Low-carbon Behavior Research Articles

Enterprise Low-Carbon Behavior, Financial Performance and Economic Transformation——Data from Listed Companies in China

The low-carbon development of enterprises is an important breakthrough in Chinese economic transformation and the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure. Based on a sample of Chinese listed companies involved in the low-carbon industry from 2010 to 2018, this paper empirically analyzes the correlation between the low carbon behavior, economic transformation and financial performance of listed companies. The results show that a company’s carbon intensity and financial performance are negatively related, and this relation is more significant when the financial performance is measured using the ROA (return on asset) of listed companies. The level of economic transformation in places where enterprises are located can significantly strengthen the positive relationship between enterprise low-carbon behavior and financial performance, including in central and western areas, where positive relationships are strengthened, and areas with heavy polluting industries, where positive relationships are weakened. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen carbon emission supervision for non-heavy polluting industries and enterprises in the central and western regions.

The efficacy of an integrated intervention to encourage low-carbon travel behaviour

The importance of pro-environmental behaviour has increasingly attracted academics’ attention. However, limited research has taken place to investigate the efficacy of different interventions on encouraging pro-environmental behaviour. The effects of an integrated intervention on changing people’s actual travel behaviour also remain largely unfilled. Therefore, this empirical research aims to fill this research by examining the efficacy of an integrated intervention and its durability to encourage pro-environmental behaviour. SPSS programme was used to analyse the collected data: a primary online survey dataset and a secondary longitudinal dataset. The efficacy of the intervention was assessed using Kruskal-Wallis test and Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test was used to investigate the durability of its effectiveness.

Comparative Study of the Tempering Behavior of Different Martensitic Steels by Means of In-Situ Diffractometry and Dilatometry.

Martensitic steels are tempered to increase the toughness of the metastable martensite, which is brittle in the as-quenched state, and to achieve a more stable microstructure. During the tempering of steels, several particular overlapping effects can arise. Classical dilatometric investigations can only detect effects by monitoring the integral length change of the sample. Additional in-situ diffractometry allowed a differentiation of the individual effects such as transformation of retained austenite and formation of cementite during tempering. Additionally, the lattice parameters of martensite and therefrom the tetragonality was analyzed. Two low-alloy steels with carbon contents of 0.4 and 1.0 wt.% and a high-alloy 5Cr-1Mo-steel with 0.4 wt.% carbon were investigated by dilatometry and in-situ diffractometry. In this paper, microstructural effects during tempering of the investigated steels are discussed by a comparative study of dilatometric and diffractometric experiments. The influence of the chemical composition on the tempering behavior is illustrated by comparing the determined effects of the three steels. The kinetics of tempering is similar for the low-alloy steels and shifted to much higher temperatures for the high-alloy steel. During tempering, the tetragonality of martensite in the steel with 1.0 wt% carbon shifts towards a low carbon behavior, as in the steels with 0.4 wt.% carbon.

Consumers’ Intention and Cognition for Low-Carbon Behavior: A Case Study of Hangzhou in China

The influencing factors of the low-carbon consumption behavior of urban residents have become popular. This paper explored the factors of consumers’ low-carbon behavior through a questionnaire survey. Using Hangzhou as a case study city, which yields 786 valid responses, the results indicated that urban consumers generally had a high perception of low-carbon behavior. At the same time, low-carbon cognition and low-carbon intention had a positive impact on residents’ low-carbon behavior. In particular, the level of awareness of global warming adjusted residents’ understanding of low-carbon behavior. From a policy point of view, this research contributes to insights into the promotion of guiding residents’ low-carbon behavior and improving the response to global warming.

Key Factors Influencing Low-Carbon Behaviors of Staff in Star-Rated Hotels-An Empirical Study of Eastern China.

