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China's economic development strategy is undergoing an evolution from foreign to domestic circulation mainly, and at the same time faces the rigid constraints of "carbon peak before 2030" and "carbon neutrality before 2060". However, both domestic and foreign trade also have an important impact on carbon dioxide emissions. To this end, this paper uses China's 2017 multi-regional Input-Output table to systematically simulate the impact of the new development pattern on carbon emissions from the comprehensive perspective of production and consumption. Our simulations find that when the foreign circulation disappears, the total economic output will be hit hard, and carbon emissions will be greatly reduced; when the foreign circulation orientation weakens and the intensity of the domestic circulation is increased, the total economic output will increase to varying degrees, but the total carbon emissions will also increase by a certain extent. Among them, the increase in carbon emissions at the living end accounts for a considerable proportion, while the carbon emissions of electricity, heat production and supply, transportation, warehousing and postal services, metal smelting and rolling processing industries at the production end increase more. From a policy perspective, the government should promote green production and green consumption to achieve a balance between economic growth and carbon emission reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to cope with the climate problem of global warming and respond to the call of the United Nations to reduce carbon emissions, China has put the goals of carbon peaking in 2030 and carbon neutrality in 2060 forward and has promoted the transformation and upgrading of the economic development mode and the green, low-carbon development path. In international practice, various countries have widely adopted the carbon trading market and tax policy as effective carbon emission reduction mechanisms and tools. In 2012, China implemented a carbon trading pilot project and established a national unified carbon trading market in 2021 based on accumulated experience, but the carbon tax has not yet been introduced. According to the international carbon tax practice and the current situation in China, the introduction of the carbon tax is conducive to the establishment of a sound carbon emission reduction system and the promotion of green and low-carbon development from the macro-control level. In this paper, we analyzed the necessity and theoretical research of carbon tax policy in China and explored the feasibility of a carbon tax in China by combining the internationally advanced carbon tax practice. By establishing a CGE model at the carbon-tax level and using the social accounting matrix (SAM) as the database, we simulated the impact of implementing carbon tax policies under different carbon tax prices on China's environmental and economic benefits and whether the double-dividend effect of a carbon tax can be effectively realized. The results show that the carbon tax will help reduce carbon emissions and significantly affect carbon reduction. However, in the short term, it has a negative effect on economic development. Accordingly, it is suggested that a scientific carbon tax system should be established according to national conditions, and a carbon tax should be introduced at a lower carbon tax price. The carbon tax should be supplemented by carbon tax subsidies to ensure effective carbon emission reduction so as to alleviate the inhibiting effect on economic development. At the same time, the compound carbon emission reduction mechanism of carbon trading and tax should be improved to lay the institutional foundation for the early realization of the carbon neutrality target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon neutrality is becoming an important development goal for regions and countries around the world. Land-use cover/change (LUCC), especially urban growth, as a major source of carbon emissions, has been extensively studied to support carbon-neutral planning. However, studies have typically used methods of small-scale urban growth simulation to model urban agglomeration growth to assist in carbon-neutral planning, ignoring the significant characteristics of the process to achieve carbon neutrality: large-scale and long-term. This paper proposes a framework to model large-scale and long-term urban growth, which couples a quantity module and a spatial module to model the quantity and spatial allocation of urban land, respectively. This framework integrates the inertia of historical land-use change, the driving effects of the urbanization law (S-curve), and the traction of the urban agglomeration network to model the long-term quantity change of urban land. Moreover, it couples a partitioned modeling framework, spatially heterogeneous rules derived by geographically weighted regression (GWR), and quantified land-use planning orientations to build a cellular automata (CA) model to accurately allocate the urbanized cells in a large-scale spatial domain. Taking the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area (GHMGBA) as an example, the proposed framework is calibrated by the urban growth from 2000 to 2010 and validated by that from 2010 to 2020. The figure of merit (FoM) of the results simulated by the framework is 0.2926, and the simulated results are also assessed by some evidence, which both confirm the good performance of the framework to model large-scale and long-term urban growth. Coupling with the coefficients proposed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), this framework is used to project the carbon emissions caused by urban growth in the GHMGBA from 2020 to 2050. The results indicate that Guangzhou, Foshan, Huizhou, and Jiangmen are under great pressure to achieve the carbon-neutral targets in the future, while Hong Kong, Macao, Shenzhen, and Zhuhai are relatively easy to bring up to the standard. This research contributes to the ability of land-use models to simulate large-scale and long-term urban growth to predict carbon emissions and to support the carbon-neutral planning of the GHMGBA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of life expectancy on carbon emission, in Saudi Arabia. Additionally, we examined the role of governance to achieve carbon neutrality status. We used the novel dynamic ARDL technique for estimations. This is one of the pioneer studies that analyze the role of life expectancy to control carbon emissions. The coefficients of life expectancy, education, and political stability are significantly negative. On contrary, governance effectiveness is an obstacle to achieving carbon neutrality. Empirical findings of life expectancy and governance effectiveness are quite surprising. In terms of Vision 2030 estimations, the coefficient of corruption control is significant and negative, indicating that the Saudi government has prioritized corruption control. While governance effectiveness remains positive, the Saudi government still requires governance reforms in order to achieve carbon neutrality goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because container terminals are facing pressure to achieve carbon neutrality in China, saving energy has become an important objective of container terminals. This paper analyzed the movement path of containers between the quay carne and the yard, and found that paths in the vertical direction existed, requiring unnecessary energy consumption. To solve the unnecessary energy consumption problem, a completely new work mode called the high platform operation mode was proposed. In this new mode, a high platform is built above the yard and container trucks drive onto the high platform. By building an energy consumption model to compare the energy consumption of the traditional and new modes, we found that the new mode is able to save 1.478 kWh of electricity compared to the traditional mode when handling one container. A terminal company in Tianjin Port was taken as an example to examine and validate the efficiency of the proposed mode. The computational results indicate that the electricity saved in 12 years would be able to cover the cost of building the high platform, meaning that the new mode could reduce container terminals' energy consumption and accelerate the achievement of carbon neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhancing carbon emission mitigation and carbon utilization have become necessary for the world to respond to climate change caused by the increase of greenhouse gas concentrations. As a result, carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technologies have attracted considerable attention worldwide, especially in China, which plans to achieve a carbon peak before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060. This paper proposed six priorities for China, the current world's largest carbon emitter, to achieve its dual carbon strategy in the green energy transition process. We analyzed and summarized the challenges and potentialities of conventional carbon utilization (CU), carbon capture utilization (CCU), and CCUS. Based on the current development trend, carbon dioxide capture, circular utilization, and storage (CCCUS) technology that integrates carbon circular utilization and partial sequestration, with large-scale underground energy storage were proposed, namely biomethanation. Technically and economically, biomethanation was believed to have an essential contribution to China's renewable energy utilization and storage, as well as the carbon circular economy. The preliminary investigation reveals significant potential, with a corresponding carbon storage capacity of 5.94 × 108 t~7.98 × 108 t and energy storage of 3.29 × 1012 kWh~4.42 × 1012 kWh. Therefore, we believe that in addition to vigorously developing classical