Carbon Emission Reduction Efficiency Research Articles

Coupling coordination degree between coal production reduction and CO2 emission reduction in coal industry

The decline in coal production and the increase in low-carbon production levels are both important manifestations of the industry's elimination of backward production capacity. To test the benign interaction between the “quantity” and the “quality”, this paper takes 12 provinces in China with significant reductions in coal production, calculates and compares the changes in the coupling coordination degree (CCD) of the two systems from 2000 to 2019, and explore the key factors that affect CCD. The results show that from 2013 to 2019, 12 provinces have seen a decline in coal production between 5% and 23.6%, and the effectiveness of coal production control is relatively significant. However, the carbon emission reduction efficiency of the coal industry in 9 of these provinces has been at a lower level with a mean value of 0.481. After 2013, the CCD of 12 provinces significantly improves and the two systems have converged to a good state of coordination (Dit>0.6) in most provinces by 2019. However, the high volatility of CCD after 2013 suggests the instability of interaction. LnPGDPPEPOV, and FDI are proven to be the key factors affecting the system coordination. Meanwhile, other factors need to be further explored and improved.

Decomposition of carbon emission reduction efficiency and potential for clean energy power: Evidence from 58 countries

With more countries committing to achieving carbon neutrality targets by midcentury to mitigate global climate change, it is necessary to replace the combustion of fossil fuels in the power industry with clean energy and improve the CO2 reduction efficiency (CRE) of clean energy. Therefore, this study introduces a multi-hierarchy meta-frontier data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach to estimate the CO2 reduction inefficiency (CRI) and potential in nuclear power and three renewable power industries of 58 countries, which are decomposed into three components of industrial technology gaps, regional technology gaps, and management levels derived from the heterogeneities of regions and power industries. The dynamic performance of CO2 emissions reduction is then analyzed. The main results are as follows. (1) Among the countries in each region, China, the USA, and Russia have greater average CRE values of 0.6605, 0.4817 and 0.7486 for clean-energy power industry from 2011 to 2018, respectively. The assessment of CRE by using the regional frontier as the evaluation criterion yields the greatest efficiency. The CRE is greater when using the industrial frontier as the benchmark compared to the use of the meta-frontier. (2) Currently, Asia, America, and Europe have the CRI values of 0.3262, 0.4706 and 0.3831 for nuclear power industry, and need improvements in technology structure, regional technology gaps, and internal management, respectively. Hydropower has a lower CRI than solar and wind power, with Asia having the highest CO2 reduction potential at nearly 700 Mt; The primary reason for the CRI in Asia and Europe is management inefficiency, while in America it's the inefficiency of regional development. The large CRI values are recorded for solar and wind power, especially in Europe where the values are 0.7957 and 0.7320, respectively. (3) The CRE of the global clean-energy power industry improves by an average of 2.27% from 2011 to 2018, primarily due to technological progress and improvements in technical efficiency. In response to these findings, targeted policy implications are developed to strengthen the transition to the advanced technologies and management options for maximizing CO2 mitigation.

Effects of Carbon Policy on Carbon Emission Reduction in Supply Chain under Uncertain Demand

Although there are many articles on carbon emission reduction of sustainable supply chain, most of them study the carbon emission reduction efficiency of supply chain in the case of single carbon policy or demand determination. Based on previous studies, this paper considered a supply chain consisting of a single manufacturer and a single retailer in an uncertain demand market. The effects of demand randomness and different carbon policies on carbon emission reduction level and optimal decision in supply chain were studied by constructing mean-variance utility function and Stackelberg game. Due to the difficulty of data acquisition, this paper verified the equalization results by numerical simulation. The results show that: (1) cap-and-trade policy, government subsidy policy and carbon tax policy can promote the carbon emission reduction investment of supply chain, while carbon tax policy will lead to the decline of the overall profit of supply chain; (2) For the manufacturer and the retailer, adopting a strategy with a low degree of risk avoidance will increase its own profits; (3) For the supply chain as a whole, it is more advantageous for manufacturers to adopt higher risk avoidance strategies, while retailers to adopt lower risk avoidance strategies. In addition, in the conclusion, this paper puts forward management implications related to stakeholders, thus providing help for the development of sustainable supply chain.

