Carbon Emission Management Research Articles

Study on Carbon Emission Characteristics and Management Suggestions of Thermal Power Unit

In order to analyze the carbon emissions characteristics of power units, a simplified calculation model and an empirical fitting calculation model for carbon emission intensity of power supply is established based on the China national standard GB/T 32151.1-2015, and the reliability of the established model is verified using the measured data of carbon content per calorific value and carbon oxidation rate, which shows that the proposed model can provide ideas for rapid obtain the unit carbon emission intensity. Then typical units with different pressure levels is taken as examples to analyze the influence of sensitivity factors on carbon emission intensity of power supply based on the variable-controlling approach using the established model, which shown that energy saving and fuel control are important means to control carbon emissions. Finally, some carbon emission management suggestions are given, which provides a reference for the thermal power enterprises.

Evaluation of WRF-CMAQ simulated climatological mean and extremes of fine particulate matter of the United States and its correlation with climate extremes

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5, with aerodynamic diameters < 2.5 μm) pollution is one of the most pervasive air quality problems facing the world. Reliable air quality modeling of PM2.5 is essential to future air quality projection, which serves as a critical source of information for policy-making. Although various evaluation methods have been suggested to assess the capability of air quality models in reproducing PM2.5, most of studies were focused on the mean behaviors of air quality models, with little emphasis on extreme conditions, which may be more crucial for human health and climate change. To address this need, we proposed an evaluation framework in this study to characterize both mean and extreme conditions of PM2.5 and applied it to the WRF-CMAQ simulations over contiguous United States for the period of 2001–2010. Results from statistical, spatiotemporal, and extreme quantile evaluation methods show consistent good performance of the model in the Eastern U.S. However, PM2.5 mean variations and extreme trends in the western U.S. are not well represented by the model attributable to the existence of complex terrains and active fire activities. In addition, the magnitude of decreasing trends for extreme events is smaller than that for the mean PM2.5. Strong correspondence is found between PM2.5 extremes and meteorological extremes that are associated with a stagnant condition. More extreme PM2.5 pollution episodes are expected in a warming climate, with rural regions and the western U.S. suffering the most. Our results highlight the urgency for proper forest management and joint-control of air quality and carbon emissions in order to combat extreme air pollution events in the future.

A study on the classification of China’s provincial carbon emissions trading policy instruments: Taking Fujian province as an example

In order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, China’s provinces have issued a series of carbon emission trading policies in recent years. As China’s first ecological civilization demonstration zone, Fujian Province has also promulgated an array of carbon emission trading policies. Therefore, deeply analyzing the classification of carbon emission trading policies in Fujian Province is of great reference value for other regions to formulate carbon emission trading policies. This paper first introduces the textual formulation of the carbon emission trading policies in Fujian Province, and subdivides the relevant policies into 17 types of policy instruments as per the classification criteria of mandatory, hybrid, and voluntary. Besides, it also classifies and codes the instruments involved in the Fujian provincial carbon emission trading policies using social network analysis method, with a total of 107 social network actors obtained. On this basis, the differences in the composition of various policy instruments are to be compared and analyzed. The Results show that the proportions of mandatory policy instruments, hybrid policy instruments, and voluntary policy instruments are 54.20%, 36.45%, and 9.35%, respectively. The policy instruments used by the Fujian provincial government are dominated by mandatory and hybrid policy instruments, and the voluntary policy instruments account for a relatively low proportion. Currently, what the Fujian government’s carbon emissions trading policies focus on is to improve the supervision and accountability mechanism so as to form a complete carbon emission trading supervision and management system. In the process of building a carbon emissions trading market, the government of Fujian Province should strengthen policy support for talent cultivation, carbon credit evaluation system construction, and policies support for projects in finance, and reinforce the construction of voluntary certification emission reduction mechanism in a timely manner, with a view to encouraging the participation of social forces in the construction of the carbon emissions trading market.

