensity and allocation structure both brought a decrease in carbon emissions. The electricity, gas, and water supply sector and the manufacturing sector were the major sources of the supply-induced cross-sectoral input emissions, while the commercial and service sector and the household sector were the top source of supply-induced cross-sectoral output emissions. This paper sheds light on the policies of the carbon emission abatement and the adjustment of the allocation structure from the perspective of supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By purchasing emission reduction equipment or reducing production scale, it is possible to effectively decrease CO 2. Therefore, understanding the marginal abatement cost (MAC) associated with these methods is crucial for making decisions. However, previous studies using the directional distance function (DDF) approach often mis-specified production functions and neglected data noise. They also assumed decision-making units (DMUs) to be on the production frontier and used proportional changes in inputs and outputs as abatement paths. This paper addresses these limitations by developing the convex quantile non-radial directional distance function (CQR-NDDF) method, which estimates the MAC of CO 2 and determines optimal abatement paths for DMUs without assuming a specific production function, employing linear programming techniques. Applying this method to 30 provinces in mainland China from 2011 to 2019, the study finds that China's CO 2 MAC increased from 182 to 247 yuan/ton. The lowest-cost abatement path varies by province and time. The club convergence and ordered probit model are employed to conclude that the second industry and urbanization increase the MAC of CO 2 , while factors such as foreign direct investment, openness level, and human capital decrease the MAC. Moreover, the CQR-NDDF method yields significantly lower MAC estimates than the NDDF method. In conclusion, this paper provides new insights into China's CO 2 MAC, emphasizing the importance of considering inefficiency and data noise in MAC estimation. We anticipate that utilizing CO 2 MAC as a benchmark for carbon trading market prices could lead to an increase in prices within China's carbon trading market. • A novel method for estimating CO 2 MAC has been developed. • Ignoring inefficiency will result in an overestimation of CO 2 MAC. • Three different emission reduction pathways are considered in the estimation. • The heterogeneity of the lowest cost abatement pathways has been identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared to cast-in-situ construction, prefabricated construction reduces the generation of construction waste; however, construction waste cannot be entirely eliminated through prefabrication and can be generated at each stage of its life cycle. This paper generates a system dynamics model, comprising two causal-loop diagrams and one stock-flow diagram, to simulate the effectiveness of policies on decarbonizing prefabricated concrete building waste. The model can predict the annual and total construction waste, along with the associated carbon emissions, under different policy scenarios in China by 2030. This paper focuses on prefabricated concrete buildings in China, with specific attention to the wastage of concrete, bricks, mortar, and metal. In single-factor scenario simulations, increasing landfilling fee is the most effective policy for waste decarbonization, potentially reducing carbon emissions by 31%. Increasing prefabrication rate and enhancing regulation degree at the design phase of prefabrication can directly reduce prefabricated building waste generation, subsequently resulting in an 18% and 7% carbon emissions reduction. Multi-factor scenario simulations demonstrate that the simultaneous application of all four policies is most effective, achieving a 44% reduction in carbon emissions. This research establishes a theoretical framework for prefabricated concrete building waste management and provides the Chinese government with practical insights on optimizing policies for waste decarbonization in the dynamic landscape of prefabrication. • This paper develops the prefabricated building waste generation and disposal systems. • The model predicts the construction waste and associated carbon emissions by 2030. • Raising landfill fee is an effective policy for decarbonizing construction waste by 31.06%. • Prefabrication rate reaching 100% can reduce 18.04% of carbon emissions from waste. • Applying all policies is most effective, achieving a 44.34% carbon emissions reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the growing global energy demand and limited production of conventional crude oil, the extraction of unconventional heavy and extra-heavy oil is receiving unprecedented attention. China is the fourth largest producer of heavy oil. High viscosity and complex formation environments increase the difficulty of exploiting heavy oil. To alleviate the economic cost and environmental pollution pressure brought by heavy oil production, China has achieved significant advancement in the innovation of heavy oil recovery, including accelerating the transformation of thermal technology to non-thermal technology and the use of new energy technology to achieve the goal of low-carbon economy and green environmental protection. Based on the background of heavy oil in China, this paper recharacterizes the high-viscosity mechanism of heavy oil. From different aspects, including basic principles, main characteristics, applicability, limitations, and challenges, this paper comprehensively reviews existing heavy oil recovery technologies, including thermal recovery, in-situ upgrading, cold recovery, and new energy technologies. Currently, in China, the main target of heavy oil recovery is achieving the "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality" goals, which can be described as low energy consumption, low emission, and low pollution. To facilitate the low-carbon transition in the extraction of heavy/extra-heavy oil and attain environmental sustainability goals, it is essential to increase the proportion of non-thermal factors in thermal recovery technologies, develop efficient in-situ catalysts, adopt clean cold extraction techniques, and advance the development of new energy technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of carbon neutrality target, renewable energy