CCUS technology, technical research and pilot projects of CCCUS technology that combined large-scale underground energy storage also need to be carried out to complete the technical reserve and the dual-carbon target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has committed to peaking carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and has set a goal of working towards carbon neutrality by 2060. Hunan province is a vital undertaking place for national industrial transfer. It is of great significance for promoting energy conservation and emission reduction to investigate the influencing factors and spatial effects of carbon emissions in Hunan province. Firstly, based on the energy consumption data of Hunan province from 2005 to 2017, this paper uses the method recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to measure the carbon emissions of Hunan province and its economic zones. Secondly, the five-factor Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) model is constructed to analyze the influence degree of population size, economic development, industrial structure, energy intensity, and energy structure on carbon emissions. Finally, the spatial differences of the influencing factors in the four economic zones of Hunan province are analyzed. The research shows that: (1) An overall carbon emission reduction has been achieved in Hunan province since 2011. (2) Changsha–Zhuzhou–Xiangtan Economic Zone is the key area to achieve carbon emission reduction, while there is still the phenomenon of emission increase in the other three economic zones. (3) For all economic zones, economic development contributes the most to the increase in carbon emissions, while energy intensity shows the strongest inhibitory effect. Other factors have various effects on the four economic zones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon ecological compensation is essential to coordinate regional environmental protection, reduce the gap between the economic development of protected areas and beneficiary areas, and achieve carbon neutrality. This paper proposed a theoretical framework for ecological compensation using the theories of carbon balance, externality, ecosystem services, and carbon trading mechanisms. Based on the analysis of the ecological compensation priority sequence in Henan Province, the suppliers and consumers of carbon sequestration were identified, and cross-regional ecological compensation was realized through ecosystem services flow. The results showed that the carbon sequestration supply in Henan Province was characterized as being high in the west and low in the east, while the demand was the opposite. Affected by the suitable environmental conditions, many areas had an ecological surplus pattern, and the carbon sequestration supply was more significant than the demand. Central and south-western Henan Province were distinct ecological compensation payment areas and receiving areas, respectively. Nanyang, which had the largest carbon sequestration flow and the largest ecological contribution to other regions, received the highest ecological compensation fund of CNY 4.069 billion. This study can provide decision support for carbon ecological compensation in the context of carbon neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of global climate governance and China's carbon neutrality target, Shanxi Province, one of China's major energy exporting regions, is under high pressure to achieve carbon neutrality. This paper sets up three carbon source scenarios and three carbon sink scenarios based on the Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning System (LEAP) and CA-Markov models to simulate the future change in carbon source and carbon sink of Shanxi from 2020 to 2060; it analyzes the achievement of the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality targets for each source–sink scenario. The results show that: (1) The total energy consumption and CO2 emissions have increased significantly, from 2000 to 2020, especially in heavy industry; (2) The CO2 emissions are predicted to peak at 381.6 Mt, 294.1 Mt and 282.7 Mt in 2040 (baseline scenario), 2030 (policy scenario), and 2025 (carbon neutrality scenario), respectively. The achievement of the carbon neutrality mainly depends on the reduction in CO2 emissions; (3) If Shanxi Province strives to reach the energy intensity of developed countries by 2060, with 80% of non-fossil energy generation, it has the potential to achieve the carbon neutrality target; (4) The popularization of carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technology will significantly accelerate the achievement of Shanxi Province's carbon neutrality target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to global climate change, China has committed to peaking carbon emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, commonly known as the "30–60 Dual Carbon". Under the background of "30–60 Dual Carbon", this article takes the electric power industry, which is the main industry contributing to China's carbon emission, as the research object, explores the time and peak value of the carbon peak of the electric power industry, and analyzes whether carbon neutrality can be realized under the peak method, so as to get the carbon neutrality path of the electric power industry and serve as the theoretical basis for the formulation of relevant policies. The Environmental Kuznets Curve inspection and the relationship analysis are carried out, then the system dynamics model is constructed, the carbon emissions from 2020 to 2040 are simulated, and the peak time is predicted. Three different scenarios are set to explore the path of electricity carbon neutralization under the premise of a fixed peak. It is shown that Gross Domestic Product per capita index factors have the largest positive contribution, and thermal power share index factors have the largest negative contribution to electricity carbon emissions. Based on the current efforts of the new policy, carbon emissions can achieve the peak carbon emissions' target before 2030, and it is expected to peak in 2029, with a peak range of about 4.95 billion tons. After the power industry peaks in 2029, i.e., Scenario 3, from coal 44%, gas 9% (2029) to coal 15%, gas 7% (2060), where the CCUS technology is widely used, this scenario can achieve carbon neutrality in electricity by 2060. Adjusting the power supply structure, strictly controlling the proportion of thermal power, optimizing the industrial structure, and popularization of carbon capture, utilization, and storage technology will all contribute to the "dual carbon" target of the power sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For Europe to achieve "climate neutrality" by 2050, emissions from all economic sectors must be reduced to the absolute minimum. In addition to changes in raw material extraction and building material production, the construction industry must embrace emission-free construction sites. The present paper suggests a method to calculate carbon emissions on construction sites by defining all fuel-consuming processes while relying on established European standards. A set of system boundaries is defined to single out emissions that occur in the construction industry sphere. These definitions are essential to calculate savings through the entire construction process. This method is subsequently used to assess the carbon balance of four exemplary construction sites in Austria, which cover the total span of the construction life cycle. Results show that the largest share of emissions is attributed to transport during the construction of new buildings, followed by emissions from demolition and building processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel regional carbon emission inequality (RCI) index based on a special kind of general distribution. Using the proposed RCI index and based on China's county-level panel data over the time span of 1997–2017, the regional carbon emission inequality of China is evaluated at intra-provincial, sub-national, and national levels. Based on that, the dependence between regional carbon inequality and carbon efficiency is studied by using copula functions and nonlinear dependence measures. The empirical results show that: (1) Shanghai, Tianjin, and Inner Mongolia have the worst carbon inequalities; while Hainan, Qinghai, and Jiangxi are the three most carbon-equal provinces; (2) there is a divergence phenomenon in RCI values of municipalities over the past decade; (3) from the national-level perspective, the inter-provincial carbon emission inequality is much greater than that at the intra-provincial level; (4) from the sub-national-level perspective, the east region has the highest RCI value, followed by the northeast, west, and the central regions; (5) there is a so-called "efficiency-equality (E-E) trade-off" in each provincial administrative unit, meaning that the higher carbon efficiency generally comes with higher carbon inequality, i.e., carbon efficiency comes at a price of carbon inequality; and (6) by re-grouping provincial units via the efficiency-equality cost and industrial structure, respectively, both carbon equality and carbon efficiency can be achieved in some regions simultaneously, thereby getting out of the "E-E trade-off" dilemma. The empirical evidence may provide valuable insight regarding the topic of "equality and efficiency" in environmental economics, and offer policy implications for regional economic planning and coordination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protecting cultivated land is an urgent mitigation measure for China to reconcile the contradiction between food safety and carbon neutrality. In the context of carbon neutrality, this paper constructs an evolutionary game model among local governments, agricultural technology service organizations (ATSOs), and farmers based