The impact of economic factors and governance on greenhouse gas emission

Governance is a basic factor explaining the poor economic, social and environmental performance of many developing countries. Since good governance impacts the environment and management of carbon emissions, in this study, we examine the relationship between governance and economic performance and its impact on CO2 emissions, employing the World Bank’s Aggregate Governance Indicators. To this end, data from Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries over 8 years (from 2006 to 2015) is analyzed through spatial econometric techniques for panel data. The results show that the governance index (with a negative sign) and GDP growth variable (with a positive sign) have the greatest impact on carbon dioxide emissions. The inflation rate, exports, imports, foreign investment, and employment also have an impact on CO2 emissions. The policy recommendations of this research are that governments can help protect the environment by adopting better governance practices, improving the governance structure, and implementing a clean technology strategy in production to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

A Case Study of Environmental Policies and Guidelines for the Use of Coal Ash as Mine Reclamation Filler: Relevance for Needed South Korean Policy Updates

The South Korean government is pursuing a national project to use the complex carbonates found in coal ash to capture CO2 and promote coal ash recycling. One possible approach is the use of coal ash as fill material in mine reclamation, but environmental concerns have so far blocked the implementation of this procedure, and no relevant regulations or guidelines exist. In this study, we review international approaches to the environmental management of coal ash recycling and consider how the lessons learned can be applied to South Korea. Each studied country was proactively using coal ash for beneficial uses under locally suitable conditions. The United States, European Union, United Kingdom, Australia, and Japan are all putting coal ash to beneficial use following thorough analyses of the environmental impact based on several considerations, including bulk concentration, coal ash leachate concentration, field inspections, and water quality monitoring. Our findings can contribute to the development of proper regulations and policies to encourage the use of recycled coal ash in South Korea as an approach to managing carbon emissions and climate changes. There are currently no relevant regulations in South Korea, so we consider the adoption of the strictest standards at each stage of the other cases at the time of introduction. Based on our findings, detailed and appropriate management guidelines can be developed in the future. Establishing management plans for complex carbonates, verifying their environmental stability, and using them as fill material will provide clear benefits for South Korea in the future.

Strategic defect management for a sustainable green supply chain

Management of defectives and carbon-emissions are prominent inefficiencies identified by the environmental accounting practitioners. Minimizing these inadequacies within a supply chain through careful management strategies translates it reliably into a green system rationally. The concept of defect management is a recent trend in various industries as it aids in the better management of the products by giving them a new horizon through various operations. With such incentives, a vendor-buyer inventory strategy is formulated for an imperfect manufacturing process considering carbon-emissions and defect management. A certain proportion of defectives are produced by the vendor which undergo inspection at the buyer's domain. The secluded defectives are returned by the buyer to the vendor for which the latter incurs a warranty cost. Instead of adopting the traditional approaches of handling defectives, the vendor prefers to invest in a strong inspection which classifies the defectives into three categories viz. repairable, non-repairable, and design flawed ones. Such an approach aids in fetching profits and reducing waste thereby contributing towards a greener environment economically. The vendor also considers carbon-emission costs due to transportation and waste disposals as a step towards sustainability. The paper develops two models, the first model discusses the integrated problem-solving approach and the second one uses the Stackelberg policy. The total profit is maximized by jointly optimizing the number of shipments, order quantity and backordering quantity. Numerical analysis and sensitivity analysis is performed to establish the validity and robustness of the developed study. Findings suggest better performance of the integrated model over the Stackelberg game model. Moreover, the study highlights the significance of defect management so as to achieve sustainability goals without compromising financial objectives.

The Evolution of the Spatial Association Effect of Carbon Emissions in Transportation: A Social Network Perspective.

The association effect between provincial transportation carbon emissions has become an important issue in regional carbon emission management. This study explored the relationship and development trends associated with regional transportation carbon emissions. A social network method was used to analyze the structural characteristics of the spatial association of transportation carbon emissions. Indicators for each of the structural characteristics were selected from three dimensions: The integral network, node network, and spatial clustering. Then, this study established an association network for transportation carbon emissions (ANTCE) using a gravity model with China’s provincial data during the period of 2007 to 2016. Further, a block model (a method of partitioning provinces based on the information of transportation carbon emission) was used to group the ANTCE network of inter-provincial transportation carbon emissions to examine the overall association structure. There were three key findings. First, the tightness of China’s ANTCE network is growing, and its complexity and robustness are gradually increasing. Second, China’s ANTCE network shows a structural characteristic of “dense east and thin west.” That is, the transportation carbon emissions of eastern provinces in China are highly correlated, while those of central and western provinces are less correlated. Third, the eastern provinces belong to the two-way spillover or net benefit block, the central regions belong to the broker block, and the western provinces belong to the net spillover block. This indicates that the transportation carbon emissions in the western regions are flowing to the eastern and central regions. Finally, a regression analysis using a quadratic assignment procedure (QAP) was used to explore the spatial association between provinces. We found that per capita gross domestic product (GDP) and fixed transportation investments significantly influence the association and spillover effects of the ANTCE network. The research findings provide a theoretical foundation for the development of policies that may better coordinate carbon emission mitigation in regional transportation.

