Decarbonization Policies Research Articles

Analysis of Agricultural and Environmental Objectives

This paper aims to highlight an evolution of agriculture from the perspective of climate change mitigation with the implications set out in the Common Agricultural Policy. The technical performance of agriculture has led to the restoration of paradigms in agriculture through increased conditionality of consumption, while the environment has been exposed to variable atmospheric disturbances that pose serious dangers in the future. The purpose of this article is to make a systemic analysis of the convergence of the agricultural economy in relation to the displacement of vectors to achieve environmental conditions. In order to capitalize on the potential of the agricultural sector in net carbon sequestration on agricultural land in order to make a positive contribution to the sustainability agenda, assessments from an agricultural sustainability perspective are needed. An essential premise for the application of the methodological analysis was assessed in relation to the acceleration by the agricultural systems of the conditions imposed as cross-compliance targets, the information being extracted from the available statistical databases Eurostat, FAO, Agridata. Addressing the current context of the common agricultural policy shows that raising environmental standards for farmers has an effect on agricultural production in direct correlation with greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, the idea of ​​the conditionality of the sustainability of the agricultural system is outlined by the implications in the implementation of decarbonization policies of agriculture.

Decarbonising the iron and steel sector for a 2\u2009\xb0C target using inherent waste streams

The decarbonisation of the iron and steel industry, contributing approximately 8% of current global anthropogenic CO2 emissions, is challenged by the persistently growing global steel demand and limitations of techno-economically feasible options for low-carbon steelmaking. Here we explore the inherent potential of recovering energy and re-using materials from waste streams, high-temperature slag, and re-investing the revenues for carbon capture and storage. In a pathway based on energy recovery and resource recycling of glassy blast furnace slag and crystalline steel slag, we show that a reduction of 28.5 ± 5.7% CO2 emissions to the sectoral 2 °C target requirements in the iron and steel industry could be realized in 2050 under strong decarbonization policy consistent with low warming targets. The technological schemes applied to engineer this high-potential pathway could generate a revenue of US$35 ± 16 and US$40 ± 18 billion globally in 2035 and 2050, respectively. If this revenue is used for carbon capture and storage implementation, equivalent CO2 emission to the 2 °C sectoral target requirements is expected to be reduced before 2050, without any external investments.

РОЛЬ СТАЛОЇ БІОЕКОНОМІЧНОЇ ТРАНСФОРМАЦІЇ У ДОВГОСТРОКОВІЙ СТРАТЕГІЇ ДЕКАРБОНІЗАЦІЇ

Bioeconomic transformation of industry will not be able to cover all modern branches of the national economy that use fossil fuels in the production process. In particular, in the fuel and energy complex, the main raw material of which is fossil fuel, it is necessary to widely promote carbon-free alternatives. In the future, the issue of integrating the energy sector into circular value chains of the natural carbon cycle (biomass) and closed cycles of production waste processing and carbon capture and utilization will arise. However, today in Ukraine, the decarbonization policy has no practical support at the legislative level and is reduced only to the intensification of the use of renewable energy sources (RES), therefore it is relevant to study the contribution of RES to achieving the goals of decarbonization and research on alternative technologies of the decarbonization policy that can accelerate the transformation to a sustainable industrial bioeconomy. The purpose of the article is to study the interrelationships between the consumption and production of RES and CO2 emissions of the countries that invest the most in the development of renewable energy (USA, EU, China) and to study the existing directions of decarbonization policy in the world. The information base of the research is World Bank data for 1990–2015. The research was conducted using the linear regression modeling methodology. The obtained results confirm the fact that the models are adequate only for countries with a share of production and consumption of renewable energy close to 30%, for other countries the model is unreliable due to a low coefficient of determination. The study of data from EU countries turned out to be the most representative. On the basis of the conducted theoretical analysis of foreign sources, the most promising directions of bio-economic transformation of industries are determined.