on China's cultivated black land, and discusses the factors influencing the strategy choice of each stakeholder group and the final form of evolutionary stabilization strategies adopted by each stakeholder from the perspective of agricultural extension. Through numerical simulations, we reveal that two stable situations exist in the current state of protection of cultivated black land in China: full subject participation and government subject participation only. In order to achieve the optimal realization of the dynamic equilibrium of the three parties, we identify the key issues of cultivated land protection (CLP) and put forward reasonable suggestions, which are summarized as follows: (1) prohibit the excessive subsidies to farmers, and keep the appropriate subsidies at 100~140 CNY/mu to help the protection of cultivated land, if more than 140 CNY/mu is not conducive to the participation of local governments in CLP (mu, a Chinese unit of land measurement that equals to 1/15 a hectare); (2) an increase in the farmers' fines has a dampening effect on farmers digging black soil, and the game model achieves the ideal equilibrium when it reaches 10 billion CNY, which can be implemented as a long-term cultivated land protection policy; (3) maintaining the incentive fund at 5 billion CNY provides the greatest incentive for ATSOs to promote low-carbon agricultural technologies (LCAT), while the production trusteeship subsidies has no beneficial impact on ATSOs; (4) reducing production trusteeship costs and not increasing service charges is the most effective way of incentivizing ATSOs to promote LCAT. This means the service fee is maintained at 400 CNY/mu and the service cost is reduced to 308 CNY/mu. This study reveals the inner mechanism of CLP, provides a theoretical basis for the promotion of CLP technology, and proposes effective cultivated land protection suggestions, aiming to improve the overall implementation effect of CLP in China and help carbon neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increase of carbon emissions accelerates global warming and causes environmental problems. Therefore, research on emission peak and carbon neutrality is of broad interest. In this paper, based on the relationships among carbon emissions, carbon absorption and urban population growth, a delayed differential equations model is established. Then, we analyze the existence and stability of a positive equilibrium point of the system and substitute the data for simulations. Eventually, according to theoretical analysis and numerical simulations, some suggestions for China to achieve the goal of emission peak and carbon neutrality are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blue carbon, the carbon sequestered in vegetated coastal ecosystems, is a potential and practical approach to combating climate change. Many countries have committed to integrating blue carbon into the climate change law and policy framework. As a significant carbon-emitting country, China has abundant blue carbon resources but suffers a significant loss of coastal habitats. Therefore, blue carbon should become a primary focus in China's climate change law and policy. Given the successful experience in terrestrial biosequestration projects, the inclusion of blue carbon into China's carbon trading market can be an essential move and is the primary purpose of this paper. The China Certified Emission Reductions (CCER) scheme is an effective supplementary mechanism to the national carbon trading market. To incorporate blue carbon into the CCER scheme, this article first analyzes the legislative framework underpinning the CCER scheme and indicates some critical factors, including methodology, project boundaries, legal rights, additionality, project period, and crediting period. Subsequently, the article discusses these critical factors in depth to identify legal issues that may emerge and provides several feasible solutions. (i) Dedicated methodologies need to be developed for blue carbon projects, which include a broader definition for carbon abatement activities. (ii) The new national marine functional zoning should delineate zones for the purpose of developing blue carbon projects. (iii) The current authorization system for the right to use sea areas could be used to secure a legal right to develop blue carbon projects. (iv) Additionality requirements should be appropriately adjusted. (v) Extended project periods and crediting periods would be needed. This article offers novel pathways for including blue carbon in China's climate change law and policy framework, thus contributing to achieving its 2060 carbon neutrality goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The earth's average temperature has risen by approximately 1.2 °C since the 1900s. The COP26 resolution aimed to achieve carbon neutrality before 2050, while China has committed a more aggressive timetable to actually achieve the goal. It requires either that activities must not release any greenhouse gases or the emitted greenhouse gases must be offset. The logistics and transport activities contribute a lot to global greenhouse gas emissions on Earth. There are a no. of challenges of the logistics industry that are discussed, then the paradigmatic solutions such as green procurement, green packaging, green transport, and green warehousing, are respectively discussed. The three contemporary concepts of green solutions (circular economy, carbon neutrality and green cocreation) for logistics and transportation are explored. Subsequently, a detailed case study of CN Logistics' contemporary green solutions is used to illustrate how to tackle the problems and exemplify the best practices to the other 3PL players. There are expected changes on green directives from the HKSAR Government on logistics green compliances. Finally, this paper concludes with an appeal to the industry to start the green journey immediately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities are critical research subjects in carbon neutrality, considering they produce more than 70% of greenhouse gas emissions and their crucial role in taking climate actions. The pathway towards a greener society requires consensus, intelligence, and actions among global cities as a network of carbon neutral cities (CNC). Considering cities as complex system-of-systems, synergy among various sub-systems can create co-benefits through the progress towards carbon neutrality. Large volume, velocity, and variety of urban data provide new opportunities for quantifying, analyzing, and visualizing environmental–social–technical dynamics in urban systems. Rich data resources, advanced analytics, and climate actions collectively enable urban intelligence by leveraging data from heterogeneous sources with different spatial granularity and temporal frequency. Such intelligence can promote synergy across sub-systems and domains to support more responsive, precise, proactive planning, policy, and managerial actions. With a discussion on future innovation in urban intelligence for CNC, this paper presents conclusions on how urban intelligence can promote a smarter and greener society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the exponential growth of traffic demand, ultra-dense networks have been proposed to cope with such demand. However, the increase of the network density causes more power use, and carbon neutrality becomes an important concept to decrease the emission and production of carbon. In cellular networks, emission and production can be directly related to power consumption. In this paper, we aim to achieve carbon neutrality, as well as maximize network capacity with given power constraints. We assume that base stations have their own renewable energy sources to generate power. For carbon neutrality, we control the power consumption for base stations by adjusting the transmission power and switching off base stations to balance the generated power. Given such power constraints, our goal is to maximize the network capacity or the rate achievable for the users. To this end, we carefully design the objective function and then propose an efficient Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG) algorithm to maximize the objective. A simulation is conducted to validate the benefits of the proposed method. Extensive simulations show that the proposed method can achieve carbon neutrality and provide a better rate than other baseline schemes. Specifically, up to a 63% gain in the reward value was observed in the DDPG algorithm compared to other baseline schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming is a critical crisis threatening human survival and development. International organizations and countries worldwide are introducing policies and practices to achieve carbon neutrality. In China, numerous carbon neutrality policies have been established; however, a systematic understanding of the underlying policy logic is lacking. Using the institutional analysis and development (IAD) framework, this paper analyzes selected carbon neutrality policies in China. We conducted a bibliometric visualization analysis of the texts of 20 policies and matched their logic to the elements of the IAD framework. We established 90 keywords with occurrences of no less than 10 times in China's carbon neutrality policies. The network visualization analysis identified six clusters. We discuss implementation challenges of China's carbon neutrality policies, address the policy implementation, and finally outline impacts on China's carbon neutrality governance. This study responds to the global concern over China's carbon neutrality commitments by clarifying the institutional logic of China's policies and actions. This study could provide a reference for countries worldwide that are designing and introducing carbon neutrality policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU has