Carbon Emission Policies Research Articles

Validation of the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis and role of carbon emission policies in the case of Russian Federation.

Climate change currently observed and expected in the future is associated with risks to security and sustainable development and natural and irreversible consequences. To minimize these risks, it is necessary to adapt the public administration, economic sectors, and regional infrastructure to the changing climate conditions. This paper discovers the links between CO2 emissions and their key determinants such as economic growth, energy consumption, population, trade openness, and financial development including the period from 1990 to 2020 to test the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis by using ARDL bound test for the Russian Federation. Findings reveal that energy consumption and population have a positive impact on CO2 emissions, while economic growth, financial development, and trade openness have been found to decrease CO2 emissions in the long term. The results of this paper show that there is a “U”-shaped relationship between CO2 emissions and economic growth in the Russian Federation. This shows that EKC is valid up to a certain income level in the Russian Federation, and when this income level is exceeded, a positive relationship will begin between economic growth and environmental degradation. As a policy implementation, policymakers must implement clean energy technology policies to achieve the 2060 net zero carbon target. Policies such as fossil-based energy use and reducing energy intensity should be adopted.

Impact of carbon emission policy combinations on the optimal production-inventory decisions for deteriorating items

This study is the first to propose a cross-border production-inventory model for deteriorating items under different carbon emission policy combinations by considering a global supply chain system with a single manufacturer from abroad and a single domestic retailer. An integrated three-stage supply chain that includes material supply, manufacturer’s production and delivery, and retailer’s ordering and sales is designed. Two carbon policy combinations are considered: (1) the manufacturer faces a carbon cap-and-trade policy, and the retailer faces a carbon tax policy; (2) the manufacturer faces a carbon tax policy and the retailer faces a carbon cap-and-trade policy. The main purpose is to determine the optimal material supply, production, and delivery strategies for the manufacturer and the optimal replenishment strategies for the retailer to maximize the joint total profit of the supply chain in each situation, while observing the solutions’ carbon reduction benefits. This study uses mathematical programming to find optimal solutions for the manufacturer and the retailer, with numerical examples presented to demonstrate the solution procedures for comparing different carbon policy combinations. The results show that under different policy combinations, fluctuations in carbon prices, carbon taxes, and exchange rates have different effects on the profits of the entire supply chain and each member, as well as the carbon reduction’s social benefits. This is expected to provide enterprise or supply chain decision makers, especially in multinational enterprises, with valuable references for opting for a green supply chain.

Improvement of the grindability of vanadium-bearing shale and the direct vanadium leaching efficiency of grinded product via microwave pretreatment with particle size classification

The total wet extraction technology without roasting will be the mainstream in the field of vanadium extraction from shale under China's strict carbon emission policy. Reducing energy consumption of grinding and improving leaching efficiency are the main directions of efforts. In this study, microwave pretreatment (MT) was used to improve the grindability of vanadium-bearing shale (VBS) and leaching efficiency. Sieving out the particles above 1.5 mm for MT under 2500 W for 4 min and then combining with 0–1.5 mm untreated particles for grinding increases the breakage rate of VBS by 209.0% with a 36.64% reduction in energy consumption. The particles passing 1.5 mm are prone to soft melt due to the hot pot caused by intensification of electromagnetic fields at the junctions of the adjacent particles. This negative effect can be avoided by pre-screening before MT. MT with particle size classification can obtain a 14.2% increasement of vanadium leaching efficiency of grinded products. Simulations and microscopic morphology analyses indicates the temperature gradient between minerals with different dielectric loss properties causes thermal stress with the maximum value at the junction of minerals. It promotes the dissociation of vanadium-bearing minerals and other absorbing minerals, providing more active reaction interfaces for vanadium leaching.

Carbon Emission Constraint Policy in an OEM and Outsourcing Remanufacturer Supply Chain with Consumer Preferences.

