A Study on the Willingness of Industrial Ecological Transformation from China’s Zero Waste Cities Perspective

Impact of the green credit policy on external financing, economic growth and energy consumption of the manufacturing industry

A system dynamics model for analyzing energy consumption and CO2 emission in Iranian cement industry under various production and export scenarios

This study approaches the “Zero-Waste City (ZWC)” initiative as a quasi-natural experiment. Utilizing panel data from 273 prefecture-level cities in China from 2013 to 2023, it employs a multi-period difference-in-differences model to systematically assess the initiative’s synergistic impacts on pollution and carbon emission (CE) reductions. The findings indicate that the initiative has notably lowered both urban pollution and CEs. These results remain robust following a series of stability tests, which include dynamic effect analyses, placebo tests, and propensity score matching. Mechanism analysis suggests that the policy primarily achieves its pollution and carbon reduction goals through four pathways: green technological innovation, public participation and oversight, source control, and end-of-pipe treatment. Heterogeneity analysis further demonstrates that the policy’s effects are more pronounced in resource-based cities, regions with advanced digitalization, and areas with stringent environmental regulations. Additionally, “ZWC” initiatives notably enhance synergies between pollution reduction and carbon mitigation, especially in controlling pollutants closely associated with energy consumption, such as sulfur dioxide and particulate matter. This research provides empirical evidence and policy recommendations for promoting “ZWC” development and optimizing environmental governance systems.

Climate change has become a common concern of the international community and a common challenge facing the world. As the world's largest carbon emitter and the second largest economy, China has been committed to protecting the environment and actively implementing low-carbon emission reduction measures. In September 2020, at the 75th United Nations General Assembly, China promised to increase its national independent contribution, adopt more powerful policies and measures, strive to reach the peak of carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and strive to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. With the proposal of the "Double Carbon" goal, all walks of life in China are facing great pressure on emission reduction. As a basic industry with high energy consumption, mining industry actively implements the green and low-carbon mining mode, which is the inevitable choice for its sustainable development. Due to the great differences in production among the mining industry segments, this book only studies the carbon emissions of energy consumption. Firstly, it analyzes the carbon emission accounting methods at home and abroad, constructs the carbon emission estimation model of energy consumption in mining industry under the guidance of relevant documents, and calculates the carbon emission of energy consumption in China's mining industry from 2000 to 2020. Secondly, it analyzes the industry development, energy consumption and carbon emission of the mining industry. Then, using the decoupling theory, this research analyzes the decoupling state between the carbon emission of the mining industry and the growth of the industry, and analyzes the reasons for the decoupling. Finally, the impact effect model of carbon emission is constructed by using LMDI theory, and the effects of five main influencing factors and their impact on carbon emission are calculated and analyzed. It is hoped that the research of this book will contribute to the formulation of low-carbon emission reduction measures in the mining industry, and also provide a basis for the in-depth research of mining industry by relevant experts and scholars. Chapters 2-7 of this book are mainly written by Lili Wei, and some contents of chapters 1 and 3 are written by Xiwen Feng. This study is the research result of Shandong Social Science Planning Project ( No.: 17CJJ09). In the process of writing, we refer to the research results of many experts, scholars and research institutions at home and abroad. Thank you whether listed in the references or not! In view of the limited level of researchers, there are inevitable mistakes in the book. Readers are welcome to provide valuable opinions. The email is weilili@sdjzu.edu.cn.

The Impact of Improvement in Iran Iron and Steel Production Technology on Environment Pollution

Energy saving and emission reduction policy is a long-term strategic choice in China, which will have a far-reaching impact on science and technology, economy and enterprise innovation. By controlling the growth rate of industries with high energy consumption and high pollution, the policy of energy conservation and emission reduction promotes the transformation of China’s economic growth mode to resource conservation and clean environment. Service industry has the characteristics of low energy consumption and light pollution, which will be paid special attention to. The policy of energy conservation and emission reduction with promising medium and long-term prospects is a long-term strategic choice for China, which will have a far-reaching impact on the economy. During the 30 years of reform and opening up, traditional industries with high energy consumption, such as electric power, metallurgy, cement and chemical industry, have made great contributions to China’s economic development by ensuring supply. Today, China has entered a new historical development stage, and the extensive growth mode with high energy consumption and high pollution is increasingly facing challenges. The intensive growth mode with the core of improving the utilization efficiency of production factors such as energy and the low-carbon economy with low energy consumption, low pollution and low emission have become the future economic development direction of China.

The brewing industry is typically high pollution and energy consumption industry, the pollutant makes huge impact to the environment. It is necessary to reduce the energy consumption and emissions in the brewing industry. In this paper, based on the cleaner production (CP) audit of a beer brewing enterprise in Dalian, both the sources of the main pollutant and the reason of high energy consumption was analyzed. 3 medium/high CP projects and 4 none/low CP projects were carried out through technology and management improvement. By cleaner production audit, water consumption and sewage emissions can be reduced by 375 thousand tons and 350 thousand tons per year. Beer loss reduction ratio was 0.1%,energy can be totally saved by 3325 tons per year. The aims of energy conservation, energy and emissions reduction can be absolutely accomplished.