several directives aiming toward carbon neutrality and is attempting to promote and encourage individual electricity consumers to participate in this endeavor. The key idea behind consumer awakening and activation is to push consumers to become aware of their electricity consumption behavior. The purpose of this paper was to examine the current consumption behavior of Finnish electricity consumers and their intention to support the goals of carbon neutrality through energy efficient consumption. The aim was to reveal how far the consumption behavior of people was from the intention to tackle climate change. To reach this goal, a qualitative research method was applied to evaluate the consumer awareness and intentions. A consumer survey was conducted to enable standardized and consistent data collection. The research utilized a key performance indicator (KPI) approach to evaluate the results: the social KPIs connected with qualitative values provide a comprehensive approach. According to the results, the awareness of consumers of their consumption behavior was not very high, and some data needs can be identified. In addition, clear intentions can be detected among the residents to support the environment and to save energy. However, the consumers did not seem to be aware of the available data and existing services that could help them to improve their energy efficiency. Therefore, more motivation and communication is still required to affect the electricity consumption behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To avoid the potential adverse impacts of climate change from global warming, it is suggested that the target of net zero emissions should be reached by this mid-century. Thailand is aiming to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Since electricity generation is one of the largest producers of carbon dioxide emission, the associated emissions must be greatly reduced to achieve the targets mentioned above. Thus, new generation expansion plans must be well developed. This paper discusses the development of generation expansion plans considering Thailand's latest policies along with enhancement of the existing multi-period linear programming model, allowing new electricity generation technologies having low emissions, e.g., solar PV with battery and hydrogen blending in natural gas, to be integrated into generation expansion planning. Then, four generation expansion plans with different levels of hydrogen blending in natural gas are proposed and discussed. It is found that Thailand can achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 by promoting more use of renewable energy altogether with trade-off between land for solar PV installation and amount of hydrogen blended in natural gas. The lesson learned from this study provides crucial information about possible pathways to achieve carbon neutrality in the electricity sector for policy makers in other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In-depth analysis of the decoupling state between cultivated land carbon emissions and cultivated land use factors can provide a basis for coordinating the relationship between food security and ecological environment. On the base of systematically calculating the carbon source of cultivated land, this paper calculated the carbon emission of cultivated land in China's main agricultural production areas from 2000 to 2020, and explored its temporal and spatial pattern and evolution process. Then, using the LMDI decomposition method and the improved kaya identity, the factors affecting the carbon emissions of cultivated land are divided into five effects: structure, economy, technology, society and population, and then the Tapio decoupling theory is used to analyze the relationship between carbon emissions and these five effects. At the same time, to explore the further relationship between carbon emissions and cultivated land structure, we also studied the decoupling state between carbon emissions and the cultivated land area of 6 main crops. The results showed: during the study period, carbon emissions experienced three stages: fluctuating growth, accelerated growth and slow decline. In the most recent stage, structural, economic and population effects still have some impact on the carbon emissions of cultivated land, changes in cultivated land area where cotton, sugar and tobacco are planted will still affect its carbon emissions. To intervene, policy measures such as promoting the use of clean energy, increasing agricultural imports, and increasing carbon taxes for some industries can be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To combat global warming, "carbon neutrality" has gradually become a consensus. Some countries have constructed domestic and regional carbon trading markets, and links to global carbon markets are receiving increasing attention. Blue carbon, an important component of nature-based solutions (NbS), has not received the attention it deserves and is still isolated from the carbon trading market. Based on summarizing the existing achievements of blockchain application in carbon trading, this paper analyzes how to make each participating body provide services in the process of blue carbon production, circulation and trading, and designs the architectural diagram of the blue carbon system under peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions based on the theoretical framework of blockchain 3.0. Utilizing the advantages of decentralization, high transparency and non-tamperability of blockchain, we can realize a highly efficient, low-cost and intelligent blue carbon trading management system. Thus, we can make the world pay more attention to the development and utilization of marine resources and increase investment in blue carbon sink projects; and promote the development of blue carbon market, enrich the carbon trading market, and help achieve "emission reduction without reduction in production". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impacts of climate change have become a series of important issues in global public health and environmental governance. As a major developing country with carbon emissions, China has actively participated in global climate and public health governance. The international academic research by Chinese scholars on carbon neutrality has gradually shifted from focusing on technological development to focusing on sustainability, green development, a decarbonization plan, public health and environmental governance. This study uses bibliometrics, scientometrics, and policy documents quantification to carry out a comparative study, comparing the keywords of China's national "carbon neutrality" policies from 2006 to 2021 with the keywords of international research by Chinese scholars, and analyzes the evolution of the academic and political concerns and development measures of China's carbon neutrality. It is found that in the stages of preliminary development and steady growth, China's carbon neutrality research and policy portfolio grew in an orderly manner, and the influence of policy and the promotion of academic research gradually strengthened. After 2020, with the outbreak of the COVID-19, national policies and carbon neutrality research began to focus on green development and public health issues, and the intersections of policy keywords and academic keywords increased. Overall, the focus of Chinese scholars on carbon neutrality research and policy is gradually approaching and integrating, and the degree of interaction and integration between academia and politics is increasing. Under the complex situation of China's decarbonization plans, climate changes, COVID-19, and international political and economic changes, China's policy design and development model are conducive to public health, green development, and innovation transformation, and building a community with a shared future for mankind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green innovation has become an important support to promote the strategic goals of peak carbon dioxide emission and high-quality economic development. This paper systematically examines whether internal control can effectively drive enterprise green innovation and achieve the "win–win" result of enterprise economic development and environmental protection. We found that internal control can significantly improve the green innovation level of enterprises, which is mainly reflected in the mandatory disclosure stage of internal control information and the other four elements of internal control, except the control environment. The mechanism test found that internal control can promote green innovation by reducing enterprise risks, alleviating agency conflicts, relieving financing constraints, and improving the rationality of innovation investment. The heterogeneity test found that the promotion effect of internal control on green innovation is more significant in large enterprises and private enterprises; internal control can effectively supervise the maintenance of relationship resources, and relationship resources positively regulate the promotion effect of internal control on green innovation; excessive executive power will weaken the internal control supervision and punishment of executives, and weaken the positive effect between internal control and green innovation; internal control can improve the utilization rate of government subsidies, and government subsidies positively regulate the positive effect of internal control on green innovation. The research conclusions enrich the market-oriented research on the driving factors of enterprise green innovation, and provide empirical evidence for enhancing the competitiveness of enterprise green innovation and achieving carbon neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, many cities around the world have pledged to upgrade their building stocks to carbon-neutral. However, the