Requirements and guidelines for enterprise carbon emission management information disclosure

As the significant bridge of communication between the enterprise and stakeholder, the enterprise carbon emission management information disclosure has gained more and more attentions. This paper introduces the purposes and basic principles of the enterprise carbon emission management information disclosure, investigates the domestic and overseas carbon emission management information disclosure conditions, illustrates the main contents contained in the enterprise carbon emission management information disclosure, and demonstrates the measurement methods of enterprise carbon emission management information disclosure. Finally, this paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of establishing the enterprise carbon emission management information disclosure market in China, the significance of implementing the enterprise carbon emission management information disclosure, and prospects the future of enterprise carbon emission management information disclosure.

Long-term precipitation trends and climate extremes in the Kelani River basin, Sri Lanka, and their impact on streamflow variability under climate change

This paper focuses on and analyses the potential hydrological impacts of climate change on the hydrologic regime of the Kelani River basin, Sri Lanka. In this research, future basin-wide hydrology is simulated by using downscaled temperature and precipitation outputs from the Canadian Earth System Model, version 2 (CanESM2), and the Hydrologic Engineering Centre’s Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS). The research further evaluates the long-term behavior and trends of climate extremes based on observed historical temperature and precipitation data. The findings suggest that temperature and precipitation extremes are on the rise while the annual average precipitation in the basin is declining. It is also predicted with the application of statistical downscaling that temperature may rise annually for representative concentration pathways of RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5. A detailed modeling approach is applied to the Hanwella sub-watershed (1799.67 km2) of the Kelani River basin to study subsequent water resource management options required to ensure the sustainable development alternatives with varying streamflow in the Kelani River basin under the effects of future (2020s, 2050s, and 2080s) rainfall and temperature as impending climate change becomes manifested. This paper reviews the current state of the catchment as well as the suitability of applying GCMs rather than RCMs to Sri Lanka to assess this river basin, according to monthly, seasonal, and annual variations of the climatology. Further, a quantitative analysis of the change of amount of surface water in the selected river basin with respect to the expected variations in precipitation and temperature is also carried out. The findings of this research and overall outcome will be useful in identifying possible climate change impact on paddy and crop production, ensuing sustainable water management scenarios, best management options, and mitigation measures in land use, carbon emission management, etc., in a more meaningful manner in the future. This study will set the baseline for commencing and continuing quantitative studies incorporating the behavior of the basin-wide climatology and streamflow variability with the use of GCMs to achieve sustainable development goals.

Thinking critically about smart city experimentation: entrepreneurialism and responsibilization in urban living labs

ABSTRACTThe proliferation of smart technologies, big data, and analytics is being increasingly used to address urban socio-environmental problems such as climate change mitigation and carbon control. Electricity systems in particular are being reconfigured with smart technologies to help integrate renewable generation, enhance energy efficiency, implement new forms of pricing, increase control and automation, and improve reliability. Many of these interventions are experimental, requiring real-world testing before wider diffusion. This testing often takes place in “urban living labs,” integrating urban residents as key actors in experimentation with goals for broader sustainability transitions. In this paper, I investigate one such urban living lab focused on smart grid research and demonstration in a residential neighbourhood in Austin, Texas. I develop a framework based in governmentality studies to critically interrogate urban experimentation. Findings suggest that the focus of experimentation devolves urban imperatives into individual responsibilities for socio-environmental change. Managing carbon emissions through energy efficiency, renewable energy, and conservation is promoted as a form of self-management, wherein households reconfigure everyday activities and/or adopt new technologies. At the same, sociotechnical interventions are shaped by technology companies, researchers, and policy-makers marking a central feature of contemporary urban entrepreneurialism. This skews the potential of active co-production, and instead relies on the delegation of responsibility for action to a constrained assemblage of smart technologies and smart users.

Research on Carbon Emission Management System Deployed in Civil Airport

Along with the increasingly prosperous airport industry, energy consumption and carbon emission at airport rocket, rendering the building of eco-friendly airports becoming the common trend and objective of global airport development. Digging into airport carbon emission management is of relevance for reducing airport carbon emission and improving the quality of airports and surrounding environment. The article analyzes the needs of airport carbon emission management given the current situation, proposes to achieve airport carbon emission management and monitoring by using information technology, develops a carbon management system software for civil aviation airports, and provides smart strategies for airport carbon emission management.

