Carbon Performance Evaluation Research Articles

Low-carbon development path based on carbon emission accounting and carbon emission performance evaluation: a case study of Chinese coal production enterprises.

Carbon emission accounting is the basic premise of effective carbon emission reduction and management. This study aimed to establish the carbon emission model and performance evaluation framework of coal mine production enterprises and clarify the low-carbon development path of enterprises. In this study, we took a typical coal production enterprise (K enterprise) in the Shanxi province of China as the research object. We also estimated the carbon emissions of the enterprise mainly according to the Chinese Carbon Emission Accounting Standard (GB/T 32151.11-2018). The triangular model was used to construct the carbon performance evaluation framework. On this basis, we suggested the enterprise's low-carbon development path. The results showed that (1) the carbon emission of K enterprise in 2021 was 36,875.38 tCO2eq; the carbon emission intensity of each ton of coal produced was 0.089 tCO2eq. The critical carbon emissions were electricity consumption and methane fugitive emissions during production. (2) The evaluation indicators for carbon emission performance revealed an imbalance in K enterprise's economic, energy, and environmental development in 2021. The work on energy saving and consumption reduction was relatively weak. (3) Countermeasures for low-carbon development, including a carbon emission ledger, were proposed based on carbon emission accounting and performance evaluation results. This study can help typical underground coal production enterprises in Shanxi province obtain more accurate carbon emission data, providing practical guidance and reference for the same underground coal production enterprises to improve the carbon emission control effect.

Construction and Application of Regional Carbon Performance Evaluation Index System: The Case of Chinese Provinces

As global warming becomes increasingly severe, reducing carbon emissions and promoting low-carbon development has become an international consensus. Against this backdrop, evaluating regional carbon performance helps better understand the carbon emission status, emission reduction capabilities, and low-carbon development levels, providing a scientific basis for formulating targeted carbon emission reduction policies. This study constructed a “5E” regional carbon performance evaluation index system from five dimensions: economy, effectiveness, efficiency, environmentality, and equity. Then, this study evaluated and analyzed the carbon performance of 30 provinces in China from 2008 to 2021 using the entropy weight TOPSIS method. The research results indicated that (1) during the sample period, China’s carbon performance ranged from 0.416 to 0.504, exhibiting a steady upward trend; the highest score among the first-level indicators was Effectiveness, while the lowest was Economy; (2) in terms of carbon performance among China’s three major regions, it showed a decreasing pattern from east to west, with the growth potential of the central and western regions being greater than that of the eastern region; (3) in 2033, the carbon performance of China in the eastern region, the central region, and the western region will reach 0.602, 0.612, 0.613, and 0.582, respectively. A carbon performance evaluation carries significant practical and strategic implications. Our study can provide a reference for policymakers to assess carbon emission performance and improve carbon management efficiency and decision-making levels.

Assessment of carbon footprint performance by electric power enterprises in China

Carbon neutrality is transitioning from a global consensus to global action. The power industry must urgently address carbon reduction and establish an effective evaluation system. However, current standard systems and literature studies both domestically and internationally reveal significant issues with the scientific, systematic, and operational aspects of carbon performance index systems. Therefore, this paper proposes the development of a carbon performance evaluation system for electric power enterprises, comprising of two subsystems: carbon management and carbon reduction. The evaluation system takes into full consideration the transmission and distribution characteristics of power grid companies, and conducts an empirical analysis on a regional power grid in China, including four provincial power grid companies A, B, C, and D. The findings indicate that the regional Power Grid has been committed to low-carbon initiatives for an extended period of time, with a greater emphasis on carbon reduction performance rather than carbon management performance between 2012 and 2021. To further enhance the potential for carbon reduction, it is imperative to prioritize carbon management in subsequent phases.