Carbon emission reduction has been a consensus goal for most countries to achieve environmental sustainability. The use of carbon emission trading policies has been generally considered by the governments. Remanufacturing, as an effective way to reduce carbon emission, is incorporated together with the tool of carbon emission policy to construct a low-carbon supply chain in this paper. We analyze the carbon emission reduction and profit maximization problem among enterprises of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and their outsourcing remanufacturers, integrating the impact of the carbon emission constraint policy and the carbon market. Considering consumer preferences on low-carbon products and recycling rates of waste products, we construct a Stackelberg game model (dominated by the OEM) and analyze the impact of a carbon emission constraint policy on sales price, volume, carbon emission, and revenue of new and remanufactured products in the supply chain system. The results suggest that the upper bound set by the government on carbon emission for enterprises positively affects sales volume of new products and negatively affects sales prices of both products. Moreover, the discount rate of carbon emission constraint negatively affects sales volume of new products and positively affects sales prices of both products. Notably, the carbon emission constraint policy has impacts on the production decisions of both manufacturers on an economic scale. When the upper bound of carbon emission is equal to a certain threshold, the OEM could obtain the greatest revenue. The results provide a new perspective for the government to attain the goal of carbon emission reduction and not sacrifice economic growth. Managers in outsourcing remanufacturers and OEMs could also be implicated from our results to collaborate in allocating remanufacturing orders to achieve win-win opportunities between them.

Critical climate issues toward carbon neutrality targets

In 2020, China announced the "emission peak, carbon neutrality" policy, that is, China aims to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. The scenario of carbon neutrality will be significantly distinguished from the scenario we experienced since the industrial revolution. However, instrumental data are unavailable in the future carbon-neutral scenario. Earth system models and climate dynamics theory are needed to comprehend and project the climate change. In this paper, we illustrate our perspective of the issues related to "emission peak, carbon neutrality", including climate dynamics, climate-carbon feedback, interaction between China and global climate and carbon emissions and solutions, etc. We highlight that climate change has profoundly affected human production and life. The frequent occurrence of extreme weather disasters in recent years, together with the impact of epidemics, make the future "carbon peak & carbon-neutral" scenario more complex. There is whopping uncertainty but also a massive challenge to the scientific community. Thus, carbon neutrality is closely related to domestic production and lives, and there is little time left for planning. We believe that we will make a breakthrough in climate dynamics in the context of carbon neutrality with our joint efforts, which will serve our country's carbon emission policy at different stages.

Causal treatment effects in time series: CO2 emissions and energy consumption effect on GDP

This study broadens the research on the use of neural networks in conjunction with causality techniques for economic policy development. Empirical evidence is presented on the effects of energy consumption and carbon emissions on per capita economic growth with unbalanced panel data for 94 countries between 1971 and 2018. We present a methodological framework that employs the transformation of time series into a set of treatment intervals according to potential policies that a country may adopt. Based on treatment intervals, a two-stage model based on recurrent neural networks (Long Short-Term Memory) is proposed together with a multiclass classifier to obtain propensity scores. We then estimate the effects using the dynamic potential outcomes under a framework of treatment-based causality. The results indicate that for both energy consumption and carbon emissions policies, the treatment range that generates the best performance is between −2% and 0.4%; moreover, in both cases, extreme policies such as drastically reducing or increasing energy consumption generates the worst results for economic development. We find that when grouping countries according to income level, mid-low and low levels of income have better development under moderate growth policy with respect to levels of carbon emissions and energy consumption, supporting the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis. This finding could be related to the fact that these countries do not have the level of infrastructure to sustain growth. However, the impact of this growth on pollution would not be comparable to the reduction effect of high-income countries, given that they make the largest overall contribution to global emissions.

