Low-carbon Regulations Research Articles

Factors influencing contractors' low-carbon construction behaviors in China: a LDA-DEMATEL-ISM approach.

Contractors' low-carbon construction behaviors (CLCB) are pivotal in advancing decarbonization during the construction phase. However, there exists a notable gap in the comprehensive exploration of the multifaceted factors and mechanisms influencing CLCB. Therefore, this study aims to systematically identify the factors influencing CLCB in China, examine the interrelationships among these factors, and pinpoint the key determinants. Based on topic modeling of Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), influencing factors are identified firstly from the pertinent literature. Subsequently, the causality degree and centrality degree between these factors are assessed by the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL), followed by the establishment of a hierarchical structure using the Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) method, culminating in the identification of pivotal factors. Findings reveal that (1) 21 influential factors influencing CLCB are identified. (2) "Incentive policies for relevant stakeholders" and "Low-carbon regulation and supervision" emerge as key influences. (3) CLCB should be guided by policy and subjective awareness, fortified by market and management support, underpinned by technology, and directly driven by economic considerations. This research furnishes valuable insights for promoting low-carbon development during the construction phase, thereby assisting the construction sector in achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality.

Investigation into Spatial and Temporal Differences in Carbon Emissions and Driving Factors in the Pearl River Delta: The Perspective of Urbanization

Urbanization is a significant indicator of city progress, and as urbanization advances, carbon emissions exhibit an increasing trend that must not be disregarded. Therefore, it is imperative to thoroughly examine the spatial and temporal variations as well as the factors influencing carbon emissions during the urbanization process. In this paper, based on the 2009–2019 PRD region, carbon emissions are measured from energy consumption, industrial production process, solid waste, and wastewater according to the IPCC coefficients, and spatial and spatial differences in carbon emissions are combined with spatial analysis and the drivers analyzed using the gray correlation scale. The results show that: (1) The total carbon emissions in the PRD region have been increasing over the study period, and the distribution of total carbon emissions shows a pattern of “strong in the east and weak in the west”, with energy consumption accounting for the highest proportion of carbon emissions. (2) The global Moran Index of carbon emissions in the PRD has been decreasing, with low and low clustering concentrated in Shaoguan and Zhaoqing, high and high clustering concentrated in Dongguan and Shenzhen, and low and high clustering concentrated in Shenzhen and Guangzhou, with cold spots mainly concentrated in Zhaoqing and hot spots mainly distributed in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Dongguan. (3) The degree of economic growth has a substantial influence on carbon emissions in the PRD cities, and the influence of technical advancement has intensified. Guangzhou City is propelled by low-carbon regulations that have a more equitable influence on all elements. Zhuhai City has a more significant influence on energy intensity, while Foshan City has a more noticeable decrease in the effect of foreign investment. To address the issue of carbon emissions, the government should establish appropriate rules to regulate carbon emissions in areas with high emissions, foster collaborative efforts across cities, and encourage the growth of environmentally friendly enterprises.

Low–carbon regulation method for greenhouse light environment based on multi–objective optimization

Controlled environment agriculture is uniquely positioned to contribute to the decarbonization of cities due to its low carbon emissions and high energy efficiency in the food supply process. The energy consumed by the horticultural industry to supplemental lighting is enormous, but improvements in the light environment of greenhouse plants are essential. To make light regulation compatible with low carbon and environmentally friendly while improving photosynthetic production, experiments on tomato plant measurements with nested light intensity, spectra, carbon dioxide concentration and temperature were carried out in a solar greenhouse based on an infrared gas analyzer and machine learning. Based on the photosynthetic response to the photosynthetic photon flux density and red–blue ratio under multi–environmental conditions, the photosynthesis prediction model was developed using the least squares support vector regression, and model hyperparameter optimization was achieved by genetic algorithm nested cross–validation. A calculation method of carbon emissions from supplemental lighting was proposed, and the low–carbon light regulation was abstracted into multi–objective optimization for the solution. Based on the comprehensive objective evaluation method, low–carbon targets for light regulation were obtained through decision–making. The results showed that the developed prediction model with root mean square error of 1.069 and determination coefficient of 0.976, which is both accurate and fast, realizes the description and expression of the net photosynthetic rate in response to the environments. The optimal targets contain two–dimensional information of light intensity and spectra, and reduces carbon emissions by a maximum of 14.85% compared to the light saturation objective based on single–objective optimization at 95.49 % of the net photosynthetic rate. The method is energy efficient and suitable for supporting multi–spectral light environment regulation applications and guiding the greenhouse environment management under the demand of carbon reduction.

