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Achievement of national climate targets and the corresponding costs would entirely depend on regional actions within the country. However, because of substantial inequalities and heterogeneities among regions, especially in developing economies, aggressive or uniform actions may exacerbate inequity and induce huge economic losses, which in turn challenges the national climate pledges. Hence, this study extends prior research by proposing economically optimal strategies that can achieve national climate targets and ensure the greatest local and national benefits as well as regional equality. Focusing on the biggest developing country China, we find this strategy can avoid up to 1.54% of cumulative GDP losses for approaching carbon neutrality, and more than 90% of regions would obtain economic gains compared either with existing independently launched targets or with the uniform strategy that all regions achieve peak carbon emissions before 2030. We also provide optimal carbon mitigation pathways to regional peak carbon, carbon intensity and energy consumption. Aggressive or uniform actions on climate targets may exacerbate regional inequality and induce economic losses in China. The proposed collaborative strategy for carbon neutrality can avoid up to 1.54% of GDP losses while 90% of provinces would gain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intensifying climate change significantly impacts residential electricity consumption, especially in developing countries, such as China, that are experiencing rapid income growth. By combining meteorological and monthly household consumption survey data, this study explores the response function of residential electricity consumption to temperature in China from a micro perspective. Future residential electricity demands and related CO2 emissions are then forecast under different climate scenarios. Overall, the response function is U-shaped, and one additional day above 34 °C will increase monthly residential electricity consumption by 2.11%. Global warming will more likely increase the electricity burden on low-income groups. There will be notable seasonal changes in electricity demand in the future, and the largest increase will occur in August. The total demand for residential electricity caused by temperature change will show a fluctuating growth trend, from 0.8% and 1% in 2025 to 2% and 2.9% in 2060 under the RCP4.5 scenario and RCP8.5 scenario, respectively; meanwhile, this demand will be accompanied by a cumulative increase in carbon dioxide emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greenhouse gas (GHG) and pollutant emissions are closely related to the economic structure. Most of the existing studies focused on single type of emissions and cannot provide guidance for co-controlling multiple emissions. Here, we provide an improved elasticity method based on input-output model that relates both supply and demand side at high resolution, evaluated for GHG emissions, local air pollution, solid waste, health, water quality, and economy-wide welfare metrics. The method allows to identify high-resolution structural adjustment intervention points that combine reduction in GHG emission and local environmental damage with stable performance in economy-wide welfare. Investigating the Chinese economy, our results show that key leverage points for simultaneously reducing GHG and local pollutants include electricity inputs of various industries, building materials inputs of housing construction, and fertilizer inputs of agriculture. Therefore, emerging political interventions include reducing the fertilizer use in agriculture, improving the electricity efficiency in raw chemical materials manufacturing and in the metal products industry, and saving inputs of steel, cement, and other building materials in construction, e.g., by transition to prefabricated or 3D printing construction. Urban households can reshape final demand by moderating electricity consumption and adjusting investments in real estate. Reduced export of low-value added steel and metal products would further improve environment and contribute to global climate change mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon dioxide capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) is regarded as an important carbon emissions reduction technology response to climate change. Though some full-chain CCUS pilot projects have operated in China, many barriers exist when stepping up to commercial applications, including significant negative perceptions of the environmental risk of CCUS. Therefore, to tailor constructive training or outreach programs for public acceptance of CCUS in China, a large national survey of public perceptions of CCUS technology was conducted in 2013. The questionnaire contained four themes focusing on people with a tertiary education. Six hundred paper-pencil questionnaires were dispatched to 22 universities/enterprises across 19 provinces and 2 municipalities, with a response rate of 95%. The results show that 91.4% of the participants agreed that the earth was experiencing climate change, and 74.3% were interested in low-carbon technologies, but while 22% had heard of CCUS, although with limited knowledge, only 3.6% had a good understanding of the technology. The results from the second part of the questionnaire show that 80.4% of participants believed that CCUS may help to mitigate the impacts of global warming, but the 'Not in My Back Yard' (NIMBY) phenomenon was obvious from the location-based objections to transportation and storage processes. In addition, ten listed CCUS environmental management policies received extensive recognition from the participants, and about half of the participants considered that the related government departments should be responsible for environmental management as a first priority. The survey also indicates that the most trusted sources through which the survey participants obtain CCUS information are academic journals and textbooks, television, radio and newspapers, expert lectures and brochures on CCUS demonstration projects. According to the survey of public awareness of the environmental impact and management of CCUS technology in China, CCUS technology rates well for environmental benefits, but high environmental risk perceptions of CCUS lead to a lower acceptance of this carbon emissions reduction technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China encourages the demonstration of carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects. In an effort to identify gaps and provide suggestions for environmental risk management of carbon dioxide (CO) geological storage in China, this article presents a concise overview of potential health, safety and environmental (HSE) risks and environmental management regulations for CO geological storage in Australia, Japan, the United States (USA), the European Union (EU), and the United Kingdom (UK). The environmental impact assessment (EIA) experience of Shenhua Ordos Coal-to-Liquid (CTL) Project and PetroChina Jilin Oil Field enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is subsequently analyzed in light of our field investigation, and gaps in current EIA guidelines that are applicable to CO geological storage projects are identified. It is found that there are no specific environmental risk regulations suitable for CO storage in China, and environmental risk management lags behind the development of CCS technology, which presents a challenge to demonstration enterprises in terms of assessing environmental risk. One major challenge is the overestimation or underestimation of this risk on the part of the enterprise, and another is a lack of applicable regulations for government sectors to supervise the risk throughout CCS projects. Therefore, there is a pressing need for China to formulate environmental management regulations that include environmental risk assessment, mandatory monitoring schemes, environmental emergency plans, and related issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

USA and China are the two largest energy-consuming countries, and energy supply vulnerability is a prior topic on energy policy. Then, we develop energy supply vulnerability assessment index including the sustainability, the stability, the reliability, and the diversification indicators to assess and compare the change of energy supply vulnerability between China and USA based on the data in 2001-2010. We found that the fluctuations of energy supply vulnerability in China are more than those of USA. In 2001-2006, the index of China's energy supply vulnerability presented a quick uptrend, but it presented a slow downtrend in 2007-2010 due to the uncertainty of some indicators; energy supply vulnerability of USA presented smaller change from 2000 to 2008 because of the stable and comprehensive energy supply system, but in 2009 and 2010, it became obviously less than those in other years due to the decline of energy consumption per capita. Additionally, Chinese energy supply also faces higher maritime transportation and geopolitical vulnerability than that of USA. The comparisons of the change of energy supply vulnerability between China and USA show that it is important to develop comprehensive energy supply system to reduce the uncertainty of main effect indicators, such as the control of energy consumption growth, and the diversification of energy supply and import. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the residents' direct and indirect energy consumption behaviors in Beijing, as well as the impact of age, educational background and income level on the behaviors. The results show that, first, there are a high proportion of residents who may support the policies and activities about consumption behaviors adjustment towards energy-saving and low-carbon pattern, but currently the residents' awareness and behaviors are still not desirable. Second, the promotion of energy-saving appliance is effective to drive the energy conservation and emission reductions, and the current energy prices are higher but not effective to curb energy consumption and carbon emissions. Third, the direct energy consumption behaviors of older respondents and those with higher education background and income level generally tend to be more energy conservative than the younger respondents and other education and income level groups. The survey results may provide significant policy implications for the government and energy-saving product suppliers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]