Low-carbon Technology Innovation Research Articles

Driving Effects and Spatial Spillover of Technological Innovation on the Carbon Balance of Agriculture

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:10.5pt"><span style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">There is significant controversy over the overall effects of technological innovation on carbon balance. Based on panel data of agriculture from 28 provinces in China from 2009 to 2021, utilizing ArcGIS and spatial Durbin model, the spatial-temporal patterns of agricultural technological innovation and carbon balance are analyzed, and furtherly the spatial effects of technological innovation on carbon balance are examined. The results indicate: (1) the overall agricultural carbon surplus in Chinese provinces has been continuously increasing from 2009 to 2021; (2) the direct effect of technological innovation on the carbon surplus in agriculture is significantly positive, while the spatial spillover effect is significantly negative; (3) the mediating effect results show that technological innovation affects the output of the agricultural sector and thereby influences agricultural carbon balance; (4) the impact of technological innovation on agricultural carbon balance exhibits an asymmetric spatial spillover effect. Advantageous regions suffer from the positive effects of spatial spillover, while non-advantageous regions benefit from the negative impacts of spillover, resulting in an overall negative effect. This study's findings play an important role in addressing the existing controversy over the overall effects of technological innovation on carbon balance and provide important insights for formulating policies on low-carbon technological innovation in agriculture.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>

Bibliometric and Visual Analyses of Low Carbon Technology Innovations: Developments, Hotspots, and Trends

Bibliometric and Visual Analyses of Low Carbon Technology Innovations: Developments, Hotspots, and Trends

Enhancing corporate carbon performance through green innovation and digital transformation: Evidence from China

This paper discusses the theoretical issues related to the mechanisms through which low-carbon technological innovation and digital transformation affect corporate carbon performance in the context of green and low-carbon transformation. Taking China as a case, this research selects listed manufacturing companies from 2013 to 2020 as the sample to explore the impact of green innovation on corporate carbon performance. The study finds that corporate green innovation effectively promotes the improvement of corporate carbon performance, and digital transformation positively moderates the relationship between green innovation and corporate carbon performance. Further analysis reveals that further enhances corporate carbon performance by improving environmental information disclosure and easing financing constraints.

Research on Low-Carbon Building Development and Carbon Emission Control Based on Mathematical Models: A Case Study of Jiangsu Province

This paper investigates the development of low-carbon buildings and carbon emission control in Jiangsu Province, China, utilizing a mathematical model. Through correlation analysis and principal component analysis, the carbon emissions of the entire life cycle of residential buildings are evaluated, and a Grey Prediction Model is established. The study shows that the annual carbon emission from air conditioners is 370.92 kg, given an annual electricity consumption of 1324.71 kW and a carbon emission of 0.28 kg per kWh. It identifies the key carbon emission indicators, including precipitation, temperature, energy consumption, building area, construction materials, water, natural gas, and waste. Principal component analysis ranks building area as the most significant factor. Using the GM (1,1) model, the carbon emissions of Jiangsu Province in 2024 were predicted to be 1.5576 million tons by historical data. Emission reduction suggestions are proposed, such as constructing thicker walls, increasing green spaces, reducing construction waste, and promoting balanced economic development. Moreover, prioritizing insulation materials in building design can reduce winter energy consumption since energy consumption is higher in winter than in summer. This research supports China’s goals of achieving a carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060 while encouraging low-carbon technological innovation and improving people’s living standards. This study also emphasizes the importance of locally tailored strategies for effective emissions reduction.

Compound carbon policy for promoting low-carbon technology innovation in enterprises considering government supervision

Compound carbon policy for promoting low-carbon technology innovation in enterprises considering government supervision

Energy-consuming right transaction and low-carbon technology innovation: Evidence from Chinese listed enterprises