Nonlinear impact of digital economy on carbon intensity: the moderating role of low-carbon regulation.

The development of the digital economy is an effective way to mitigate the carbon emission problem in the broader setting of the significant data era and green development. Based on the panel data of 271 cities in China from 2011 to 2019, this paper constructs a bidirectional fixed model to analyze the nonlinear effect of the digital economy (DE) on carbon intensity (CI) and the moderating role of low-carbon regulation from theoretical and empirical perspectives. The results show that (1) DE has an enormous inverted U-shaped impact on CI. The findings remain after introducing instrumental variables to mitigate endogeneity and robustness tests. (2) Low-carbon regulation (CP) can strengthen the inverted U-shaped impact between the two and shift the inflection point to the left. (3) Heterogeneity analysis shows that the inverted U-shaped effect of DE on CI is more significant in the central and western regions, high human capital (HC) regions, and high urbanization regions. (4) The mediating effect of energy mix (EM) and green technology innovation (GTI) still hold after introducing instrumental variables to alleviate the endogenous effect of the intermediary effect. This study suggests that the adoption of carbon emission reduction strategies, which will more effectively lower carbon intensity CI, should go hand in hand with the development of DE.

Liner shipping network design model with carbon tax, seasonal freight rate fluctuations and empty container relocation

In response to the challenges posed by the shipping carbon tax resulting from the low-carbon environmental policy, the seasonal fluctuation of freight rates in the container liner shipping market, and the reduced flexibility in fleet adjustment, we develop a bi-level programming model to maximize the average revenue per container ship and the total revenue of the fleet.The upper-level model selects the optimal shipping networks for both the off-season and peak season, while also designing the liner fleet for these two networks. The lower-level model optimizes the slot allocation scheme and the empty container storage and transportation scheme to evaluate the revenue of the network calculated by the upper-level model. Three meta-heuristic algorithms are proposed. We take the China-West Europe liner shipping route as the research object, and conduct numerical experiments on different optimization objectives and liner types. Results demonstrate that maximizing the average revenue per container ship involves reducing the carbon tax cost, simplifying the trunk route structure, and increasing the number of feeder routes. These changes lead to reduced satisfaction rates for transportation demands in both China and Europe. If the company seeks to maximize total revenue, they may achieve the opposite result. Therefore, liner companies should reasonably set optimization goals, adjust the network structure and liner operation status in a timely manner, and scientifically allocate container ship and empty containers to achieve the operational goals of reducing carbon emissions and maximizing revenue to cope with the volatile market and the low-carbon regulations.

The coupling effect of carbon emission trading and tradable green certificates under electricity marketization in China

To accelerate the low-carbon transition in the energy sector, China is gradually promoting the construction of the national electricity market and carbon market. Carbon emission trading (CET) and tradable green certificates (TGCs) are advocated as promising tools to control carbon emissions. However, the efficacy of these concurrent low carbon regulations remains an open question, especially considering that their implementation schemes are quite different. Therefore, herein, the coupling effect of carbon emission trading and tradable green certificates is examined under electricity marketization in China. An interactive system dynamics (SD) model is established to capture the internal linkages among CET, TGCs and electricity market. Different markets are connected through the investment behaviour of market participants and the price formation mechanism, and the dynamic equilibrium process of multiple markets is analysed based on the current electricity marketization in China. The simulation results based on real-world data in China show that the coordination of TGCs and CET alleviates the pressure of the fiscal deficit of renewable energy and promotes the low-carbon transition in the energy sector, and relevant policy recommendations are put forward. Hopefully, our work can provide a useful reference and insight for low-carbon policy design and energy market construction.

Temporal-spatial variation and regulatory mechanism of carbon budgets in territorial space through the lens of carbon balance: A case of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River urban agglomerations, China

