Curb Carbon Emissions Research Articles

Efficacy of China’s low-carbon agricultural pilot policy: a company-farmer analysis from the middle and lower yangtze river basin, China

China’s central government introduced the low-carbon agricultural pilot (LCAP) policy to curb carbon emissions and foster sustainable growth. While most research has centered on macro-level impacts (provinces and cities), this study uniquely examines the LCAP policy’s influence on agricultural companies’ environmental expenditures and farmers’ net income. Given the LCAP’s weak-constraining nature, its effectiveness at the company and farmer level remains intriguing. We apply the Propensity Score Matching–Difference in Differences (PSM-DID) method, which excels in mitigating sample selection bias, focusing on the 2011–2020 LCAP phase involving 34 listed companies in China’s agriculture and food sectors. Further, we analyzed data from 410 rice farmers in Hubei, Zhejiang, and Shanghai, assessing the LCAP’s effects on their income. Results reveal that companies in LCAP cities decrease their environmental spending by 0.91 points (1% significance). On the farming front, non-participation leads to a potential 28-thousand-yuan income reduction. Organic fertilizers, compost, and recycling cultivation waste prove impactful, promoting income and ecological sustainability. However, the effectiveness of high-cost, long-payback energy-saving machinery subsidies appears limited under current implementation conditions. These findings suggest a potential misalignment between policy design and implementation outcomes, highlighting the challenges associated with non-mandatory environmental policies such as the LCAP in achieving their intended objectives.

A better balance: Energy transition and industrial restructuring for a sustainable economy-climate-environment pathway.

A better balance: Energy transition and industrial restructuring for a sustainable economy-climate-environment pathway.

Carbon reduction triggered by shocks from environmental protection tax: evidence from China

ABSTRACT This study examines the synergistic effects of introducing the Environmental Protection Tax (EPT) in curbing carbon emissions from the micro perspective, going further to analyse its impact channels. Prior research has predominantly concentrated on the macro-level analysis, so it makes this investigation a pioneering effort to comprehend its effects at the micro perspective. This study examines data from Chinese A-listed firms spanning 2011–2020, and uses a difference-in-differences (DID) model to evaluate the influence of the EPT on the carbon emissions of heavily polluting firms. The findings demonstrate a significant reduction in carbon emissions among heavy polluters after the implementation of the EPT, which can be achieved by promoting green transformation of firms. Moreover, examining the economic mechanisms reveals that the impact of EPT on carbon emissions is moderated by scale, technology and competition effects. Furthermore, heterogeneity analysis reveals that state-owned enterprises, enterprises located in medium-tax areas and enterprises in areas with increased tax rates are particularly affected by EPT. This study provides a clearer picture of the mechanism by which EPT is effective in reducing carbon emissions from heavy polluters and sheds light on the factors driving the achievement of carbon reduction goals.

Multi-Scale Temporal Integration for Enhanced Greenhouse Gas Forecasting: Advancing Climate Sustainability

Greenhouse gases (GHGs) significantly shape global climate systems by driving temperature rises, disrupting weather patterns, and intensifying environmental imbalances, with direct consequences for human life, including rising sea levels, extreme weather, and threats to food security. Accurate forecasting of GHG concentrations is crucial for crafting effective climate policies, curbing carbon emissions, and fostering sustainable development. However, current models often struggle to capture multi-scale temporal patterns and demand substantial computational resources, limiting their practicality. This study presents MST-GHF (Multi-Scale Temporal Greenhouse Gas Forecasting), an innovative framework that integrates daily and monthly CO2 data through a multi-encoder architecture to address these challenges. It leverages an Input Attention encoder to manage short-term daily fluctuations, an Autoformer encoder to capture long-term monthly trends, and a Temporal Attention mechanism to ensure stability across scales. Evaluated on a fifty-year NOAA dataset from Mauna Loa, Barrow, American Samoa, and Antarctica, MST-GHF surpasses 14 baseline models, achieving a Test_R2 of 0.9627 and a Test_MAPE of 1.47%, with notable stability in long-term forecasting. By providing precise GHG predictions, MST-GHF empowers policymakers with reliable data for crafting targeted climate policies and conducting scenario simulations enabling proactive adjustments to emission reduction strategies and enhancing sustainability by aligning interventions with long-term environmental goals. Its optimized computational efficiency, reducing resource demands compared to Transformer-based models, further strengthens sustainability in climate modeling, making it deployable in resource-limited settings. Ultimately, MST-GHF serves as a robust tool to mitigate GHG impacts on climate and human life, advancing sustainability across environmental and societal domains.

