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Air pollution poses a serious challenge to public health and simultaneously exacerbating regional & intergenerational health inequality. This research introduces PM2.5 pollution into the intergenerational health transmission model, and estimates its impact on health inequality in China using Ordered Logit Regression (OLR) and Multi-scale Geographically Weighted Regression (MGWR) model. The results indicate that PM2.5 pollution exacerbate the intergenerational health inequality, and its impacts show inconsistency across family income levels, parental health insurance status, and area of residence. Specifically, it is more difficult for offspring in low-income families to escape from the influence of unhealthy family to become upwardly mobile. Additionally, this health inequality is more significant in households in which at least one parent does not have health insurance. Moreover, the intergenerational solidification caused by PM2.5 pollution is higher in the east and lower in the west. Both the PM2.5 level and solidification effect are high in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region, Yangtze River Delta region and central areas of China, which is the focus of air pollution management. These findings suggest that more emphasis should be placed on family-based health promotion. In areas with high PM2.5 pollution levels, resources, subsidies and air pollution protection should be provided for less healthy families with lower incomes and no health insurance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether China can prevent its CO 2 emissions from increasing by 2030 is critical for achieving the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global warming below 2 °C. Understanding the growth and potential peak of CO 2 emissions in various sectors and various provinces of China has great significance to formulate more targeted strategies on capping emissions on a national level. This issue has recently attracted increasing attention but remains far from being resolved. Therefore, this article critically reviews the current literature regarding sectoral- and provincial-level CO 2 emission projections for China, to determine up-to-date study progresses and guide future studies. It has been concluded that China's various sectors and provinces present large gaps with respect to the time and the quantity to peak their CO 2 emissions. Energy-extensive heavy industry sectors, such as cement, iron and steel, and electricity sectors, take the lead in capping CO 2 emissions compared with service, transport, and building sectors. In addition, the eastern provinces are expected to achieve the peak of CO 2 emissions prior to the central and western provinces, while more economically and technically advanced provinces reach this peak ahead of less developed and energy-producing provinces. Based on the significantly different dynamics and drivers of CO 2 emissions, sectoral- and provincial-specific strategies on emission abatement are outlined for China. Moreover, four critical topics are highlighted for future study, including improvement of study methodology, detailed examination of CO 2 emission trends in several key sectors and provinces, and in-depth exploration of the far-reaching impacts of capping CO 2 emissions in China and associated countermeasures. • Sectoral- and provincial-level peak of CO 2 emissions in China. • Energy-extensive industries cap emissions prior to services, transport, building. • Advanced provinces cap emissions ahead of less developed, energy-producing provinces. • Sectoral- and provincial-specific pathways to peak and reduce emissions for China. • Four critical topics requiring further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Timeline to peak CO 2 emissions remains hard to determine for the developing world. • China has a great chance to reach an earlier peak of CO 2 emissions before 2030. • Peaking CO 2 emissions by 2040 will be too high to pay for India and hardly to realize. • A rapid transition of major developing nations into low-carbon sustainable pathways. • Four topics urgently require further study in the future. Abstract The developing world will largely determine the trajectory of future global CO 2 emissions. An accurate projection of CO 2 emissions from the developing world and a good understanding of possible timelines and pathways to reach their peaks are of great significance to combat global climate change. This issue has recently attracted increasing attention; however, it is far from solved. China and India are the two largest developing countries and have a decisive influence on CO 2 emissions growth across the developing world. This article critically reviews the current literature regarding CO 2 emissions projections of the developing world, particularly of China and India, with an aim to summarize recent study progresses and enlighten future studies. It is generally agreed that China will peak its CO 2 emissions by 2030 and has an excellent chance of reaching an earlier peak during 2020–2030. By contrast, India is very likely to undergo sustained emissions growths for decades. The constraints