literature does not yet provide a shared definition of carbon-neutral building (CNB), and the assessment objectives and methodological approaches are vague and fragmented. Starting from the available standards and scientific literature on life cycle assessment (LCA), this paper advances an operational definition for CNB on the basis of an explicit calculation approach. It then applies the definition to an urban case study, comparing it against a state-of-the-art nearly Zero Energy Building (nZEB) scenario, with the intent of highlighting the major practical limitations connected to the application of a methodologically sound carbon neutrality calculation. The case study shows that carbon neutral objectives can hardly be achieved by single urban buildings because of the lack of spaces that can provide onsite carbon offsetting actions. Carbon neutrality may be better approached at the city, regional, or national scales, where overarching policies may be defined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is one of the most urgent challenges facing the world. All countries should take joint actions to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality, which include controlling global warming to within a 1.5 °C temperature rise, to mitigate the extreme harm caused by climate change. However, ways in which to achieve economically and environmentally sustainable carbon neutrality are yet to be established. Carbon neutrality appears frequently in international policy and the scientific literature, but there is little detailed literature. It is necessary to conduct an in-depth analysis of the development context of its research. This paper analyzed the literature on carbon neutrality using bibliometric methods. A total of 1383 research papers were collected from the "Web of Science core database" from 1995 to 2021. Descriptive statistical analysis and keyword co-occurrence and literature co-citation network analyses were utilized to sort the research hotspots, and the detected bursts, the top 30 keywords in terms of word frequency, and 12 clusters were selected. It was found that the existing carbon neutrality research literature mainly focuses on carbon neutrality energy transformation, carbon neutrality technology development, carbon neutrality effect evaluation, and carbon neutrality industry examples. The analysis process involved comprehensively reading the key articles and considering the co-citation, burstiness, centrality, and other indicators under clustering; the carbon neutrality research was then divided into three stages, and evolving themes were observed. Based on the burst detection, this paper holds that with the energy structure transformation, energy consumption assessment and carbon neutrality schemes of various industries, carbon dioxide capture technology, and biogas resource utilization, urban carbon neutrality policy will become a research hotspot in the future. This paper helps to provide a reference for scholars' theoretical research and has important reference value for policymakers to formulate relevant policy measures. It is helpful for enterprises to make strategic decisions and determine the direction of technology, for R&D and investment, and it is of considerable significance to promote the research of carbon neutrality technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving agricultural green total factor productivity is important for achieving high-quality economic development and the SDGs. Digital inclusive finance, which combines the advantages of digital technology and inclusive finance, represents a new scheme that can ease credit constraints and information ambiguity in agricultural production. First, this study focused on agro-ecological functions; we incorporated total agricultural carbon sequestration and emissions extraction into the evaluation system and used the mixed-direction-distance function to calculate agricultural green total factor productivity. Then, based on panel data from 31 provinces in China collected from 2011 to 2021, we used the two-way fixed effect model, the interactive fixed effect, and the plausibly exogenous variable method to test the impact of digital financial inclusion on agricultural green total factor productivity, and its mechanism of action. The panel-corrected standard error and fixed effect Driscoll–Kraay methods were used to account for the unobserved heterogeneity and cross-section dependence in the panel data. The results showed that digital financial inclusion can significantly improve agricultural green total factor productivity. This conclusion remained valid following robustness tests using the spatial econometric model and the method of changing explanatory variables. Digital financial inclusion can improve agricultural green total factor productivity by facilitating the transfer of agricultural land. Sound digital infrastructure and strict green credit policies enhance the role of digital inclusive finance in promoting the green development of agriculture. These conclusions could help the financial sector to formulate flexible, accurate, reasonable, and appropriate financial policies and products that would support agriculture, and enhance the role of digital inclusive finance in promoting sustainable agricultural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zhejiang Province, charged with the task of opening "an important window", should take the lead in the implementation of the national "carbon peak, carbon neutral" strategy. The intention of this study is to start from the intersection of economics and geography, and on the basis of GIS analysis, use the spatial Dubin model to study the spatio-temporal evolution trend, key influencing factors, and spatial spillover effects of forest carbon sequestration in 72 districts and counties of Zhejiang Province from 2000 to 2020, to provide a theoretical and practical reference for how to formulate regional synergistic forest sink enhancement measures and help Zhejiang achieve the goal of carbon neutrality. The conclusions are as follows: (1) From 2000 to 2020, the overall growth of forest carbon sequestration in all regions and counties of Zhejiang Province was relatively high, but the regional differences were large. The concentration center and range moved to the southwest. (2) If the spatial effect is considered, the increase of per capita GDP, road density, and deforestation will reduce the forest carbon sequestration, and the conservation of ecological public welfare forests will have a significant positive relationship with the forest carbon sequestration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green technology innovation is increasingly becoming an important driver of modern development. Facing the pressure of the carbon neutrality target, China has been strengthening environmental regulations in recent years, and the green technology innovation ability of market players has been affected. Moreover, the impact of environmental regulations on green technology innovation and the strategies to develop green technology innovation still need to be further explored. Here, we used 285 cities from 2010–2020 as research subjects, constructed indicators such as environmental regulation and green technology innovation capability, and used panel regression, threshold effect and mediating effect methods. The results reveal that: (1) environmental regulation has a disincentive effect on green technology innovation, as increased environmental regulation increases production costs, external costs and opportunity costs for firms, causing a mismatch of resources and creating a "crowding-out effect" that inhibits innovation development; (2) further study finds that when the human capital level reaches a certain threshold value, the impact of environmental regulation on green technology innovation shifts significantly, i.e., there is a threshold effect; (3) industrial structure can further be upgraded and optimized by environmental regulation, which will have an impact on green technology innovation, thus industrial structure optimization plays a mediating role. We conclude with recommendations for improving green innovation techniques for market players, and provide some lessons for accelerating the goal of carbon neutrality and promoting quality economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land vegetation plays an important role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and stabilizing atmospheric CO2 concentration. However, the impact of carbon sequestration of terrestrial vegetation on economic growth has not yet been reported in the literature, especially in the context of China's current high-quality economic development strategy, and clarifying carbon sequestration on high-quality economic development has an important research-support role in achieving the goal of "carbon peak" and "carbon neutral". Therefore, based on the panel data from 2735 countries and cities in China from 2000 to 2017, this statistical analysis adopts a dual-fixed-effect model to identify the heterogeneous impacts of land-based vegetation carbon sequestration on high-quality urban economic development. The results show that carbon sequestration by terrestrial vegetation has a significant positive impact on economic growth in northeast, central, south, and southwest China but not in north, east, or northwest China, and after a series of stability tests, the effect still holds. Terrestrial vegetation carbon sequestration affects economic growth mainly through upgrades of industrial structures, resource allocation effect, and vegetation coverage. This statistical model further clarifies the empirical evidence provided by vegetation carbon sequestration for high-quality economic development and the economic effects on afforestation and ecological conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study selects the panel data