Does natural resource rent and financial inclusion curb carbon emissions? Empirical evidence from E7 and G7 economies

The study here analyzes the linkage between natural resource rent (NRR), financial inclusion, and carbon emissions taking foreign direct investment (FDI) and institutional quality as control variables in the emerging (E7) and developed (G7) economies during 2004–2021. Fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) techniques and dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) are applied for estimating the model and the method of moments quantile regression (MMQR) is used for checking the robustness of the results. Findings indicated that NRR depicted a positive impact on carbon emissions in both emerging and developed economies and financial inclusion showed a negative impact on carbon emissions in emerging economies but lacked statistical significance with respect to developed economies. FDI inflows depicted a positive impact on carbon emissions with respect to all the economies taken together and with respect to institutional quality there was a varied impact of institutional factors on carbon emissions in both E7 and G7 nations. In order to lower carbon emissions, the policymakers should prioritize the establishment of regulatory frameworks that promote the delivery of sustainable financial services. They should focus on the enhancement of institutional quality and reduce the dependence on resource rents derived from fossil fuels.

Design and Development of Hybrid Renewable Energy System with Energy Storage

The rising world energy demand, combined with the necessity of curbing carbon emissions, has expedited the advancement of hybrid renewable energy systems (HRES) that have several energy sources. This article gives the design and development of a hybrid renewable energy system with solar, wind, and hydro power and an energy storage system to provide a constant and reliable power supply. By taking advantage of the complementary characteristics of these renewable resources, the system will maximize energy reliability, efficiency, and sustainability. The system to be proposed will maximize power generation by utilizing a smart energy management approach that dynamically adjusts the contribution of each source in accordance with real-time environmental conditions and load demands. Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels produce electricity during the day, while wind turbines generate power when it is windy to supplement solar power generation. Hydro power is also a steady source of energy, especially for areas with available water resources, to ensure reliable power generation even when solar and wind resources are low. Simulation and experimental studies are performed to analyze the performance of the suggested hybrid system under different operating conditions. Findings show that the hybrid renewable energy system with energy storage effectively enhances power stability and lessens dependency on traditional grid-based electricity. The results point to its prospects for use in remote and off-grid areas, rural electrification, and sustainable energy programs. This study contributes to the development of hybrid renewable energy technologies by introducing an optimized method for combining multiple renewable sources with energy storage. Through the use of such a system, it is feasible to attain a more robust, efficient, and sustainable energy solution, facilitating the global shift toward renewable energy and carbon neutrality

Evaluation of the Policy Effects of Low-Carbon City Pilot Projects Based on the PSM-DID Model

In the context of the dual-carbon policy, evaluating the implementation effects of low-carbon city pilot policies is of great significance. Based on panel data from 284 prefecture-level cities in China between 2004 and 2020, this paper integrates the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) method with the Difference-in-Differences (DID) method, referred to as the PSM-DID model. By employing parallel trend tests, placebo tests, robustness checks, and heterogeneity analyses, the implementation effects of the low-carbon city pilot policies are evaluated and compared with those from the traditional DID model. The results indicate that: (1) The low-carbon city pilot policies significantly curb carbon emissions in eastern China, while the effects in central and western regions are relatively weak; (2) Factors influencing carbon emissions differ significantly across regions. In particular, clean energy structure and per capita affluence have a greater impact on the eastern region, while the effect is weaker in the central and western regions; (3) The timing, scope, and regional factors of implementation significantly affect the policy outcomes. Policies implemented early yield more significant results than those implemented later, with regional development levels and scope of implementation playing key roles in shaping policy outcomes; (4) The PSM-DID model yields more reliable results than the DID model.