Analysis models for China's carbon trading market: comparison and outlook

At the national and international levels, human-induced climate change has become a significant political concern, with the large rise in carbon dioxide concentration being a pressing issue that must be addressed. Carbon trading has shown to be one of the most successful strategies to accomplish energy saving and emission reduction as a flexible tool for dealing with climate change. As the nation with the highest carbon emissions today, China’s research on its carbon trading market has a guiding significance to the globe. The study findings of different models focusing on carbon trading markets are presented from three aspects: carbon emission reduction efficiency, carbon market efficiency, and internal information change trends in the carbon market. The results show that the efficiency of China’s pilot carbon market is currently poor, with just a mediocre efficiency attained. The existing carbon market’s key issues are its low transaction volume and weak market liquidity. Based on the comprehensive review of and comparison among existing models studying the carbon trading market, we proposed plausible suggestions for future research directions and development methods of the carbon trading market, including the utilization of carbon tax, improved market transparency, and government oversight.

A novel cryogenic condensation system combined with gas turbine with low carbon emission for volatile compounds recovery

The issue of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is a global concern due to its significant influence on environmental pollution, climate change, and human health. Condensation is an available VOCs recovery method, but it currently has obvious shortcomings in terms of energy consumption, carbon emissions, refrigerants, and emission concentration. In this paper, a novel VOCs condensation system combined with gas turbine was proposed. The heat obtained by burning part of the exhaust gas is employed to drive an absorption refrigerator using ammonia water and a Stirling refrigerator using helium to recover VOCs contained in the remaining exhaust gas, which has the advantages of not requiring an external power supply, low carbon emissions, using natural refrigerant and nearly zero-VOCs emission. In order to obtain the optimal recovery efficiency, a thermodynamic calculation model was established, and related experimental verifications were carried out. The results show that the remaining 93.3% of the VOCs can be recovered by burning 6.7% of the VOCs when the absorption refrigerator (213 K) recovers the waste heat of the gas turbine used to power the Stirling refrigerator (110 K). The carbon emission reduction efficiency is as high as 92.9% and the carbon emission reduction is 16707 tons per year. The effects of the refrigeration temperature, heat source temperature, gas turbine efficiency, refrigerator efficiency and exhaust gas flowrate on the recovery efficiency were also analyzed.

The Carbon Emission Assessment of a Building with Different Prefabrication Rates in the Construction Stage.

The utilization of prefabricated components is taken as a potential way to reduce carbon emissions from the construction industry, and the prefabrication rate may be a factor that influences the mitigation efficiency. This study develops an assessment method to compare carbon emissions of a building in the construction stage when it is built with multiple different prefabrication rates. Firstly, two carbon sources (building materials and machineries) and three construction sub-phases (production of materials and components, transportation, and on-site construction) are determined to clarify the calculation boundary. Then, a carbon emission measurement model for prefabricated buildings in the construction stage is developed by using a process-based method. A dormitory building in Chongqing, China, is selected to conduct a case study to show the application of the provided model. The result shows that the carbon emission of prefabricated buildings is higher compared to that of traditional cast-in situ buildings. Moreover, the emission of prefabricated buildings decreased slightly with the increase in the prefabrication rate. A detailed discussion is followed to investigate the reason why the carbon emission does not decrease with the utilization of prefabricated units. Based on the discussion, some suggestions are given to improve the carbon emission reduction efficiency of prefabrication techniques.

Carbon emission efficiency measurement and influencing factor analysis of nine provinces in the Yellow River basin: based on SBM-DDF model and Tobit-CCD model.