Online Evaluation Method for Carbon Performance of Coal Mines Owned by the Coal Industry Group based on Combination of Subjective and Objective Weights

An online evaluation method for carbon performance of coal mines owned by the coal industry group based on combination of subjective and objective weights is proposed. Firstly, the evaluation method for carbon performance of coal mines owned by the coal industry group based on combination of subjective and objective weights is proposed: (1) The index system of carbon performance evaluation of coal mines owned by the coal industry group is constructed. (2) The objective weight of each index is obtained by entropy weight method. (3) The subjective weight of each index is obtained by Delphi method. (4) The comprehensive weight of each index is obtained by weighted average method. (5) The score of each index of each coal mine is obtained by linear interpolation method. (6) The comprehensive evaluation score of each coal mine is obtained by weighted average method. Secondly, taking Sql server as the database management system, ASP and C# as the development language, Dreamweaver and Visual Studio as the development platform, the system of carbon performance evaluation of coal mines owned by the coal industry group based on B/S structure is designed, and the system can realize online evaluation for carbon performance of coal mines. Finally, the application analysis results show that the method can ensure the objectivity of carbon performance evaluation of coal mines, greatly improve the efficiency of evaluation, and realize sharing and comparison of the evaluation results.

A model for investigating the coordination between low carbon and resilience performance in container terminals

In the process of coping with climate change and sustainable development, it is necessary for container terminals to coordinate the relationship between the long-term demand for low carbon and the short-term demand for resilience. However, low carbon or resilience performance of container terminals only has been separately investigated. Under such a circumstance, understanding the low carbon and resilience levels of container terminals, and the coupling relationship between the two dimensions are of primary importance. To realize this purpose, this paper for the first time bridges low carbon and resilience that used to be considered in isolation. By considering the impact of ports and cities on the resilience of container terminals, and subdividing carbon emission sources to assess low carbon, the proposed index system can quantify resilience and low carbon more comprehensively and accurately. Then, the factor analysis and coupling coordination degree models are adopted to determine the weights and analyze the coordination between low carbon and resilience performance. The results indicated that the coupling coordination degree of low carbon and resilience performance in Chinese container terminals is slightly coordinated, but the development of resilience lags behind that of low carbon. To improve the coupling coordination degree, it is important for container terminals to set appropriate development objectives based on the evaluation of low carbon and resilience performance, and choose suitable improvement strategies based on the characteristics of container terminals.

Polymer Formulation Used in Carbon Membrane Synthesis and Performance Evaluation

Carbon membranes are known for their high performance in the separation of gases, particularly for gases with similar kinetic diameter. For this reason, the investigation of carbon membranes continues to increase their performance by tweaking the formulation and heating strategy. One of the formulation aspects is polymer selection, which plays an important role in determining the success of producing carbon membrane with acceptable performance. This is because each polymer has its own characteristics, which then determines the method to be used to synthesize the carbon membrane. Four types of polymers were identified to produce carbon membranes, which are based on non-modified polymer solutions, modified polymer or polymer solutions, non-commercial organic materials and natural polymers such as natural cellulose. This review discusses the overview performances provided by each material.

Operational Efficiency and Debt Cost: The Mediating Effect of Carbon Information Disclosure in Chinese Listed Companies

Voluntary corporate carbon information disclosure not only meets the carbon information needs of investors, but also enhances the legitimacy of organizations. Building a green image may increase the public consumption of products and be conducive to reducing the cost of debt. As a part of creditors’ assessment of debtors’ solvency, operational efficiency is the basic factor of debt cost reduction. By constructing the correlation between carbon information disclosure and operational efficiency, this paper attempts to test the mediating effect of carbon information disclosure in the relationship between operational efficiency and debt cost, so as to increase the understanding of the mechanism of action between carbon information disclosure and debt cost. Stepwise regression method and Bootstrap statistical method were used to test. The results show that the higher the operational efficiency, the lower the debt cost; the carbon information disclosure of enterprises in low-carbon industries has a significant partial mediating effect on the relationship between operational efficiency and debt cost while that of carbon-intensive industries is not significant. It verifies that the operating efficiency of low-carbon industry can affect the cost of debt through carbon information disclosure, and finds a significant correlation between carbon information disclosure and operating efficiency. This study broadens ways for enterprises in low-carbon industries to reduce debt costs, highlights the role of operational efficiency in various industries, and reveals favorable evidence in the positive value of carbon disclosure in low-carbon industries which in essence can better reflect the enthusiasm of enterprises in their own financing or the restrictive channels of enterprise carbon performance evaluation. This has implications for the research on how to promote the link between carbon information disclosure and debt cost of enterprises in high-carbon industries, which will help enterprises in the future to make carbon information transparency or voluntarily disclose carbon information. It is of great significance for regional and industrial enterprises to choose the disclosure system of voluntary or mandatory carbon information disclosure.