Экономический рост и политика декарбонизации

The article examines the issue of inhibition of economic growth by environmental investments within the framework of the decarbonization policy, which takes on the importance of an international institution by virtue of the relevant agreements signed by a number of countries. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the decarbonization policy, considered as a brake on economic growth, on the contrary, as a necessary condition and even a driving factor, taking into account other important measures that affect the amount of greenhouse gas emissions. The methodology is made by the theory of growth, methods of economic regulation of the level of pollution, comparative analysis. The study shows the three main types of decarbonization policies that are required, and that it is a one-sided approach to reduce pollution reduction policies to them. Systemic solutions are required, including the activation of neutralizing and natural or natural decarbonization, implemented on the scale of the global economy. In addition, the need to change the accounting, measurement and model practice of representing the relationship between economic growth and the level of pollution has been substantiated. The overall result is an estimate of Russia's GDP growth commensurate with the growth of pollution, an empirical substantiation of the absence of a growth retardation effect, taking into account the impact on emissions from forestry and land use. It is shown that investments in the creation of funds for solving environmental problems are a driving factor not only in reducing pollution, but also in economic growth, since they are aimed at creating new equipment and technologies embodied in special means of production. Research perspective in assessing a technological transition that does not hinder economic growth, but provides positive economic dynamics over a long period of time. The choice of a decarbonization policy, which assumes the systemic inclusion of all its types, as well as accounting for adaptation, must be carried out not only in terms of the speed of implementation, but also due to the endogenization of the decarbonization policy as a factor in a new growth model.

Угольные проекты Азиатской России как драйвер развития инфраструктуры

The global decarbonisation policy, growing availability of alternative energy sources and, subsequently, intensified competition in the global energy market increase the risks for coal suppliers, including Russia, the world’s third largest exporter of this fuel. Based on the author’s database on coal projects in Asian Russia, policy documents for the fuel and energy sector development and forecasts of global fuel consumption, the study presents the development outlook of the Russian coal industry up to 2040. The scenarios took into consideration the decarbonisation rate, features of the energy transition and implementation costs. As a result, optimistic, baseline and pessimistic scenarios were created. The baseline scenario assumes that the global decarbonisation rate will be reduced and coal energy will be present in the energy balance for at least twenty years. The implementation of this scenario should be accompanied by a radical increase in labour productivity, technological modernisation of the main production processes, the launch of advanced coal processing enterprises, and achieved compliance with international environmental standards. At the same time, the export orientation of Russian coal projects, primarily to the Asia-Pacific market, will remain. This situation will stimulate transport infrastructure development in Siberia and the Russian Far East, positively affect the integrated socio-economic development of Asian territories and improve the quality of life of the population, contributing to the stability of the political and economic system. The findings can be used to assess the investment impulse of large development projects in Asian Russia.

Перспективы развития нефтяной отрасли Томской области в свете климатической повестки

The commitment of international community to sustainable development implying the control of climate change due to the effect of greenhouse gases is aimed at diversification of energy sources with the focus on renewable ones. The effectiveness of decarbonization policy in the European Union has led to the introduction of enforcement tools for producers from other countries using the transboundary carbon tax on carbon-contained imported products, which resulted in a revision of strategic programmes in oil-producing countries at federal and subnational levels. The research is focused on oil-and-gas industry of Tomsk Oblast. The aim of the research is to analyse strategic perspectives of the socioeconomic development in Tomsk Oblast under the condition of climate agenda taking into account transition to renewable energy sources. The research hypothesis implies that in the condition of macroeconomic instability one needs to implement projects that are the least costly and produce a maximum multiplied effect. The research methodology is based on using empirical-statistic analytical methods for an analysis of possible development directions in accordance with issues of climate agenda. The research results have shown that essential strategic guidelines in the mid-term perspective can be as follows: (а) improvement of existing technological processes; (b) production of alternative energy sources; (c) reduction of carbon footprint. According to the research results, the most effective measure fitting the current condition of the macroeconomic situation negative tendencies of oil industry development, the nature-resource, industrial and research-educational potential of Tomsk Oblast, the existing barriers of an economic-management and institutional character is modernization of refineries to expand the range of products and hydrogen production as well as forest projects designed to absorb carbon dioxide and improve technological processes decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. The projects related to carbon capture and storage are not appealling for investment despite the subsoil condition of developed fields. The research results can be applied at the regional level when developing strategic programmes and managing petroleum industries.

