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Using the available information and a standard econometric approach analyzing the time series dataset, this study identifies the interactions between electricity, fossil fuel and carbon market prices in Guangdong, China. The result confirms a long running co-integration between carbon market prices and the prices of coal, diesel and liquid natural gas (LNG). Conversely, fossil fuel prices have no impact on the short term dynamics of carbon prices. The price of electricity on the monthly forward market in Guangdong is significantly and positively associated with the first difference of the price of coal, but has no significant relationship with the first differences of carbon, diesel and LNG prices. This analysis provides certain implications for ongoing power sector reform and nationwide carbon market development in China. The liberalization of the power industry should be further advanced to create conditions for carbon cost pass-through on to the electricity market. Meanwhile, the national emissions trading scheme (ETS) should apply simpler and stricter benchmarks to allocate emissions allowances for the power sector. Fewer categories of benchmarks promote competition among different types of power generators and a shift to an electricity supply portfolio with lower carbon intensity. Stricter benchmarks create more demand for emissions allowances and result in higher carbon market prices. To increase the ratio of emissions allowances by auctioning is also necessary to put substantial pressure on thermal power plants to pass their carbon costs on to end users. • This paper identifies the interactions between electricity, fossil fuel and carbon market prices. • A standard econometric approach is used to analyze the time series data in Guangdong, China. • The result confirms a long run co-integration between the prices of carbon and fossil fuels. • Carbon price change is not a significant factor to electricity prices of the monthly forward market. • This study gives insights to China's power sector reform and national carbon market development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study estimates the effect of carbon pricing for CO 2 mitigation in China’s cement industry. The statistics and prediction show that cement production initially experienced accelerated growth and is now expected to plateau out over the next few years. The energy saving and carbon mitigation technologies considered in this estimation are at different adoption stages. Full technology diffusion is expected within 10–20 years, and the remaining technology mitigation potential stands at about 8.8% by 2025 and 10.2% by 2030. Nevertheless, attaching a price to carbon would have a limited effect. Reductions of 9.9 and 12.9 Mt-CO 2 might have been realised in 2015 under respective prices of 60 and 100 Yuan/t-CO 2 , compared to a non-pricing scenario. The reduction attributed to carbon pricing would be around 4.9 Mt-CO 2 in 2020 at both price levels, and around 70% of the mitigation may be at a marginal cost of 50 Yuan/t-CO 2 by 2020. The marginal cost for nearly 90% of the policy mitigation would be below 100 Yuan/t-CO 2 by 2030. This paper confirms the effectiveness of a command-and-control approach so far for energy saving in China’s cement industry and advises early introduction of a carbon pricing regime with consideration of policy interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study estimates how carbon price affects diffusion of low carbon technologies using data collected from 60 iron & steel companies in China. The analysis indicates that the industry is familiar with related key energy saving and low carbon technologies and has made much progress in energy saving, but efforts in carbon management need improving. An average payback time threshold of 4.1 years was found as regards decision in invest in technology. The three target technologies were adopted by companies to different extents. Carbon emissions pricing was found to be ineffective in promoting the scale-up or further adoption of economically advantageous technologies such as dry top pressure recovery turbine (Dry TRT) and energy management centre (EMC) technology. A moderate carbon price for sintering waste heat recovery power generation (Sintering WHR), which has adoption potential in China's iron & steel industry, may generate comparatively significant effects for diffusion. This research sheds light on how diffusion of low carbon technologies would be affected and the consequences thereof on climate policy development for the target sector in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study estimates the effect of using carbon pricing to promote the diffusion of low carbon technologies based on data collected from 78 cement companies in China. The analysis confirms that they are familiar with major energy saving and low carbon technologies in the sector and have made efforts in energy saving, but are lagging in terms of carbon management. An average payback time of 3.3 years is confirmed as the threshold for cement companies to determine technology investment. The adoptions of target technologies in this survey are at different stages; WHR (waste heat recovery power generation) systems have been largely diffused and the effect of carbon pricing is highly marginal for further adoption. On the other hand, levying a moderate carbon price, i.e., 60 Yuan/t-CO 2 , may accelerate the diffusion of EMOS (energy management and optimisation systems), recently introduced in China's cement industry. This research goes some way to clarifying the diffusion of low carbon technologies and provides implications for climate countermeasures for the target sector in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper measures the company's awareness and acceptability of market-based instruments (MBIs) for energy saving, and identifies their relationships with pre-classified determinants. The data were collected from 170 respondents mainly from iron & steel, cement and chemical sectors in China. The surveyed companies indicate moderate awareness but good acceptability of MBIs in overall. In contrast to the regulative polices, MBIs and voluntary approaches are more appreciated by the samples. There exist significant and positive relationships between a company's size and its awareness and acceptability of MBIs. This analysis suggests that a company's policy acceptability would be largely determined by the company's perceived policy influences on its comparative competition. The companies would make internal efforts to offset energy cost increases due to the possible introduction of economic pressure policies while being reluctant to simply transfer the policy burden to their clients. Empirical evidences on the conditions for the success of MBIs from this study are meaningful for supporting the future progress of industrial energy saving policies in China. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper estimates the affordability of increased energy costs for Chinese companies due to the possible introduction of carbon pricing policies. The data were collected from 121 valid respondents in Taicang, China, using a multiple-bounded discrete choice (MBDC) format. Estimations indicate that a mean of 8.5% in energy cost increase would be acceptable for the surveyed companies on the whole. Companies from chemical and dyeing industries expressed a slightly higher affordability, with the mean of acceptable energy cost increase being 9.8% and 9.4% respectively. Econometric analysis identified two determinants of affordability for companies. One is the current energy price level, having a significant but negative relationship with affordability. The other is the energy management strategies of companies, significantly and positively associated with affordability. Calculations indicate that the mean of affordable energy cost increases for companies roughly equals a carbon price of 60 CNY/t-CO2 (about 9 USD/t-CO2). This result may be used as a referendum during the development of carbon tax policy and the establishment of a domestic carbon emissions trading scheme in China from the perspective of individual companies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper measures the company''s awareness and acceptability of market-based instruments (MBIs) for energy saving, and identifies their relationships with pre-classified determinants. The data were collected from 121 respondents in Taicang, China, with almost all of them being small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The surveyed companies indicate moderate awareness of MBIs at present. Market competition is confirmed to function as a driver for the companies to collect strategic information and thus enhance their policy awareness. The samples with higher education level of employees indicate higher awareness of MBIs. In contrast to the regulative polices, MBIs and voluntary approaches are more appreciated by the companies. The companies in the survey area prefer to make internal efforts in response to energy cost increases due to the implementation of carbon pricing policies and are reluctant to simply transfer the policy burden to their customers. Empirical evidences on the conditions for policy success from this study are meaningful for supporting further progress of industrial energy saving policies in China. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper seeks to measure industrial energy saving activities (ESAs) and identify their major determinant factors by an empirical study of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Taicang city, China. The surveyed SMEs indicate high participation ratios of pre-classified ESAs even with weak regulation and limited support from industrial associations at present. The classified factors are partly confirmed by the econometric analysis. The energy management level of competitors and internal training on energy saving have significant and positive influences on a company’s involvement level of ESAs. The findings suggest that Chinese policy makers should gradually expand the regulative requirements currently focusing on the large energy-consuming companies to SMEs. Providing economic incentives and technical support are important for assisting the SMEs in better practice of ESAs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper develops an analytical framework based on the reasoned action theory and discusses the environmental activism (EA) of residents living close to the polluting companies. The data was collected by a questionnaire survey conducted in August of 2009 in Suzhou city of Jiangsu Province, China, which successfully obtained a total of 343 valid responses. The survey suggests that the residents are reluctant to act against their neighboring polluters. Nearly 10% respondents have never taken any action against the polluters, and the occasional EA participators account for 66.2% of the total. The items of EA, which require the residents to directly communicate with the governments or polluters, achieve very low ratios of participations (with a range of 5–25%). The path analysis confirms that there are large influences of certain attitudinal components on EA involvement. Understanding of corporate environmental information significantly determines the resident’s intention of EA practices. The residents have an obvious tendency to act collectively against the polluters. An essential message of this study is that the strategy of corporate environmental information disclosure may effectively increase the resident’s readiness of EA participation. The government shall responsively support the residents’ EA efforts since successful environmental protests will greatly convince them to jointly act against their neighboring polluters. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper analyzes the functions of a government-oriented disclosure program in China, which rates company environmental performance into five colors and discloses the results to the public. The rating results and their annual changes during 2005–2007 are statistically summarized by using the detailed database provided by municipal environmental protection bureau of the study area: Changshu city in Jiangsu province. The reflexive, deterrent and enhancement mechanisms, preliminarily identified for the disclosure program, are qualitatively evaluated by using the information collected by onsite interviews to 32 program participating firms. In overall, the firms'' environmental performances have been improved. The companies with worse rating records would be more likely to improve their environmental performances in the following years. The disclosure program encourages the firms to be more reflexive to their internal environmental problems. The deterrent and enhancement functions of the program are weak due to the marginal pressure from the classified stakeholders such as investors, business partners and creditors. The influence of the public, such as neighboring communities and environmental NGOs, is weak too. Encouraging