of five BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) from 1990 to 2019 to empirically explore the impact of technological innovation and economic growth on carbon emissions under the context of carbon neutrality. Granger causality test results signify that there exists a one-way causality from technology patent to carbon emission and from economic growth to carbon emission. We also constructed an improved Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology (STIRPAT) model. The regression results manifest that technology patents contribute to the realization of carbon emission reduction and carbon neutralization, while the economic growth of emerging economies represented by BRICS countries significantly improves carbon emissions, but every single BRICS country shows differentiated carbon emissions conditions with their economic development stages. The impact of the interaction term on carbon emissions for the five BRICS countries also presents country-specific heterogeneity. Moreover, the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) test results show that only Russia and South Africa have an inverted U-shaped curve relationship between economic growth and carbon emissions, whereas Brazil, India and China have a U-shaped curve relationship. There exists no EKC relationship when considering BRICS nations as a whole. Further robustness tests also verify that the conclusions obtained in this paper are consistent and stable. Finally, the paper puts forward relevant policy suggestions based on the research findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an industrial energy scenario increasingly focused on decarbonization and energy cost containment, waste heat is a resource that is no longer negligible. Despite the great abundance of waste heat, its recognized potential, and numerous technologies available for its use, the rate of waste heat recovery (WHR) is still low, especially at low temperatures (<230 °C). Non-technological barriers, such as the lack of knowledge and support tools, strongly limit the diffusion of WHR technologies. The work presented in this paper aims to overcome non-technological gaps by developing a simple and operational tool that can support companies in the preliminary stages of evaluating a WHR application. The methodology followed involved the development of specific data-based models for WHR technology sizing by correlating waste heat input characteristics with dimensional and economic parameters of the technologies evaluated. We considered the most representative technologies in the WHR scenario: organic Rankine cycles for electric power generation, heat pumps for thermal power generation, absorption chillers for cooling generation, and plate heat exchangers for low-temperature heat exchange applications. One of the significant strengths of the tool is that it was developed using real and hard-to-find technologies performance and cost data mainly collected through continuous interactions with WHR technology providers. Moreover, the interaction with the technology providers allowed contextualization and validation of the tool in the field. In addition, the tool was applied to three large companies operating in the Italian industrial sector to test its effectiveness. The tool applications made it possible to propose cost-effective solutions that the companies had not considered before, despite the high level of attention with which they were already approaching energy efficiency improvements. The result obtained demonstrates the applicability and innovativeness of the tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research focuses on assessing the environmental impact of heating and cooling systems in public housing projects, built between 2000 and 2020, in Tucuman, Argentina. It considers current and projected climate change scenarios. The study compares existing conditions with improvements suggested by IRAM 11603 for a thermo-energetic transition. Anticipating future energy consumption changes is vital for proposing sustainable retrofitting options to enhance affordability and energy efficiency, while ensuring occupants' thermal comfort. A public housing prototype in Tucumán serves as the case study. The methodology combines energy simulation and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to analyze current and future energy demands. The results show climate change's potential impact on housing thermal behavior and the necessity for improvements. In the base case, cooling demand exceeds 11 kWh/m2·year, while heating demand decreases by approximately 4 kWh/m2·year. Rehabilitation could reduce cooling demand by 57% and heating demand by 32.5%, considering future climate scenarios. Active architectural strategies are proposed for enhancing thermal performance and reducing energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. This study underscores the importance of analyzing future scenarios and implementing strategies for the thermo-energetic transition of existing social housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is of great scientific value to study the spatial differences and influencing factors of carbon emission intensity (CEI) in urban agglomerations (UAs), and it also has reference significance for China in formulating energy-saving and emission-reduction policies to achieve the target of carbon neutrality. Taking 165 prefecture-level cities in 19 UAs in China from 2007 to 2019 as the research object, this study investigated the spatial differences of CEI in UAs using exploratory spatial data analysis and explored the influencing factors of CEI via Geodetector. The results showed the following: (1) The CEI of the UAs showed a downward trend. (2) The CEI of the UAs has typical spatial agglomeration characteristics, where the North comprises mainly high-high and low-high types, whereas the South is primarily high-low and low-low types. (3) The influencing factors of CEI have undergone a transformation from industrial structure to population urbanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on recent interest and on the importance of the ongoing climate change catastrophe, this article provides the basics of global carbon cycle modelling as required for the assessment of the degree of carbon neutrality of biomass energy, and its underlying dynamics. It is aimed at clarifying the question "Are biomass fuels carbon neutral?". The "Combined Energy and Biosphere Model" (CEBM) computes annual carbon flows including growth and decay of plants on 2.5 × 2.5° grid elements of the continents' surface and offers detailed results on the changes of after implementation of large-scale biomass energy strategies worldwide. The main (and possibly unexpected) effect is the long-term depletion of the soil organic compartment after extraction of biomass fuels. When comparing CEBM model runs using (i) biomass energy sources and (ii) carbon-free energy sources (such as solar or wind), it becomes quantitatively clear already on the theoretical level (i.e., even without taking into account efficiency losses) that biomass is only "half as carbon neutral" as ideally assumed, to express a rule of thumb—mainly because of soil carbon depletion. Still, biomass energy will play an important role when fighting global warming, even if efforts to lower energy demand are preferable as a fundamental strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional blast furnace ironmaking process is the most widely used ironmaking process globally, yet it is associated with significant drawbacks, including high energy consumption and carbon emissions. To achieve low-carbon ironmaking, researchers have developed hydrogen ironmaking, which is capable of achieving lower CO2 emissions. Nevertheless, the distribution behavior of impurities has been less studied in the existing research on hydrogen ironmaking. Therefore, in this study, the factors affecting the slag properties and distribution of impurity elements during hydrogen ironmaking were investigated using FactSage, and smelting experiments were carried out. The results show that temperature has the greatest influence on the distribution behavior of the impurities, and excessively elevated temperatures result in the ingress of a significant quantity of impurities into the reduced iron. Reduced iron with a purity of 98.52% was obtained under the conditions of 10%, 10%, 2%, and 2% ratios of CaO, SiO2, MgO, and Al2O3, respectively, a hydrogen flow rate of 12 mL/min, and a temperature of 1400 °C; Lg L Mg, Lg L Al, Lg L Si, and Lg L Ca were 2.72, 2.41, 3.36, and 2.45, respectively ("L" stands for slag-to-metal ratio). The slag was mainly dominated by the silicate, and the iron was mainly lost in the form of mechanical inclusions in the slag. This study will enrich the basic theory of hydrogen ironmaking and is of great significance for the realization of carbon neutralization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrialization has increased global carbon emissions, necessitating effective climate change mitigation measures. China, the most populous developing nation, faces the challenge of strategizing emissions to meet national carbon neutrality objectives. However, research on specific regions' carbon emissions drivers and causal factors is limited, particularly across prefectural-level cities. This study estimates the spatial and temporal patterns of carbon emissions across China's prefectural cities and utilizes both OLS regression and stepwise regression models to analyze the impact of various factors influencing carbon emissions in these cities. Results reveal the following: (1) The country's overall 20-year carbon emissions continue to grow from 3020.29 Mt in 2001 to 9169.74 Mt in 2020, with an average annual growth rate of 5.71%; the eastern region has seen a gradual deceleration in emissions, whereas the western region continues to experience an