Carbon Emission Issues Research Articles

Firm-level carbon risk awareness and Green transformation: A research on the motivation and consequences from government regulation and regional development perspective

Carbon emissions have become a critical social, economic, and environmental sustainability issue in China. Firms also face many challenges in the process of carbon emission issues and green transformation, and it is essential to study carbon risk and green transformation at the enterprise level in depth. So, we used textual analysis to measure firm-level carbon risk awareness and green transformation level by using firms' data from 2011 to 2021 and then tested the positive relationship between carbon risk awareness and green transformation based on OLS regression and fixed-effects regression. In addition, we use quantile regression to demonstrate that increasing carbon risk awareness would lead to increasing green transformation. Besides, enhancing carbon risk awareness in the heavy-polluting industries promotes green transformation to a more obvious extent. After passing some robustness and endogeneity tests, the findings are still significant, and the promotion effect is more significant in SOEs and western regions. We further analyze the moderating effect of government regulation and regional characteristics. The consequences research finds that increased awareness of carbon risk and a green transformation leads to reduced financing constraints and increased growth for firms. The research has important guiding significance for firms to formulate low-carbon strategies and promote green transformation and provides a scientific reference for the government to formulate policies and promote sustainable development.

Economic Dispatch of Integrated Electricity–Heat–Hydrogen System Considering Hydrogen Production by Water Electrolysis

Water electrolysis is a clean, non-polluting way of producing hydrogen that has seen rapid development in recent years. It offers the possibility of resolving the issue of excessive carbon emissions in conventional hydrogen production methods. In addition, waste heat recovery in hydrogen fuel cells can significantly increase the efficiency of energy use. Thus, to combine the electric power system, the hydrogen energy system, and the district heating system, this research suggests a novel optimal multi-energy complementary electricity–hydrogen–heat model. Rooftop photovoltaics, energy storage batteries, electric boilers, and hydrogen energy systems made up of hydrogen generation, hydrogen storage, and hydrogen fuel cells are all included in the suggested model. Furthermore, the electricity–hydrogen–heat system can be connected successfully using waste heat recovery in hydrogen fuel cells to create a coordinated supply of heat and power. In this work, the waste heat of hydrogen fuel cells is taken into account to increase the efficiency of energy use. To show the effectiveness of the suggested optimal multi-energy complementary model, many case studies have been conducted.

China's cities go carbon neutral: How can new-type urbanization policies improve urban carbon performance?

Although the growth of urbanization based on economic construction has produced an economic miracle, it has also brought up significant obstacles to the sustainable growth of the economy and society. China has established a new-type urbanization policy (NTUP) since 2014 to address the carbon emission issues brought on by traditional development. This paper presents the first theoretical analysis of the impact and mechanisms of the NTUP on carbon emission performance (CEP). This study employs the difference-in-differences (DID) approach to investigate the impact, spatial spillover effects, and mechanisms of the NTUP on CEP by adopting a panel dataset from 2003 to 2020 for China's 283 cities. The empirical findings indicate that (1) new-type urbanized cities' carbon emissions are lowered by 1.37 % compared with nonpilot cities, and their carbon emission efficiency is raised by 31.56 %. After several robustness and hypothesis tests, this finding is still true. (2) The NTUP has a spatial spillover effect on CEP, significantly improving CEP for cities in the [0,1000] km range. (3) The key mechanisms by which the NTUP influences CEP are green technology innovation, energy structure, industrial structure, and resource allocation. (4) The NTUP has a stronger effect on CEP in medium-sized cities, cities with medium economic development, and resource-based cities. Finally, a response is briefly proposed.

How much carbon dioxide has the Chinese PV manufacturing industry emitted?

