• Energy Research

ABSTRACT Pollution and climate change are among the most challenging issues for countries with developing economies, but we know little about the ecological risks that result when these pressures occur together. We explored direct effects of, and interactions between, environmental pollution and climate change on ecosystem health in the Bohai Sea region of Northern China. We developed an integrated approach to assess ecological risks to this region under four scenarios of climate change. Although ecological risks to the system from pollution alone have been declining, interactions between pollution and climate change have enhanced ecological risks to this coastal/marine ecosystem. Our results suggest that current policies focused strictly on pollution control alone should be changed to take into account the interactive effects of climate change so as to better forecast and manage potential ecological risks.

Recent decades have witnessed an increased development of schemes for payment for watershed ecosystem services (PWES). However, the public is usually excluded from PWES systems. Reliable and empirical research on PWES from the public perspective is scarce. Aiming to understand public perceptions, attitudes, participation, and responses to PWES, this paper investigated local residents living in the Yongding River watershed area through a face-to-face questionnaire survey. The results showed that the public had limited knowledge of PWES. The public was keen to be involved in PWES decision-making, but the current level of public participation was very low. Regarding willingness to pay (WTP) and willingness to accept (WTA), nearly 55% of the respondents supported paying the upstream residents for protecting the environment if they were beneficiaries in the downstream areas, while 85% of the respondents agreed to accept compensation if they were contributors to environmental improvement in the upstream areas. Although some of the respondents’ daily lives were affected by the watershed environment, they were reluctant to pay, reflecting a sign of “free-riding”. The regression analysis showed that public concerns, values, knowledge of PWES and the watershed environment, and demographic factors determined the WTP and WTA. The results of the contingent valuation method and opportunity costs method showed that the annual payment for headwater conservation areas (Huailai and Yanqing) ranged from CNY 245 to 718 million (USD 36 to 106 million). This study contributes to our limited knowledge and understanding of public sentiment and makes recommendations for improving public receptivity to PWES.

Restructure data-gathering and evaluation networks to address climate change, energy, food, health and water provision, say Yonglong Lu and colleagues.

The flourishing logistics in both developed and emerging economies leads to huge greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; however, the emission fluxes are poorly constrained. Here, we constructed a spatial network of logistic GHG emissions based on multisource big data at continental scale. GHG emissions related to logistics transportation reached 112.14 Mt CO2-equivalents (CO2e), with seven major urban agglomerations contributing 63% of the total emissions. Regions with short transport distances and well-developed road infrastructure had relatively high emission efficiency. Underlying value flow of the commodities is accompanied by logistics carbon flow along the supply chain. The main driving factors affecting GHG emissions are driving speed and gross domestic product. It may mitigate GHG emissions by 27.50-1162.75 Mt CO2e in 15 years if a variety of energy combinations or the appropriate driving speed (65-70 km/h) is adopted. The estimations are of great significance to make integrated management policies for the global logistics sector.

Abstract Technology innovation benign to environmental preservation is one of the key strategies to address sustainable development. Understanding the pattern of environmental technology innovation in a country is necessary for making policies and decisions in environment management. Temporal and spatial distribution of environmental patents was analyzed to identify innovation capability of environmental technologies in China. In terms of features the patents were classified into invention, utility model (performance improvement) and design. The patents belonged to the individuals, enterprises and research institutes in terms of ownership. Through analyzing the pattern of environmental patents by features and ownership, it was found that individual-owned patents and utility model patents accounted for the biggest percentage of all the environmental patents applied by the domestic applicants. Eastern provinces had the majority of environmental patents. The cluster analysis showed that invention patents and enterprise-owned patents were concentrated in the eastern provinces. In general, the innovation capability of environmental technologies in the east is strongest among the regions. Though it had been improved in the last two decades, the percentage of invention patents was still small and enterprises did not play the most important role in innovation. Applications of environmental patents increased gradually but had a declining share of all the patents in the last two decades. The innovation capability of environmental technologies in China is still not strong on a global perspective.

Improving energy efficiency is regarded as a key path to tackling global warming and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In 2020, the energy consumption of the world's ten major energy-consuming countries accounted for 66.8% of the global total. This paper applied data envelopment analysis (DEA) to calculate these ten major energy-consuming countries' total-factor energy efficiency (TFEE) at national and sectoral levels from 2001-2020, and explored the influencing factors of total-factor energy efficiency with the Tobit regression model. The results showed significant difference in the ten countries' energy efficiency. The United States and Germany topped the list for total-factor energy efficiency, while China and India were at the bottom. Meanwhile, the energy efficiency of the industrial subsector has increased significantly over the past two decades, while that of the other subsectors has been relatively flat. The industrial structure upgrading, per capita GDP, energy consumption structure, and foreign direct investment had significant impacts on energy efficiency with national heterogeneity. Energy consumption structure and GDP per capita were determinative factors of energy efficiency.

Abstract A rapid implementation of potentially more sustainable sector structures in newly industrializing countries (NICs) is of key importance to reach global sustainability. The conceptual basis for assessing such “leapfrogging” potentials is however still rather weakly developed. The present paper elaborates an encompassing conceptual framework drawing on the technological innovation systems literature and adding an explicit geographical focus that embeds an NIC's innovation system in its international context. From this, we derive six ideal-type leapfrogging trajectories. The framework is applied to the case of a potential transition to onsite wastewater treatment in China. Empirical evidence is based on 30 expert interviews with representatives from companies, universities, authorities and associations in China and Europe. Our results suggest that leapfrogging in the Chinese wastewater sector might develop in either an integrated “international innovation system” trajectory, where Chinese and international actors closely interact, or in an “international competition” trajectory, where Chinese actors endogenously build up technological leadership in strong competition to international actors. We conclude by outlining policy implications and by discussing future research priorities for leapfrogging and transition studies.