To guide sustainable development in the hospitality industry requires hotel staff engagement, so what causes and how to facilitate the implementation of low-carbon behaviors should be high priorities. However, most prior studies focused on hotel guest behavior or discussed, on an individual level, the psychological aspects of the factors of the low-carbon behavior of either managers or employees. Therefore, this research aims to examine the effect of influencing factors inside and outside of the hotel context on hotel staff’s low-carbon behaviors in star-rated hotels. A set of influencing factors were identified by using literature retrieval, ground theory and in-depth interviews. Structural equation modelling was then applied with 440 valid questionnaires collected from representative star-rated hotels in Eastern China. The results revealed that low-carbon managerial activities, strategic orientation, social norms, and perceived behavior control were four key factors affecting the low-carbon behavior adoption of staff from star-rated hotels. Among them, low-carbon managerial activities were found to be the strongest factor affecting hotel staff’s low-carbon behaviors. Consumer attitude, however, exerted no significant impact. Targeted strategies were finally proposed for the improvement of hotel staff’s low-carbon behavior from the perspectives of hoteliers and governments. This study contributes to the generation mechanism of low-carbon behavior among staff and, in practice, towards behavioral improvement by providing comprehensive insights about the attribution of factors belonging to multiple dimensions related to the low-carbon behavior of staff in the hotel industry.

Game analysis for the impact of carbon trading on low-carbon supply chain

The emergence of carbon trading will affect low carbon behavior in manufacturers. To analyze the impact of carbon trading on low-carbon supply chain (LCSC) under different production modes, we developed a game model between low-carbon products and ordinary products. Based on the game model, the impact of carbon trading on unit retail price, sales volume, sales profit and consumer surplus are comparatively analyzed from different production modes of low carbon manufacturers. Results show that: 1) Carbon trading could increase the unit retail price of ordinary products and low-carbon manufacturers will also raise the unit retail price of low-carbon products to obtain more revenue under the competitive market environment. 2) The carbon trading will promote the sales volume of low-carbon products when the manufacturer only produces low-carbon products. However, in the case of a manufacturer producing two products simultaneously, the carbon trading could promote the sale of low-carbon products only when the environmental impact ratio of the unit ordinary product to the unit low-carbon product is greater than a certain threshold. 3) The impact of carbon trading on profit is related to the environmental impact ratio of the two kinds of unit products. 4) The government could adjust the impact of carbon trading on consumer surplus through carbon credit.

How does the nested structure affect policy innovation?: Empirical research on China's low carbon pilot cities

The pilot project of low-carbon cities is an important effort to align China's national goals for climate change governance with local governments' low-carbon behavior. The purpose of such pilot project is to promote low-carbon development and encourage policy innovation, but the role of nested structure has not been fully appreciated. Based on the survey data of low-carbon pilot cities, this paper finds that nested structure has a positive impact on policy innovation and discusses the impact on policy innovation from three dimensions: the nested pilot, the nested policy and the nested department. Heckman selection Model and Possion Model are used to make an empirical analysis of the factors influencing policy innovation and used a case study to explore the mechanism. The results show that the nested structure has a positive effect on policy innovation in pilot projects of low-carbon cities with weak incentives and weak constraints. Specifically, the participation of local governments in low-carbon related pilot projects, the number of low-carbon policies introduced by local governments, and the participation of local government departments in the process of low-carbon governance have a positive impact on policy innovation. Nested structure promotes policy innovation mainly through coordination mechanism and funding mechanism.

Mechanical and self-healing behavior of low carbon engineered cementitious composites reinforced with PP-fibers

While the ultrahigh tensile ductility and superior durability of Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) have been demonstrated, the relatively high energy and carbon intensity, as well as high material cost present potential impediments to broader ECC applications. The objective of this research is to develop a more sustainable and cost-effective ECC. The ordinary Portland cement (OPC) and the commonly used PVA fiber in conventional ECC were replaced by limestone calcined clay cement (LC3) and polypropylene (PP) fiber, respectively. The ECC compressive strength, tensile stress-strain relationship, and microcrack self-healing behavior were studied at three water to binder ratios (0.3, 0.2, 0.16). The novel LC3-PP-ECC showed a tensile strain capacity of greater than 6% and an intrinsically tight crack width below 82 μm when loaded to 1% tensile strain. Further, the LC3-PP-ECC demonstrated efficient recovery of the composite tensile ductility and ultimate tensile strength through self-healing. Compared to typical ECC made with OPC and PVA fiber, the material cost, embodied energy and carbon footprint of LC3-PP-ECC are reduced by 61%, 45%, and 48%, respectively. The superior mechanical properties and durability combined with the low environmental impact and cost for material production promote LC3-PP-ECC as a sustainable material for structural and non-structural applications.