sources have been transforming from "supplementary energy" to "main energy", which have promoted the green and low-carbon transition of global energy supply system. In-depth analyzing the spatial patterns and driving mechanisms of renewable energy expansion are of significance for optimizing the spatial layout of clean power, and avoiding the phenomenon of wind and solar power curtailment. In this paper, we proposed an ensemble learning model to examine the nonlinear effects of physical geography, resource endowment, and socio-economic factors on solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity at the prefecture-level city scale in China. Using the city-level multi-sources geospatial big data, we extensively collected a total of 175 related explanatory variables and cumulative installed capacity of solar PV power for 295 prefecture-level cities of China. The recursive feature elimination algorithm (SVM-REF) is firstly used to extract the optimal feature subset of urban PV capacity from multi-dimensional features variables. Furthermore, three advanced machine learning models (random forest, decision tree, extreme gradient boosting) are developed to identify the key influencing factors and nonlinear driving effect of urban solar PV power expansion in China. The results show that China's PV installation capacity is highly concentrated in Northern and Northwest parts of China, with the occupancy over 70% in 2019. Moreover, the XGBoost model has the best prediction accuracy (R2 = 0.97) among three methods. We also found that total amount of urban water resources, average solar radiation, and population density are the most important controlling factors for urban solar PV capacity expansion in China, with contribution of 35.6%, 17.7%, and 13.3%, respectively. We suggested that urban solar PV layout mode in China is recommended to gradually shift from resource orientation to the "resource-environment-demand" comprehensive orientation. The paper provides a replicable, scalable machine learning models for simulating solar PV power capacity at the prefecture-level city scale, and serves as a motivation for decision-making reference of the macro siting optimization and sustainable development of China's green power industry. • This study examines the impact of high-dimensional features variables on urban solar energy development. • Over 70% of solar PV installation capacity is concentrated in Northern and Northwest parts of China. • Water resources, solar radiation, population density have significant impact on solar PV distribution. • Solar PV distribution in China should shift from resource orientation to the comprehensive orientation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of global low-carbon emission reduction, how to achieve green and high-quality development has become a major issue for the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese government recently. Based on the data of China's listed companies from 2013 to 2020, this paper uses Python to implement text analysis of annual reports, and explores the relationship between political acuity and carbon-efficiency synergies (CES) from the perspective of enterprise initiative. We found that (1) political acuity positively affects carbon-efficiency synergies. (2) Increased political acuity can reduce carbon emissions, but the effect on economic efficiency is not obvious. That is, low carbon takes the lead in raising the level of carbon-efficiency synergies. (3) Environmental regulations can positively regulate the relationship between political acuity and carbon-efficiency synergies. (4) Political acuity in southern China, carbon neutral and non-state-owned enterprises (NSOEs) will have a more pronounced effect on carbon-efficiency synergies. From the perspective of the root causes of political linkages, we find the synergies between formal and informal institutions, and the key factors for policy implementation. This paper is helpful for enterprises to improve the synergies of emission reduction and efficiency promotion, and has practical implications for the government to promote green and high-quality development. • Assess the value of the low-carbon economy from its political roots. • We build a carbon-efficiency synergy evaluation system. • Political acuity and formal institutions are synergistic. • The influence of political acuity on CES can be replicated. • This paper expands the technical approach to low-carbon research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The core of the energy transformation under the carbon-neutral vision is the gradual replacement of high-carbon energy by zero-carbon and low-carbon energy. However, the large-scale deployment of clean energy technology in turn relies on key minerals such as copper, aluminum, zinc, and nickel. Based on this, this paper conducts research on the demand for key minerals in clean energy transition and the role of key minerals in clean energy transition. In particular, this paper calculated the demand for mineral supply for China's carbon neutrality target, and the impact of some mineral resource constraints on the carbon neutrality path. Relevant results can provide a decision-making basis for the future development and utilization of key mineral resources, as well as the implementation of future carbon-neutral goals. • We evaluate the impact of crucial mineral resource on the carbon neutrality path. • Copper's availability greatly affects the adoption of new energy technologies. • Limited resources hinder early carbon capture and storage development. • Negative emission technologies are necessary for China's carbon neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To attain China's target of carbon neutrality by 2060, the implementation of the Energy Consumption Trading (ECT) system serves as an effective approach to improve energy efficiency and mitigate CO 2 emissions. Nevertheless, it is crucial to consider not only the importance of carbon reduction effect caused by ECT system but also the associated cost. Therefore, this paper applies the spatial difference-in-differences (SDID) model to assess the direct and spillover impacts of the ECT policy on the carbon abatement cost, which is measured by shadow price of CO 2 emissions and calculated using SBM-DEA model. Panel data encompassing 279 Chinese cities from 2010 to 2019 are employed for analysis, with additional insights provided through