Improving carbon emission performance of thermal power plants in China: An environmental benchmark selection approach

Abstract

The power generation in China mainly relies on thermal power plants, which burn a lot of energy and then produce a lot of environmental pollutants including CO2. The thermal power plants put great pressures on environmental governance. Therefore, improving carbon emission performance of thermal power plants is of great importance for China to achieve the goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. With this in mind, this study aims to explore the research question: How to improve the carbon emission performance of thermal power plants in China? To answer this question, an environmental benchmark selection approach is introduced. Then, an experiment is conducted with the production data of thermal power plants in 30 provinces in China in 2019. The result shows that 10 out of 30 provinces are efficient, and the overall carbon emission situation has been improved in 2019. However, the total carbon emission in China is still large, and many provinces need to decrease their energy consumption to improve carbon emission performance. Finally, some policy implications are given.