To decarbonize the economy and spur high-quality development, formulating effective environmental policies to encourage low-carbon technology innovation is increasingly critical. While the energy-consuming right transaction represents a significant institutional breakthrough, its potential to motivate enterprises towards low-carbon technology innovation remains underexplored. To address this gap, our study utilizes panel data from Chinese listed enterprises between 2009 and 2020, employing the energy-consuming right transaction pilot policy to develop a difference-in-difference model that assesses the policy's impact on low-carbon innovation. Our findings indicate that the implementation of energy-consuming rights transaction has boosted low-carbon innovation efforts by 14.3 %. In-depth analysis shows that R&D investment and green agency costs are crucial mediators, with energy-consuming rights transaction enhancing R&D capital and personnel investments by 2.1 % and 1.5 %, respectively, and reducing green agency costs by 1.8 %. The study also uncovers the moderating role of digital finance, which amplifies the positive effects of energy-consuming rights transaction on low-carbon innovation. Moreover, energy-consuming rights transaction shows a more significant effect on improving low-carbon innovation for low energy-consuming and non-state-owned enterprises. These insights underscore the importance of precisely segmenting energy-consuming enterprises and devising customized policies to meet their unique needs, paving the way for a national energy-consuming right transaction market.

Research on Innovative Development of Urban Low-carbon Technology and Green Economy

This paper focuses on analyzing the effects and mechanisms of green fiscal expenditure policies on low-carbon technology innovation. This section selects pilot cities with comprehensive demonstration of energy conservation and emission reduction fiscal policies as typical green fiscal expenditure policies from the city level, focusing on green fiscal expenditure.On this basis, this paper conducts econometric model analysis on the estimated coefficients of the benchmark regression, confirms the robustness of the benchmark regression results, and finds through heterogeneity analysis that the effect of the demonstration policy in promoting low-carbon technology innovation is more significant in non-resource-based cities and non-old industrial base cities.

Does executive environmental protection experience reduce enterprise energy consumption intensity?

This study examines the problem of enterprise energy consumption intensity from the perspective of executive environmental protection experience using data for China's A-share listed enterprises from 2007 to 2021. It is revealed that executive environmental protection experience has negatively impact on the enterprise energy consumption intensity. Moreover, the negative effect of executive environmental protection experience on enterprise energy consumption intensity is particularly pronounced in non-state-owned and low-energy consuming enterprises. According to mechanism study, the three primary approaches are low-carbon technology innovation, enterprise environmental protection investment, and recruiting green investors. In addition, media attention positively moderates the relationship between executive environmental protection experience and enterprise energy consumption intensity. The conclusions help to understand the influence mechanism of executive environmental protection experience on the enterprise energy consumption intensity at the micro level and have implications for pushing enterprise to save energy.

Research on the Economic Environmental Impact and Carbon Reduction Pathways of Power Battery Industry Development - A Case Study of Yibin City

Abstract The power battery industry in China is experiencing rapid development, with the swift expansion of capacity potentially posing challenges to environmental protection and carbon reduction. Using the development plan of the power battery industry in Yibin City as a case study, this paper employs the Material Flow Analysis and Tapio decoupling model to deeply explore the economic benefits and environmental burdens brought by the development of power battery key industry under scenarios, proposing optimized pathways to promote low-carbon industrial development. The results indicate that the industrial output value can increase from 92.1 billion CNY in the baseline year to 382.6 billion CNY in 2030, with carbon emissions rising from 0.55 million tons to 2.32 million tons. The adjustment of product structure has limited effect on carbon reduction in the power battery industry. In the short term, optimizing the energy structure has greater carbon reduction potential than improving energy efficiency, and clean energy utilization has the highest marginal carbon reduction effect. Implementing measures to optimize the energy structure and improve efficiency simultaneously can achieve weak decoupling of economic growth and carbon emissions, though strong decoupling is challenging to attain. The proportion of local renewable energy generation also impacts the low-carbon capability of the industry, suggesting that regions with abundant renewable energy should be prioritized for industrial layout. Promoting the decoupling of economic growth and environmental impact in the power battery industry can be facilitated by supporting environmental governance infrastructure, driving the green energy transition, and encouraging low-carbon technological innovation. JEL classification numbers: F062.2 Keywords: Power battery, Scenario analysis, Material flow, Economic environmental impact, Carbon emissions.