Study on the Emission Reduction Effect and Spatial Difference of Carbon Emission Trading Policy in China

To cope with huge carbon emission pressure, China has implemented a carbon emissions trading pilot policy that aims to provide reasonable suggestions for the smooth operation of the national carbon market. This paper selects the provincial panel data in China from 2005 to 2019 and uses the propensity score matching-difference in difference (PSM-DID) method to evaluate the carbon emission policy’s reduction effect. Based on carbon emissions (CE) and carbon emission intensity (CI), provinces and cities are divided into four regions, and each region is verified by spatial difference analysis. Furthermore, the mediating effects of carbon emission reduction through the dual aspects of technological progress and industry structure are also discussed. Results verified that, (1) under the carbon emission trading policy, regional carbon emissions and carbon emission intensity are both significantly reduced. (2) Technological progress helps to reduce carbon emissions, while industrial structure shows no obvious contribution. (3) The four regions all show ideal emission reduction effects, of which the High CE-High CI region shows the best, but is greatly restricted by techniques. The industrial structure of the High CE-Low CI region needs to be further optimized for carbon reduction. In the Low CE-High CI region, the carbon emissions brought by economic development fail to effectively improve per capita GDP. The Low CE-Low CI region contributes greatly to carbon emission reduction with technical advantages.

Multi-Objective Path-Decision Model of Multimodal Transport Considering Uncertain Conditions and Carbon Emission Policies

To develop low-carbon transport and promote sustainable economic development, this paper took the uncertainty in highway transport speed and transshipment time into account in the actual transport process and established multi-objective path-decision models of multimodal transport under different carbon policies. The expectation values of nonlinear uncertainties were estimated by Law of Large Numbers (LLN), and the models were solved by the K-shortest paths algorithm and non-dominated sorting algorithm (NSGA-II), whose advancement and effectiveness were verified through the comparison of SPEA2. Based on the Pareto theory, the optimally symmetrical compromise between the objectives and the influence of the transport speed uncertainty and carbon emission policies on path decisions were quantified and discussed. Taking the multimodal transport network of West Africa as the experimental background, the practicability of the path-decision results is analyzed, and a trade-off analysis is also conducted to provide the theoretical foundation for future freight transport planning.

Analyzing carbon emissions policies for the Bolivian electric sector

A transition of the Bolivian power sector towards a renewable energy dominated system has been inhibited by a series of laws and policies including heavy subsidies for power generation using domestic natural gas. Within this context, alternative techno-economic scenarios are designed based on key characteristics of the system, and a series of six policy levers are used to analyze impacts on the development of the power sector. The energy-system optimization modeling framework OSeMOSYS is utilized to analyze power sector transition pathways. Techno-economic characteristics and policies are combined to develop bracketing scenarios for the future energy system, contrasting business-as-usual with an ambitious renewable energy policy scenario.Results from the analyzed scenarios show that achieving significant reductions of GHG emissions in the Bolivian electric system will heavily depend on:1) reducing the artificial competitiveness of thermal power plants through subsidies, but also a price on carbon emissions; 2) banning high impact power plants (mainly very large hydropower plants); and 3) defining clear long-term objectives for the participation of renewables in the system, starting with objectives in current short-term plans. By examining several scenarios, relative system costs as a function of emissions reductions are determined as well. For high penetration of variable renewable energy, addition of storage will eventually be needed as dispatchable renewable resources are limited.