The construction of a "zero-waste city" is synergistic with carbon emission reduction. Estimating the carbon emission reduction potential of various solid wastes during the "zero-waste city" construction process, which is achieved through source reduction, harmless disposal, and resource utilization, can provide a scientific foundation for formulating and implementing relevant solid waste management measures to obtain greater carbon emission reduction benefits. Taking Yantai City as an example, based on the improved WARM model, the emission factor method was used to predict the carbon emission reduction potential throughout the entire life cycle of solid wastes from the industrial sector, urban and rural living areas, and agricultural sector. The results showed that through the construction of a "zero-waste city, " Yantai City was expected to achieve a carbon emission reduction benefit of 19.52 million tons (calculated in CO2eq, hereinafter the same) in the field of solid waste. In the industrial sector, although the total amount of solid waste generated increased, a carbon emission reduction benefit of 17.45 million tons could still be realized. This would be accomplished through source reduction of solid waste in the coal-fired power industry, such as fly ash, and by increasing the utilization rate of gold tailings in building materials production. In the urban and rural living areas, the realization of 100% incineration treatment of domestic waste will decrease the amount of landfill and, at the same time, reduce carbon emissions. In the agricultural sector, by changing the utilization method of straws from crushing and returning to the field to fuel utilization, a carbon emission reduction of approximately 2 million tons could be generated. Increasing the intensity of carbon emissions source reduction in the coal-fired power industry, strengthening the research and development of resource utilization technologies for gold tailings, and improving the level of large-scale fuel utilization of straws are important approaches for the coordinated carbon emission reduction in the construction of a "zero-waste city" in Yantai City.

Energy consumption and industry value-added are crucial to economic activities and have been a potential priority for China’s domestic economic growth, especially in the resource-rich central region of the Country. The research examines the impact of energy consumption and industry value- added on economic growth in six central Chinese areas from 2000 to 2022. The study employed the PMG estimator during data estimation, along with Quantile and FMOLS regressions for robustness checks. The research utilized disaggregated data on industrial value added, specifically primary, secondary, and tertiary industry value added. The findings indicated that higher energy consumption in primary and tertiary industries significantly stimulates economic growth, while the secondary industry value-added is not significant. Furthermore, capital accumulation and urbanization significantly contributed to economic growth. The labor force indicated a negative effect on growth, possibly due to inefficiencies, low productivity, or structural imbalances in the economy. The research recommended that policymakers ought to consider different patterns of energy consumption in industrial value-added firms for greater economic growth. There is a need for labor market reforms and productivity-boosting policies. Policymakers need to consider the unique economic and energy consumption patterns of Central China when designing and implementing energy policies. A one- size-fits-all approach is ineffective due to regional disparities.

Method development and empirical research in examining the construction of China's “Zero-waste Cities”

In the construction of “Zero-waste cities”, developing “Zero-waste supply chain” management has great potential for the application of ecological environment protection and waste pollution prevention from the source. This paper analyzes the role and significance of the “Zero-waste supply chain” management model in promoting the reduction, resourcefulness and harmless disposal of waste at source, and then discusses the barriers to the creation of a “Zero-waste supply chain” in a “Zero-waste city”. . Based on this, it deeply explores the obstacles of carrying out the creation of “Zero-waste supply chain” in “Zero-waste cities”. This paper also puts forward policy recommendations for “Zero-waste supply chain” to help us fight the battle of pollution prevention and control in depth, includes (1) carrying out demonstration pilot projects and evaluating the effectiveness of the “Zero-waste supply chain” to enhance the motivation for “Zerowaste cities” construction; (2) Establishing and improving the standards for creating and evaluating “Zerowaste supply chain”, and building a market-oriented certification system; (3) Gradually incorporating the management of the “Zero-waste supply chain” into the objectives and implementation programmes of the “Zero-waste cities” construction, and improving the safeguard measures.

Impact of intelligence on the carbon emissions of energy consumption in the mining industry based on the expanded STIRPAT model

Since 2019, eighteen major ministries and commissions, including the National Development and Reform Commission, have launched trials for a “zero-waste city”. Shenzhen, Baotou, Tongling, and 16 other cities and regions have entered the practical operation stage, and the significance of the economic effect of the policy pilot needs to be tested through empirical evaluation. This study systematically gathers time series data from 281 prefecture-level cities in China from 2005 to 2022 and constructs an innovative experimental framework for the construction of a zero-waste city. It implements a series of rigorous robustness testing procedures using the difference-in-differences (DID) method to scientifically and objectively measure the actual effects of waste-free city construction strategies in promoting the city’s social development along a high-quality development path. This study provides deep insights into the zero-waste city construction strategy as a strong driving force. Our results indicate that the high-quality development stage has a positive impact on the city as a whole that cannot be ignored. At the same time, in-depth analysis shows that this strategy exhibits strong regional differences in the process of promoting high-quality urban development. For the two core regions of eastern and central China, the implementation of zero-waste city policies has significantly accelerated the pace of high-quality development, and further analysis reveals that, compared with the developed eastern region, the implementation of this policy in the central region has achieved superior results in terms of high-quality development. Third, the benefits of waste-free city policies are related to the economic bases of cities, the number of green patents granted, national policies, geographical location, and other factors.

Exploration and practice of “zero-waste city” in China

Economic sustainable development is an inherent requirement of the regional economic development. The purpose of this article is to correctly understand the capacity of sustainable economic development in Henan Province, then for promoting better sustainable development in the future. Instead of using subjective evaluation index system, this paper used the method of Social & Ecological Accounting Matrix, the framework based on social accounting matrix, additional resources accounts, environmental accounts and other elements. Through comparative analyses of some relevant economic data of Henan Province from 2001 to 2009, including growth rate of GDP, high energy consumption and high pollution industry, energy production and energy consumption, the results shows the capacity of economic sustainable development in Henan Province gradually increases capacity in recent years, but still is in the weakness of the range.