Study on the impact of green digital finance on low-carbon transition of energy consumption structure under multidimensional perspective-empirical evidence from China

Green digital finance plays a crucial role in driving green production, consumption and facilitating the low-carbon transition of energy consumption structures. This paper delves into the impact of green digital finance on this transformation from a multidimensional perspective for the first time. The study reveals that developing green digital finance effectively elevates the level of carbon reduction in energy consumption structures. Both industrial restructuring and innovation in green, low-carbon technologies play significant conduit roles in advancing the low-carbon transformation of energy consumption structures through green digital finance, with a mutually reinforcing relationship between them. Formal environmental regulations act as positive regulators, influencing the strategic choices of innovation entities in green, low-carbon technology innovation. Green digital finance exhibits heterogeneous effects on the low-carbon transformation of energy consumption structures due to factors such as geographical location, financial regulatory intensity, informal environmental regulations, marketization, and resource endowment. The conclusions of this paper hold substantial significance and practical reference value for China's ongoing efforts to advance the construction of a new energy system and high-quality energy development.

An evolutionary analysis of the diffusion of low-carbon technology innovation in supply networks

In an era increasingly defined by the urgent need to address energy sustainability and environmental degradation, the advancement of low-carbon technologies stands at the forefront of global governmental agendas. Despite China's pioneering efforts in the adoption and development of low-carbon initiatives, its status as the preeminent global carbon emitter highlights the significant challenges impeding the widespread adoption of these innovations. This study delves into these complexities by employing a sophisticated complex network evolutionary game model that intricately weaves together consumer preferences and carbon pricing as pivotal determinants of utility. By examining the influence of corporate strategic decisions on the diffusion of low-carbon technologies, our research provides an insightful micro-level analysis that diverges from the macro-level orientation typically dominating the field. This nuanced approach not only sheds light on the mechanics of low-carbon technology dissemination but also contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of how to effectively navigate and surmount the barriers to low-carbon technological progress. Through this exploration, our study seeks to augment the discourse on the propagation of low-carbon technologies, offering vital insights for policymakers, industry stakeholders, and the broader academic community on fostering a more sustainable and low-carbon future.

Reducing carbon emissions in prefabricated buildings supply chains: a focus on component manufacturing processes.

The construction sector accounts for 23% of emissions from global economic activity, with China responsible for nearly 41%. Although China has vigorously promoted the development of prefabricated buildings (PBS) in pursuit of cleaner production, the carbon emissions from prefabricated component factories (PCF) should not be underestimated. So, the focus of this research was on how to promote the decarbonization of PCF. Based on the carbon trading market mechanism, the carbon emissions trading tax and revenue tax collection, the authors established a differential game model consisting of the local government and the PCF, studied the equilibrium solutions under different decision models, and analyzed the roles of the two tax systems, carbon trading revenue, and market preferences. The results are as follows: (1) The PCF's low-carbon technology (LCT) innovation efforts can be directly affected by the carbon price, component price, and tax rate and indirectly affected by influencing the local government's efforts. Besides, the local government and the PCF strategies can be changed through the central government's regulation of carbon prices and tax rates. (2) PCF should set reasonable prices for components, improving economic efficiency and the LCT stocks. (3) Cost-sharing contracts can encourage PCF to increase their LCT innovation, which is conducive to increasing the optimal benefits of the PCF. (4) The local government cannot be motivated by cost-sharing contracts. They can increase their optimal benefits only if the cost-sharing coefficient is below a threshold or if the environmental benefits from low-carbon production are above a specific value.

Research on Establishment and Application of Evaluation System of Urban Energy Strategy Development Indicators under the Perspective of Carbon Neutrality

A scientific, comprehensive and integrated assessment of urban energy development is of great significance for the establishment of a clean, low-carbon and efficient urban modern energy system. From the perspective of carbon neutrality, this paper sets 25 evaluation indicators in seven dimensions: energy supply, energy consumption, energy efficiency improvement, clean and low-carbon, safety and reliability, low-carbon transport, and scientific and technological innovation, and constructs a secondary indicator system for evaluating the strategic development of urban energy. The system adopts the hierarchical analysis method to determine the weights of the indicators, the double-baseline progression method to standardize the indicator scores, and finally the weighted composite index method to calculate the level of urban energy strategy development. This paper applies the index system to evaluate the current energy development status of Wenzhou city in 2020 and 2022, and to predict the energy strategy development in 2025 and 2030. The scores of Wenzhou city's urban energy strategy development level in the corresponding four periods are 63.56, 70.59, 77.87 and 85.06, indicating that by 2023, Wenzhou city's urban energy development level will go from medium development to high development. Wenzhou City should accelerate the proportion of renewable energy in the future. It is necessary to complement multiple energy sources and improve the integration of heat, electricity, gas and cold. In terms of end consumption, it is necessary to improve the efficiency of energy use, reduce energy intensity, implement electric energy substitution and form an energy consumption pattern centered on electricity.