As China’s largest cross-regional urban agglomerations, the middle reaches of the Yangtze River urban agglomerations (MRYRUA) possess both significant societal carbon source volume and ecological carbon sequestration capacity. Nevertheless, with the uncontrolled expansion of urban energy consumption activities and the industry migration from eastern coastal regions to inland cities, the carbon budget pattern of territorial space is increasingly unbalanced in the MRYRUA. To achieve low-carbon regulation, this study utilized land use and energy consumption data from 31 cities within the MRYRUA to establish a “carbon source-carbon sink” quantification and spatiotemporal exploration model, revealing the spatial-temporal variation of carbon budgets from 2005 to 2020. Furthermore, we developed a carbon balance indicator analysis system by employing the carbon offset rate (COR), carbon productivity (CP), Gini coefficient, ecological support coefficient (ESC), economic contribution coefficient (ECC), and functional zoning was performed. Finally, using the GM (1,1) model, we derived the carbon budget pattern for 2050 and explored the differentiated regulatory mechanisms under the carbon balance perspective. The results indicated that: (1) The MRYRUA’s territorial carbon budgets have increased annually, displaying a spatial distribution pattern with the highest values in the central region, followed by the northwest, and the lowest in the southeast near water bodies. The spatiotemporal differentiation effects manifest as an east–west axial development trend, with spatiotemporal clustering effects demonstrating a propensity for outward dispersion from the northern hot spot radiation core. (2) The MRYRUA’s COR has consistently remained below 10% and decreased annually, while the CP has shown a yearly increase at an accelerating rate. The ESC and ECC exhibit evident spatial heterogeneity among cities. In response to the carbon emission economic benefits and carbon sequestration ecological carrying capacity reflected by carbon balance indicators, each city was classified into low-carbon economic zones, carbon intensity control zones, carbon sink functional zones, and high-carbon optimization zones. (3) From 2020 to 2050, the polarization trend of the carbon budget pattern continues to intensify. Subsequently, we have established a differentiated territorial spatial carbon balance regulatory mechanism. This mechanism strengthens the leading role of low-carbon economic zones in the green low-carbon transition, moderately retains the carbon sink functional zones in the southeast with solid carbon fixation capabilities, and promotes the transition of the northern carbon intensity control zones and high-carbon optimization zones to low-carbon economic zones. The research findings provide a scientific basis for formulating territorial spatial planning policies from a carbon neutrality perspective.

ГОСУДАРСТВЕННАЯ ПОДДЕРЖКА НИЗКОУГЛЕРОДНЫХ ПРОЕКТОВ В ОТРАСЛЯХ ЭКОНОМИКИ, ВКЛЮЧАЯ АГРОПРОМЫШЛЕННЫЙ КОМПЛЕКС: ЗАРУБЕЖНЫЙ ОПЫТ

The presented analysis of studies by foreign authors (China, USA, Brazil, EU, Malaysia, Iran) allows us to evaluate the range and effectiveness of state support tools for low-carbon projects in economic sectors, including the agro-industrial complex. The increase in costs at the initial stage of the energy transition must be offset by a variety of government support instruments (subsidies, preferential loans, preferential taxation, access to resources, innovation) is an inevitable problem for the global renewable energy market. Using world practice, it is natural for the developers of the state policy of low-carbon regulation in Russia to raise and solve the following questions: what are the incentives for the introduction of low-carbon projects for business and the population, is the existing set of state support tools sufficient, how are indicators of the state low-carbon policy compared with market identifiers associated with the energy transition to decarbonized economy. The study allows us to state that the instruments of state support for low-carbon projects in the sectors of the Russian economy, including subsidies for the modernization of existing industries, the introduction of the best technologies with low and zero greenhouse gas emissions, tax incentives, should be worked out at the level of regions or macroregions – federal districts, using foreign experience.

Разработка региональных государственных программ поддержки сельхозтоваропроизводителей, внедряющих углеродно-нейтральные технологии

The article presents an analysis of research on state support for agricultural producers implementing carbon-neutral technologies, which allowed us to assess the range and effectiveness of tools for this support in the agro-industrial complex of Russia. The relevance of the development of regional programs in accordance with the requirements of the importing countries of our agricultural products is proved. The increase in costs at the initial stage of energy transition should help to implement technological sovereignty projects that provide for the sustainable production of high-tech products of a full innovation cycle based on domestic developments, including carbon-neutral technologies. These costs should be compensated by various instruments of state support (subsidies, preferential loans, preferential taxation, access to resources, innovation). The developers of the state policy of low-carbon regulation in Russia should, using international practice, raise and solve the following questions: what are the incentives for the introduction of low-carbon projects for business and the public, whether the existing set of state support tools is sufficient, how the indicators of the state low-carbon policy are compared with market identifiers associated with the energy transition to a decarbonized economy. The conducted research suggests that the instruments of state support for low–carbon projects in the sectors of the Russian economy, including subsidies for the modernization of existing production facilities, the introduction of the best technologies with low and zero greenhouse gas emissions, tax incentives, should be worked out at the level of regions or macro-regions - federal districts, using foreign experience.