The Evolution of Sustainable Mobility and Urban Space Planning: Exploring the factors contributing to the Regeneration of Car Parking in Living Spaces

Strategies and actions to promote sustainable mobility must be based on the characterization of the mobility supply and the promotion of decarbonization policies (e.g. the management of public spaces). The presence of parkings, especially in urban areas, has a significant impact on the occupancy of physical spaces. In this framework, referring to the last decades and the recent pandemic, the paper focuses on the evaluation of influencing factors that have contributed to the changes of planned and designed parking spaces in urban areas. Parklets can support post COVID-19 (Phase 3) pandemics by improving the quality of public space and social distancing close to shops and activities, benefiting from this micro-urban regeneration. Moreover, they can be considered as an extension of the pavement and their implementation can encourage the reduction of private traffic by promoting soft mobility (i.e. walking and cycling). The article defines and highlights the features for the identification and planning of spaces where parklets can be implemented, to improve sustainability and support the post-pandemic recovery.

Japan's Mountainous Region Changed by the Promotion of Decarbonization Policy ― Regional Dynamics Over Decarbonization and Renewable Energy Site Debate.

Japan's Mountainous Region Changed by the Promotion of Decarbonization Policy ― Regional Dynamics Over Decarbonization and Renewable Energy Site Debate.

Fairness, effectiveness, and needs satisfaction: new options for designing climate policies

Financial compensations are often proposed to address regressive distributional impacts of carbon taxes. While financial compensations have shown to benefit vulnerable groups distributionally, little is known about their impacts on emission reduction or needs satisfaction. A potential problem with cash compensations is that if households spend this money back into the economy while no additional decarbonisation policies are implemented, emission reductions that arose from the tax may at least partly be reversed. In this letter, we compare the emission savings and impacts on fuel and transport poverty of two compensation options for carbon taxes in 27 European countries. The first option consists of equal per capita rebates for home energy and motor fuel taxes. The second option is the provision of universal green vouchers for renewable electricity and public transport, supported by additional investments in green infrastructures to meet increased demand for such green consumption. Results show that the first option of tax rebates only supports small emission reductions. In contrast, universal green vouchers with expanded green infrastructures would reduce home energy emissions by 92.3 MtCO2e or 13.4%, and motor fuel emissions by 177.5 MtCO2e or 23.8%. If green vouchers and infrastructure were provided without a prior tax, emission savings would be slightly lower compared to the ‘tax and voucher’ scheme, but fuel and transport poverty would drop by 4.1 and 2.2 percentage points, respectively. In contrast, taxes with rebates would increase fuel and transport poverty by 4.1 and 1.8 percentage points. These findings demonstrate that it is important to take environmental and energy poverty impacts of compensations for unfair distributional impacts of climate policies into account at the design stage. Such compensation measures can achieve higher emission reductions and reduce energy poverty if they involve an expansion of the provision of green goods and services, and if everyone is given fair access to these goods and services.

Influence of Photovoltaic Development on Decarbonization of Power Generation—Example of Poland

Climate change is becoming a global problem. In many countries, actions are taken with the main aim of reducing CO2 emissions. The main action, especially in developed countries, is decarbonization. The European Union has become one of the organizations that plays a leading role in decarbonization of the economy. For this reason, renewable energy sources are being intensively developed in the EU countries. Solar energy with the use of PV installations is developing the fastest. Poland is one of the European leaders in photovoltaic development, and according to estimates for 2021–2025, it will continue to be. The aim of this study was to find out the opinions of people toward actions related to the decarbonization policy in Poland. These opinions were obtained through the prism of respondents’ attitudes toward energy produced by means of PV micro-installations. A questionnaire survey was used in this research. The survey was conducted using the CAWI (Computer-Assisted Web Interview) technique. To analyze the results of the study, a Kruskal–Wallis ANOVA test and U–Mann Whitney test were used. Responses were obtained from 633 people. The results obtained from the survey allowed us to draw conclusions, which include the following: (1) a lack of general conviction of respondents about the effectiveness of Poland’s decarbonization policy on reducing global CO2 emissions, especially among those who show a higher willingness to use PV installations, (2) the willingness to use PV installations is motivated by economic rather than environmental benefits, (3) the need for more widespread public campaigns aimed at promoting the benefits of decarbonization and renewable energy sources, and (4) the finding that the respondents’ region of residence (with a different degree of insolation) mattered for the willingness to use PV installations.