Recycling of Carbon Fiber and Performance Evaluation for Its Reinforced Composites Made of Additive Manufacturing

Recycling of Carbon Fiber and Performance Evaluation for Its Reinforced Composites Made of Additive Manufacturing

Evaluation of Carbon and Nitrogen Removal Performance of the Oxic-Hydrolytic and Denitrification-Oxic Process in Coking Wastewater Treatment

The novel oxic-hydrolytic and denitrification-oxic (O/H/O) process has attracted intensive attention from the industry and academia and has been applied in coking wastewater treatment practice in recent years. However, there has yet been a mechanism model that can systematically guide the design and operation of the O/H/O process in optimization. In this study, a two-step nitrification–denitrification activated sludge model no. 3 for coking wastewater (TCW-ASM3) model was established. The addition of new components and processes enables TCW-ASM3 to accurately simulate the biological reaction processes in the O/H/O system. The simulation results show that the increase in the step feeding ratio (R1) will lead to the increase in biological effluent chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total nitrogen (TN). To meet the TN effluent target (TN < 50 mg/L), R2 > 320% was needed. The energy consumption under this effluent constraint (COD < 200 mg/L, TN < 50 mg/L) was 4.873–5.752 kWh/m3. The foregoing results showed that the O/H/O process could be adjusted in different modes according to the pollutant characteristics and effluent targets. This study is the first report of the O/H/O process model, which is capable of providing strategies of multiple targets for the pollutant removal from industrial wastewaters with high toxicity and high C/N ratio.

Optimization of carbon performance evaluation and its application to strategy decision for investment of green technology innovation

Carbon regulation and the mechanism of carbon emission right motivate firms with high carbon consumption and emission to transition to a production and operation model with higher carbon usage. Green technology innovation is the usual way out, with carbon performance metrics serving as guideposts along the route. The intersection of the two topics is the focus of this study. The carbon performance evaluation is optimized by taking carbon asset variance into account. This criteria investigates investment in green technology innovation for its relationship with carbon performance, and investment plans are assessed and determined for the optimum carbon performance based on a stochastic model using geometric Brownian motion for Monte Carlo simulation and prediction. Strategy design of green technology investment is optimized by comparison among a series of proposed schemes, and the conclusions based on case study are applicable for similar situations of enterprises with carbon consumption. The following are the ways in which this research contributes. 1) Improvement of the carbon performance measure by the addition of carbon asset modifications. 2) The practical application of carbon performance, which serves to direct management practice, is illustrated and realized.

Redefine carbon footprint performance with the total factor productivity: A case from a regional food production system

By observing the disturbance of indicators, models, and samples variability to the robustness of low carbon performance evaluation, the importance of random errors and heterogeneity of sample data is clarified. The carbon footprint joint total factor productivity conceptual framework is proposed in this study, then we apply it to a food production system in a region of China to reasonably judge the carbon footprint performance level of peasant households. With regard to the single-output production frontier, the internal method changes did not cause significant changes in the level of crop production technical efficiency in the deterministic and stochastic estimation strategies respectively. Although the results of partial low-carbon economic technical efficiency are consistent in the two estimation strategies, a significant difference is obvious for the low-carbon technical efficiency; The total low-carbon economic technical efficiency is significantly different between deterministic non-parametric slacks-based measure and parameterized random distance function estimation strategies under the framework of the multi-output production frontier; Ultimately, the total factor productivity including the carbon footprint of the food system in our research area close to the technical level of the industry, as well as the technical efficiency of the sample is at an efficient level.

Carbon performance evaluation system and practice analysis for the sustainable enterprises

AbstractSustainable development has become society's focal point. In this context, China's paper industry needs to be more concerned about a low‐carbon strategy. Therefore, a carbon performance evaluation system must be built to guide the low‐carbon enterprise transformation. Based on the carbon value flow analysis, this study takes JX Paper (a paper‐making enterprise) as an example to construct a carbon performance evaluation system consisting of carbon input, transfer, and output indicators. The quantitative and qualitative index weights were determined through a principal component analysis and an analytical hierarchy process. The overall carbon performance increased from 2012 to 2021, but room remains for improvement. These results show that the performance evaluation system provides a helpful reference for enterprises to identify the key factors affecting carbon emissions and evaluate their carbon performance. Moreover, objective criteria should be developed to improve sustainable enterprise carbon performance and low‐carbon competitiveness.