Influence of the built environment on urban residential low-carbon cognition in zhengzhou, China

Low-carbon cognition can potentially impact low-carbon behavior, playing an important role in sustainable urban development. Traditional low-carbon cognition research has paid little attention to the built environment, causing an underestimation of the influence of urban spatial planning and regulation. Therefore, we constructed an analytical framework of low-carbon cognition and integrated the built environment 5D variables with local forces to investigate the cultural, local, and personal impact of low-carbon cognition. Low-carbon cognition in terms of energy use, daily travel, and consumption for 1485 households in Zhengzhou City was empirically studied. The results show that residents’ low-carbon cognition is hierarchical. Low-carbon travel cognition is highly susceptible to the external environment, while low-carbon energy use cognition is susceptible to cultural factors. There are differences in the effects of the three forces on residents’ low-carbon cognition. The personal and cultural forces have a greater impact on residents’ low-carbon energy use and consumption cognition, while the local force affects various low-carbon cognition of residents. The heterogeneity of the built environmental impact should be focused on. The “5D” built environment (Density, Diversity, Design, Distance to transit, and Destination accessibility) positively affects the level of low-carbon travel cognitive, but negatively affects the level of low-carbon consumption cognitive. This study comprehensively analyzes the low-carbon cognition of energy use, daily travel, and consumption, objectively measures the impact of “Regional force” on low-carbon cognition, and determines the heterogeneous effect of the external built environment on low-carbon cognition. We provide detailed policy recommendations for the construction of low-carbon cities and transformation of residents’ living behaviors.

Consumption-oriented policy instruments for fostering greenhouse gas mitigation

ABSTRACT Most policy instruments to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have focused on producers, and on the energy efficiency of buildings, vehicles and other products. Behavioural changes related to climate change also impact ‘in-use’ emissions, and potentially, emissions both ‘upstream’ (including from imported goods) and ‘downstream’ (eg disposal). Consumption-oriented policies may provide avenues to additional and cost-effective emission reductions, but are less prevalent, in part because of political sensitivities around government efforts to shape individual-level mitigation behaviour. In this paper, we explore policy instruments for encouraging low carbon behaviour in the EU context. Drawing on a literature survey and interviews, as part of the EU Carbon-CAP project, we develop a list of 33 potential instruments, present a systematic methodology for assessing their potential impact and feasibility, and apply this to rank instruments of most interest. Most instruments involve a clear trade-off between their potential impact and feasibility; about half feature in the top three scoring categories, many being voluntary approaches, which may be easier to implement, but with limited or highly uncertain impact. However, we identify a handful of top-scoring instruments that deserve far more policy attention. The complexity of consumer and corporate motivations and behaviours suggests that instruments should be trialled and monitored (e.g. in regions / individual States) before widespread introduction. Most would also be most effective when nested within wider policy packages, to address the varied behavioural motivations and stages of supply chains. Key policy insights Influencing consumer behaviour has been little used in climate policy and is politically sensitive and complex, but can address emissions that have largely escaped influence to date. A few instruments stand out as particularly promising, including: technology lists; supply chain procurement by leading retail companies; a carbon-intensive materials consumption charge; and key infrastructure improvements. A common trade-off between potential impact and likely feasibility points to the importance of government-business collaboration to secure support and impact. More ambitious transformation would require a mix of production and consumption-oriented policy instruments.

Double third-party recycling closed-loop supply chain decision under the perspective of carbon trading

How to maximize the economic and environmental benefits of low-carbon behavior in enterprises deserves our attention and further discussion. Due to the uncertainties on the market of low-carbon production and waste production, we study a recycling and remanufacturing closed-loop supply chain consisting of one manufacturer, one retailer and two competing third-party recyclers with risk-aversion characteristics, and use the Stackelberg games to find equilibrium decisions of supply chain and its members. More importantly, we study the changes in expected utility of supply chain and its members brought by changes in four possibilities (carbon emission trading price, consumers’ low-carbon awareness, carbon emission and competition of third-party recyclers) in three emission reduction models. The results show that, firstly, carbon emission trading price, consumers’ low-carbon awareness and carbon emission are negatively correlated with the expected utility of manufacturer and retailer. Then, the third-party recyclers’ competition degree is negatively correlated with the expected utility of manufacturer and third-party recyclers. Moreover, revenue-sharing and cost-sharing contracts have little impact on manufacturer’ low-carbon production.