Dynamic Acquisition and Real-Time Distribution of Carbon Emission for Machining Through Mining Energy Data

The acquisition and distribution of carbon emission in manufacturing process are usually regarded as a precondition for management and decision making of carbon emission reduction in mechanical manufacturing industry. Current researches regarding acquisition of carbon emission for mechanical manufacture mainly derive from static statistics and are insufficient to reflect interactive influence of running statues and production processes on carbon emission in mechanical processing. This paper proposed a dynamic acquisition of carbon emission for mechanical manufacture, especially for machining process, which contributes to carbon emission monitoring and management in manufacturing process and overcomes existing deficiencies in static statistic methods. Furthermore, a dynamic monitoring system, consisting of single-machine and multi-machine levels, is developed to verify the feasibility of the proposed method, and is applied in a machining workshop. Case study shows that the proposed method is valid to obtain dynamic variation and distribution of carbon emission, to determine influence of running statues or production processes on emission carbon and to explore potential emission reduction strategies.

A Systematic Approach to Embodied Carbon Reduction in Buildings

The eminence of climate change and global warming has received considerable international awareness in recent decades. Construction industry sector consumes a substantial amount of natural resources and leads to the emissions of million tonnes of carbon into the environment. Consequently, Malaysia is one of the countries with the highest level of carbon emissions in the world. The commercial sector has been identified as one of the major contributors to carbon emission by energy consumption. Building developers should take action in promoting sustainable building practices to reduce carbon emission and energy consumption. Selection of appropriate building materials can lead to significant reduction in greenhouse gases emission. In this paper, an absolute quantification and estimation of embodied carbon emission are presented. Furthermore, this paper investigates the amount of energy consumed. It also presents a novel optimization model for embodied carbon emission which has been developed by evolutionary Genetic Algorithm (GA). GA evaluation has been rarely used to address environmental performances of construction projects, particularly in Malaysia. In this regard, the adoption of the ISO 14040 framework and evolutionary GA were used to evaluate the office project. This paper presents an assessment model that can be beneficial for carbon emission management. According to findings, the developed GA model can be used in practice which has been validated by an application to the building.

Empirical Analysis of Carbon Emission Accounting and Influencing Factors of Energy Consumption in China.

China is confronting great pressure to reduce carbon emissions. This study focuses on the driving factors of carbon emissions in China using the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) method. Seven economic factors, including gross domestic product (GDP), investment intensity, research and development (R&D) intensity, energy intensity, research and development (R&D) efficiency, energy structure and province structure are selected and the decomposition model of influencing factors of carbon emissions in China is constructed from a sectoral perspective. The influence of various economic factors on carbon emissions is analyzed quantitatively. Results show that the R&D intensity and energy intensity are the main factors inhibiting the growth of carbon emissions. GDP and investment intensity are the major factors promoting the growth of carbon emissions. The contribution of R&D efficiency to carbon emissions is decreasing. The impacts of energy structure and province structure on carbon emissions are ambiguous through time. Finally, some policy suggestions for strengthening the management of carbon emissions and carbon emission reduction are proposed.

Use of Mulifactor Models with Garch Structure in Carbon Emissions Risk Management

Abstract Tightening the environmental norms that result from the priorities of the EU 2030 Energy and Climate Package and the reform of the EU ETS have caused the necessity to implement an effective system of managing the risk of carbon dioxide emission and integrate it with the existing enterprise management system. Evaluation of the direction and strength of correlation between EUA price changes and energy companies stock price returns is crucial from point of view the managerial staff making proper decisions about the use of the CO2 emission permits by energy companies. It is an important stage of carbon emission risk management process. The aim of this paper is to verify the possibility of use the multifactor models with GARCH structure as a tool supporting the carbon emission management process in energy companies. Empirical analysis is connected with the estimation of multifactor models with GARCH structure in the Phase II and Phase III of the EU ETS functioning for two groups of Polish energy companies: group of the Respect Index companies and others. Such an approach allows to check whether the Respect Index companies are more robust than others on the carbon emission risk, in particular the EUA price risk associated with the intensification works on modifying the EU ETS functioning. We found that the impact of EUA price changes on energy companies stock returns and their volatility is statistically insignificant in case of all Respect Index companies.