Can the Development of Digital Inclusive Finance Curb Carbon Emissions?: A Spatial Panel Analysis for China Under the PVAR Approach

Achieving the goals of carbon peak and carbon neutrality is crucial for the balance of global economic development with carbon emissions reduction and ecological environment protection, which are essential for the sustainability of human development. Digital inclusive finance (DIF), as an emerging force capable of promoting economic growth and technological innovation, plays a significant role in curbing carbon emissions. By using the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2021 and employing the panel vector autoregression (PVAR) model, this study empirically investigates the impact of DIF on total carbon emissions (TCE) and carbon emission intensity (CEI) from the perspective of technological innovation. The results show that DIF significantly reduces TCE and CEI and can further decrease TCE and CEI by promoting the level of technological innovation. The results of the impulse response function (IRF) reveal that technological innovation has a more significant and volatile impact on CEI compared to its effect on TCE. Moreover, heterogeneity analysis suggests that the impact of DIF on the reduction in carbon emissions is characterized by regional heterogeneity, with the impact of DIF on TCE in the central regions being the most pronounced, significantly influenced by the spillover effects from the eastern regions. Further research finds that the western regions exhibit a more significant impact of technological innovation levels on CEI compared to the eastern regions, with a discernible trend towards the convergence of inter-provincial disparities in CEI in the process of development.

How Does the Endogeneity of Energy Financing, Carbon Emissions, and Energy Transition Affect the Upper-Middle- Income Countries in ASEAN?

This study examines the endogeneity between energy financing, carbon emissions, and energy transition in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand as upper-middle-income countries in ASEAN. Using data from 2000 to 2023, it analyzes the interactions among these three variables through a Vector Autoregression (VAR) approach. The study plays an essential role in highlighting the complex relationships among these variables, which often impact both economic dynamics and environmental sustainability. The findings show that no causal relationships exist between the variables. However, there is a one-way effect, where carbon emissions and energy intensity significantly influence energy financing, and energy intensity also has a significant impact on carbon emissions. These findings suggest that, despite the absence of causal relationships, increases in energy intensity and carbon emissions may drive higher energy financing. The policy implications underscore the importance of government roles in upper-middle-income ASEAN countries to enhance incentives for renewable energy investment, promoting energy intensity to help curb carbon emissions. Additionally, governments need to allocate more energy financing toward clean energy projects that can reduce the accumulation of carbon emissions. Such policies are expected to foster a more sustainable energy transition and contribute to lowering carbon emissions in ASEAN’s upper-middle-income countries.

The Impacts of Climate Change on the Environment and Human Health in China: A Call for more Ambitious Action.

The Impacts of Climate Change on the Environment and Human Health in China: A Call for more Ambitious Action.

Assessing the impact of green transformation on carbon emissions: a dynamic spatial Durbin model

IntroductionChina's environmental policies and the green transformation of its industries have attained paramount significance in the wake of intensifying climate change and soaring carbon emissions, critically shaping sustainable development at both national and international scales. As the exploration of the drivers and outcomes of this green revolution on carbon emissions gains traction as a focal point of research, this study endeavors to assess the effects and their underlying causes.MethodsUtilizing a systems thinking methodology, a dynamic spatial Durbin model was constructed, analyzing statistical data spanning from 2004 to 2021, encompassing 30 Chinese provinces.ResultsChina's green transformation significantly influences the spatial distribution patterns of carbon emissions across various regions.DiscussionEnvironmental Protection investment has been effective in curbing carbon emissions from local businesses, yet it may also prompt a relocation of these businesses to neighboring provinces, inadvertently elevating their carbon emissions. Green innovation and the adoption of green energy technologies have proven instrumental in reducing carbon emissions in a region, with positive spillover effects extending to nearby areas. The dynamic spatial Durbin model analysis further underscores the inertia of carbon emissions, indicating that achieving carbon reduction is a process requiring consistent and sustained efforts over the long term. The findings of this study offer valuable insights and recommendations for the government in devising and implementing green transformation policies that align with the dual-carbon target, aiming to achieve a greener and more sustainable future.

