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Abstract China as a whole is undergoing rapid industrial structure change, but this process is proceeding in a particularly unequal manner across regions. Understanding these changes and their associated impacts on CO2 emissions in these regions is a vital step toward appropriately targeted policy making. In this paper, we conduct both regional analysis throughout the nation and case studies focused on nine typical regions in order to identify regional patterns of industrial structure change and CO2 emissions. Results indicate that structural change in primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors was highly correlated, but structural change by industrial sector did not correspond well, with the stage of economic development. The disparity in regional industrial structure impacts regional CO2 emissions substantially. First, industrial structure changes involving a shift from agriculture, mining, and light manufacturing to resource-related heavy manufacturing in many regions led to a rapid increase in CO2 emissions at the national level. Second, production structure change, especially in construction and services sectors, is an important source of CO2 emission growth in regions. Some developed regions with vastly improved input efficiency in resource-related heavy manufacturing demonstrate the immense potential for reducing CO2 emissions in regions lagging in input efficiency. Third, regions with a more developed industrial structure avoided local CO2 emissions by importing carbon-intensive products while exporting less carbon-intensive but higher-value-added products in the machinery and equipment and service sectors. Several policy implications are also discussed based on the main findings of this study.

Abstract Threats posed by global climate change have heightened the urgency for economies to transition to sustainability. However, quantitative metrics that measure sustainability status remain under development, hampered in part by the difficulty of identifying clear relationships between economic growth and sustainability. The Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis provides a framework for describing sustainability status relative to socioeconomic development. In this study, the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis was adopted to investigate statistical relationships between the carbon intensity of human well-being (as an indicator of sustainability) and economic development in eight economic zones of China during 1997–2015. The results provide new evidence that seven of eight Chinese economic zones began advances to sustainability (defined here as downward turning points marked by inverted “N” shapes in the Environmental Kuznets Curve) between 2012 and 2015. The lone exception was the Northwestern economic zone, in which an approach to sustainability had not yet occurred by 2015. This study thus supports the contention that environmental policies and technologies have contributed to improving sustainability in terms of carbon intensity. The results suggest two strategic options for further increasing sustainability in China: 1) “first help the weakest”; and 2) “first help the latest to sustainability”.

Abstract Many developing countries rely on hydropower to improve energy access and to meet their growing demands for energy. However, the social justice concerns accompanying hydropower development are in danger of being overlooked. This study focuses on arguably the most pressing social problem associated with hydropower development, namely, the displacement and resettlement of communities. Employing a case study based approach, this study investigates the extent to which hydropower development-induced resettlement process and its impacts on the resettled households respond to three different tenets of energy justice, i.e., distributional, recognition, and procedural justice. Based on fieldwork conducted at the Hongjiang and Wanmipo Hydropower Stations in Hunan Province, China for two months in 2008, this paper demonstrates that although hydropower development generated significant economic and developmental benefits by alleviating power shortages, improving grid stability, and increasing local tax revenues, these benefits came at the cost of the social exclusion of more than 20,000 resettlers. Specifically, the resettled communities experienced 1) distributional injustice from hydropower due to the low affordability of electricity and water, reduced access to land and food, and an unbalanced distribution of costs and benefits from hydropower development; 2) recognition injustice due to the lack of fairness, transparency, and accountability on the part of the hydropower developer and at all levels of government in energy decision-making; and 3) procedural injustice due to the very limited participatory rights in the decision-making process before, during, and after resettlement and the lack of viable channels through which to seek redress and remedies.

Abstract Nickel is playing a pivotal role in development of modern infrastructure and technology with major applications such as stainless steel, alloy, rechargeable batteries and electroplating. Rapid industrial development and economic growth of China has accelerated the depletion of natural resource pools since recent three decades. Therefore, this study was performed to examine the evolution of substance flow of nickel. Main findings include the following: 1) China is being confronted the increasing risk of uncontrolled importation; 2) The consumption amount has been constantly extended up to 1010 Gg in 2015, however the obsolescence amount is almost remained at an unchanged range of 45–50 Gg; 3) If more nickel has been stocked in the consumption stage and landfill plants, only 30% is recycled. The obtained results implied that China should not only find more sources of imported minerals, but also there should be an enhancement of the urban mining for nickel resources in the circular economy field.

The tradeoff between economic growth and environmental protection has been a critical issue in facilitating eco-industrial park development in China. As the principal contributors to China's industrial output, many industrial parks have been addressing the issues of intensive resource consumption and pollutant generation, driven by much stricter regulations on the environment and resource management. Retuning the industrial structure is a substantial way to address the environmental issues while promoting economic development, which are the goals of eco-industrial development. This study proposes a multi-criteria industrial structure adjustment model by employing a generalized reduced gradient method to find the optimal structure of an industrial park. The model aims to increase the overall resource utilization efficiency and industrial output efficiency through a decoupling between the economic development and environmental burden of the park. A Chinese eco-industrial park located in the capital, the Beijing Economic-technological Development Area (BDA), is used as an example to uncover a transformation roadmap from a high-speed mode to a high-quality mode. The constraints of the multi-criteria decision-making model mainly focus on the limits of water consumption and pollutant emissions by targeting an appropriate economic development rate. The key findings are as follows. First, BDA could achieve 186% economic growth with 20% water consumption and 30% contaminant reduction in five years (2020-2025) by optimizing the industrial structure. Second, the advanced manufacturing industries play significant roles in stimulating the high-quality development. Third, ammonia nitrogen is a crucial factor restricting economic development under the requests of the "dual control" policy. Forth, the industry that can use reclaimed water in production will get more development opportunities and space, and vice versa. The model can be applied in diverse industrial parks by modifying the parameters and associated constraints.