Carbon emissions management in construction operations: a systematic review

PurposeThe demand to reduce carbon emissions has become an increasingly important social factor due to the unprecedented impacts of climate change. However, most existing publications have focused on minimizing emissions during the operational phase of buildings. At the same time, there is a lack of comprehensive research conducted on carbon emissions, specifically during the construction phase. The purpose of this paper is to identify, review and classify current practices related to carbon emissions management in construction operations to gain greater insight into how to reduce and mitigate emissions and achieve more sustainable solutions.Design/methodology/approachThis study reviewed the published literature on carbon emissions from construction. A total of 198 bibliographic records were extracted from the Scopus collection database and analyzed using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). PRISMA is used as a basis for reporting possible trends, research methods and strategies used in published literatures. A total of 99 papers related to carbon emissions in the construction operations were further reviewed and analyzed. This review paper draws on existing research and identifies current carbon management patterns in construction projects.FindingsData indicated an upward trend in the number of publications in carbon emissions research during the last few years, particularly in 2015, 2017 and 2019. The most significant contributions to the domain were reported from China, Europe and the USA. This paper found that most studies conduct the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method to estimate carbon emissions. This paper found that the primary studies have focused on construction machinery and equipment emissions. The strategies such as establishing uniform standards for carbon emissions policies and regulations, equipment and logistic planning and low carbon design material will potentially impact carbon emissions reductions.Practical implicationsThis paper provides information that will be beneficial for the construction industry to design and manage construction operations. It will also be of interest to those looking to reduce or manage construction emissions.Originality/valueAlthough there is a diversity of current thinking related to the practical estimation and management of carbon emissions in construction projects, there is no consolidated set of keys of standardized carbon emissions management in practice. By assessing the existing paradigms of carbon assessment methods and tactics in the construction industry, this study contributed to the existing knowledge base by providing insights into current techniques in the construction sector for monitoring and mitigating emissions.

Revitalization of Fiqh Al-Bi'ah in the Implementation of Green Banking for Islamic Bank

The banking industry can play a role in a balanced manner between economic growth and environmental protection. This kind of banking is called green banking, a banking system that operates its business based on the principles of sustainable development to carry out environmentally friendly practices and reduce the carbon footprint of banking operations. This study aims to understand the philosophy of green banking and its implementation in an effort to revitalize the values of fiqh al-bi'ah. The type of method used in this research is a qualitative method. Meanwhile, in the analysis, researchers used descriptive-analytical methods to systematically analyze and analyze facts that are accurate and accurate. This study found that in green banking practice there is harmony with the principles of environmental fiqh, namely in the management of environmental preservation obligations. With carbon emission policies and financing of environmentally friendly projects, green banking can play a dual role, namely supporting national development and economic growth against mafsadat by protecting the environment from arbitrary exploration and exploitation activities.

A systematic bibliometric review of clean energy transition: Implications for low-carbon development.

More voices are calling for a quicker transition towards clean energy. The exploration and exploitation of clean energy such as wind energy and solar energy are effective means to optimise energy structure and improve energy efficiency. To provide in-depth understanding of clean energy transition, this paper utilises a combination of multiple bibliometric mapping techniques, including HistCite, CiteSpace and R Bibliometrix, to conduct a systematic review on 2,191 clean energy related articles obtained from Web of Science (WoS). We identify five current main research streams in the clean energy field, including Energy Transition, Clean Energy and Carbon Emission Policy, Impact of Oil Price on Alternative Energy Stocks, Clean Energy and Economics, and Venture Capital Investments in Clean Energy. Clearly, the effectiveness of policy-driven and market-driven energy transition is an important ongoing debate. Emerging research topics are also discussed and classified into six areas: Clean Energy Conversion Technology and Biomass Energy Utilisation, Optimisation of Energy Generation Technology, Policy-Making in Clean Energy Transition, Impact of Clean Energy Use and Economic Development on Carbon Emissions, Household Use of Clean Energy, and Clean Energy Stock Markets. Accordingly, more and more research attention has been paid to how to improve energy efficiency through advanced clean energy technology, and how to make targeted policies for clean energy transition and energy market development. This article moves beyond the traditional literature review methods and delineates a systematic research agenda for clean energy research, providing research directions for achieving low-carbon development through the clean energy transition.

