• Energy Research
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Abstract We evaluate the potential of China's pendent carbon tax policy in CO 2 (carbon dioxide) mitigations from the perspective of interfactor/interfuel substitution. The analysis is conducted by region given that interfactor/interfuel elasticities of substitution are often discrepant among different areas. The results indicate that nearly 3% reduction in CO 2 emissions from the 2010 level can be achieved by levying a carbon tax at 50 Yuan/tonne. The inelastic demand for fuel inputs in the face of rapid processes for industrialization and urbanization limits the effectiveness of China's carbon tax to a great extent. Specifically, a total amount of more than 130 million tonnes CO 2 emissions can be reduced in the East coast and Southwest areas, and the areas of Municipalities and Northwest could also achieve CO 2 mitigation by more than 3%. In contrast, the areas of Midland and Northwest can merely cut their CO 2 emissions by 1.6% and 0.92%, respectively.

Abstract With the impacts of climate change causing widespread concerns, many scholars had discussed carbon leakage in the international trade, which ignored carbon transfer within domestic sectors. Departing from them, this paper took into account energy-related CO2 emissions embodied in intermediate production processes. We used the SRIO model to calculate and analyze the carbon footprint of economic sectors in India during the period of 1995–2009, and also investigated the changes in the carbon emission intensity of each sector. The results showed that, from the production perspective, the most famous "high carbon" sector was EGW (electricity, gas and water supply), and this sector accounted for 60% of the CO2 emissions of the secondary industry. From the consumption perspective, this ratio was only maintained at between 10%–16%. In contrast, traditional "low carbon" sector, CON (construction) emitted the largest CO2 to other sectors. In addition, more than 90% of the sectors showed a decreasing trend of carbon emission intensity. The conclusions of this paper have important policy implications for the correct allocation of CO2 emission responsibility, establishment of fair and effective emission reduction policies and the transformation of low carbon economy in India.

Abstract This paper applies the zero-sum gains data envelopment analysis (ZSG-DEA) model to assess the provincial CO2 emission reduction scheme of China in 2020 and then calculates optimized values for the provinces in 2030. Results from two standard optimization procedures to solve the ZSG-DEA model are compared. We also extend the current methods by improving the iterative approach and then introduce fairness to the efficiency-oriented approach for the 2030 case. We found that the choice of optimization procedures has only a minimal impact on the results, but the specification of model does matter. For 2020, a standard DEA approach shows that only 2 provinces out of 30 are efficient. According to the estimation results of the ZSG-DEA model, 12 provinces need to set higher reduction targets, whereas the other 18 provinces could have lower target values to achieve overall efficiency. These results are generally consistent across different optimization approaches. The improved approach is applied to further evaluate a number of scenarios in 2030, in which the adjustment values towards optimum can be calculated for each scenario. Furthermore, we show that the inclusion of fairness can significantly affect the adjustment targets, which is of great importance to policymakers

: Taking Gansu province as a model case, this study provides an integrated analysis on the eco-economic system of arid and semi-arid region based on emergy synthesis theory. Through calculating the values of renewable emergy flow, non-renewable resources, imported emergy, exported emergy, waste emergy, and total emergy during the period of 1978-2007, the performance of Gansu eco-economic system was analyzed. The results indicated that the renewable emergy flow within the province basically remained steady state which was estimated at 2.99x10(22) solar emjoules (sej) from 1978 to 2007. The imported emergy and exported emergy were estimated at 3.75x10(17) sej and 2.99x10(20) sej in 1978 and increased to 1.07x10(22) sej and 1.44x10(22) sej respectively in 2007. The nonrenewable emergy flow was estimated at 1.62x10(22) sej and increased to 1.85x10(23) sej, with annual growth rate of 8.7%, while the estimated total emergy was 4.58x10(22) sej in 1978 and increased to 2.11x10(23) sej in 2007, with annual growth rate of 5.41%. Our results indicate a deteriorate situation between economic development and environmental protection in the region. The rapid economic growth in the past thirty years was based on a great consumption of nonrenewable resource and caused continuous decrease in the capacity of sustainable development. The environmental loading ratio was 0.53 in 1978, increased to 6.06 in 2007, indicating a rapid degradation of the regional environment quality. We calculated that the actual population was 1.53 times the renewable resource population in 1978, increased to 7.06 times in 2007. During the period of 1978-2007, the emergy rose from 2.45x10(15) sej/(capita.a) to 8.07x10(15) sej/(capita.a). Our analysis revealed that the emergy density presented a trend of gradual increase, and then the emergy currency ratio in Gansu decreased from 7.08x10(13) sej/Chinese Yuan to 7.82x10(12) sej/Chinese Yuan.