of keeping global warming below 2 °C may enable India to peak CO 2 emissions by 2040; however, the associated costs will be too high to pay. Across the developing world, the timeline to peak CO 2 emission remains difficult to determine; however, a rapid transition of major developing countries towards low-carbon sustainable development is essential for reaching such a peak. Four topics urgently require further study in the future: improvements in study methodology and data, key country groups and fields to peak CO 2 emissions, the peak morphology and post-peak CO 2 emissions in China, and a more in-depth understanding of the timeline and pathway to peak CO 2 emissions in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uncovering the contributions of each sector’s driving factors to the growth of national economic carbon emissions has great significance for China in developing its nationwide emission trading scheme (ETS). The paper applies the index decomposition analysis (IDA) and logarithmic mean divisia index (LMDI) model to discuss the underlying drivers behind China’s national economic carbon emissions during the period 1996–2012 from both sector and factor decomposition perspectives and accordingly offers policy proposals for China’s national ETS development. Major conclusions include: (1) Six heavy industry sectors, the transport & storage & post sector, and the construction sector are the largest contributors, and hence proposed for incorporation into the ETS’s coverage. (2) The rapid expansion of economic output dominantly increases carbon emissions. The design of cap on emissions should allow for a proper increment and establish a new entrant reserve to coordinate economic development. (3) As the dynamics of carbon emissions vary markedly across sectors, allowance allocation needs to consider the changing sectoral structure of emissions. (4) The combined effects of sectoral energy intensity and structure changes largely offset carbon emissions. Benchmarking is suggested as an ideal allocation mechanism, and the setup of sectoral carbon intensity benchmark should synthetically evaluate the potential impacts of related factors. (5) Manufacturer-based manner and carbon offset mechanism are respectively recommended for the initial implementation of carbon trading in the transport & storage & post sector and the construction sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurately understanding the real situation of China’s carbon emissions at the provincial level is not only crucial for realizing carbon mitigation in China, but also of great importance for tackling climate change on a global scale. This paper uses detailed energy consumption data subdivided within each fuel type and sector-specific emission factors, to calculate both direct and indirect energy-related CO 2 emissions for China’s provinces, and offers provincially-targeted policy proposals on emission reductions. The results uncover large divergences in calculation of provincial CO 2 emissions between production-based and consumption-based accounting approaches. Considering the large amount of interprovincial CO 2 emission transfers embodied in secondary energy deployment, the consumption-based accounting performs better in reflecting the actual features and responsibilities of carbon emissions in the provinces of China. From the consumption perspective, Shandong, Hebei, Jiangsu, Inner Mongolia, Guangdong, Henan, Liaoning and Shanxi contributed to the majority of China’s carbon emission growth during the period of 1996–2013, while Xinjiang, Sichuan, Anhui, Tianjin and Hunan were playing an increasingly important role. These two groups of provinces should be regarded as the key regions for national emissions abatement. Meanwhile, the energy industry was the top sectoral contributor to CO 2 emissions growth in most provinces, while service and household sectors made increasingly significant impacts on driving up provincial emissions. Together with ongoing efforts in the energy sector, the mitigation of CO 2 emissions in service and household sectors deserves much more attention, especially in the transportation and urban household sectors. Furthermore, the temporal trends of carbon emissions in various provinces, as well as their factor and sectoral driving forces, varied greatly with each other. Therefore, each of the provinces should formulate emission reduction policies according to their own situation, and target the key driving factors and sectors of carbon emissions at the current stage or in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With important implications for global climate change mitigation, the development of a cap-and-trade emission trading scheme (ETS) in China is embedded in distinctive political, economic, and institutional contexts and has been attracting increasing attention in recent years. To offer a clear perspective on current research progress, this paper systematically reviews the recent literature on China’s ETS from three main aspects: mechanism design, policy and regional linkages, as well as impact assessment. The current research consensuses are summarized based upon detailed literature analyses and