The Yellow River basin (YRB) is China’s most critical energy consumption and coal production area. The improvement of carbon emission reduction efficiency in this area is the key for the Chinese government to achieve the 2030 carbon peak and 2060 carbon neutral (“30.60”). Given this, this study first calculates the carbon emission efficiency of YRB from 2005 to 2019 based on the slack-based measured directional distance function (SBM-DDF) model and combined with Malmquist–Luenberger (ML) index and decomposes the carbon emission efficiency of each province. Then, a panel Tobit model with random effect is constructed to measure the influencing factors and their influence degree of carbon emission efficiency of YRB. Finally, the main influencing factors are selected, and policy suggestions on how to improve the carbon emission efficiency of each province are put forward with the help of the coupling coordination degree (CCD) model. The results show that first, the carbon emission efficiency of each province is significantly different, but it shows a fluctuating upward trend on the whole. Second, the reasons for the rise or decline of the ML index in different provinces are different. Therefore, the development strategies of different provinces should be formulated from the perspective of accelerating technological progress and improving technical efficiency. Finally, the calculation results of influencing factors and coupling coordination degrees show that provinces with high coupling coordination degrees should focus on developing per capita power consumption and controlling per capita power consumption to consolidate the actual urbanization process and industrial structure adjustment. Provinces with low coupling coordination degrees should focus on maintaining the urbanization process and increasing the development of the tertiary industry. Therefore, to fundamentally reduce carbon emissions in YRB areas, we need to consider implementing differentiated emission reduction schemes based on national strategic objectives and in combination with the development characteristics of various provinces.

How can green building development promote carbon emission reduction efficiency of the construction industry?--Based on the dual perspective of industry and space.

Green building development(GBD) plays an important role in improving carbon emission reduction efficiency of the construction industry(CEEOCI), and accelerating the construction industry to achieve carbon neutrality goals. In this paper, for the first time, the topic of "green building development promotes carbon neutrality in the construction industry" is included in the crossover research category of industrial economics and space economics. A framework for the analysis of the impact mechanism of GBD and CEEOCI under the dual perspective of "industry-space" is proposed. Based on China's provincial panel data from 2008 to 2019, using the intermediary adjustment model and the spatial Dubin model to analyze and test the industrial mechanism, spatial mechanism, and spatial effect attenuation boundary of the GBD effect on CEEOCI. The results show GBD is found to promote CEEOCI, and both the GBD and CEEOCI have a clear "center-periphery" spatial pattern. Meanwhile, the impact of GBD on CEEOCI has a "industry-space" two-dimensional mechanism. From an industrial perspective, GBD can change the supply-demand relationship of the construction market by promoting the greening of supporting industries in the construction industry and stimulating green consumption in the market, and ultimately achieve the overall improvement of CEEOCI. From a spatial perspective, GBD can form a new sectoral growth pole and provide elemental support for the improvement of CEEOCI through the polarization effect, but the polarization effect is higher in the range of 1000 km, while attenuation occurs outside the range of 1000 km. This paper provides not only a scientific and effective medium and macro analysis framework for green building development emission reduction performance evaluation but also a new theoretical basis and policy direction for the construction industry to improve carbon reduction efficiency and achieve industrial carbon neutrality.

The impact mechanism of the ETS on CO2 emissions from the service sector: Evidence from Beijing and Shanghai

The service sector has a vital role in achieving emissions reduction, but existing studies on emission trading scheme (ETS) seldom consider CO2 emissions from service sector. Among the seven ETS pilots in China, those in Beijing and Shanghai cover the service sector. This paper focuses on the Beijing and Shanghai pilots and divides the service sector into the transportation sector and the other service sector. After that, it integrates the synthetic control method and the intermediate approach to analyze the impact mechanism of the ETS on the CO2 emissions from the service sector. The results show that the ETS has a negative effect on CO2 emissions from the service sector in China, but the abatement effect is heterogeneous by region and sector. Meanwhile, during the sample period, the impact mechanism of the ETS on CO2 emissions from the service sector is carbon emission reduction efficiency.