heterogeneity and mechanism analyses. The results show that ECT policy increases the local carbon abatement cost in pilot cities but decreases the cost of surrounding cities. Meanwhile, such a declination effect in neighboring cities with a spatial attenuation boundary of 1000 km. The heterogeneity analysis suggests that the implementation of ECT policy leads to an increase in the carbon abatement cost in cities located in non-Eastern Coastal regions, cities with abundant natural resources and cities with small populations. The mechanism analysis indicates that the ECT policy implementation facilitates the improvement of green technology in the neighboring cities of the pilot project, consequently lowering the carbon abatement cost. Besides, this policy also results in a decrease in the carbon intensity of the pilot cities. Owing to the U-shaped association between carbon intensity and the carbon abatement cost, the policy implementation stimulates an increase in the cost within the pilot cities. • This paper estimates the carbon abatement cost (MAC) using SBM-DEA method. • The SDID model is used to investigate the impacts of ECT policy on carbon MAC. • We test whether green technology and carbon intensity are mediating variables. • ECT policy increases the carbon MAC in pilot cities through carbon intensity. • ECT policy lowers the carbon MAC of adjacent cities through the green technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Measure carbon emission inequalities (CEIs) of urban agglomerations under rapid urbanization. • Identify the key factors determining CEIs within the three urban agglomerations. • Account for the differences between adjacent or distant urban agglomerations. • The declining CEI is mainly due to changes in industrial structure and economic development. • CEI in the upper reaches of the YREB increases due to the changes in energy intensity. Increasing countries are articulating ambitious goals of carbon neutrality. However, large inequalities in regional emissions within a country may hinder progress toward a carbon–neutral future, as the unequal distribution of reduction responsibilities among regions could impair just transition and exacerbate uneven development, which necessitates an in-depth understanding of the mechanism of multi-scale carbon inequalities within country, region, and city. Yet, the evolution of carbon inequalities within urban agglomerations and the differences between adjacent or distant urban agglomerations have not been well understood, especially in countries undergoing rapid urbanization. Using the data of 89 cities in China's Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) during 2006–2021, this paper quantifies carbon emissions inequality (CEI) at different scales in a systematic regional-urban agglomeration-city hierarchical structure. Then, under the integrated mean logarithmic deviation-logarithmic mean Divisia index (MLD-LMDI) decomposition framework, multi-scale CEIs are perfectly decomposed into six interrelated drivers, i.e., industrial emission structure, energy emission intensity, industrial energy mix, energy intensity, industrial structure, and economic development. The results show that economic development, energy intensity, and industrial energy mix disparities are the main determinants accounting for CEIs at different scales. The decreasing CEI in YREB is mainly due to the changes in industrial structure and economic development, while the energy intensity effect partially hinders the mitigation of CEI. In the upper reaches of the YREB, the energy intensity effect accounts for over 94% growth of CEI during 2006–2021, while the decline in CEIs in middle and lower reaches is primarily caused by the effects of industrial energy mix and industrial structure, respectively. Further spatial decomposition analysis reveals more refined city-level heterogeneous effects and emphasizes the prioritized emission reduction direction for each city. This paper offers implications for reducing carbon inequality and insights into coordinated carbon emissions mitigation at the regional level for a carbon–neutral future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the construction industry is one of China's high carbon emission industries, to achieve China's carbon neutrality target by 2060, CO2 emissions in cold regions must be reduced. At the same time, forests have excellent carbon sequestration abilities, so this paper takes residential buildings in severely cold regions as the object of carbon emission reduction research. A model of a two-story building in Changchun was constructed, and the life-cycle carbon emissions of reinforced concrete and wood structures were measured using the life-cycle evaluation method as the basis for calculation and simulation with DesignBuilderVer.7 software. The results show that the life-cycle carbon emission of a wood structure house is 61.46 t less than that of a reinforced concrete house, and the life-cycle carbon emission reduction rate of a wood structure house is 43.39%. Based on the data, it has been proven that wooden structures effectively reduce carbon dioxide emissions during the building life cycle while enhancing building performance, given the same structural conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China, rapid development has lead to serious environmental pollution. Excessive carbon dioxide emissions have not only caused significant damages to the environment, but also harmed people's health. Subject to carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, cities need to conserve energy and reduce emissions while maintaining steady economic growth, an effective measure for which is to improve carbon efficiency. Carbon efficiency is affected by environmental regulation. As a kind of environmental regulation featuring public participation, environmental information disclosure has become an important measure affecting carbon efficiency. In this paper, we estimated carbon efficiency of Chinese cities with super-efficiency DEA model, analyzed the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of carbon efficiency. Unlike previous literature, we further investigated the impact of environmental information disclosure on carbon efficiency using difference-in-differences model, tested split samples by geographical location and city size to examine the impacts of environmental information disclosure on carbon efficiency