Water–Energy–Carbon Nexus of Social Water Cycle System and Low-Carbon Regulation Strategy

Water–Energy–Carbon Nexus of Social Water Cycle System and Low-Carbon Regulation Strategy

Accelerating efficiency of green technology innovation on carbon mitigation under low-carbon regulation

According to the transaction cost theory for carbon mitigation, green technology innovation must achieve energy conservation and emission reduction through appropriate low-carbon regulation. As a consequence, this study compared the punishment effect of the carbon tax and the reward effect of carbon subsidy on the performance of green technology innovation in China’s provincial industries from 2006 to 2017. We also elucidated that the enterprises’ green technology innovation restricts and stimulates the role of low-carbon regulation on green efficiency in the case of the double threshold effect of carbon dioxide emission. Based on this framework, the integrated tax-subsidy policy for carbon mitigation has a significant differential effect on green efficiency, which changed from an inhibition effect in the high-carbon stage to a promotion effect in the low-carbon stage. And the validity of low-carbon regulations increases with the reduction degree of carbon dioxide emission. But it all depends on whether low-carbon regulations stimulate the enterprises’ willingness to green technology innovation, and whether innovations generate incentives that both increase carbon dioxide emissions and compensate for their innovation cost. Otherwise, enterprise performance should adopt follow strategy more than green technology innovation. Therefore, we further suggested that offsetting the costs of green technology innovation through carbon subsidies would improve the willingness of enterprises to make technological progress and increase the likelihood of carbon reductions which can help the peak in China’s carbon emissions.

How to Promote Low-Carbon Cities with Blockchain Technology? A Blockchain-Based Low-Carbon Development Model for Chinese Cities

Cities are the important spaces, responsible entities and action units for achieving low-carbon and high-quality economy. Blockchain technology provides a new solution for low-carbon development in cities. Based on low-carbon information sharing, low-carbon incentives, low-carbon regulations with blockchain technology, this paper endeavors to propose a low-carbon development model for Chinese cities. The results indicate that: (1) blockchain-based governments, enterprises, city dwellers, and third-party service agencies are important stakeholders in promoting urban low-carbon development; (2) the effectiveness of the blockchain platform needs the coordination between the production and consumption systems, the equal emphasis on systemicity and long-term effectiveness, and the deep integration of government regulations and market mechanism; (3) blockchain-based information sharing instruments, incentive instruments, and regulation instruments should be applied to low-carbon development in cities; (4) blockchain technology promotes low-carbon development for cities in both direct ways and indirect ways. This study can provide a reference for the urban sustainable development in China and other countries.

Decision and Coordination in a Closed-Loop Supply Chain with Product Recycling Under Different Low-Carbon Regulations

Decision and Coordination in a Closed-Loop Supply Chain with Product Recycling Under Different Low-Carbon Regulations

Multi-group analysis on the mechanism of residents' low-carbon behaviors in Beijing, China

Understanding the factors that influence low-carbon behaviors can help policy makers formulate and implement low-carbon regulations and policies. Limited research has been conducted on the mechanisms that influence low-carbon behaviors for multi-groups with different demographic factors. To address this research gap, a questionnaire survey was carried out in Beijing, China. A hypothetical structural model of low-carbon behaviors was built, and a structural equation modeling was used to verify the hypotheses. The main results are as follows. Firstly, the residents of the study area have relatively high levels of low-carbon attitudes and behaviors. The average scores of the items ranged from 3.31 to 4.72, and those of the internal factors were higher than those of external factors and behaviors. Secondly, the proposed hypothetical structural model is valid, and all of the eight hypotheses were accepted. Personal and social norms have significant, positive, and direct effects on both private and public low-carbon behaviors. Thirdly, demographic factors (i.e., gender, age, family size, marital status, education, income, and owning private car) play an important role in the mechanisms that influence low-carbon behaviors. Specific policy implications were proposed, which can contribute to the promotion of low-carbon behaviors and the achievement of low-carbon development.

Can government low-carbon regulation stimulate urban green innovation? Quasi-experimental evidence from China’s low-carbon city pilot policy

ABSTRACT Existing studies on the innovation effect of environmental regulation lack causal identification and do not distinguish between the types of innovation. This study regards China’s low-carbon city pilot policy (LCCPP) as a quasi-natural experiment and evaluates the impact of LCCPP on urban green innovation represented by green patents. We found that as a comprehensive government low-carbon regulation, LCCPP has significantly promoted urban green innovation and increased the annual average number of green invention patent applications by approximately 320, green utility model patent applications by approximately 210, and the total number of green patent applications by approximately 530. LCCPP can promote green innovation through capital allocation, structural upgrading, investment promotion, and comprehensive governance effects. Moreover, the impact of LCCPP on green innovation demonstrates heterogeneity. LCCPP has a greater positive effect on green innovation in energy conservation, waste management, and alternative energy and is more effective in stimulating green innovation in large cities, cities in developed eastern regions, and cities rich in educational resources. Our study verifies the existence of the Porter hypothesis in China on a city scale and indicates that, for developing countries, a comprehensive low-carbon regulation that combines mandatory and market-based instruments would be preferable for promoting green innovation.