commentaries, and together with observations of international experience and China’s actual condition, the paper provides policy proposals for the development of China’s national ETS during 2016–2020. Finally, several important controversies in the current literature are discussed with regard to the practical demands of China’s ETS development. Five pressing topics that need to be further studied in the coming years are highlighted, including cap setting, allowance allocation among sectors and enterprises, carbon pricing, policy package and unified carbon market construction, as well as ex-ante and ex-post impact assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many different approaches are needed to achieve reductions in GHG emissions from the transportation sector. Carbon emissions trading schemes (ETSs) are widely used in industry and are effective in reducing the overall social cost of emissions abatement. This article reports the development of a downstream ETS for the transportation sector and its application in Shenzhen, China. The ETS was devised as a mandatory cap-and-trade scheme and, as a first step, was applied to public transportation. An integrated cap was set on the total emissions from buses and taxis: an absolute cap for existing vehicles and a relative increment for new entrants. Allowances were allocated by grandfathering or benchmarking and a ‘reverse mechanism’ was established to encourage the transformation of urban transportation to a low-carbon system. Online fuel consumption monitoring was used to quantify the emissions from vehicles, and the operators were required to surrender enough allowances or credits to account for their verified annual emissions. The mechanisms for allowance trading and carbon offsets provided sufficient flexibility to make emissions abatement and the use of new-energy vehicles and environmentally friendly travel within Shenzhen's urban transportation system economically attractive. Policy relevance The transportation sector is becoming a major contributor to the growth in China's GHG emissions. Achieving large reductions in GHG emissions from the transportation sector is a great challenge and requires both technology and policy innovation. The tradable carbon permit is a popular concept in mitigating climate change, but the introduction of a cap-and-trade ETS into the transportation sector is a relatively innovative concept. Shenzhen has launched the first cap-and-trade ETS in a developing country and is currently exploring ways to mitigate carbon emissions by a downstream cap-and-trade ETS for the transportation sector. This article considers the main institutional arrangements and regulatory framework of Shenzhen's transportation carbon ETS. It not only refreshes the theoretical analysis and practical application of downstream cap-and-trade carbon emissions trading in urban transportation, but also provides developing countries with a cost-effective instrument to mitigate their rapid growth in traffic carbon emissions during urbanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plant with pre-combustion CO 2 capture provides a solution to achieve energy security with CO 2 emission reduction in China, which has a coal-dominant energy resource structure. This study utilizes the electricity generation and cost information of the GreenGen IGCC plant (265 MW), which is the first and, to date, the only IGCC facility in China, to evaluate the economic performance and competitiveness of this emerging clean coal technology. In the construction stage, the initial investment on the GreenGen plant was approximately $565 million (capital cost: 2133 $/kW; in constant 2017 US dollars). Compared with the US, China incurred significantly lower costs of initial investment for the construction of the IGCC plant, owing to the adoption of a self-developed gasifier. During the operation stage, the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) without CO 2 capture for the GreenGen plant was calculated as 103 $/MWh, whereas it increased to 131 $/MWh with pre-combustion CO 2 capture (CO 2 capture cost: 42 $/tonne). Currently, an IGCC plant with integrated CO 2 capture remains too expensive to be widely used in China. However, simulation results indicate that the LCOE of China's IGCC plants could be potentially reduced to 80 $/MWh in the future owing to technology innovation, large-scale application and cumulative production. Government policy and financial support to stimulate the research and development of gas turbine and low-rank coal gasification technologies and to subsidize the operation of IGCC plants owing to their environmental benefits would play critical roles in accelerating the development of near-zero-emission IGCC power plants in China. • Economics of constructing and operating an IGCC plant in China are assessed. • Techno-economic evaluation is conducted for pre-combustion CO 2 capture. • Technologies to reduce the cost of IGCC plant in China effectively are suggested. • Electricity price of IGCC plants in China has potential to decline in the future. • IGCC with pre-combustion capture may become commercially competitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]