Interpretation of Series National Standards of China on “Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accounting and Reporting for Enterprises”

Standardization is playing an increasingly important role in reducing greenhouse gas emission and in climatic change adaptation, especially in the “three” greenhouse gas emission aspects (measurement, report, verification). Standardization has become one of the most important ways in mitigating the global climate change. Standardization Administration of China (SAC) has taken many productive measures in actively promoting standardization work to cope with climate change. In April 2014, SAC officially approved the establishment of “National Carbon Emission Management Standardization Technical Committee” In November 2015, SAC officially issued the first 11 national standards on carbon management including <<General Guideline of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accounting and Reporting for Industrial Enterprises>> and the requirements of the greenhouse gas emissions accounting and reporting in 10 sectors including power generation, power grid, iron and steel, chemical engineering, electrolytic aluminum, magnesium smelting, plate glass, cement, ceramics and civil aviation, which proposes unified requirements of “what to calculate and how to calculate” the greenhouse gas emission for enterprises. This paper focuses on the detailed interpretation of the main contents of the first 11 national standards, so as to provide technical supports for users of the standards and to comprehensively promote the emission reduction of greenhouse gas at the enterprise level.

Framing of Climate Change Impacts and Use of Management Accounting Practices

This study examines (i) how companies perceive climate change impacts in terms of opportunities or threats and the reasons for these perceptions, and (ii) use of management accounting practices to manage carbon emissions and the relationship between climate change perceptions and accounting use. The sample consists of Australian companies that participated in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) 2009 survey. We find that how climate change impacts are framed (as threat or opportunity) influences the use of planning and target setting, performance measurement and incentivisation in managing emissions. However, in general, use of accounting practices in managing carbon emissions is limited.

Achieving China's energy and climate policy targets in 2030 under multiple uncertainties

The stringency of China's energy and climate targets in 2030 and the policy needed to realize these targets are full of controversy, mainly as a result of multiple future uncertainties. This study has developed a stochastic energy-economy-environment integrated model, to assess China's energy and climate targets in 2030, with a particular focus on the carbon intensity reduction, carbon emission peaking, and non-fossil energy development. The probabilities of realizing the targets are obtained, and the nexus among different targets is explored. It's argued that carbon emission management and policy-making should be implemented from the perspective of risk management, and policy makers can take corresponding policy measures based on the degree of confidence required under multiple future uncertainties. It is found that the probabilities of realizing carbon emission-peaking target and non-fossil energy target are low, with the business-as-usual efforts, and additional policies may still be needed. More specific, carbon pricing plays a major role in curbing and peaking carbon emissions, while the policy mix of carbon pricing and non-fossil energy subsidies can peak the carbon emission with relatively low cost compared to the single carbon pricing policy. It is also found that the carbon intensity reduction target is most likely to be attained, followed by the carbon-peaking target, and then the non-fossil energy target, given the same policy efforts. This indicates that, China may not deliberately increase carbon emissions rapidly over the next decade to make the carbon emission peak as high as possible; otherwise, it may be difficult to achieve the non-fossil energy target.

Environmental management accounting and its effects on carbon management and disclosure quality

Along with the development of environmental management accounting (EMA) in the past decade, a variety of management accounting and control tools have been designed and implemented to improve the measurement and management of corporate environmental performance and information. While the importance of EMA to corporate sustainability has been increasingly acknowledged, extant literature has drawn little attention on assessing and understanding EMA application and its effectiveness on the quality of carbon emission management and disclosure. Using data gathered of 114 large firms in the US, Germany, Australia and Japan, we find that many firms have applied some EMA tools, yet only a few have applied the full range of EMA tools. The empirical analysis reveals that EMA application has a significantly positive impact on both corporate carbon management and disclosure quality. Further analysis specifies that audit and benchmarking tools as well as control tools have significant effects on carbon management and disclosure, while for measurement tools no significant effects could be observed. Based on the results, implications are developed for management education and practitioners, which can help managers to make better informed choices for the application of EMA tools.

A Joint Optimal Decision on Shipment Size and Carbon Reduction under Direct Shipment and Peddling Distribution Strategies

Recently, much research has focused on lowering carbon emissions in logistics. This paper attempts to contribute to the literature on the joint shipment size and carbon reduction decisions by developing novel models for distribution systems under direct shipment and peddling distribution strategies. Unlike the literature that has simply investigated the effects of carbon costs on operational decisions, we address how to reduce carbon emissions and logistics costs by adjusting shipment size and making an optimal decision on carbon reduction investment. An optimal decision is made by analyzing the distribution cost including not only logistics and carbon trading costs but also the cost for adjusting carbon emission factors. No research has explicitly considered the two sources of carbon emissions, but we develop a model covering the difference in managing carbon emissions from transportation and storage. Structural analysis guides how to determine an optimal shipment size and emission factors in a closed form. Moreover, we analytically prove the possibility of reducing the distribution cost and carbon emissions at the same time. Numerical analysis follows validation of the results and demonstrates some interesting findings on carbon and distribution cost reduction.