Low-Emission Alternative Energy for Transport in the EU: State of Play of Research and Innovation

The 2030 Climate target plan of the European Commission (EC) establishes a greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions reduction target of at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990. It highlights that all transport modes—road, rail, aviation and waterborne—will have to contribute to this aim. A smart combination of vehicle/vessel/aircraft efficiency improvements, as well as fuel mix changes, are among the measures that can reduce GHG emissions, reducing at the same time noise pollution and improving air quality. This research provides a comprehensive analysis of recent research and innovation in low-emission alternative energy for transport (excluding hydrogen) in selected European Union (EU)-funded projects. It considers the latest developments in the field, identifying relevant researched technologies by fuel type and their development phase. The results show that liquefied natural gas (LNG) refueling stations, followed by biofuels for road transport and alternative aviation fuels, are among the researched technologies with the highest investments. Methane-based fuels (e.g., compressed natural gas (CNG), LNG) have received the greatest attention concerning the number of projects and the level of funding. By contrast, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) only has four ongoing projects. Alcohols, esters and ethers, and synthetic paraffinic and aromatic fuels (SPF) are in between. So far, road transport has the highest use of alternative fuels in the transport sector. Despite the financial support from the EU, advances have yet to materialize, suggesting that EU transport decarbonization policies should not consider a radical or sudden change, and therefore, transition periods are critical. It is also noteworthy that there is no silver bullet solution to decarbonization and thus the right use of the various alternative fuels available will be key.

Contested renewable energy projects in Latin America: bridging frameworks of justice to understand ‘triple inequalities of decarbonisation policies’

ABSTRACT Renewable energy (RE) projects are increasingly contested. We present bio- and wind energy projects in Argentina, Mexico, and Nicaragua with reference to different frameworks of justice. We bridge the concept of energy justice with insights from climate change and climate justice research and argue that the social groups facing energy injustices related to the implementation of RE projects face a situation of ‘triple inequalities of decarbonisation policies’: they are negatively affected by climate change although, from a global and historical perspective, they have not contributed much to it, and now face injustices related to the mitigation of climate change. We underscore this argument by presenting cases of wind energy generation and biomass production for fuel. We conclude that relating different strands of justice debates with a historically grounded analysis of triple inequalities can imply the denial of RE projects by actors who belong to marginalised groups – despite of a global urgency of decarbonisation.

The Impact of Poland’s Energy Transition on the Strategies of Fossil Fuel Sector Companies—The Example of PKN Orlen Group

Sustainability and decarbonisation are buzzwords in today’s economy. The fossil fuel sector has had a great impact on development of many countries and it is interesting how this sector is going to survive in the era of climate neutrality imposed by the European and national decarbonisation policies. PKN Orlen is one of the largest industrial corporations in Poland and Central Europe representing the energy and fossil fuel sector. The article sets out to identify the main areas of PKN Orlen’s strategic plans resulting from the energy transition process in Poland. For this reason, the research question posed in this study is: to what extent and in what direction has Poland’s energy policy influenced the new strategy of PKN Orlen? Poland’s most recent energy policy was adopted in 2021, therefore an attempt to assess the impact of this policy on the strategy of a large player in the fossil fuel sector in such a short time horizon proves the originality of the study. The applied methodological approach, including case study, comparative analysis, and in-depth interview, was determined by the specific nature of the research problem and the fact that the analyzed sector and entity are strategic from the point of view of the country’s economy, which imposes the confidentiality of some data related to the study and determines the possibility of making them public. As shown by the research, PEP2040 had an indirect impact on shaping the strategy of PKN Orlen, while the main source of knowledge about the current and future trends is the analysis, evaluation and synthesis of various sources of information, including those from consulting companies.