Abstract With the acceleration of China's urbanization, the transport sector appears one of the most important sources of SO 2 emissions in Chinese cities. Compared to the fast-growing consumption of automobile, the growth rate of urban transportation investment is relative low. This study is designed to evaluate the impact of the urban transportation investment on SO 2 emissions, using the data of capital cities of 30 provinces in China from 2002 to 2012. Our empirical results show that the urban transportation investment increases SO 2 emissions in the short run since it might cause road blockages which would enhance the emissions of the low-speed traffic. But in the long run the urban transportation investment has a positive impact on reducing SO 2 emissions as it could widen the roads and make the traffic system more accessible. Moreover, we also find that there exists a SO 2 Kuznets curve in China and environmental regulation can effectively curb SO 2 emissions. The robustness tests are conducted to support the empirical results. Policy suggestions are further recommended to help the urban traffic planning to reduce SO 2 emissions.

Energy saving and emissions reduction has recalibrated China’s economic development mode to a more sustainable way. In this paper, we construct a novel total factor productivity (TFP) index using a sub-vector enhanced hyperbolic distance function, which simultaneously credits for an expansion in economic output along with contractions in energy input and undesirable output. Subsequently, this index is employed to evaluate the TFP change for 30 provincial regions in China during 2006–2015. The results indicate that China’s productivity considering energy saving and emissions reduction experiences a gradual improvement shifting from decline to increase throughout this decade, and the amelioration can mainly be attributed to the efficiency improvements from the east regions, while the contributions from technical change component will not emerge until 2013 due to insufficient energy and environmental R&D investments. Finally, some policy recommendations are also put forward on how to enhance China’s productivity.

Low economic profit usually reduces the incentive of producers to operate their wastewater treatment technologies effectively. It is necessary to investigate the performance of environmentally friendly production technologies that reduce wastewater discharges and generate economic outputs simultaneously (EPTWs) in China over the past decade. In this paper, we apply the Malmquist-Luenberger productivity index widely used in the field of economics to evaluate the productivity change of EPTWs for 30 administrative provinces in China during 2003–2015. The pathways of the productivity change are further identified by decomposing the productivity index into two components: technological change and technical efficiency change. The results show that China’s environmental productivity index associated with wastewater reduction had undergone a downward trend, and evident spatial disparities are observed among the 30 provincial regions. Moreover, the changes of China’s environmental productivity over the whole studied period can mainly be attributed to technological progress, while the technical efficiency component has contributed little, although its annual contributing rate is in an increasing trend.

Energy conservation has been a critical argument in China's development agenda for decades. China had 8 billion tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission in 2012 (shared 27% of total global GHG emission), which received attention from researchers at home and abroad. This paper summarizes China's major policy development pathway on energy efficiency since the 1978 open‐door policy. The major focuses of this paper are provided from the perspectives of building energy efficiency capacity and reducing long‐term energy intensity as well as accelerating China's economic transformation. According to the characteristics of economic development phases, energy efficiency policy improvement in the past 35 years could be divided into three categories: planned economic period (1978–1991), partial market economic period (1992–2002) and technology‐oriented economic transformation period (2003‐present). This paper also recommends China's future energy efficiency plan to enable a long‐term energy conservation mechanism, particularly to place a close emphasis on economic transformations. WIREs Energy Environ 2016, 5:715–730. doi: 10.1002/wene.213This article is categorized under: Energy Policy and Planning > Economics and Policy Energy Policy and Planning > Systems and Infrastructure Energy Policy and Planning > Climate and Environment

Abstract In this study, we develop a novel analysis framework for evaluating the effects of resource reallocation from the correction of factor market distortion (FMD) on total factor productivity (TFP) gains. We first measure FMD in China's heavy industry sector from 1995 to 2012, and then investigate the effects of resource reallocation from FMD correction by using the price elasticity of factor demands as a link, along with its potential TFP gains. The results indicate that: (1) Taking the price of capital as a reference, the prices of labour and energy in the study period were relatively higher to different extents. (2) If current FMD were fully corrected, the labour input in China's heavy industry sector would increase by 25.37%, whereas capital and energy inputs would decrease by 18.51% and 10.57%, respectively. (3) The resource reallocation effects resulting from current FMD correction will bring about significant TFP improvement (by 8.55%) in China's heavy industry sector, and there are evident industrial differences and stage characteristics for these promoting effects.