China is the country with the largest production of photovoltaic (PV) products, therefore, the issue of carbon emissions from its PV manufacturing industry is particularly important. Thus, based on its “streamlined” organizational structure, we use the life cycle assessment and the emission factor to calculate the carbon emissions, updating and correcting the emission factors of each stage. In addition, we compares the carbon emission intensity of PV modules manufacturing with the manufacturing industry as a whole, and analyzes the carbon emissions transfer in the import and export. The result shows that the unit emissions value of Chinese PV modules is 342,892 tons of CO2 per GWp, and the industry's carbon emissions were 42,724,343 tons and 62,406,344 tons in 2020 and 2021, respectively, and the carbon emission intensity of China's PV modules manufacturing is only 72.03% of that of the manufacturing industry as a whole. This would represent that China's PV manufacturing industry is not a high-energy consumption and high-emission industry. In 2020 and 2021, the net transferred carbon emissions of China's PV products through import and export were 28,508,597 tons and 33,861,939 tons, respectively, and accounted for 66.6% and 54.3% of the total emissions from the industry, respectively, meaning the PV manufacturing industry has not caused excessive pollution to the domestic market through import and export trade.

Influences of titanium dioxide nanoparticles on regulation of crystalline growth and early carbonation of cementitious composites

As the major source of carbon emission in the construction industry, Cement has presented an urgent challenge that demands the resolution of its high carbon emission issue. Utilizing in-situ CO2 capture from plant sites for the carbonation curing of cementitious materials can be regarded as an effective carbon sequestration method. This study employs low-concentration CO2 curing to modify nano titanium dioxide (NT)-enhanced cementitious materials. By investigating the influence of highly homogeneous NT on the crystalline growth and microstructural evolution of hydration product Ca(OH)2, this research further explores the impact of low-concentration CO2 curing on the early-stage carbonation behavior of the surface layer of cementitious materials. The results of this study indicate incorporation of 2 wt% NT promotes the degree of cement hydration, particularly during the first three days, leading to a 31.11% increase in the generation of the hydration product Ca(OH)2 at 1 day and 20.82% increase at 3 days compared to the blank sample, and a significant reducing of the crystalline size and directional growth index of Ca(OH)2 to increase the specific surface area of Ca(OH)2, thereby promote early carbonation of the cementitious mortar surface. The carbon uptake of the specimens at 28 days reaches 0.94 kg/m2 after exposure to 3% CO2 concentrations, forming a dense protective layer of calcium carbonate on the surface. The gas permeability coefficient of the surface decreases by 79.57%, enhancing the resistance of long-term continuous carbonation. This study provides innovative ideas for the cement industry in terms of utilizing surface carbonation of the substrate to promote carbon sequestration technology.

A Review of Recovering Lithium and Cobalt from Spent LiCoO2 Lithium‐Ion Batteries Cathode

AbstractTo address the issue of excess carbon emissions, China has outlined peaking the carbon emissions and achieving neutrality of carbon goals. New energy storage devices thus have been popularly developed in the past decade. Lithium‐ion batteries(LIBs) have emerged as the most prevalent devices in our daily routines. In the coming decades a huge amount of LIBs will be retired. Spent LIBs are endowed with valuable metal elements that are potentially recyclable. This paper is intended to review the recent studies on the recovery of lithium(Li) and cobalt(Co) from spent LiCoO2 batteries. This paper pays much attention to the hydrometallurgical, pyrometallurgical approaches to recycle lithium and cobalt from spent LIBs including leaching, reducing, and extracting by various inorganic or organic agents in hydrometallurgical methods and different kinds of reductants in pyrometallurgical methods. Last but not least, electrochemical methods, mechanochemistry and biometallurgy are focused for reviewing emerging, low‐cost, environmentally friendly methods. Hopefully, this review can inspire to further studies on recycling lithium and cobalt from spent LiCoO2 LIBs.

The impact of industrial land mismatch on carbon emissions in resource-based cities under environmental regulatory constraints-evidence from China.