in different regions and cities of different sizes, and validated that environmental information disclosure affects carbon efficiency through technological improvements and clean industry substitution. On this basis, we proposed policy measures to improve carbon efficiency, including transforming government functions, offering inter-regional carbon compensation, and establishing a diversified carbon emissions reduction system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the Chinese government's carbon neutral target, digital transformation enabling low-carbon technology innovation has become an innovative starting point to promote the new development concept. We use data from a sample of 270 manufacturing companies in 30 provinces and cities in China, this paper constructs an analysis framework of low-carbon technology innovation in manufacturing driven by digital transformation with knowledge reconstruction as the intermediary variable and knowledge sharing as the regulating variable, and empirically explores the impact of digital transformation on lowcarbon technology innovation. It is found that the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry has a significant positive impact on low-carbon technology innovation, and is an important power source to promote low-carbon technology innovation. Knowledge reconstruction plays a part of intermediary role between digital transformation and low-carbon technology innovation, and plays a key role as a bridge. Knowledge sharing plays a positive role in digital transformation, knowledge reconstruction and low-carbon technology innovation. The research clarified the differences and suitability in the process of low-carbon technology innovation in the digitally enabled manufacturing industry and answered the question of how to effectively use knowledge management to realize digitalization and help the industrial low-carbon innovation and upgrading in the digital economy era, which has important reference significance for guiding the green and high-quality development of the industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employment is the foundation of people ’s livelihoods, and a low-carbon transition is a key development theme for China in the future. The impact of reducing CO2 emissions as a hard macroeconomic constraint on the labor market is an important economic issue. This paper used China’s low-carbon city pilot policy as a representative policy to study the low-carbon transition. Firstly, based on the analysis of typical economic facts and policy texts, it was found that there might exist two distinct low-carbon transition approaches in China. The study then examined the differences in the policy impact on labor employment in the first and second batches of pilot cities, analyzed the underlying mechanisms, and finally constructed a general equilibrium model based on the empirical findings to further elaborate the heterogeneous impact pathways from a theoretical perspective. The study showed that: ① There was a difference in the policy impact on employment in the first and second batches of pilot cities. The policy increased employment in secondary and tertiary industries and total employment in the first batch of pilot cities, but it increased employment in tertiary industries and decreased employment in secondary industries in the second batch of pilot cities. ② There was a difference in the mechanisms of policy impact on employment in the first and second batches of pilot cities. Under the influence of the policy, the first batch of pilot cities adopted the low-carbon transition approach of focusing resources on the secondary industry, while the second batch of pilot cities adopted the lowcarbon transition approach of focusing resources on the tertiary industry. ③ The low-carbon transition approaches of the two batches of pilot cities had their own advantages and disadvantages. The approach of the first batch of pilot cities achieved a reduction in total CO2 emissions and an increase in the number of jobs, with the disadvantage of increasing the intensity of CO2 emissions and reducing the disposable income of workers, failing to improve the quality of employment. However, the approach of the second batch of pilot cities reduced the intensity of CO2 emissions, increased employment in the tertiary industry, and increased the disposable income of workers, effectively improving the quality of employment but failing to achieve a reduction in total CO2 emissions and an increase in total employment. Accordingly, China’s goals of reaching peak carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality can be achieved either by industrial transformation and upgrading or by enhancing the development of the tertiary industry, but the best way is to develop the tertiary industry on the basis of industrial transformation and upgrading without blindly adopting the de-industrialization approach to achieve the peak carbon emission goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the launch of a unified national carbon market in China, its synergistic effects on promoting carbon emission reduction in the power industry with renewable energy subsidies are noteworthy. The traditional view is that the total amount of carbon emissions is fixed under the carbon trading policy and the renewable energy subsidy policy under the total amount control will no longer play an additional role in reducing emissions, and would even lead to excessive carbon market quotas, distorting carbon market prices. This paper establishes a general equilibrium analysis framework for national carbon trading and examines the parallel emission reduction effects of renewable energy subsidies in the power industry and the national carbon market and their policy synergy paths. The results show that: ① The national carbon market and renewable energy subsidy policy for the power industry would both bring about CO2 emission reduction in the whole industry. ② The carbon market that only covers the power industry would produce a ‘carbon leakage’ effect, which would lead to an increase in carbon emissions in non-power industries. On this basis, continuing the renewable energy subsidies may alleviate the ‘carbon leakage’ by means of the transfer of production factors among industries or lead to excessive carbon market quotas by ‘greening’ the power production structure. ③ Considering two sources of renewable energy subsidies: the one-time tax on residents (resident income tax) and the renewable energy electricity price surcharge (electricity consumption tax), the emission reduction effect of the former resource is better than that of the latter resource, and the latter may even cause ‘cross-border damage.’ ④ The renewable energy subsidies would lead to a decrease in the carbon market transaction price. The FIT is better than the FIP, and it is necessary to increase the total amount of constraints to effectively restrain the decline of carbon trade prices. As the carbon market expands and improves, renewable energy subsidies can be gradually reduced or even eliminated to avoid their impact on the carbon market price. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fundamental way for China to achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality is to continuously improve the penetration of renewable energy (RE) in the power system and establish an electricity mix dominated by RE power. According to China's 14th Five-Year Plan, the proportion of non-fossil energy power generation should reach about 39% by 2025. However, the impact of the increase in share of RE power on carbon emissions of the electricity sector remains to be estimated. To this end, the purpose of this paper is to capture the nonlinear characteristics of RE on electricity-related carbon emissions by using panel smooth transition regression (PSTR) model and provincial panel data covering the period 1991–2020 under the background of provincial RE quota system. The estimation results indicate that, (i) in the four transition variables of PSTR model such as the installed capacity of power generation, substation equipment capacity, total electricity consumption and total power generation, the nexus between RE deployment and electricity-related carbon emissions was detected as nonlinear. (ii) The heterogeneous RE carbon abatement effect is reflected in its increasing penetration in provincial power systems. (iii) Carbon abatement performance of RE generation decreases in the negative range with the increase of transition variables. (iv) The estimation coefficient of RE is positive at the higher value of the transition variable in the PSTR model of carbon emissions per capita. As a result, the RE quota with the best emission abatement performance should be designed based on the provincial power resource endowment and the medium and long-term expected electricity consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China, there has been insufficient study of whole food system greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting, which limits the development of mitigation strategies and may preclude the achievement of carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals. The paper presents the development of a carbon extension of NUFER (NUtrient flows in Food chain, Environment and Resources use model), a food system GHG emission accounting model that covers land use and land-use change, agricultural production, and post-production subsectors. The spatiotemporal characteristics of GHG emissions were investigated for the Chinese food system (CFS) from 1992 to 2017, with a focus on GHG emissions from the entire system. The potential to achieve a low-carbon food system in China was explored. The net GHG emissions from the CFS increased from 785 Tg CO2 equivalent (CO2-eq) in 1992 to 1080 Tg CO2-eq in 2017. Agricultural activities accounted for more than half of the total emissions during the study period, while agricultural energy was the largest contributor to the GHG increase. In 2017, highest emitting regions were located in central and southern China (Guangdong and Hunan), the North China Plain (Shandong, Henan and Jiangsu) and Northeast China (Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia) and contributed to over half of the total GHG emissions. Meanwhile, Xinjiang, Qinghai and Tibet are shown as carbon sink areas. It was found that food-system GHG emissions could be reduced to 355 Tg CO2-eq, where enhancing endpoint mitigation technologies, transforming social-economic and diet conditions, and increasing agricultural productivities can contribute to 60%, 25% and 15%, respectively. Synergistic mitigation effects were found to exist in agricultural activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animal husbandry is a major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in agriculture. Mitigating the emissions from the livestock sector is vital for green development of agriculture in China. Based on National Communication on Climate Change of United Nations, this study aims to investigate the characteristics of GHG emissions of animal husbandry during 1994 to 2014, introduce major emission reduction technologies and their effectiveness, and investigate options for emission reduction for the livestock sector in China. It proposes that control of pollution and carbon emissions can be realized through increased animal productivity, improved feed quality and recycling of animal manure. This paper thus concludes with suggestions of green and low-carbon development of animal husbandry, including the research and development of new technology for emission reduction and carbon sequestration of the livestock sector, enhancement of monitoring and evaluation, and establishment of emission reduction and carbon sequestration standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rise of the global green low-carbon energy revolution and the advanced implementation of the '30·60' carbon peaking and carbon neutrality strategy proposed by China, the development of the offshore wind industry is greatly encouraged in China. The wind energy resources in Fujian sea area are excellent, but due to the geological characteristics in the area, rock-socketed pile foundations are very common. Taking Pile No.13 for Changjiang'ao Offshore Wind Power Project in Pingtan, Fujian, as an example, this paper introduces the key technology involved in the 'Driving-Drilling-Driving' technology for construction of Type I monopile foundations and the five aspects that need to be considered emphatically during the construction, and illustrates the related calculation and evaluation process, which can provide some useful reference for subsequent similar projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to achieve the goal of carbon peaking and carbon neutralization, we must vigorously