How Does Carbon Emission Reduction Efficiency Affect Regional Income Inequality? The Mediator Effect of Interregional Labor Flow

Global income inequality is widening and carbon emissions remain high. So, reducing carbon emissions and income gap are urgent challenges. The purpose of this paper is to analysis how carbon emission efficiency influences the region income inequality. The improvement of carbon emission reduction efficiency has widened the regional income inequality with the flow of high-tech labor as an intermediary variable in China. Methods used in this article are mediating effect model and DEA method. This paper constructs a disposable income model of income and health costs, where health costs are a function of carbon reduction. If income is fixed, then the expectations of disposable income will change as the level of carbon emission reduction changes. This study finds that the disposable income expectations of high-income areas increases, while the disposable income expectations of lower-income areas decrease with the improvement of carbon emission reduction efficiency. High-income regions attract high-income labor from other regions, resulting in the widening of regional income inequality under the constraint of high cost of living. This result is verified by the data of China from 2007 to 2017. The regression model with Geordie coefficient as the dependent variable, carbon emission reduction efficiency as the core independent variable, gravitation of high-tech talent as the mediator variable, and urbanization rate, educational level, social security coverage, and highway and railway traffic mileage as control variables not only verifies the above results but also finds that high-tech talents’ flow is not the only intermediary between carbon emission reduction efficiency and regional income inequality. This paper finds that when the carbon emission reduction efficiency increases by one unit, the income inequality gap of 25 provinces increases by 0.0202 units, provinces with high carbon emission reduction efficiency increases by 0.107 units, and provinces with medium carbon emission reduction efficiency increases by 0.026 units. However, the income inequality gap of provinces with low carbon emission reduction efficiency decreases by 0.0390 units. The carbon emission reduction efficiency of the high and medium carbon emission reduction efficiency groups is proportional to the income inequality, while the low carbon emission reduction efficiency group is the opposite, when the carbon emission reduction efficiency is grouped into high efficiency group, medium efficiency group, and low efficiency group. The reason for this result is that the high carbon emission reduction efficiency of the former attracts high-income high-tech talent, while the latter's narrowing regional income inequality benefits from the reduction costs of health and the government’s ecological compensation. The effective measures to narrow the income inequality are to implement carbon emission reduction policy, industrial policy, education investment policy, and public service policy, according to the above findings.

Installed Hydropower Capacity and Carbon Emission Reduction Efficiency Based on the EBM Method in China

This study employs 29 provincial-level administrative regions in China from 2013 to 2017 to evaluate the overall efficiency score of hydropower electricity generation in the three main regions of China. The EBM (Epsilon-based Measure) model with the DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) method uses installed capacity data, labor force data, and equipment utilization hours as input indicators and electricity generation and CO2 emission reduction as output indicators. By comparing the efficiency values of the two indices of installed capacity and CO2 emission reduction, we are able to analyze the differences between installed hydropower electricity generation capacity efficiency and carbon emission reduction efficiency in various provinces and cities. The findings show that the western region is the best, followed by the central region and then the eastern region in terms of the input-output index level, total efficiency score of hydropower, and comparison of installed capacity-carbon emission reduction efficiency. Natural water resources and geographical advantages have a great positive effect on hydropower efficiency, while economic development has little effect on it. China should promote the sustainable development of hydropower according to local conditions and formulate and adopt countermeasures in line with the different circumstances between regions.

The value of advance payment financing to carbon emission reduction and production in a supply chain with game theory analysis

This paper investigates the value of advance payment financing to carbon emission reduction and production in a supply chain. We discuss two models, namely, (1) a supply chain model with a manufacturer that is not capital-constrained, under the conditions of being with and without advance payment financing, and (2) a supply chain model with a capital-constrained manufacturer, under the conditions of using bank financing and mixed financing. We characterize and compare the optimal solutions in the two supply chain models and then extend the models with cap-and-trade regulation and general stochastic demand. We find that in the supply chain model without a capital-constrained manufacturer, advance payment financing with a low-price discount can increase the supply chain partners’ profits. However, in the supply chain model with a capital-constrained manufacturer, when the manufacturer’s production cost is high, mixed financing with a low-price discount can improve both partners’ profits. Furthermore, in the model with a capital-constrained manufacturer, when the manufacturer’s carbon emission reduction efficiency is high, the use of mixed financing can encourage the manufacturer to increase carbon emission reductions. The results help the manufacturer and the retailer to decide whether to join in advance payment financing.