Проблемы энергетического перехода в меняющемся ландшафте глобальной энергетической безопасности

The world is undergoing a historic energy transition driven by decarbonization policies and the rapid development of low-carbon technologies. The article presents an analysis of the key challenges of the global energy transition, and the opportunities associated with renewable energy sources, technology, economic growth and geopolitics. The author covers different approaches to the analysis of the possibilities and the consequences associated with the energy transition, which will significantly affect the transformation of world energy and global energy security and politics.

Energy management decarbonization policy and its implications for national economies

The article explains the stages of modern environmental policy formation and analyzes decarbonalization as a component of climate change, which requires the introduction of global regulation without taking into account any national priorities and the transition to global control over national economies through the OPEC oil and gas sector. The content of greening is revealed and it is noted that global warming in the climate has shifted to stable and dynamic regional geographical cooling, which makes not only doubt the causes of global ecological warming, but also to identify political motives for decarbonization and primarily in energy. The intensified development of wind farms has been noted as a result of the global policy of developed countries that do not have sufficient own reserves of coal and oil and gas hydrocarbons.

Residential space-heating energy demand in urban Southern China: An assessment for 2030

Residential space heating in urban Southern China has been booming in the recent decade. The massive increase in space-heating demand poses significant challenges to sustainability. A systematic assessment of energy consumption and CO2 emissions resulting from residential space heating is particularly important in guiding policymakers and market stakeholders. This study projects and assesses the energy consumption and CO2 emissions of distributed heating and centralized heating systems in urban Southern China under five different scenarios. The results suggest that by 2030, under the business-as-usual scenario, urban Southern China will consume 77–167 million tce (Mtce) of energy to support its potential space-heating demands and will generate 126–275 million tons (Mt) of CO2 emissions. The corresponding proportion of national total consumption and emissions in 2019 is 1.5–3% and 1.1%–2.4%, respectively. If aggressive decarbonization policies are adopted, the total energy consumption and CO2 emissions will be reduced by 47–53% and 54–60%, respectively. These policies include developing clean heating sources, improving heating system efficiency, and increasing electrification levels. In addition, from the regional perspective, the top 5 out of 133 cities (Shanghai, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Nanjing, and Chengdu) contribute 27% of all sample cities' energy and 23% of CO2 emissions. Some cities, such as Dali and Qianxinan, may suffer a severe gas shortage because the projected gas demand exceeds the current infrastructure capacity. The results demonstrate the importance of adapting suitable heating systems to local conditions.

Honeybee pollination benefits could inform solar park business cases, planning decisions and environmental sustainability targets

Renewable energy deployment has accelerated exponentially, taking up a growing area of land at a time of increasing land use pressure and environmental degradation. Land use change for renewable energy can have positive and negative environmental consequences, but robustly quantifying the effects is challenging. Here, we evaluate the monetary benefits of pollination services from installing honeybee hives in solar parks and discuss how they could inform policy and practice. If honeybee hives were installed in all existing solar parks within England, we estimate that the pollination service benefits for pollinator dependent field crops, top fruits and soft fruit would have been £5.9 million in 2017. This is grounded in honeybee pollination crop values of £4.81–£75.04 ha−1 for field crops and £635–£10,644 ha−1 for fruit. However, given the greater field crop land areas the total associated economic benefits were greater than for fruit. Honeybee pollination service benefits could theoretically be as high as £80 million per year if the spatial distribution of crops was altered. However, the viability of this is uncertain given other factors that influence crop location and the potential trade-offs with wild pollinators. We outline how honeybee pollination service benefits could contribute to solar park business cases, inform the planning process, and be used as environmental sustainability indicators by industry. Such energy-economic-ecosystem wins demonstrate the potential of incorporating environmental co-benefits into energy decarbonisation policies and a means of addressing the land-energy-ecosystem nexus.