The impact of climate aid on carbon emissions reduction and the role of renewable energy: evidence from the Belt and Road countries.

Full mobilization and effective use of climate aid is of great importance for the low carbon transition of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)countries. This study utilizes the two-step system generalized method of moments model to evaluate the effects of climate aid on carbon emissions reduction and the impact mechanism through energy structure optimization. The panel data of 93 Belt and Road countries from 2000 to 2018 were used for empirical analysis. Results show that climate aid has a significant reduction effect on the carbon emissions intensity of BRI countries, and the dominant component of climate aid, i.e., mitigation aid, corresponds to better carbon emissions reduction benefits than adaptation aid. The impact mechanism demonstrates that the climate aid has dual carbon emissions reduction effects in BRI countries which have an intermediate energy structure. It indicates that climate aid not only directly reduces carbon emissions by increasing carbon reduction resources, but also indirectly reduces carbon emissions by promoting renewable energy and optimizing the energy structure. The results evidence the theory of environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis and channels of climate aid effects. Practical implications from the current study include that more climate finance support should be provided to BRI countries by developed countries, the effectiveness of climate aid should be improved by investing in projects with significant carbon reductionlike renewable energy, data monitoring and performance evaluation of climate aid should be strengthened, and China should take its role and make more contributions to the low carbon transition especially energy transition of BRI countries.

Carbon performance evaluation model from the perspective of circular economy—The case of Chinese thermal power enterprise

Carbon emission reduction is the only way to alleviate environmental problems, such as global warming. Effective evaluation of carbon performance can help enterprises to carry out energy saving and emission reduction activities to a certain extent and promote sustainable development. This paper constructs a carbon performance evaluation index system that includes the four dimensions of carbon resource (energy) input, cycle, output, and carbon management by incorporating the principles of circular economy and the theory of resource value circulation from the perspective of the flow trajectory of carbon-containing resources in the circulation of enterprises combined with the production characteristics of thermoelectric enterprises. Subsequently, combined with the case study, this paper discusses the scientific and practical nature of the system and provides another way of thinking for carbon performance evaluation of micro-enterprises in other industries. This paper expands the application boundary of matter-element model and supplements the literature of carbon performance, which has certain theoretical and practical significance.

Who are the Carbon Leaders? Improving Rankings and Business Ambition

As contributors to the problem of global warming and as innovators and implementers of clean energy solutions, corporations play a critical role in climate change mitigation. In growing numbers, companies are now calling for policy action and are engaging in voluntary carbon management efforts. However, the effectiveness of company response is unclear. Investors, NGOS and governments rely on company CSR reports, sustainability rankings and ESG indices as proxy indicators, yet these are unreliable. In this paper, we investigate the question, who are the corporate carbon leaders? Mapping the main carbon efforts of recognized US brand companies we confirm inconsistencies and gaps in corporate sustainability leadership definitions, non-standardize measurement methodologies, and unclear and inaccurate performance metrics. To aid in greater corporate environmental accountability, more responsible decision-making and smarter regulation, we argue the need for more harmonized and broader tracking and evaluation of company carbon performance that includes implementation evaluation and environmental outcome assessment.

Reconfiguring IVHF-TOPSIS decision making method with parameterized reference solutions and a novel distance for corporate carbon performance evaluation

The hesitant and imprecise uncertainties widely exist in real decision-making problems. For solving the class of problems, this work is aimed at reconfiguring a novel method under the TOPSIS framework to solve the general uncertain decision problem that with both the ratings of alternatives and weights of criteria represented by interval-valued hesitant fuzzy (IVHF) information. Three novelties are proposed to support the reconfigured method. First, a parameterized approach for generating apt positive and negative IVHF reference solutions is proposed, which permits decision makers (DMs) to express their different aspiration strengths for fitting complex and uncertain decision scenarios and situations. Second, a novel distance for IVHF elements is constructed based on the modification of Wave-Hedges measurement to address the defects of the previous hesitant distances and to measure the separations of alternatives in TOPSIS. Third, a nine-step solution procedure of IVHF-TOSPSIS method is reconfigured to solve effectively the general problem that the ratings and weights are expressed with IVHF information. Finally, the reconfigured method is exploited to settle the carbon performance evaluation of industrial firms and some sensitivity and comparison analyses are conducted to validate the proposed method.