Achieving carbon neutrality has become a global common goal. For China, to reach peak carbon emissions and long-term carbon neutrality, the transformation and development of resource-based cities are essential. This study uses data from 114 prefecture-level resource-based cities from 2008 to 2019 as a sample and empirically tests the impact of industrial land mismatch on carbon emissions using the fixed effects model. In addition, we analyze the heterogeneous influence of environmental regulation as a moderating effect on resource-based cities at different development stages. The study reveals that (1) there is a significant positive correlation between the imbalance in industrial land supply in resource-based cities and carbon emissions. The more severe the imbalance, the higher the carbon emissions. The improper supply mode of industrial land is also positively correlated with carbon emissions, although the impact is not significant. (2) Environmental regulation can significantly curb the carbon emission issues caused by the mismatch and imbalance in the scale of industrial land supply and the improper supply mode of industrial land. (3) Compared to strong resource-based cities, weak resource-security cities have a smaller impact on carbon emissions due to an imbalance in the supply of industrial land. This is mainly because resources in weak resource-security cities are becoming exhausted, making "ecology first, green and low carbon" the main tune for economic and social development. Both types of cities show a positive correlation between the improper supply of industrial land and carbon emissions, although neither is significant. (4) The intensity of the regulatory effect of environmental regulations on resource-based cities is influenced by resource abundance. The suppression of carbon emissions by environmental regulations is more apparent in strong resource-security cities than in weak resource-security cities.

Understanding the Role of Energy Productivity, Eco-Innovation and International Trade in Shaping Consumption-Based Carbon Emissions: A Study of BRICS Nations.

In recent years, addressing the issue of carbon emissions has gained significant attention in the field of environmental sustainability. This study aims to contribute to the existing literature by investigating the interplay between eco-innovation, international trade, energy productivity, and consumption-based carbon emissions in the context of the BRICS economies. Using data spanning the period from 1990 to 2020, we employ advanced methodological techniques to overcome challenges associated with cross-section dependency, non-stationarity, and heterogeneity. The results of our study provide compelling evidence of a long-term cointegrating association between eco-innovation, energy productivity, economic growth, imports, exports and consumption-based carbon emissions. The results reveal that eco-innovations, exports, and energy productivity are associated with reductions in CO2 emissions. Conversely, imports and GDP growth contribute to higher CO2 emissions. Our findings have significant implications for policymakers, businesses, and stakeholders involved in shaping environmental policies and sustainable development strategies. The observed negative correlations between eco-innovation, exports, energy productivity, and consumption-based carbon emissions offer a clear channel for mitigating environmental pollution. By prioritizing and promoting eco-innovation initiatives, encouraging sustainable exports, and enhancing energy productivity, policymakers can effectively reduce carbon emissions and foster sustainable economic growth.

Incentive Mechanisms for Thermal Power Generation Enterprises with Conflicting Tasks: Electricity Production versus Carbon Emission Reduction

Coal combustion remains the primary source of thermal power generation, contributing to approximately half of China’s electricity supply. As China strives towards the goals of “carbon peaking and carbon neutrality”, the issue of carbon emissions ascends to critical importance in the thermal power industry. The delicate balance between preserving electricity production capacity and curbing carbon emissions presents a considerable challenge to thermal power enterprise management. This paper models the incentive and organizational dilemmas arising from these conflicting tasks in thermal power generation enterprises, and compares the advantages and disadvantages of single-agent and multi-agent systems. Two practical scenarios are examined: (1) the “Two Mountains” theory propounded by the Chinese government, which attaches equal importance to thermal power production and carbon emission control, and (2) the 2022 Chinese summer electricity crisis, in which thermal power production takes on a dominant role. Through comparative static analysis of both single-agent and multi-agent models under these circumstances, this study concludes that, in the first scenario, the multi-agent model outperforms the single-agent model by enhancing agent effort levels and bolstering government revenue. However, when power supply emerges as the chief concern of thermal power enterprises, centralized management of a single-agent is more effective.

A Data-Driven Analysis Method for the Trajectory of Power Carbon Emission in the Urban Area.

"Industry 4.0" aims to build a highly versatile, individualized digital production model for goods and services. The carbon emission (CE) issue needs to be addressed by changing from centralized control to decentralized and enhanced control. Based on a solid CE monitoring, reporting, and verification system, it is necessary to study future power system CE dynamics simulation technology. In this article, a data-driven approach is proposed to analyzing the trajectory of urban electricity CEs based on empirical mode decomposition, which suggests combining macro-energy thinking and big data thinking by removing the barriers among power systems and related technological, economic, and environmental domains. Based on multisource heterogeneous mass data acquisition, effective secondary data can be extracted through the integration of statistical analysis, causal analysis, and behavior analysis, which can help construct a simulation environment supporting the dynamic interaction among mathematical models, multi-agents, and human participants.