increase. Carbon emissions in cities within each subregion consistently rise. (2) Carbon emissions in Chinese prefectural-level cities exhibit strong spatial autocorrelation and clustering (Z > 1.96, p < 0.05), with hot spots primarily in the eastern coastal areas and cold spots in the northwest to southwest regions. (3) Economic and demographic factors significantly increase carbon emissions, while climate and urbanization effects are more complex and variable. Economic growth and population increase are the most significant influencing factors, but regional variances exist in carbon emissions determinants in subregional prefectural cities. These insights provide valuable insights into national emission dynamics at the prefectural level, providing a theoretical basis for enhancing carbon emission strategies across various jurisdictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing rate of population growth and urban expansion has led to a higher demand for fossil fuels, which, in turn, directly generate greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. These emissions contribute to environmental problems such as global warming and climate change. This study aims to present the total life-cycle energy analysis (LCEA) of a single-family detached house designed with an energy conservation approach. Using a cradle-to-grave scope, this study quantifies the embodied energy in six stages of the building's life cycle, i.e., initial, transportation, construction, operational, recurrent, and demolition. An input–output (IO)-based method was employed to construct a Thailand-specific embodied energy coefficient for 36 key building materials. This coefficient was then used to quantify both the initial embodied energy and the recurrent embodied energy in this study. The case-study house was broken down into 13 building materials. Concrete was the most consumed material, followed by fiber–cement, steel, and timber, in that order. However, the results of the embodied energy distribution for these materials revealed that fiber–cement ranked first, accounting for 29%. Steel was next, at 21%, followed by concrete at 18%, and, finally, aluminum at 12%. The case-study house had an initial embodied energy of 7.99 GJ/m² and a total life-cycle energy consumption of 0.66 GJ/m²/year. This study provides valuable information on LCEA for residential buildings, fostering public understanding of energy conservation in the Thai context. Furthermore, this study's results can be applied to establish energy conservation guidelines for residential buildings. These guidelines can help reduce energy resource depletion, carbon emissions, and environmental problems, ultimately contributing to Thailand's goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigates the intricate relationship between financial openness, natural resources, and carbon neutrality in the N-11 countries. It provides insights into how environmental tax and innovation can drive carbon neutrality in these nations, thus advancing our understanding of the nexus among financial openness, natural resources, and carbon neutrality. The study aims to offer policymakers perspectives on formulating policies to foster sustainable economic development and environmental conservation in the N-11 nations. The discourse highlights the environmental implications of foreign direct investment (FDI) and trade openness, revealing a complex interplay between economic development, technological innovation, and environmental sustainability. While FDI can facilitate technological transfers and managerial advancements that enhance resource efficiency and promote environmentally friendly practices, its environmental impact varies based on regulatory frameworks and enforcement mechanisms. In countries with weak environmental regulations, FDI may lead to negative outcomes such as pollution hotspots, resource depletion, and ecosystem degradation. Similarly, trade openness can exacerbate environmental degradation through increased production, energy consumption, and waste generation. However, both FDI and trade openness can contribute positively to environmental sustainability when coupled with effective environmental policies, investment in green technology, and the promotion of sustainable practices. Thus, policymakers must strike a balance between economic development and environmental protection by implementing stringent environmental regulations, promoting clean technology transfer, and fostering sustainable development practices domestically and internationally. This research offers valuable insights for policymakers aiming to navigate the complexities of achieving carbon neutrality while ensuring sustainable economic growth in the N-11 countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urgent need for a significant reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions indicates that the change in the world's energy mix is inevitable. In the power production sector, this would be achieved through decarbonization with renewables, and within the transport sector, this would be achieved by switching to alternative fuels and electric vehicles. However, this transition is neither fast nor cheap, and it will be gradual. The main goal of this article is to propose a feasible change in the present energy mix and to compare natural gas with other fuels used in power production and transport. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the current system (traditional fossil fuels) and the potential future system (higher share of natural gas) in energy generation and transport were identified, and the influence of recent global trends was analyzed. Natural gas seems to be a viable solution that can help in the transition to a zero-carbon-emissions society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It will be a huge challenge for China to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. At present, China needs to understand its own carbon neutrality status and then scientifically plan a path to achieve carbon neutrality. In order to evaluate the carbon neutrality capacity of China's provinces, this paper firstly constructs an evaluation indicator system, which includes 20 indicators at six levels. Then, a combination of subjective and objective weighting methods, as well as an improved technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) model, are used to calculate evaluation results. On this basis, the reasons for their different carbon neutrality capacities are analyzed. The results show that the use of renewable energy, maintaining ecological environmental quality, and low-carbon technology are important factors affecting China's carbon neutrality capacity, and according to the evaluation results, China's provinces are divided into three categories. Finally, corresponding suggestions for speeding up the pace of carbon neutrality are put forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the goal of carbon peak and carbon neutrality, fossil energy is becoming increasingly exhausted. Optimizing energy structure and saving energy and reducing consumption are the top priority. With the rapid development of modern science and technology, vacuum refrigerator has been greatly applied and popularized in various fields, such as food production, medicine and biology. However, in the actual operation process, the energy consumption of vacuum refrigerator is high, which does not meet the concept of energy conservation and environmental protection. The inner and outer push–pull structure of the sealing door makes it occupy too much space when opening the door, which is very inconvenient. In this paper, a vacuum refrigeration energy-saving device and the TRNSYS 16 software are used to simulate the energy-saving device. The results show that the device can reduce the number of vacuum refrigeration pumps and greatly reduce the loss of energy consumption. In addition, the new sealing door structure can also reduce the space occupied during its expansion and improve the utilization of space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, universities are evaluating and targeting to reduce their carbon emissions and operate on a sustainable basis. The overall aim of this study revolves in addressing the following three questions: (1) How to calculate carbon footprint, including indicators selection, criteria, and measurement, for higher education institutions? (2) How to evaluate impact and effectiveness of various mitigation strategies in context of a higher education institution? (3) What are the possible limitations of approach selected for carbon footprint calculation. This paper presents estimation of the carbon footprint of NED University using a carbon calculator along with the identification of sources with maximum contribution to its carbon footprint. The carbon footprint of the NED University main campus for 2017 was calculated to be approximately 21,500 metric tons of equivalent CO2 and carbon footprint per student was 1.79 metric tons of equivalent CO2. Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions each contributed nearly 7% of the carbon footprint, while Scope 3 emissions accounted for 85.6% of the carbon footprint. Major interventions such as switching to renewables, usage of energy efficient appliances, electric vehicles, and massive tree plantation inside and outside the campus were identified as the most effective mitigation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facing green trade barriers from developed nations, particularly the EU, based on product carbon footprints, China's renewable energy industries confront significant challenges in transitioning towards sustainability and low carbon emissions. This study delves into the carbon footprint of China's renewable infrastructure, evaluating wind turbines, photovoltaic (PV) panels, and lithium batteries across varied decarbonization scenarios, emphasizing both production and international trade transportation. The initial findings for 2022 indicate baseline carbon footprints of 990,701 kg CO2-eq/MW for wind turbines, 2994.97 kg CO2-eq/kWp for PV panels, and 67.53 kg CO2-eq/kWh for batteries. Projections for 2050 suggest that decarbonization advancements could slash these footprints by up to 36.1% for wind turbines, 76.7% for PV panels, and 72.5% for batteries, closely mirroring the EU's 2050 low-carbon benchmarks. Considerable carbon footprints from both domestic and international transportation have been quantified, underscoring the importance of logistic decarbonization. Based on these results, it is concluded that China's steadfast commitment to a sustainable and climate-ambitious development path can provide globally competitive, low-carbon renewable infrastructure after 2030. The study advocates for a collaborative approach to product decarbonization across international trade, as opposed to erecting barriers, to effectively contribute to global climate objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, the transportation sector represents about one third of the total energy consumed in the world, most of this energy being obtained almost exclusively from oil. However, the world is changing, as well as the aviation industry. Since lignocellulosic biomass is a low-cost feedstock that does not compete with food, it has drawn great attention as one of the most attractive alternatives to replace fossil feedstocks for the production of fuels. Renewable jet fuels could have a significant impact on lowering greenhouse gas emissions and providing a long-term sustainable alternative to petroleum-derived fuels. However, the catalytic upgrading of lignocellulosic residues in industry still remains a big challenge and the development of highly integrated systems that allow the direct conversion of lignocellulosic wastes is essential to achieve that goal. The importance of renewable jet fuels and the potential of lignocellulosic biomass have already been extensively reviewed. However, this work presents a new perspective on the main catalytic routes and challenges for the sustainable production of aviation fuels from biomass wastes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: Integration of decentralized models with a centralized national energy system framework. Strategic reduction in photovoltaic (PV) installation requirements and system cost through decentralized approaches. Optimization of self-consumption to minimize grid reinforcement needs. Identification of key trade-offs in PV integration and the importance of energy storage and grid management. Exploration of electrification strategies, power-to-methane technologies, and the use of existing gas grids to bridge decentralized and centralized systems. The transition towards renewable and decentralized energy systems is propelled by the urgent need to address climate concerns and advance sustainable development globally. This transformation requires innovative methods to integrate stochastic renewable sources such as solar and wind power and challenging traditional energy paradigms rooted in centralized and continuous energy production. The present study focuses on the Swiss energy system to explore the optimization of energy planning strategies that incorporate decentralized energy production within a centralized framework. Here, we show that a strategic approach to decentralization can significantly reduce annual system costs by 10% to CHF 1230 per capita and increase self-consumption to 68% of the decentralized PV production, emphasizing the need for a hybrid energy-planning model that balances centralized and decentralized models for enhanced system resilience, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. This research underscores the strategic importance of diversifying energy sources, enhancing energy storage, improving grid flexibility, and laying a foundational framework for policy making and strategic planning. It encourages further investigation into climate impacts, technology synergy, and the integration of district heating, aiming to establish a resilient, sustainable, and autonomous energy future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The building operation sector in China represents 22% of the national energy consumption and 22% of the carbon emission, of which urban residential buildings accounted for 24% in 2019. Such figures for the housing sector are projected to increase sharply in the near future, while China aims to peak CO2 emissions by 2030 and reach neutrality before 2060. To reduce the impacts of the urban housing sector and address the energy use and waste generated by large-scale demolition and reconstruction, the central government started promoting the energy retrofit of urban residential buildings, raising such policies to the national strategic level. Jiangsu Province is one of the most urbanised, with a rapid growth in the energy consumption of residential buildings. The Multi-Danyuan and Single-Danyuan Apartment built in 1980–1999 are the most representative residential types in its urban areas. While still adequate functionally, they were designed and built to low energy standards and show significant potential for energy retrofit. Nonetheless, their current performance and energy-saving potential are under-researched, while more detailed and reliable data would be critical to support retrofit design and policy making. This study investigates and characterises the typical use and energy performance of the two building types. Additionally, seven measures and six retrofit scenarios were identified based on the optimal energy reductions and regulations from selected countries. The simulations indicate that, without intervention, the energy consumption of the typical urban residential buildings can reach 122 kWh/m2 under the typical high-energy user scenario. By selecting a set of effective energy-saving measures, the operational energy use for heating and cooling can be reduced by up to 52.4%. Current local standards prove cost-efficient, although less effective in reducing energy use compared to international best practices, indicating potential improvements to the contribution of building retrofit towards achieving the national carbon reduction goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental impacts from energy consumption account for a high percentage of the environmental impacts of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) throughout their life cycle; therefore, controlling energy use in WWTPs could bring substantial benefits to the environment. In this study, according to the different percentages of electricity generation from renewable energy compared to fossil energy, the global warming, acidification, eutrophication, human toxicity, and photochemical smog, the environmental impacts of WWTP operation were considered. Furthermore, to explore a more sustainable way of operating WWTPs under the "dual-carbon" strategic decision, the environmental impacts and energy utilization efficiency of different power allocation scenarios at present and in the next 40 years were compared based on the LCA+DEA integrated model. The study revealed that in scenarios 1–5, as the proportion of renewable energy power generation gradually increased, all LCA results showed a gradual decrease, of which GWP decreased by 83.32% and human toxicity decreased by 93.34%. However, in scenarios 2–5, the contribution ratio (proportion) of gas and electricity to GWP and POCP gradually increased, reaching 77.11% and 59.44%, respectively, in scenario 5. The contribution ratio (proportion) of biomass generation to AP and EP gradually increased as well, reaching 65.22% and 68.75%, respectively, in scenario 5. Meanwhile, the combined technical efficiency in energy utilization in the five scenarios showed a decreasing trend; only scenario 1 was fully efficient, and the combined efficiency was 1. The values of combined technical efficiency in scenarios 2, 3, 4, and 5 gradually decreased and were 0.7386, 0.4771, 0.2967, and 0.1673, respectively. This study discusses whether the use of renewable energy in place of fossil energy power elicits an environmental impact in WWTPs. We explore the feasibility of achieving energy savings and emission reductions in WWTPs within the Tumen River Basin, to provide a theoretical basis for their sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Responding to the low-carbon demands of power users helps the power industry unlock carbon emission reduction potential, transmit carbon reduction responsibilities, and hold significant importance for energy conservation and carbon reduction. Currently, there is relatively limited empirical research on carbon emission demand responses in different industries. Therefore, this article, based on dynamic carbon accounting technology and combined with power planning and operation simulation data in Fangshan District, proposes a low-carbon demand response mechanism guided by user-side carbon reduction, using dynamic carbon emission factors as guiding signals. Furthermore, an assessment model for the carbon reduction potential of a low-carbon demand response technology is constructed. Finally, empirical research is conducted on the estimated carbon emission reduction of 108 enterprises in 6 different industries in Fangshan District based on the assessment model. The results indicate that carrying out low-carbon demand response can reduce enterprise carbon emissions, and changes in enterprise capacity and industry affiliation will have a significant impact on the carbon reduction effect. This study introduces a novel approach to the low-carbon development of the power system load side, offering a fresh perspective on the empirical analysis of low-carbon development for typical receiving-end power grids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]