Study on Carbon Emission Reduction Efficiency and Influencing Factors in Various Provinces in China

This paper establishes the framework of influencing factors of carbon emission reduction efficiency from two aspects of driving factors and braking factors and makes theoretical analysis. The panel data model is used to construct the model of influencing factors of carbon emission reduction efficiency. Collecting relevant data from 30 regions in China from 2011 to 2016 and selecting reasonable indicators，the impact of industrial structure, carbon rights market and technological innovation on carbon emission reduction efficiency have been empirically analyzed. According to the analysis conclusion, further calculate the energy efficiency of each region, and then come to carbon dioxide emission reduction potential, energy-saving space and emission reduction space of different regions. The concept of carbon emission decoupling is introduced to calculate the decoupling index of four stages in China and analyze the change of decoupling degree. The results show that: (1) The industrial structure greatly affects the efficiency of carbon emission reduction. The increase of the proportion of the secondary industry will increase the rate of change of carbon emission and reduce the efficiency of carbon emission reduction. The establishment of carbon rights market and improvement of technological innovation ability can effectively improve the efficiency of carbon emission reduction; (2) China's regional energy efficiency is not balanced. There is still great potential for carbon reduction, energy saving and emission reduction; (3) The stage decoupling index of different regions is different, but the degree of decoupling is strengthened year by year. The space of emission reduction is gradually reduced, indicating that the overall trend of economic growth on the pressure of emission reduction eased.

The Study of the Impact of Carbon Finance Effect on Carbon Emissions in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region—Based on Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index Decomposition Analysis

The negative effects of global warming are becoming more and more serious. The fundamental way to prevent global warming is by reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Achieving this has become a key concern for all countries. The logarithmic mean divisia index model was constructed to decompose the total carbon emission increment. Carbon finance effect was divided into green credit effect and carbon trading effect to analyze the impact of carbon finance on carbon emissions. The results showed that the total carbon emission reduction value caused by green credit effect from 2010 to 2016 in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region was 66193.96 million tons, and the added value of carbon emission caused by carbon trading effect was 80266.68 million tons. There are regional differences in the effects of carbon finance on carbon emissions in these regions. It can be concluded that to a certain extent, green credit can reduce carbon emissions, and carbon trading can increase carbon emissions. Using the gradual expansion of carbon finance trading and market mechanism of carbon finance to solve the problem of carbon emission can improve the efficiency of carbon emission reduction.

Carbon Emission Reduction of Power Enterprises in Subtropical and Temperate Regions of China

China’s power enterprises consume a large amount of energy and emit a high quantity of carbon dioxide. To reduce carbon emissions and save energy, China has implemented various energy-saving and emission reduction (ESER) policies in the power industry. The purpose of this study is to analyze the carbon emission reduction (CER) performance and the ESER performance of China’s power enterprises. The data envelopment analysis was applied to obtain the CER efficiency and the ESER efficiency of power enterprises in subtropical and temperate regions of China. The research findings are as follows. First, the average ESER efficiency of Chinese power enterprises is lower than their CER efficiency. Second, only 30% of Chinese power enterprises have both high CER and ESER efficiency. Most power enterprises in China need to take measures to further reduce carbon emissions and improve the efficiency of resource utilization. Third, due to their high economic development and advanced use of technology, the CER efficiency of power enterprises in subtropical regions is higher than that in temperate regions. Based on empirical results, specific policy recommendations are provided for Chinese power enterprises.