develop renewable energy. As one of the important renewable energy sources, the development and utilization of biomass energy has a high cost, and it is difficult to compete with traditional fossil energy in the early stage of development. Therefore, it is necessary for the government to escort the development of the biomass energy industry through legal means. First of all, on the basis of fully analyzing the development prospects of China's biomass energy, the article sorts out the laws and regulations related to biomass energy in China, and finds the shortcomings. Secondly, this paper draws on the institutional experience of the United States, Brazil, Sweden and other countries with relatively developed biomass energy industry, and provides suggestions for improvement from three aspects: law, policy and administrative system, with a view to supporting China's development of biomass energy industry and realizing the "dual carbon target" theoretically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retrofitting buildings to achieve improved levels of energy performance is a key strategy in the transition to a low-/net zero carbon future. In China, there has been an enormous growth in residential construction in recent decades in response to the country's economic development and population growth. However, although these buildings are structurally solid and have long functional life spans, most have very poor thermal performance. Therefore, they would be very suitable for energy retrofitting. Because of the variety of retrofitting options, it is important to review the retrofit measures, regulations and possible outcomes to find effective, long-term solutions that strike a balance between the energy saved, the carbon emitted and the financial costs over a building's lifetime. This paper reviews suitable retrofit measures for the hot summer–cold winter region of China, because this is an area with huge numbers of residential buildings that are suitable for energy retrofitting. The study explores the current conditions of targeted residential buildings, retrofit schemes, building regulations, and policy gaps towards achieving China's 2060 carbon neutrality goal. The review indicates that current mandatory building energy regulations in this region are not ambitious enough to achieve a significantly lower carbon future, and one-step deep Passivhaus retrofit schemes are recommended to achieve decarbonization goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Controlling household consumption is an essential means to achieve carbon neutrality in China, and population ageing has an important impact on its structure. Since older people exhibit different consumption patterns than younger people, an increase in the proportion of aged people affects overall consumption patterns. This paper adopts an input–output model to reflect the heterogeneity in the consumption structure and household carbon footprint of different age groups, followed by a simulation of the future household carbon footprint. The results find that in China, the total household carbon footprint shows an inverted U-shape with age, with the lowest total carbon footprint coming from aged households (age of household head 65 and above) and the highest total carbon footprint from middle-aged households (age of household head 45–54). The average household carbon footprint decreases with age, with aged households remaining the lowest. Aged households, however, have the highest share of the direct carbon footprint. Interestingly, urban households of all ages have a higher carbon footprint than rural households, with the largest difference being among aged households. The projection results show that based on demographic changes, although the average household carbon footprint of elderly households in China is low, as the number of elderly households increases, the total carbon footprint of elderly households will be sizable and need to be taken seriously. The total carbon footprint of elderly households will become more significant and sizable as the number of elderly households increases. Urban life is more carbon-intensive, and China's urbanization is leading to an increase in the carbon footprint. Aged households require more attention in future climate policies. Targeted, consumption-based climate policies are necessary for carbon reduction in China and will have relevance in other countries with similar consumption structure and demographic trends, e.g. with ageing or rapidly urbanizing populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As global climate governance has become a global concern, equilibrium and competition among countries have entered a new stage. Developed countries have tried to hedge emissions reduction investment through policy design. The United States and European countries are simultaneously working on the formulation of carbon tariff policies, with the intention of competing for the leading role in global climate governance. The Biden administration in the United States has frequently acted on climate policies, trying to avoid the restriction of a nationally unified carbon pricing and introducing a more subjective collection standard at the level of environmental bill formulation. The implementation of carbon tariff policies may cause changes in international political and economic patterns and stimulate confrontations between countries of the Global North and those of the Global South. In the meantime, these policies may deteriorate the terms of trade of developing countries and reduce the scale of international trade. Furthermore, they may affect the current pattern of global climate governance and intensify the game between countries of the Global North and those of the Global South. Finally, they may undermine the foundation of international cooperation and the external environment in China's climate field, reduce the scale of China's foreign trade and corporate competitiveness, and have a negative impact on China's industrial development and lowcarbon transformation. Active response is an important starting point for protecting China's domestic interests. This paper suggests that attention should be paid to: ① the consolidation of the South-South cooperation and competition for the voice of international climate rules based on the principle of 'common but differentiated responsibilities' (CDR); ② the strengthening of trade response, the formulation