A benchmark-based low carbon performance evaluation and improvement approach for beverage production

Year by year the concentration of greenhouse gases keeps going up to facilitate the global warming problem. To mitigate environmental impacts, low carbon manufacturing has attracted much attention worldwide. Hence, this study applies the process map and data envelopment analysis to develop a benchmark-based low carbon performance evaluation and improvement approach for beverage production. This research firstly uses the process map to illustrate the detail process and activities of beverage production. Next, this study analyzes the electricity consumption of each machine to estimate the carbon emissions. Subsequently, from the macro-level perspective, the overall low carbon performance evaluation model of beverage production lines is proposed to evaluate the low carbon performance values of beverage production lines so as to find the non-benchmark low carbon beverage production lines. To improve the low carbon performance of non-benchmark beverage production lines, this research develops the evaluation and improvement models of the carbon emissions of the workstations for beverage production lines to appraise the low carbon performance of each workstation for non-benchmark beverage production lines and then to find the non-benchmark low carbon workstations and further analyze the decreasing quantity of the carbon footprint of each machine for these non-benchmark workstations. Finally, this research uses the beverage production in Taiwan as an example to explain and verify the significant practical values and contributions of the proposed methodology.

Research on the Carbon Performance Evaluation in the New Era—Based on the Full Life-Cycle Perspective

Entering a new era of rapid economic development and increasingly environmental problems, the reduction of carbon emission is a priority advocated by the state and also an obligatory social responsibility of enterprises. In this context, it is an important content of carbon reduction management in the new era for enterprises to master carbon emission reduction dynamics and control carbon emission behavior through carbon performance evaluation research. In this article, through analysis of connotation and characteristics of the new era of carbon performance, based on the perspective of life-cycle theory, carbon performance is divided into five stages, and combining with the characteristics of the new era, this article builds carbon performance evaluation index system from three dimensions, which is advantageous to optimize carbon reduction management specifically, implement the carbon reduction targets effectively, and provide a scientific basis for the carbon performance evaluation in the new era.

Enlightening the dark side of Arthrospira maxima cultivation: evaluation of carbon supply modes and performance at optimal growth conditions

Night biomass loss due to respiratory activity can significantly impact the phytoplankton biomass productivity and the yield of specific biomolecules. A decrease in biomass loss can be achieved by cyclic two-stage cultivation (CTSC) employing an organic carbon source during the dark phase of the photoperiod. Thus, sugarcane vinasse was used as carbon supply in CTSC to influence the Arthrospira maxima growth. The impact of carbon supply on CTSC was assessed and the results show that splitting the supplementation volume of 60 mL supplemented vinasse into three doses of 20 mL during the dark phase increased biomass productivity by 35.4%, although the maximum exponential growth rate was unaffected. The cyanobacterium also takes up CO2 (supplied in the light phase) as $$ {\mathrm{HCO}}_3^{-} $$ , high concentrations of which increase biomass loss. Thus, carbon assimilation in CTSC is higher when the concentration of dissolved inorganic carbon is reduced. Optimization of organic and inorganic carbon supply in CTSC with the response surface methodology resulted in an increased growth rate (from 0.73 to 1.18–1.62 day−1) and a reduction of cultivation time (from 7 to 5 days), thus producing a synergistic effect of reduced night biomass loss and vinasse treatment. After cultivating A. maxima for 5 days under optimal conditions (culture medium with 6.81 g L−1 of NaHCO3 and adding 1.5% (v/v) vinasse every 4 h during the dark phase), the reduction of chemical oxygen demand and electrical conductivity demonstrates that removal of organic matter present in the vinasse was due to cell growth during CTSC.

Carbon Performance Evaluation Standard from the Perspective of Carbon Emission Right Trading

Carbon performance evaluation standard is an important system to help the enterprise realize low carbon transformation. However, although many organizations and scholars do researches in this field, it still lacks a generally accepted carbon performance evaluation standard. The paper finds that emission difference between actual emission and allowance and carbon price are the key factors to affect carbon performance from the perspective of carbon emission rights trading. The results show that over emission or below emission not only affects economic benefit or loss but also affect environmental benefit or loss. Therefore, the paper puts forward a two dimensional carbon performance evaluation standard of “inner economic benefit-outer environmental benefit”. This standard is helpful to strengthen carbon emission reduction of the enterprise and also helpful to anticipate carbon trading and develop carbon emission rights market.