Economic Development Advantages of Low-Carbon Economy under Waterway Transportation

With the continuous deepening of economic development, ecological hidden hazards such as environmental pollution are gradually emerging. Global warming, over-exploitation of energy, land desertification, and other problems are emerging. It is urgent to grasp the direction of national environmental protection policy support, and take the advantages and disadvantages of low-carbon economy development as the primary merit index for industry development.Firstly, this paper expounds the internal relationship between water transport and low-carbon economy. Then it objectively examines and analyzes the difficulties and reasons of the development of waterway transportation economy in low-carbon economy. Next, it is pointed out that the water transport system under the background of low-carbon economy is an inevitable choice. Finally, the paper summarizes the advantages of the economic development of waterway transportation, and puts forward the corresponding optimization countermeasures according to the actual situation, which provides an effective guarantee for deepening the low-carbon behavior of transportation.

Analysis of Multi-Stakeholders’ Behavioral Strategies Considering Public Participation under Carbon Taxes and Subsidies: An Evolutionary Game Approach

Considering public participation in environmental management, we developed a tripartite game model among governments, manufacturers and publics under carbon taxes and subsidies to investigate whether the mutual relationship between governments and the public can urge manufacturers to adopt low-carbon technology by examining the interaction effect among the multi-stakeholders. In this study, we focus on manufactured products without significant low-carbon peculiarity. For these products, consumers have no way to identify which are from low-carbon production and which are not. The results show that governments and the public have a complementary and coordinating relationship indeed. The regulation cost of governments, the supervision reward for the public and the supervision cost of the public can all influence the behavioral strategies among the multi-stakeholders, including governments, manufacturers and the public. With the regulation cost strengthens dramatically, governments can consider increasing the supervision reward to support the public to participate in the management of manufacturers’ behaviors. Publics should also actively improve their management ability, and the low cost of public participation in supervision is an effective reflection to make up for the lack of government regulation. The implementation of carbon taxes is more advantageous in urging low-carbon manufacturing than government subsidies for low-carbon production. A complete carbon label system can reflect the low-carbon preferences of consumers to help manufacturers integrate low-carbon behavior into their operational decisions.

Revisiting the Psychology of Denial Concerning Low-Carbon Behaviors: From Moral Disengagement to Generating Social Change

This paper reassesses the scope for shifting high-carbon personal behaviors in the light of prevailing insufficient political and regulatory action. Our previous research has shown that citizens regard such behavioral shifts as extremely daunting and create a number of psychological denial mechanisms that draw attention to the inaction of others, including governments. Further theoretical insights and relevant new findings have been attained from a more recent survey of more than 1000 German residents. This reveals that direct denial of anthropogenic climate change is replaced by a denial of responsibility for individual climate action. Ways of moral disengagement play a more dominant role, such as the diffusion and displacement of responsibility, although a majority is aware of—and very much concerned about—the climate crisis. More attention needs to be given for further reinterpretation of the role of moral disengagement to single out adequate strategies for different individuals and groups of people, such as making role models more visible to encourage social learning that could accelerate further necessary moral and behavioral transformations.

Low Carbon Education: A Review and Bibliometric Analysis

<p style="text-align:justify">The concept of low carbon education is one solution to provide knowledge to students related to low carbon behavior. The purpose of this paper is providing an extensive bibliometric literature review on 'low carbon education'. Articles found by Publishing or Perish (PoP) software with the Google Scholar database. There were 55 out of 97 articles found from Google Scholar data base ranging from 2014 to 2019 analyzed in this study. The chosen references were then managed using a referencing manager software namely Zotero. After managing the database, this study classified and visualized it using VOSviewer software. Overall, this review provides an appropriate reference point for further research on 'low carbon education'.</p>

Low Carbon Exploration in Urban Revitalization in Yangzhou Old City Project

Low-carbon and ecological city and sustainable conservation of historic urban areas are issues that need to be addressed in current urban development in China. Based on the principles of community participation, local adaptive technology and cost-benefit balance, Nanhexia Low-carbon Community Project in Yangzhou proposed holistic strategies and solutions to achieve low-carbon community by means of low-carbon planning, low-carbon transportation, energy efficiency of building, low-carbon behavior, and greening in open space. The project innovatively integrated low carbon concepts into regeneration of old city, combined traditional architectural styles with modern green technologies, and won the first platinum award of LEED Homes in China. The experience of the project may provide reference for the regeneration of other communities or other similar projects in old cities.