of carbon tariff response plans in advance, the intensification of policy tracking, research, and judgment, and the exploration of policy tools of carbon tariff countermeasures; ③ the optimization of the industrial layout, the deepening of the supply-side reform, the abandonment of the development mode of high energy consumption and high pollution, and the acceleration of green transformation and lowcarbon development; ④ the improvement of the carbon market system and mechanism by establishing a complete carbon emission accounting standard system, the optimization of the domestic carbon tax legal system as well as the collection and management mechanisms, and the improvement of China's carbon trading market system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has made remarkable achievements in reducing carbon emissions in recent years. However, there is still much reduction room before achieving carbon neutrality. In Beijing, the capital of China, it is a strategic choice to respond to global climate change by promoting green and low-carbon development. This paper calculates the carbon dioxide emissions of key industries in Beijing and analyzes the temporal evolution trend of carbon emissions. Carbon dioxide emissions in Beijing before 2030 are predicted based on the grey prediction GM (1,1) and BP neural network model. The effects of factors of carbon dioxide emissions are discussed using the threshold regression model under different economic conditions. The results show that energy consumption intensity, GDP per capita, and the ownership of civil cars have a positive impact on carbon dioxide emissions, while the number of permanent residents and urban green space areas have a negative impact on carbon dioxide emissions. These findings of carbon emission prediction and influencing factors contribute to carbon reduction path design. Related policy implications on carbon emission reduction are put forward from the aspects of promoting industrial upgrading, accelerating the construction of advanced economic structures, optimizing transportation structures, and strengthening green building development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With breakthroughs in big data, communication networks, artificial intelligence, and other next-generation information technologies, intelligent production methods and digital lifestyles have risen rapidly. Digital economy has become a significant force in promoting regional low-carbon development as a new economic form in the important period of the intersection of digitalization and "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals." This paper empirically explores the moderating role and threshold role of human capital in digital economy and regional carbon productivity by systematically measuring digital economy indicators. Research shows that China's digital economy development index is rising annually. However, the development of digital economy varies significantly between different regions. The results of moderating effect showed that human capital accumulation could dramatically strengthen the role of digital economy in promoting regional carbon productivity. The results of the threshold effect showed that human capital plays an important threshold role in the relationship between digital economy and regional carbon productivity. This paper provides a practical reference for exploring power sources, policy design, and path selection of low-carbon development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With breakthroughs in big data, communication networks, artificial intelligence, and other next-generation information technologies, intelligent production methods and digital lifestyles have risen rapidly. Digital economy has become a significant force in promoting regional low-carbon development as a new economic form in the important period of the intersection of digitalization and "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals." This paper empirically explores the moderating role and threshold role of human capital in digital economy and regional carbon productivity by systematically measuring digital economy indicators. Research shows that China's digital economy development index is rising annually. However, the development of digital economy varies significantly between different regions. The results of moderating effect showed that human capital accumulation could dramatically strengthen the role of digital economy in promoting regional carbon productivity. The results of the threshold effect showed that human capital plays an important threshold role in the relationship between digital economy and regional carbon productivity. This paper provides a practical reference for exploring power sources, policy design, and path selection of low-carbon development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To achieve carbon peak targets, realize carbon neutrality vision, and tackle global climate change, China must improve the carbon emission performance at the city level. Based on the carbon emission performance of 191 prefecture-level cities in China from 1997 to 2017, this paper analyses the evolution characteristics of urban carbon emission performance from three aspects: the overall spatial and temporal evolution, the differences according to both region and city size, and the differences among clusters categorized by carbon emission performance at the city level. This paper also reveals the impact of the social and economic transition on China's carbon emission performance. The results show that: (1) The overall level of carbon emission performance of Chinese cities is low, and there is a downward trend during the study period. The differences in carbon emission performance among cities are convergent, but there is a wide gap between high and low values. (2) The carbon emission performance of cities in eastern coastal areas is higher than that in non-coastal areas cities. Large urban agglomerations and economically developed regions, such as provincial capitals, are the agglomeration areas of high urban carbon emission performance values. (3) The carbon emission performance level of cities with similar sizes will converge. At the same time, such changes will enhance the differences among carbon emission performances at the city level within the same region. (4) Cities that belong to high urban carbon emission performance clusters are mainly