Optimal Strategy and Performance for a Closed-Loop Supply Chain with Different Channel Leadership and Cap-and-Trade Regulation

Cap-and-trade is widely recognized as an effective mechanism for curbing carbon emissions, and it significantly influences the operational decisions within supply chains. This study investigates a three-echelon closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) consisting of one original equipment manufacturer, one traditional retailer, and one independent third-party collector. The manufacturer invests in cleaner technologies to produce green products and remanufactures new products from used items recycled by the third-party collector. Considering different channel power structures, three Stackelberg game models are developed, and their optimal solutions are derived using the backward induction. Additionally, the combined effects of remanufacturing-related and carbon-related parameters on economic and environmental benefits as well as social welfare are investigated under different settings. Moreover, the derived results are validated via numerical simulation. The findings indicate that: (1) Each channel member is incentivized to act as the leader role within the CLSC to maximize profits. (2) A loose cap-and-trade regulation is conducive to enhancing the emission abatement rate, collection rate, and overall performance for the CLSC. (3) The retailer-led model is the best option for capturing more economic benefits and social welfare, while the third party-led model can always achieve the best environmental performance regardless of carbon trading price. These research findings can provide valuable insights for policymakers and decision makers engaged in CLSC.

Leveraging the capabilities of multinational firms to address climate change: a finance perspective

Climate change and the associated issue of curbing carbon emissions have risen on the agenda of policymakers worldwide. However, global coordination on matters such as harmonized regulation has been subject to significant political frictions, and the large intergovernmental transfers needed to finance the transition of developing economies have proven hard to raise. Recently, there have been considerable responses to climate change from the private sector, with stakeholders placing more pressure on firms, and financial markets mobilizing increasingly more capital towards the reduction of negative externalities. We argue that although multinational enterprises (MNEs) have been a major contributor to the problem, they can be an important part of the solution – they have unique features that enable them to play an important role in the fight against climate change. MNEs have extensive and efficient internal markets for governance, financing, and technology, which enable them to circumvent country-specific frictions to climate action such as heterogeneous regulation, corruption, and the lack of technology. We analyze how different public and private incentive mechanisms could be designed to leverage MNEs’ unique features, realign their incentives, and engage their potential to play a role in decarbonizing the economy. Lastly, we discuss challenges, opportunities, and future research.

Empowering climate resilience: A people-centered exploration of Thailand's greenhouse gas emissions trading and sustainable environmental development through climate risk management in community forests.

Empowering climate resilience: A people-centered exploration of Thailand's greenhouse gas emissions trading and sustainable environmental development through climate risk management in community forests.

An Emerging Force for Curbing Carbon Emissions: Convergence of Digital and Energy Industries

An Emerging Force for Curbing Carbon Emissions: Convergence of Digital and Energy Industries

Changing the E-Waste Management Paradigm: an Innovative Approach with the Electronic Waste-Atm System

Handling electronic waste (e-waste) is one of the crucial environmental challenges in today's digital age. With the rapid growth of electronic device usage, the volume of e-waste generated continues to increase, posing significant risks to the environment and human health if not managed properly. One innovative solution that has emerged is the development of the "Electronic Waste-ATM" system. This system is designed to facilitate the collection, evaluation, and recycling of e-waste efficiently and safely. Electronic Waste-ATM utilizes advanced technology to automatically assess the physical condition and residual value of deposited electronics, while providing financial compensation to users instantly as an incentive to participate in the program. This research evaluates the effectiveness of Electronic Waste-ATM in reducing the environmental impact of e-waste and provides recommendations for development and implementation. Through this analytical approach, this study provides valuable insights into the large-scale potential of the Electronic Waste-ATM system as part of a global solution to the e-waste management problem. The implementation of Electronic Waste-ATM offers a number of advantages. First, it increases the collection and rate of e-waste by directly rewarding users, which motivates more people to their old electronic devices. Secondly, Electronic Waste-ATM helps reduce potentially polluting waste by ensuring that e-waste is processed at the right facilities. Thirdly, system supports environmental sustainability by reducing the need for new natural resources and curbing carbon emissions associated with the production of new electronic devices.