Towards carbon neutrality: A study on China's long-term low-carbon transition pathways and strategies

As the world's biggest carbon dioxide (CO2) emitter and the largest developing country, China faces daunting challenges to peak its emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality within 40 years. This study fully considered the carbon-neutrality goal and the temperature rise constraints required by the Paris Agreement, by developing six long-term development scenarios, and conducting a quantitative evaluation on the carbon emissions pathways, energy transformation, technology, policy and investment demand for each scenario. This study combined both bottom-up and top-down methodologies, including simulations and analyses of energy consumption of end-use and power sectors (bottom-up), as well as scenario analysis, investment demand and technology evaluation at the macro level (top-down). This study demonstrates that achieving carbon neutrality before 2060 translates to significant efforts and overwhelming challenges for China. To comply with the target, a high rate of an average annual reduction of CO2 emissions by 9.3% from 2030 to 2050 is a necessity, which requires a huge investment demand. For example, in the 1.5 °C scenario, an investment in energy infrastructure alone equivalent to 2.6% of that year's GDP will be necessary. The technological pathway towards carbon neutrality will rely highly on both conventional emission reduction technologies and breakthrough technologies. China needs to balance a long-term development strategy of lower greenhouse gas emissions that meets both the Paris Agreement and the long-term goals for domestic economic and social development, with a phased implementation for both its five-year and long-term plans.

Research and Application on Optimization of Coal Chemical Production Technology Route under Carbon Emission Policy

Research and Application on Optimization of Coal Chemical Production Technology Route under Carbon Emission Policy

Optimal Pricing, Advertising, Production, Inventory and Investing Policies in a Multi-Stage Sustainable Supply Chain

In this paper, the study of a sustainable production–inventory model with price and advertisement dependent on demand considering carbon emission reduction technology is investigated. The aim of this paper is to determine the optimal appropriate pricing, advertising, production, inventory, and capital investment decisions under various carbon emission policies to maximize the joint total profit of a multi-stage supply chain system. Various theoretical results and an algorithm are provided to verify and obtain the optimal solution of the problem. Further, the model is verified by numerical examples, and the robustness check of parameter variation is also analyzed. Finally, some management implications for decision makers are drawn from numerical examples. In summary, this study puts forward more realistic modeling hypothesis, which is beneficial to the academic research, and the research results can provide relevant decision makers with a model for managing a sustainable supply chain.

Effects of Socially Responsible Behaviors in a Supply Chain under Carbon Cap-and-Trade Regulation

Recently, many firms in various industries implement corporate social responsibility (CSR) in different ways. Based on considering a CSR-concerned retailer and an altruistic fairness concern manufacturer, this paper investigates pricing decisions as well as carbon emission policies in a socially responsible supply chain. In this paper, two different modes (the centralized model and decentralized model) are, respectively, conducted and investigated for equilibria. Analytical results reveal that socially responsible retailer (manufacturer) cares more about CSR (altruistic fairness) concern and will increase his counterpart’s pure profit as well as the pure channel profit, ending up with decreasing his own pure profit. The cooperative agents in decentralized scenario can coordinate the channel and achieve the maximum pure channel profit as much as that in a pure profit-maximizing centralized model. Moreover, this paper proposes a novel two-stage carbon cap-and-trade policy for the government and examines how it is affected by the CSR concern level and the altruistic fairness in such a socially responsible supply chain.

China's CO2 emissions reduction potential: A novel inverse DEA model with frontier changes and comparable value

In order to make China's carbon emission policies effectively, it is necessary to estimate the CO2 emissions reduction reasonably of each province in China. This study aims to establish a new measurement method by employing an Inverse Data Envelopment Analysis (InvDEA) with frontier changes to evaluate China's CO2 emissions reduction. We construct a comparable value of CO2 emissions by projecting the production points onto the target plane and compare the actual value with the comparable value. The results show that (1) China's CO2 emissions reduction is basically in line with the expectation and exists spatial agglomeration characteristics. (2) In the final year of each Five-Year Plan of China, regional governments across China would redouble their efforts to reduce emissions. (3) The national CO2 emissions reduction is mainly dominated by efficiency change, while only East China is by technological progress. Based on research findings, specific strategies of management are suggested for different regions.