distributed in the eastern region. Such cities are classified into large cities, supercities, and megacities. Compared with low urban carbon emission performance clusters, cities in high urban carbon emission performance clusters show a higher proportion in the medium-high level and high level of carbon emission performance. Moreover, cities in high urban carbon emission performance clusters are more likely to improve theirurban carbon emission performance. (5) The economic agglomeration effect, industrial structure adjustment and carbon intensity reduction have a significant impact on improving urban carbon emission performance. Population agglomeration has an incremental effect, and the anticipated benefits of environmental regulation have yet to be fully realized. The impacts of different clusters and different regions are variable. Finally, this paper advances policy enlightenment according to its research findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With breakthroughs in big data, communication networks, artificial intelligence, and other next-generation information technologies, intelligent production methods and digital lifestyles have risen rapidly. Digital economy has become a significant force in promoting regional low-carbon development as a new economic form in the important period of the intersection of digitalization and "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals." This paper empirically explores the moderating role and threshold role of human capital in digital economy and regional carbon productivity by systematically measuring digital economy indicators. Research shows that China's digital economy development index is rising annually. However, the development of digital economy varies significantly between different regions. The results of moderating effect showed that human capital accumulation could dramatically strengthen the role of digital economy in promoting regional carbon productivity. The results of the threshold effect showed that human capital plays an important threshold role in the relationship between digital economy and regional carbon productivity. This paper provides a practical reference for exploring power sources, policy design, and path selection of low-carbon development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes the new progress in building China's national carbon market since 2020, and analyzes the connotation of China's carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals ("dual carbon" goals) and its significance to socio-economic development in China. Through case analysis, this paper expounds the role of China's recent carbon trading activities in promoting the transition toward green and low-carbon socio-economic development. On that basis, this paper conceives a top-level design for building the national carbon market that serves the "dual carbon" goals: building and improving the national carbon market that fundamentally serves as an emission reduction tool, developing the institutions and systems of the national carbon market with a focus on emission cap, creating a multilevel and diversified carbon trading scheme centered on the national carbon market, exploring a mechanism that takes carbon emission reduction as the core and promotes the synergistic effect of the carbon market with other environmental rights trading markets, and pursuing the healthy and orderly development of carbon finance that aims to serve carbon emission reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The achievement of the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality targets requires the adjustment of the energy structure, in which the dual-carbon progress of the power industry will directly affect the realization process of the goal. In such terms, an accurate demand forecast is imperative for the government and enterprises' decision makers to develop an optimal strategy for electric energy planning work in advance. According to the data of the whole social electricity consumption in Jiangsu Province of China from 2015 to 2019, this paper uses the improved particle swarm optimization algorithm to calculate the fractional-order r of the FGM (1, 1) model and establishes a metabolic FGM (1, 1) model to predict the whole social electricity consumption in Jiangsu Province of China from 2020 to 2023. The results show that in the next few years the whole social electricity consumption in Jiangsu Province will show a growth trend, but the growth rate will slow down generally. It can be seen that the prediction accuracy of the metabolic FGM (1, 1) model is higher than that of the GM (1, 1) and FGM (1, 1) models. In addition, the paper analyzes the reasons for the changes in the whole society electricity consumption in Jiangsu Province of China and provides support for government decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals have proposed by many countries, including China. Meanwhile, China has also proposed the construction of a new-type electric power system with new energy as the main body, which will have great impacts on coal-fired power generation enterprises. The transformation of coal-fired power enterprises is imperative, and the evaluation of the organizational performance of coal-fired power enterprises is urgent, which can accurately determine the development status and even can find issues related to the transformation of coal-fired power enterprises. In this paper, a hybrid evaluation model is proposed based on the Variational Auto-Encoder algorithm and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method improved by a vague set to comprehensively evaluate the organizational performance of coal-fired power enterprises. Eight coal-fired power enterprises in North China are selected for empirical analysis. The results show that the YC coal-fired power enterprise has the best organizational performance, while the NK coal-fired power enterprise has the worst organizational performance. Moreover, sensitivity and comparative analyses are carried out to verify the robustness of the evaluation result using the proposed hybrid method in this paper. This paper focuses on the organizational performance evaluation of coal-fired power enterprises, which can provide a reference for the smooth transformation and sustainable development of coal-fired power enterprises in the context of "Dual-Carbon" goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]