Life Cycle Assessment for Supporting Dimensioning Battery Storage Systems in Micro-Grids for Residential Applications

The current EU energy and climate policy targets a significant reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in the forthcoming years. Carbon pricing, embedded in the EU emissions trading system, aims at achieving emission reductions in a more evenly spread way and at the lowest overall cost for society, compared with other environmental policy tools, such as coal or electricity taxes, or incentives such as subsidies on renewables. Still, the implementation of the decarbonization policy depends on several technical parameters such as the type, size and connectivity of the energy system as well as economic restrictions that occur. Within this paper, an optimization tool will be presented, focusing on cleaner energy production and on the control and reduction of environmental impact regarding energy storage solutions. Various types of batteries are examined and evaluated towards this direction. Emphasis is given to setting new criteria for the decision-making process, considering the size of battery storage and the selection of the battery type based on the environmental impact assessment parameter. The objective function of the system is formulated so as to evaluate, monitor and finally minimize environmental emissions, focusing mainly on carbon emissions. Optimization is carried out based on mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP). Two of the main battery types compared are lead–acid and lithium-ion; both of them result in results worth mentioning regarding the replacement impact (seven times during system lifetime for lead–acid) and the total environmental impact comparison (lithium-ion may reach a 60% reduction compared to lead–acid). Case studies are presented based on representative scenarios solved, which underline the importance of choosing the appropriate scope for each case and demonstrate the potential of the tool developed, as well as the possibilities for its further improvement.

Coordinated reduction of CO2 emissions and environmental impacts with integrated city-level LEAP and LCA method: A case study of Jinan, China

The evaluation of the efficiency and feasibility of energy transition and air pollution control at the city level is one of the key points in addressing environmental problems and achieving the goals of CO2 emission reduction and carbon neutrality in China. In this study, an integrated method is developed on the basis of the Low Emissions Analysis Platform (LEAP) and life cycle assessment (LCA). The energy demands and environmental co-benefits in Jinan, one of the low-carbon city pilots in China, are quantitatively evaluated under three policy scenarios: low-carbon (LC) policy scenario, pollution control (PC) policy scenario, and deep-level cut of CO2 emissions (DCC) scenario from 2016 to 2050. From 2016 to 2030, the PC policies would be more powerful than the LC policies in terms of energy demand decrease. From 2030 to 2050, the LC policies would be more efficient than all the other policies. Promoting energy-saving buildings in the LC scenario would contribute to the continual decline in energy demands. In the DCC scenario, CO2, PM2.5, PM10, CO, NOX and SO2 emissions would decline by more than 71.4% relative to the records in 2016. Global warming potential, human toxicity potential, photochemical ozone creation potential, particulate matter formation potential, and acidification potential would also decrease by 81.8%–88.5%. On the basis of the integrated city-level LEAP and LCA method, this study quantifies the various environmental impacts of urban decarbonization policies and provides science-based references for urban low-carbon transformation.

Carbon pricing and supporting policy tools for deep decarbonization; case of electricity generation of Sri Lanka

This study internalizes carbon pricing and other regulatory policy tools for decarbonizing the electricity generation mix of Sri Lanka. Carbon Pricing is shifted to the supply side as a decision-making tool. We consider $10/tCO2, $20/tCO2, $30/tCO2, $44/tCO2, $130/tCO2, and $297/tCO2 as potential carbon prices. Other regulatory policy tools, such as mandatory renewable energy (RE) development, fuel switching, fossil fuel phasing out, fossil fuel development moratoriums, and mandatory RE utilization, are included as possible supporting tools. Three capacity-development scenarios and three optimization models with three objective functions are designed and implemented in the General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS). Six policy options are presented for the Sri Lankan context considering cost, emission, and diversification. Results suggest a carbon price that falls between $10/tCO2-$44/tCO2 as suitable for Sri Lanka. The study contributes to the ongoing debate on the effectiveness of carbon pricing by empirically testing the effectiveness of carbon prices in the electricity generation planning of a developing country. The findings support the emerging consensus of adopting other regulatory policy tools along with carbon prices to achieve deep decarbonization. The study also assesses the role LNG could play in a developing country’s electricity generation mix. We recommend transitioning from coal to LNG as an intermediate decarbonization policy option until the RE capacities are developed to make the near-zero emission mix a reality.