serious reactions of firm''s stakeholders to the disclosed rating results should be addressed in order to enhance the effectiveness of the disclosure strategy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In order to help understand the environmental disclosure mechanism from the corporate perspective, this paper identifies the determinant factors affecting the disclosure level of corporate environmental information on the basis of stakeholder theory, and gives an empirical observation on Chinese listed companies. The corporate environmental information disclosure (EID) level appears to be marginal in current Chinese context. Nearly 40% of the sampled companies opened no substantial environmental data to the public as could be seen from the content analysis of disclosed information. The present condition is that the EID strategy of Chinese listed companies is oriented to fill up the government''s environmental concerns. The corporate EID effort is significantly relative to its environmental sensitivity (a proxy of the pressure from the government) and its size. The role of other stakeholders, like shareholders and creditors tested in this study in effecting the EID, is found to be still weak. Another interesting finding is that the sampled companies are selectively opening their environmental information. Companies operating in eastern coastal regions, where the economy has been relatively developed, are more likely to disclose emission-related data. The better the company''s economic performance, the more information on environmental investment and pollution control cost is disclosed. More concerns of the firm''s stakeholders on environmental issues shall be promoted in order to encourage Chinese enterprises to disclose more environmental information and accordingly become more proactive for improving their environmental performance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents an economic evaluation of three typical recycling processes for the five main types of waste electronic home appliances (EHA) (TV set, refrigerator, washing machine, air conditioner and personal computer) in Beijing, the capital of China. The main purpose is to identify the formal management framework with economic feasibility for the waste EHA generated in large municipalities of China. It is found that the advanced technologies, which have mechanical processing units, should be introduced to recover more valuable materials from the waste appliances. Net revenues with a range of 90–240RMB (Chinese currency unit, 1.0USD≈8.0RMB) per unit, depend on the type of appliance, could be expected in case of using the most complicated procedures which can separate both metals and plastics from the shredded mixtures. However, the recycling of waste refrigerator and waste washing machine will, respectively, spend about 100 and 6RMB per unit if solely by simple manual dismantling. Revenues from recycling of the other three types of appliances are positive but quite low in this case. Although positive revenues could be achieved from the isolated evaluation of recycling, the entire management system, which also covers the phases of collection and transportation, is economically infeasible if the waste appliances are bought from the households still at current prices. Based on a survey of the householder''s attitude to the cost for waste EHA management, which was conducted earlier, the practical way to construct a formal management system for waste EHA in Beijing is to reduce the citizen''s traditional expectation to the values of waste appliances and encourage their transfer to the formal collection system at lower prices. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Households may imperfectly implement energy saving measures. This study identifies two factors resulting in imperfect use of energy-saving technology by households. Households often continue to use old technologies alongside new ones, and the energy-saving technologies have shorter actual lifetimes than their designed lifetimes. These two factors are considered when computing marginal energy conservation cost and marginal CO 2 abatement cost using data collected from a survey of rural households in three provinces in China. The results show that there are cost reduction for most space heating technologies, and their marginal abatement cost under full implementation ranges from −60 to 15 USD/t-CO 2 , while the marginal abatement cost of cooking technologies ranges from 12 to 85 USD/t-CO 2 . The marginal abatement costs of the majority of technologies increased after accounting for the two implementation factors. The marginal abatement cost in the imperfect implementation scenario is higher, with a range of −1 to 15 USD/t-CO 2 for space heating, and 18 to 165 USD/t-CO 2 for cooking. Assuming implementation factors are constant until 2035, annually achievable CO 2 abatement by 2035 is estimated to be 57, 11, and 10 Mt-CO 2 /y in Hebei, Guizhou, and Guangxi Provinces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Using China’s environmental statistical data set for the period 2001–2006, this paper presents an extensive empirical analysis of the relationships among citizens’ environmental complaints, pollution intensities, and socio-economic characteristics. We found that exposure to harmful pollutants significantly influence people’s complaint behaviors because higher densities of chemical oxygen demand and SO2 emissions are correlated with a higher incidence of citizen’s complaints of water pollution and air pollution, respectively. In terms of demographical variables, household income has significantly positive impacts on the likelihood of citizens lodging environmental complaints regarding air, water, and solid waste pollution. Citizens in municipality and coastal regions tend to complain more than those in interior regions. Our results support the view that environmental complaints can provide valuable information for regulators to efficiently allocate inspection resources; however, the information may be noisy since complaints are more likely to arise from wealthier and more-educated regions. In order to mitigate this problem, we argue that it may be helpful to strengthen basic education in poorer regions and to encourage environmental information disclosure for attracting more people’s attention to pollution problems. In addition, regular inspection capabilities in poor and seriously polluted regions must be enhanced for investigating regulatory violation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]