China in 2009 announced the binding target of its CO2 emissions in 2020: reduce its CO2 emission intensity by 40–45% relative to 2005. In this article, stocks and flows model is used to carry out substance flow analysis toward energy- and limestone-related carbons in China from 1991 to 2007. Then, the possible paths which China can take to achieve this target are presented and discussed in scenario analysis. It is found that (1) conversion into secondary energy, electricity and heat, and limestone calcinations contributed most to the ever-increasing carbon consumption of China during 1991–2007, (2) secondary industry is the biggest carbon consumer and emitter within Chinese economy, and the percentage of carbons emitted by households fell from 1991 to 2007, (3) CO2 emission intensities of three industries and China fell from 1991 to 2002, and then fluctuated during 2002–2007, and (4) both the adjustment in economic structure and the decline in secondary industry’s CO2 emission intensity can influence China’s CO2 emission intensity in an independent way. The emission target can be realized in 2020 when the former becomes 6%:40%:54% and meanwhile the latter decreases to 4.01 tons CO2/10,000 RMB in constant 2000 price. Finally, several policy suggestions are made.

Abstract As China is becoming a domestic demand oriented economy, it is pertinent to address its household consumption-induced carbon emissions for ensuring environmental sustainability. Besides, managing the household consumption-induced carbon emissions is vital to the attainment of the nation's carbon neutrality agenda of 2060. Hence, this study examines the effects of household consumption on carbon emissions using the Chinese provincial data from 1995 to 2017. The third-generation unit root and cointegration tests are employed to account for structural breaks. Moreover, simultaneously accounting for cross-sectional dependency and slope heterogeneity concerns, the short- and long-run elasticities of carbon emissions are predicted using the pooled mean group, the common correlated effects mean group and the recently developed cross-sectional augmented autoregressive distributed lag estimators. The results, in a nutshell, reveal that household consumption attributes to greater carbon emissions. Apart from household consumption, similar adverse environmental impacts of financial development are ascertained. In contrast, technological innovation and renewable energy consumption are found to curb the carbon emissions. In line with the findings, it is recommended that household consumption of direct and indirect energy should ideally be sourced from renewable resources whereby the adverse environmental impacts of household consumption in China can be reduced. Thus, investment in renewable energy production could be a key energy policy for China. Besides, levying a carbon tax on energy-intensive commodities can also be a means to further reduce the household-consumption induced carbon emissions.

Abstract With the rapid development of the economy, China is facing pressures caused by traditional energy deficiency and environmental pollution in recent years, which has forced the Chinese government to start to pay attention to the development and utilization of renewable energy (RE). This article, based on data and statistics available up to 2008, studies features of China's RE technology innovation and problems thereof. It finds that national science and technology programs are the main aspect of China's RE technology innovation, and most of R&D funds for the RE technology come from China's three main national programs. Besides, the overall expenditures on RE technology innovation constitute only a small proportion of China's total domestic R&D funding and seem not enough. This paper also finds that, compared with research and development stages of RE technology, the demonstration and diffusion of RE technology in China are given less attention and thus are relatively less sufficient. Furthermore, influenced by China's traditional scientific research system, there appears lack of sufficient incentives and opportunities for private sectors to fully participate in RE technology innovation because most national programs are undertaken by universities or research institutes.

Abstract This paper tracks the energy use and changes to China's energy-efficiency regulatory framework governing the iron and steel industry for the last thirty years. The detailed institutional analysis identifies both abating and augmenting effects of the regulatory framework changes on the energy intensity changes. The paper then assesses the impacts of various other factors on the energy intensity of China's iron and steel industry by using time-series data on the sector level. The quantitative analysis shows that technology progress, specifically the production process transition from high-energy intensive open-hearth furnace (OHF) to more energy efficient basic-oxygen furnace (BOF), is the biggest contributor to energy intensity reductions in China's iron and steel industry in the last thirty years, even after controlling for regulatory change and policy incentives. The ownership reform resulting from changes in the regulatory framework change contributed to energy intensity reductions in China's iron and steel industry, while fast market expansion resulting from market liberalization and regulation decentralization served as a principal barrier for energy efficiency improvements. Government policies, represented by financial subsidies from governments, correspond with energy intensity reductions in key large and medium sized enterprises, but interestingly, seem to be ineffective at producing energy intensity reductions for the industry as a whole. As other research indicated, rising coal prices also contributed to energy intensity reductions in China's iron and steel industry. Finally, the paper concludes that, to further incentivize energy intensity reductions, the Chinese government should consider correcting the negative impacts of the regulatory framework change, as well as transferring production processes to the highly energy efficient electric-arc furnace (EAF) and extending policy regulations to wider enterprise groups.