Mineral carbonation for carbon dioxide capture and storage using mining waste as feedstock material

Mineral carbonation can be a useful method for sequestering atmospheric carbon dioxide. This study attempts to evaluate the utilization of mining waste as a feedstock for mineral carbonation. Samples of mining waste have been analyzed for their mineralogical and chemical composition, and the amount of potential carbon sequestration was estimated. Mineralogical analysis suggests that the mine waste is composed of Ca-Mg-silicates (anorthite, wollastonite, diopside) and Fe-oxide (hematite and magnetite) minerals, which can be useful for mineral carbonation. Fe2O3 constituted a large portion of oxide compound (39.52-62.94%), with 7.19-15.24% CaO, and 0.10-9.58% MgO. Fe and Ca carbonation efficiency was estimated to be in the range of 4.04-6.45% and 2.38-6.31%, respectively. This corresponds to 60.94-155.44 g FeCO3/kg sample and 63.99-156.04 g CaCO3/kg sample, which can be sequestered from the mine waste. The total amount of CO2 sequestration is between 12.27-44.92 g of CO2 per kg of sample. Therefore, it has been shown that the method has successfully sequestered carbon dioxide into a stable carbonate form that can be stored for the long term. Application of this technology would be useful for reducing the amount of waste generated in the mining industry while mitigating the issue of carbon emissions.

Analysis of the Dominance of Steel and Concrete in Architecture

The issue of carbon emissions from building materials is an important issue in today's society and concrete buildings are one of the main contributors to carbon emissions. As a result, steel construction is very popular in modern society. However, with improvements in concrete technology, it is gradually starting to gain acceptance again. The focus of this review article is to discuss the dominant role of steel and concrete in construction. This paper adopts the method of literature analysis and reading. At the same time, the data of this study come from SteelConstruction.info (The free encyclopedia for UK steel construction information), British Constructional Steelwork Association (BCSA) and Steel Construction Institute (SCI) and The British Standard Institute. The following conclusions can be drawn: Steel structures are getting more and more attention. Steel structure and cement play an important role in construction.

Impact of Environmental Regulation and Industrial Agglomeration on Carbon Emissions in the Yangtze River Economic Belt

Carbon reduction is an important aspect of achieving high-quality environmental development; environmental regulation and industrial agglomeration are important ways to affect carbon emissions. Therefore, studying the relationship between industrial agglomeration, environmental regulation, and carbon emissions has important theoretical and practical significance. Firstly, this article adopts the method of location entropy to measure the indicators of industrial agglomeration. Secondly, it proposes an environmental regulation indicator system based on the experience of previous scholars and measures the environmental regulation indicators using the entropy method. Next, eight types of energy consumption are used to measure carbon emissions based on the carbon emission coefficient method provided by the IPCC. Finally, based on the Moran index, the spatial correlation of carbon emission levels in various regions of the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) is tested. A spatial econometric model was introduced to explore the relationship between industrial agglomeration, environmental regulation, and carbon emissions at a deeper level, and the following conclusions were drawn: (1) The regression coefficient of the spatial term of industrial agglomeration on carbon emissions is 0.848, which is significantly positive at the 10% level, indicating that under the influence of spatial effects, industrial agglomeration has a significant promoting effect on carbon emissions. (2) The regression coefficient of the spatial term of environmental regulation on carbon emissions is −0.011, which is significantly negative at the 10% level, indicating that environmental regulation has an inhibitory effect on carbon emissions under the influence of spatial effects. Based on the above conclusions, useful suggestions have been provided for optimizing industrial structure, improving environmental regulation levels, and alleviating carbon emission issues.