Do foreign institutional investors curb carbon emissions? Evidence from an emerging economy

Do foreign institutional investors curb carbon emissions? Evidence from an emerging economy

Low-Temperature Molten Salt Electrochemical CO2upcycling for Advanced Energy Materials

CO2 upcycling into advanced energy materials represents a promising approach for mitigating the climate crisis stemming from CO2 emissions. In this study, we present a novel method involving molten salt CO2 upcycling to generate value-added materials, including graphene, graphite, microporous carbon, and transition metal oxide encapsulated graphite, with precise control over microstructure at a moderate temperature of 450°C. By carefully adjusting electrochemical parameters such as voltage, temperature, and cathode material, we successfully converted CO2 into various structural architectures, such as graphene and graphite, exhibiting customizable morphology and porosity at this relatively low temperature. The resulting electro-reduced carbon materials displayed impressive characteristics including high specific capacity, stable cycling performances, and exceptional rate capability when employed as anode materials in lithium-ion/sodium-ion batteries (LIBs/SIBs). Our innovative approach demonstrates efficient CO2 upcycling into diverse carbon architectures tailored for improved energy storage, thereby contributing to the advancement of clean and sustainable energy technologies by curbing carbon emissions towards achieving sustainable energy objectives.

Recycling of Protonic Solid Oxide Cells with Physio-Electrochemical Networks (RSPEN)

The global shift towards renewable and sustainable energy, with a focus on reducing reliance on fossil fuels and curbing carbon emissions, has led to the rise of hydrogen production via water electrolysis, powered by carbon-neutral sources. As demand for hydrogen grows, so does the need for efficient electrolyzers, such as solid oxide electrochemical cells (SOCs), with projections indicating a significant increase in global hydrogen electrolyzer capacity by 2050. However, the scaling up of SOC production presents challenges, including the need for large-scale raw material production, reliance on commercial products, and environmental impacts of waste. Particularly, over a ton of valuable waste ceramic materials are used per megawatt of SOC stack, necessitating effective recycling methods. Herein we propose a novel, scalable closed-loop recycling method for both proton conducting and oxygen ion conducting SOCs, involving active comminution, followed by electrochemical leaching and cell regeneration using recycled raw materials/precursors. The technology could achieve above 90% electrolyte material recovery, 95% CRM recovery from cathode and = 95% recovery in full cell performance. This technology not only addresses a significant gap in current recycling practices but also sets a precedent for future advancements in the field, potentially influencing broader practices in the recycling of multi-functional ceramic systems.

The BRICS Nations Framework for Curbing Carbon Emissions: Evidence From Energy Intensity, Renewable Energy, and Environmental Policy

ABSTRACTIn the pursuit of sustainable development, the escalating challenges of global environmental pollution and the imperative to mitigate energy intensity stand as paramount concerns. As a result, this study aims to construct a comprehensive framework that acknowledges the interplay between energy intensity, the stringency of environmental policies, and the integration of renewable energy within BRICS nations. Utilizing a panel dataset covering the years 1991–2021, this study employs a range of econometric methods such as cross‐sectional dependence tests, second‐generation unit root tests, and panel co‐integration analysis. The results reveal the pivotal roles of energy intensity, the integration of renewable energy sources, and the enforcement of stringent environmental policies in mitigating carbon emissions. Additional analysis indicates that the impact of energy intensity in lowering carbon emissions is strengthened when institutional quality and research and development capabilities reach a certain threshold, thereby offsetting the impact of openness. In accordance, the present study suggests adopting a versatile and inclusive policy approach to effectively decrease carbon emissions, providing insights for policymakers in crafting climate change mitigation strategies and fostering sustainable development.