Jet fuel demand hit by Omicron; recovery delayed until 2023/2024

Jet fuel demand hit by Omicron; recovery delayed until 2023/2024

Inflection Point of Green Total Factor Productivity by Low-Carbon Regulation from Chinese Economics Recovery

The sustainable growth path of emerging economies has transformed from the traditional extensive model to high-quality development. Due to the impulse force of low-carbon regulation, the measurement of input–output efficiency changed into green total factor productivity (GTFP) which considers environmental factors. Past research on GTFP focused on enterprise investments to promote green innovation for their resource allocation efficiency, but green investments are often limited from marketization that is interactively influenced by low-carbon regulation. Therefore, handing green investment to mitigate carbon dioxide emissions for green economics recovery is a big challenge. Then these hypotheses are tested by the main study of 170 cities in China. Results suggested that GTFP has an inverted S-shaped curve with three inflection points and four development stages under the influence of low-carbon regulation. It means that improving green productivity is costly toward making green investments without the driving of green innovation. However, the inflection point of the growth curve—when enterprise investment activities ignore the interaction between low-carbon regulation and green investment policy—will come slowly to a period of high-quality development. Moderating results suggested that the green productivity would be weakened and the inflection point would be delayed by the low-carbon marketization index if the low-carbon regulation intensity was neglected. Therefore, this research advanced an effectively co-ordinate growth curve to search for the inflection point of green economics recovery.

Government Low-Carbon Regulations Based on Supply Chain Members’ Behavior and Consumers’ Channel Preference in a Dual-Channel Supply Chain

As carbon emissions are increasing due to the development of economy, low-carbon supply chain plays an important role in carbon emissions reduction and the dual-channel supply chain has become a hit because online shopping is developing rapidly. Therefore, this paper builds a Stackelberg game model led by the manufacturer in a dual-channel supply chain to examine the reaction of the government under centralized or decentralized decisions-making structures with different low-carbon strategies. The result shows that the government can achieve higher profits by taking incentive or punitive measures for centralized decision-making supply chain no matter they invest in emissions reduction or not. Moreover, for decentralized decision-making mode, increasing low-carbon subsidies for retailers can achieve a win-win result between the supply chain and the government; and, finally, channel competition is good for improving the supply chain and social benefits. Therefore, the government is responsible for taking reasonable subsidy policies, formulate industry’s low-carbon standards, and properly guide competition between supply chain members to achieve higher profits.

Environmental regulation and corporate R&D investment—evidence from a quasi-natural experiment

The question of whether environmental regulation stimulates innovation activities has long been important and controversial. This study explores an ideal setting, the low-carbon city pilot program conducted by the Chinese government as a quasi-natural experiment to address this question. We conduct a difference-in-differences approach to analyze the impact of environment regulation on R&D investment. We find that the program’s adoption has led to an increase in R&D investment of 0.145% as a percentage of total assets and 0.273% as a percentage of sales, indicating a positive effect of environmental regulation on R&D expenditures. The increase in R&D expenditures is greater for firms experiencing a larger increase in government subsidies, a greater decline in corporate tax or a greater improvement in financial condition following the low-carbon pilot program. A series of robustness tests support a causal interpretation of our findings and indicate that the observed effect of the low-carbon pilot program on corporate R&D investment is unlikely driven by chance. Our results provide in-depth insights into the economic consequences of low-carbon regulation policies which could be of interest to academic researchers and policymakers.

The knowledge spillover effects of green technology innovation of low carbon regulation

The green technology spillover (GTS) is conducive to follower’s innovation opportunities but harmful to pioneer’s innovation advantages. Based on the knowledge production function and the panel data of cities in China, this paper discusses the effects of GTS on the relationship between the low carbon regulation (LCR) and the green technology innovation (GTI) by using the Spatial Durbin Model. We found that LCR makes a decrease-increase effect of the pioneer’s GTI different from an increase-decrease effect of the follower’s GTI.