Research the synergistic carbon reduction effects of sulfur dioxide emissions trading policy

Abstract

Since General Secretary Xi Jinping pledged the “30·60” targets to the world, the importance of pollution reduction and carbon reduction has become increasingly prominent. The previous focus on the pollution reduction effects of emission trading systems, while overlooking their carbon reduction impacts, as well as the limitations of research methods and scope, is no longer suitable for the needs of the new era. Therefore, this paper constructs a CGE model to study the synergistic effects, simulating the synergistic emission reduction effects of sulfur dioxide emission trading policies, and comes to the following conclusions: After the implementation of the sulfur dioxide emission trading mechanism, under different sulfur price scenarios, the synergistic reduction amounts of SO2 and CO2 vary greatly. As the sulfur price increases, the reduction amount becomes larger. In the five sulfur price scenarios set in this paper, the maximum reduction of SO2 can reach about 111,400 tons, and the maximum for CO2 is about 399 million tons. The CO2 reduction rate is approximately 1.0767 times that of SO2. This indicates that the sulfur dioxide emission trading policy is a very effective path for synergistic pollution and carbon reduction, with good reduction effects. In addition, sulfur dioxide emission trading will reduce the consumption of fossil energy, decrease industry output, raise product prices, cause GDP loss, and lead to reduced social welfare to varying degrees.