Efficiency assessment of waste incineration power plants in China using data envelopment analysis

China has ranked first in waste incineration power capacity and loading capacity owing to the promotion of favourable policies since 2017. Because of economic and environmental advantages, incineration power generation has become the most promising waste disposal method. To help further promote improve incineration power generation so as to improve the energy efficiency, this paper analyses the power generation and carbon emission reduction efficiency of 31 waste incineration power plants in China using data envelopment analysis. According to the results, all waste incineration power plants studied operate at an acceptable level and 70% of the operating efficiency them is approved to be efficient. As a result, waste incineration power plants of China have higher productive efficiency with lower environmental efficiency. Based on the result, this paper proposes suggestions for the waste incineration power industry in China, which may provide a reference for policy makers and firm managers.

Efficiency assessment of waste incineration power plants in China using data envelopment analysis

China has ranked first in waste incineration power capacity and loading capacity owing to the promotion of favourable policies since 2017. Because of economic and environmental advantages, incineration power generation has become the most promising waste disposal method. To help further promote improve incineration power generation so as to improve the energy efficiency, this paper analyses the power generation and carbon emission reduction efficiency of 31 waste incineration power plants in China using data envelopment analysis. According to the results, all waste incineration power plants studied operate at an acceptable level and 70% of the operating efficiency them is approved to be efficient. As a result, waste incineration power plants of China have higher productive efficiency with lower environmental efficiency. Based on the result, this paper proposes suggestions for the waste incineration power industry in China, which may provide a reference for policy makers and firm managers.

Efficiency of industrial energy conservation and carbon emission reduction in Liaoning Pro-vince based on data envelopment analysis (DEA)method.

Taking 39 industries as independent decision-making units in Liaoning Province from 2003 to 2012 and considering the benefits of energy, economy and environment, we combined direction distance function and radial DEA method to estimate and decompose the energy conservation and carbon emissions reduction efficiency of the industries. Carbon emission of each industry was calculated and defined as an undesirable output into the model of energy saving and carbon emission reduction efficiency. The results showed that energy saving and carbon emission reduction efficiency of industries had obvious heterogeneity in Liaoning Province. The whole energy conservation and carbon emissions reduction efficiency in each industry of Liaoning Province was not high, but it presented a rising trend. Improvements of pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency were the main measures to enhance energy saving and carbon emission reduction efficiency, especially scale efficiency improvement. In order to improve the energy saving and carbon emission reduction efficiency of each industry in Liaoning Province, we put forward that Liaoning Province should adjust industry structure, encourage the development of low carbon high benefit industries, improve scientific and technological level and adjust the industry scale reasonably, meanwhile, optimize energy structure, and develop renewable and clean energy.

Forecasting the Allocative Efficiency of Carbon Emission Allowance Financial Assets in China at the Provincial Level in 2020

As the result of climate change and deteriorating global environmental quality, nations are under pressure to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases per unit of GDP. China has announced that it is aiming not only to reduce carbon emission per unit of GDP, but also to consume increased amounts of non-fossil energy. The carbon emission allowance is a new type of financial asset in each Chinese province and city that also affects individual firms. This paper attempts to examine the allocative efficiency of carbon emission reduction and non-fossil energy consumption by employing a zero sum gains data envelopment analysis (ZSG-DEA) model, given the premise of fixed CO2 emissions as well as non-fossil energy consumption. In making its forecasts, the paper optimizes allocative efficiency in 2020 using 2010 economic and carbon emission data from 30 provinces and cities across China as its baseline. An efficient allocation scheme is achieved for all the provinces and cities using the ZSG-DEA model through five iterative calculations.

The Comprehensive Economic Benefits Evaluation of Power Generation Projects under the Background of Low-Carbon Economy

Under the background of low-carbon economy, it is necessary to modify and improve the existing economic benefits evaluation system for the construction projects of power generation industries. This paper firstly built an economic benefit evaluation index system for power generation projects based on low-carbon financial benefits and carbon-emission reduction efficiency. Then, it established an economic benefits evaluation model which uses entropy and AHP to determine combined weights, and Gray Relation Method for comprehensive evaluation. Finally, the empirical analysis of the construction of wind power projects verified the feasibility and effectiveness of the evaluation model.