CO2 emissions integrated fuzzy model: A case of seven emerging economies

This paper proposes a new model to study carbon emission issues in seven emerging (E7) economies (China, Mexico, Turkey, Russia, Brazil, Indonesia and India). It employs weighted Quantum Spherical fuzzy DEMATEL model with golden cut using 18 years data, which was ranked for carbon emission evaluation via Quantum Spherical fuzzy TOPSIS method. The data includes macroeconomic variables for the period from 2003 to 2020. Paper observes that (i) CO2 emissions from fossil fuels is the most significant factor distressing the carbon emission problem of E7 economies. It suggests that these countries need to explore alternatives to fossil fuels to handle the carbon emission problem. (ii) The CO2 emission problem in energy production can be minimized by renewable energy and nuclear energy, suggesting some financial incentives to the investors in energy explorations areas. (iii) It is also observed that due to high volatility of CO2 emissions, a negative market factor exists in consumer sentiment in consumption of oil and petroleum products. This can be compensated via energy consumption fiscal policy in taxation and encourage of extractive industries and producers of petroleum products, as well as the uneven spatial development to have a significant impact on the reduction of CO2 emission. The paper gives recommendation that E7 countries need to find alternatives to fossil fuels in order to deal effectively with the carbon emission problem.

Emission reduction with hybrid mechanisms in civil aviation: An evolutionary game approach

With the rapid growth of the aviation industry, the issue of carbon emissions has become a substantial challenge for governments and airlines. This paper proposes a hybrid carbon emission reduction mechanism, including major airlines in the emission trading systems and implementing carbon tax for small and medium-sized airlines. First, a tripartite evolutionary game model is constructed to study strategic behaviors. Second, four scenarios of evolutionarily stable strategies (ESSs) are analyzed. Finally, the influencing parameters of players’ strategy choices are analyzed through simulations. The results show that: 1) the steady development scenarios (1, 1, 1) can be reached under the appropriate conditions; 2) the parameters such as carbon allowances and carbon tax prices significantly influence the evolutionary trend of stakeholders’ dynamic choices; 3) the implementation of a hybrid mechanism by the government could facilitate the choice of low carbon operation strategies for both types of airlines. Accordingly, a series of policy recommendations are proposed to promote carbon emission reduction in civil aviation. This study combines evolutionary game and scenario analysis methods in an attempt to provide a new perspective on carbon emission reduction governance, thereby promoting the effective development of carbon emission reduction in civil aviation in the future.

Cu4@C2N for effective electrochemical CO2 reduction and intermediates dependent adsorption behaviours: A computational study

Electrochemical CO2 reduction (eCO2R) to valuable products is an effective solution for carbon emission and energy related issues but limited by the lack of high performance catalysts. Herein, Cu4 supported by C2N for CO2 reduction to various products was systematically investigated using first principles calculations. Our results indicate that Cu4@C2N is a promising catalyst for eCO2R with limiting potential of −0.46 and −0.81 V for HCOOH and C2 products, respectively. Cu on top site with higher d-band center is the major active site for eCO2R. Besides, due to the heterogeneity of the active sites of Cu and abundant intermediate, the complexity of the calculation increased significantly. Thus, possible intermediates dependent adsorption behaviours were proposed to determine the interaction types for searching the lowest energy adsorption configuration. More importantly, we found that electron donating ability of the active sites, the electronegativity difference between the adatom and active sites, and the coordinative unsaturation of the contact sites in the intermediates are the major physical origin governing the adsorption geometry. Our work not only provides guidance for developing high-performance small cluster electrocatalyst for CO2 reduction, but brings inspiration for the theoretical study of complex reaction systems to find the optimal adsorption model.

Does Environmental Regulation Promote Eco-Innovation Performance of Manufacturing Firms?—Empirical Evidence from China

As the world becomes more concerned about carbon emissions, the Chinese government, which is a large contributor to carbon emissions, has also begun to pay attention to the issue of carbon emissions. Environmental regulatory policies have been implemented to improve the environment, but are these policies really conducive to improving firms’ eco-innovation performance? This paper empirically investigates the relationship between environmental regulation policies and firms’ eco-innovation performance in China and finds that: firstly, environmental regulation in China is inadequate and that manufacturing eco-innovation performance is generally low; secondly, there is a U-shaped relationship between environmental regulation policies and firms’ eco-innovation performance; thirdly, there is significant industry and regional heterogeneity in the induced effects of environmental regulation tools; and fourthly, there is a mediating effect of industrial agglomeration on the promotion of firms’ eco-innovation performance. The conclusions of this paper are: firstly, that the Chinese government should continue to improve environmental regulations and strictly enforce them so that green becomes the colour of ‘economic recovery’; secondly, that the Chinese government should develop scientific and reasonable environmental regulatory policies according to local conditions; thirdly, that Chinese companies should increase their spending on research and development; and fourthly, that the Chinese government needs to optimise the industrial layout and support mechanisms. The Chinese government should play an active role in industrial agglomeration in technological innovation.