Evaluating the Feasibility of Low-Carbon Technology in the Sustainable Economic Development of Electricity Using Generative Adversarial Networks

Abstract Electricity occupies a central position in energy strategy, and the low-carbon development of the power industry is an important guarantee for achieving sustainable development and carbon dioxide reduction goals. Orderly carrying out low-carbon technology transformation and innovation in electricity, ultimately achieving the goal of sustainable development of the power industry, has strong practical significance. Therefore, this article conducts a feasibility analysis of using generative adversarial networks to evaluate low-carbon technologies in the sustainable economic development of electricity. Firstly, the background of the theory of technological and economic evaluation was analysed and used as a theoretical basis. Secondly, an adversarial network was generated for the study of low-carbon emissions in the power industry, and an evaluation system for low-carbon technology in the sustainable economic development of electricity was constructed. The study showed that the preliminary economic evaluation index system and comprehensive benefit evaluation model for low-carbon technology transformation projects in electricity established in this article have feasibility and reliability for systematic analysis and evaluation of actual projects.

The Impact of Carbon Emissions Trading on the Total Factor Productivity of China’s Electric Power Enterprises—An Empirical Analysis Based on the Differences-in-Differences Model

Based on the panel data of China’s listed electric power enterprises, this paper adopts the differences-in-differences model to empirically analyze the pilot policy of carbon emissions trading’s impact on the total factor productivity of power enterprises in 2013. The study finds that the carbon trading pilot policy has a significant positive effect on the total factor productivity of power companies, and the two possible impact mechanisms are external cost compensation and additional income, and internal low-carbon technology innovation and resource allocation optimization. The conclusions above have been further confirmed by the parallel trend test and robustness test. The heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that there are differences in the regression results between state-owned enterprises and nonstate-owned enterprises. The possible reason is that state-owned enterprises are more likely to be affected by the carbon emissions trading system, and their asset-heavy model puts greater pressure on carbon emission reduction. Therefore, their demand for low-carbon technology innovation is more urgent; areas with stricter carbon emission verification are more sensitive to the implementation of carbon trading, and a reasonable increase in carbon verification can make the carbon trading market more effective. Based on the research results, this paper proposes to speed up the improvement of the national carbon trading market system, enhance the diversity and richness of the main market, improve the liquidity of the carbon trading market, broaden financing channels for electric power enterprises, and improve the carbon market supervision mechanism.

Decarbonization policy and high-carbon enterprise default risk: Evidence from China

Studying the impact of decarbonization policy on high-carbon enterprise default risk is of great importance to improve climate risk governance. However, the relationship between decarbonization policy and default risk has not been examined to date. Adopting data from Chinese A-share listed enterprises from 2000 to 2020, this paper examines the issue by using a difference-in-differences model. The results indicate that decarbonization policy significantly increases high-carbon enterprise default risk, which is more pronounced among small-sized enterprises and those in the growth period. The results of mechanism analysis show that the decarbonization policy increases the default risk of high-carbon enterprises by increasing debt cost and decreasing profitability. Furthermore, these effects are negatively moderated by low-carbon technology innovation and digital transformation. These findings can help governments, high-carbon enterprises, and investors to address default risk triggered by decarbonization policy.

Does environmental carbon pressure lead to low-carbon technology innovation? Empirical evidence from Chinese cities based on satellite remote sensing and machine learning