Influencing factors of low-carbon behaviors of residents in Zhengzhou City from the perspective of cognition-behavior gaps

Influencing factors of low-carbon behaviors of residents in Zhengzhou City from the perspective of cognition-behavior gaps

Impact of Residential Self-Selection on Low-Carbon Behavior: Evidence from Zhengzhou, China

Current resident lifestyles pose a significant threat to urban sustainable development. Therefore, low-carbon behavior is receiving increasing attention from scholars and policy makers. Ascertaining residential self-selection is essential in order to study the relationship between the built environment and travel behavior. While several studies have explored the relationship between the urban form, socioeconomic factors, and travel behavior, only a few of them have studied the impact of self-selection on household energy consumption and other forms of consumption, which are also contribute to household carbon emissions. Using large-scale field surveys of 1,485 households and high-resolution images, sourced from Google Maps in 2018, of Zhengzhou city, the present study estimated the low-carbon level of three kinds of behavior: daily energy use at home, daily travel, and daily consumption. The study investigated the influence factors on low-carbon behavior using the hierarchical linear model. We found that residential self-selection impacts both energy use and daily travel. Residents in some built environments consumed less energy at home and contributed less CO2 emissions through daily travel than others. In particular, individual-level variables significantly affected the low-carbon energy use behavior. The female, elderly, highly educated, married, and working-class residents with children had higher levels of low-carbon energy use. Community-level variables significantly affected the level of low-carbon travel and low-carbon consumption. If residents lived in areas with high density, mixed land use, and high accessibility, their travel mode and consumption behavior would entail low carbon emissions. There is a relationship between individual variables and community variables. Different individual attributes living in the same built environment have different impacts on low-carbon behaviors.

How conformity psychology and benefits affect individuals’ green behaviours from the perspective of a complex network

How to encourage individuals to practice green, low-carbon behaviours as an effective way to achieve energy conservation and emission reduction is a scientific and social problem that urgently requires a solution. Considering that a change in individuals’ behaviours can be influenced by herd mentality and their own income, in this study, we propose a game model related to individuals’ green behaviours (IGB). We divide the relations between individuals into two categories, namely, strong links and weak links, and set some parameters associated with IGB, such as temptation benefit, stubbornness index, and selection preference. Based on a Monte Carlo simulation method, we analyse the key factors affecting IGB. The results show that individuals’ blind acquisition of and belief in external information is not conducive to the diffusion of IGB. In addition, if the income of the individuals who do not adopt green behaviours increases, this can greatly inhibit other individuals from adopting green behaviours. Further comparative analysis of the different structures of the underlying network indicates that higher connectivity heterogeneity in the strong links of a network could promote the diffusion of IGB. Furthermore, when individuals’ stubbornness is high, the proportion of individuals who adopt green behaviours could also increase. Finally, we analyse how individuals’ connectivity and activity rate affect IGB. The results show that people prefer to adopt green behaviours if they exhibit higher connectivity or a lower activity rate. We analysed the important factors affecting IGB, to provide a corresponding basis for promoting IGB scientifically.

Design for sustainable behavior strategies: Impact of persuasive technology on energy usage

Design for Sustainable Behavior (DfSB) is an emerging research area with the application to generate better design methods, to change consumer behavior, and to decrease environmental damage towards more sustainable action. Previous research has explored the product design for human behavior change of energy usage; however, little research has been done to link the interventions how people could change their act with DfSB theories. This research utilized smart/intelligent devices based on the theories of DfSB and persuasive technology to explore how behavioral decisions and social psychology match the preference and utility of public green low-carbon behavior by collecting interrelated data through eco-feedback. Furthermore, the participants could share and compare peer usage information and receive awards to encourage sustainable behaviors by using social network feedback about personal usage information. A questionnaire was also developed to measure the impact of sustainable behaviors on personal behavioral intention.This study contributes by filling in the gap of consumer behavior of energy consumption – an empirical data is collected. It was found only little effect of energy using behavior reduction could be achieved by providing energy using information. If the energy usage behavior reduction is significantly expected, a more aggressive sustainable development with behavioral intentions should be applied. This study also shows that the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and persuasive technologies can be integrated to achieve reliable results and to generate suggestions about product usage to engage DfSB.