Low energy characteristics and low carbon strategies for traditional timber framing in the full life cycle -The case studying on Tujia hanging foot in southwest Hubei

The issue of carbon emissions has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years, both at home and abroad. There are also more and more people engaged in related research. In the field of architecture, more people are starting to look at the whole life cycle of buildings to explore energy saving and emission reduction of buildings. It is not just about exploring how to reduce the energy consumption of a building during its use. This paper will analyze the advantages of traditional wooden buildings and modern buildings in terms of low carbon from five perspectives: material selection, transportation, construction, use, transportation and demolition, and summarize the related strategies from a whole life cycle analysis of buildings.

An extended approach to appraise electricity distribution and carbon footprint of bitcoin in a smart city.

A nation cannot sustain a highly productive and efficient population without smart cities. Due to their significant reliance on digital technologies, these cities require a high level of cybercrime protection. Cryptocurrencies have gained significant attention due to their secure and reliable infrastructure. The decentralised cryptocurrency operates in a trust-less environment known as the blockchain, where each network participant has a ledger copy of all transactions. Blockchain technology employs a proven consensus mechanism without requiring establishment of a central authority. But the consensus mechanism requires miner to solve a cryptographic problem by generating random hashes until one of them matches the desired one. This procedure is energy-intensive, and when thousands of miners repeat it to verify a single transaction, a substantial amount of electricity is consumed. Moreover, electricity produces a significant amount of carbon footprint. Patch methodology utilises the data of all hashes created per year and the efficiency of mining hardware over a 10-year period to calculate the Bitcoins energy consumption. Due to a large number of unknown and uncertain factors involved, it is difficult to precisely calculate a single value for electricity consumption and carbon footprint as reported by Patch methodology. The proposed method extends the Patch methodology by adding a maximum and minimum limit to the hardware efficiency as well as the sources of power generation, which can help refine estimates of electricity consumption and carbon emissions for a more accurate picture. Using the proposed methodology, it was estimated that Bitcoin consumed between 38.495 and 120.72 terawatt hours of electricity in 2021 and released between 2.12 and 45.37 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide. To address the issue of excessive energy consumption and carbon emissions, a significant number of individual miners and mining pools are relocating to energy-intensive regions, such as aluminium mining sites that rely on hydroelectricity for energy generation.

Study of Energy Transition Paths and the Impact of Carbon Emissions under the Dual Carbon Target

In recent years, the world’s environmental problems have become increasingly serious, and energy transition and carbon emission issues have gradually gained attention from various countries. China has promulgated several policies and adopted various reform measures to achieve a comprehensive energy transition and carbon neutrality as soon as possible. Therefore, this study makes researches and forecasts the energy transition and carbon emissions in China under the dual carbon target. A LEAP (Long range Energy Alternatives Planning) model is developed to analyze the energy parameters of Beijing under various scenarios and to provide a quantitative analysis basis for the energy transition path. The obtained experimental results indicate that the energy demand under the partial energy transition scenario and full energy transition scenarios are 68.651 million tons of standard coal and 75.759 million tons of standard coal, respectively, forming an effective control, while the carbon emissions both achieve the carbon peak in 2025 at 81.903 million tons and 80.624 million tons respectively, and achieve 46.588 million tons in 2060. The carbon-neutral pathway reaches the carbon peak in 2025, and approaches full energy transition in 2035, and finally reaches the full energy transition control effect in 2060. To date, most of the relevant studies have been conducted in a qualitative way, and the amount of quantitative analysis is insufficient. At the same time, research on the development path specifically at the city level is relatively insufficient as well. Therefore, the present study can provide a theoretical basis for specifying the promotion method of urban energy transformation and the path of carbon emission reduction.