A Flexible Cap-and-Trade Policy and Limited Demand Information Effects on a Sustainable Supply Chain

Carbon emission reduction is increasingly becoming a public consensus, with governments formulating carbon emission policies, enterprises investing in emission abatement equipment, and consumers having a low-carbon preference. On the other hand, it is difficult for industry managers to obtain all the demand information. Based on this, this paper aims to investigate operations and coordination for a sustainable system with a flexible cap-and-trade policy and limited demand information. Newsvendor and distribution-free newsvendor models are formulated to show the validity of limited information. Stackelberg game is exploited to derive optimal abatement and order quantity solutions under centralized and decentralized systems. The revenue-sharing and two-part tariff contracts are then proposed to coordinate the decentralized system with limited demand information. Numerical analyses complement the theoretical results. We list some major findings. Firstly, we discover that using abatement equipment can effectively reduce emissions and increase profits. Secondly, the distribution-free approach is effective and acceptable for a system where only mean and variance information is informed. Thirdly, the mean parameter has a greater impact on profits and emissions comparing with the other seven parameters. Finally, we show that both contracts may achieve perfect coordination, and the two-part tariff contract is more robust.

Optimal production decisions for remanufacturing end-of-life products under quality uncertainty and a carbon cap-and-trade policy

Currently, the majority of available studies on remanufacturing mainly consider a single category of end-of-life (EOL) products under the uncertainty quality and carbon emissions policies, independently. However, enterprises have to refurbish multiple EOL products, consider the impact of uncertain quality on carbon emissions, and obey carbon emissions policies in real production. Therefore, this work considers both single and multiple categories of EOL products under carbon emissions uncertainty and a carbon cap-and-trade policy, and proposes three production decision models: (1) a traditional single-product remanufacturing model under fixed carbon emissions (FCE); (2) an extended single-product remanufacturing (ESPR) model under variable carbon emissions (VCE); and (3) a multi-product remanufacturing model. For these models, three strategies are developed to obtain the optimum profit, derive the minimum cost, and evaluate the effectiveness of the ESPR model. To validate the effects of the parameters on production decisions, numerical simulations of the VCE and FCE cases are applied in single- and multi-product settings. Besides, comparative studies with previous publications and real-life data analysis are carried out to illustrate the robustness and practicability of the models and strategies. The optimal decisions demonstrate that the proposed models considering the uncertainty of the quality and carbon emissions can obtain greater profit and lower carbon emissions, and these models for remanufacturing systems can be effectively applied under conditions of continuous quality and demand distributions. The remanufacturers and decision-makers can apply our models and strategies to choose better quality EOL products to be remanufactured, which can lead to better both economic and environmental benefits.

Simulating the economic and environmental effects of integrated policies in energy-carbon-water nexus of China

This study aims to simulate the economic and environmental effects of energy-carbon-water (ECW) policies in China. The main novelty works are to clarify the theoretical ECW nexus mechanism at macro-economic level and develop the ECW-CGE policy assessment model with ECW policy modules integrated. Using this model, isolated and integrated ECW policy scenarios are designed and simulated in 2050. Policy effectiveness and co-effects are further discussed. The main findings are: (1) For economic effects, GDP losses grow from 0.31 % in water policy scenario W1 to 1.51 % in integrated policy scenario ECW2. Energy and carbon emission policies cause greater outputs losses in energy and carbon intensive sectors, while water policy impacts stronger on agricultural and service sectors. (2) For environmental effects, integrated policy scenarios reduce the most of ECW, and isolated ones mainly affect their targeted ECW elements. (3) For policy effectiveness, isolated policy scenarios have greater individual effectiveness, integrated ones could balance overall ECW management. (4) Synergy and trade-off effects exist in all scenarios. Governance cooperation and differentiated sectoral policies are needed to realize sustainable development in ECW system. The main findings could inspire ECW management policy makings both for China and countries with similar environmental constraints.