Climate change has become the most significant environmental issue facing human society in the 21st century, and a low-carbon transition is imminent. In order to comprehensively evaluate the balanced relationship between carbon activities and ecological environment under different regional scenarios. Opening up the black box of low-carbon technological innovation in Chinese cities under the pressure of climate change. This work combines the characteristic forecasting of random forest with the ordinary least square model to assess the contribution value and effects of various characteristic variables. The findings demonstrate that (1) China's carbon pressure level has changed from equilibrium to overload. The number of carbon high-pressure cities is increasing year by year. Carbon high pressure cities have risen from 12 to 68 in 20 years. (2) The carbon pressure on the city is directly influenced by the secondary industrial production value and the land urbanization ratio. Nevertheless, the level of environmental regulations imposed by municipal governments remains rather consistent, irrespective of the degree of urban carbon emissions. (3) Urban carbon pressure has a direct impact on the development of low-carbon technologies, with characteristic contributions of 0.91, 0.52, 0.43, and 0.3 at various pressure levels, respectively. (4) Population size and the level of economic development have a significant positive impact on the promotion of low-carbon technological innovation. The government should give full play to the talent and technology advantages of the core city clusters, and create a technological innovation alliance between the city clusters through the scale effect of economic factors. This study helps determine the correlation between carbon pressure and low-carbon technological innovation, and helps provincial and local governments identify their own carbon pressure status and choose differentiated emission reduction models.

Spatial pattern characteristics and optimization policies of low-carbon innovation levels in the urban agglomerations in the Yellow River Basin

This paper refines a comprehensive index of urban low-carbon innovation based on urban low-carbon innovation concept and an urban low-carbon innovation community structure and function. This index is complemented by an indicator reflecting equity in terms of urban-rural income gap, some indicators of low-carbon knowledge and technology innovation, as well as an indicator of the characteristics of a carbon circular economy, and a further refinement of the indicator of low-carbon innovation system. We use the entropy value method, kernel density analysis, gravity model, and social network analysis to study the low-carbon innovation spatial pattern in urban agglomerations (UAs) of the Yellow River Basin (YRB). Innovations in the findings are: (1) the low-carbon innovation level in the UAs in the YRB decreases in spatial distribution from the downstream to the midstream to the upstream UAs. (2) Reveal the spatial pattern laws of low-carbon innovation levels in different types of UAs in the YRB. The spatial pattern in regional level UAs is more complex and hierarchical than that in area level UAs; but there are still gaps in the hierarchy of spatial patterns of low-carbon innovation levels between UAs at the regional level, as well as between UAs at the area level. The spatial pattern of two regional-level UAs in the YRB is transitioning from a low-carbon innovation point-axis to a low-carbon innovation network structure, and the spatial pattern of one regional-level UAs is at the embryonic stage of the low-carbon innovation point-axis structure. The spatial pattern of one area-level UA is at the embryonic stage of a low-carbon innovation point-axis structure, and the spatial pattern of three area-level UAs is at the stage of low-carbon innovation pole. The spatial pattern of low-carbon innovation becomes more complex and hierarchical as we move from upstream to midstream to downstream UAs. (3) Use social network analysis and the study show that the low-carbon innovation network is dominated by the internal correlations among the UAs in the upstream, midstream, and downstream. The low-carbon innovation linkages between upstream, midstream and downstream UAs are weak. Finally, we put forward corresponding policy recommendations.

Evolutionary game analysis of low-carbon transformation and technological innovation in the cold chain under dual government intervention

Evolutionary game analysis of low-carbon transformation and technological innovation in the cold chain under dual government intervention

Can digital economy truly improve agricultural ecological transformation? New insights from China

AbstractAs the world’s biggest emitter of carbon, China’s agricultural carbon emissions account for 16 to 17%, with agriculture being the second largest contributor to carbon emissions. The development of the digital economy has brought profound changes to agricultural ecology. Therefore, we utilize China’s data experience to construct an agricultural ecological transformation system by setting up a Super-SBM model. Then, based on a dynamic panel threshold model, we explore the nonlinear impact mechanism of the digital economy on agricultural ecological transformation from a low-carbon innovation perspective. Our results reveal that the overall level of China’s agricultural ecological transformation is not high, but in the long-term posture, it represents a relatively steady upward trend, with a significant “wealth gap” between different regions. It is worth noting that there is a significant threshold effect of low-carbon innovation heterogeneity in the impact mechanism of digital economy on agricultural ecological transformation: under lower low-carbon innovation levels, the development of digital economy is unable to effectively promote agricultural ecological transformation. However, as the level of low-carbon technological innovation increases and exceeds the critical value, it stimulates the driving effect of digital economy to some extent, thereby promoting the improvement of agricultural ecological transformation, presenting a “U” shaped relationship. The paper has clarified the differential “new phenomena” in the process of promoting agricultural ecological transformation, providing new insights for achieving “carbon reduction and economic promotion” in developing countries.