Promote Carbon Emission Reduction Research Articles

Can a Policy Mix Achieve a Collaborative Effect? Exploring the Nested Implementation Process of Urban Carbon Emission Reduction Policies

China’s government has adopted several carbon emission reduction policies to strive to achieve the dual carbon goal of “carbon peaking and carbon neutrality”. In practice, various multi-objective policy instruments are implemented in a staggered manner, which might lead to the overestimation or underestimation of single-policy effect evaluation. This paper evaluates the combined effect of the Low-carbon City Pilot (LCP) and Comprehensive Demonstration City of Energy Saving and Emission Reduction Fiscal Policy (CCEEFP), investigating whether their carbon emission reduction effects are complementary and achieve collaborative outcomes. The empirical results indicate that the LCP, the CCEEFP, and their nested implementation could all promote carbon emission reduction. Their collaborative policy effects are sustained, being more obvious in higher-grade cities. Furthermore, there is a greater adoption of the source treatment technology for carbon emissions. And the implementing order of these policies could affect governance performance because of the “path dependence” of local government’s attention towards multi-objective policy intentions. The empirical evidence demonstrates that policymakers should carefully design policy mix particulars towards a common purpose and carefully co-ordinate their implementation process.

Research on Student Management Platform Based on Big Data Under Low-Carbon Environment

This paper makes a comprehensive investigation on the development and implementation of low-carbon student management platform in educational institutions. The platform adopts advanced information technology, including cloud computing and big data analysis, aiming at solving urgent environmental problems by analyzing the dynamic learning data and daily behavior data of college students. The implementation of the platform has greatly reduced carbon emissions, especially greenhouse effect variables and dormitory electricity consumption. The observed impact highlights the effectiveness of using academic management platform to promote carbon emission reduction. However, this study acknowledges the existing limitations and predicts the long-term challenges, and emphasizes the need for continuous innovation and research in the intersection of artificial intelligence and environmental sustainable development. Generally speaking, the development and deployment of low-carbon student management platform is a key step to promote the sustainable development of educational environment.

Does digital inclusive finance promote carbon emission reduction of enterprises.

Can the information technology revolution lead to carbon emission reduction for firms? This study extends the limited evidence in the literature and investigate the role and mechanism of digital inclusive finance on enterprises' carbon emissions using panel data of 247 prefectural-level cities and 6019 industrial enterprises in China. Our findings indicate that digital inclusive finance can promote enterprise carbon emission reduction, and this effect remains significant after the instrumental variable estimation test. The effect has regional heterogeneity and the development of digital inclusive finance in the area east of Hu Huanyong line has a significant impact on reducing enterprise carbon emission. The role of digital inclusive finance is heterogeneous in enterprise ownership, with a remarkable effect in non-state-owned enterprises. Sub-dimension analysis indicates that the breadth of coverage, depth of use, and degree of digitalization of digital inclusive finance have differential effects on reducing enterprise carbon emissions. The stepwise regression method shows that the impact of digital inclusive finance on enterprise carbon emissions can be passed through effect of technological progress, environmental protection investment and financing constrain. This study has significant reference value for evaluating the impact of financial inclusion and policy implications in formulating differentiated strategies for achieving carbon emission reduction efficiency in enterprises.

Can the Establishment of Free Trade Zones Promote Carbon Emission Reduction? ----Based on Multi-period Double Difference Model

As the Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ) celebrates its 10th anniversary, it is crucial to examine the impact of the FTZ's construction on regional carbon emissions under the dual carbon targets of carbon neutrality and carbon peaking. Based on panel data from 282 prefecture-level cities between 2006 and 2021, this article aims to provide insight into the impact of the Free Trade Zone (FTZ) pilot policy on urban carbon dioxide emissions levels. By constructing a difference-in-differences (DID) model, this study aims to investigate the effects of the Free Trade Zone (FTZ) policy on carbon emission reduction. In order to perform a mechanism test, two more mechanistic variables—namely, technical advancement and upgrading of the industrial structure—are incorporated. According to the findings from experiments, the policy of free trade zones can effectively reduce carbon emissions from urban areas. This is primarily achieved by optimizing the industrial structure and scientific and technological mechanisms.

How Does the Digital Transformation Affect the Carbon Emissions of Manufacturing Enterprises in China? The Perspective of Green Technology Innovation

With the continuous intensification of competition among major countries and the resurgence of anti-globalization trends, countries around the world have strengthened their strategic deployment for digital transformation in the manufacturing industry. Digital development enables enterprises to transform and upgrade, and the digital transformation and green transformation of enterprises have a historic intersection. This study uses the panel data of 1900 A-share listed companies to explain the theoretical mechanism of digital transformation to promote carbon emission reduction from the perspective of green technology progress. In addition, the threshold model is used to analyze the nonlinear relationship. The results show that the digital transformation has significantly reduced the carbon emission level of Chinese manufacturing enterprises, and the conclusion is still true after the instrumental variable estimation and robustness test. Heterogeneity analysis found that the carbon emission reduction in state-owned enterprises is more obvious. Green technology innovation capability shows the technology dividend effect, which is an important way for digital transformation to promote carbon emission reduction. This study expands the research on the sustainable development of China’s manufacturing industry and provides guidance for policy makers and business decision makers.

Which model is more efficient in carbon emission prediction research? A comparative study of deep learning models, machine learning models, and econometric models.

Accurately predicting future carbon emissions is of great significance for the government to scientifically promote carbon emission reduction policies. Among the current technologies for forecasting carbon emissions, the most prominent ones are econometric models and deep learning, but few works have systematically compared and analyzed the forecasting performance of the methods. Therefore, the paper makes a comparison for deep learning model, machine learning model, and the econometric model to demonstrate whether deep learning is an efficient method for carbon emission prediction research. In model mechanism, neural network for deep learning refers to an information processing model established by simulating biological neural system, and the model can be further extended through bionic characteristics. So the paper further optimizes the model from the perspective of bionics and proposes an innovative deep learning model based on the memory behavior mechanism of group creatures. Comparison results show that the prediction accuracy of the heuristic neural network is higher than that of the econometric model. Through in-depth analysis, the heuristic neural network is more suitable for predicting future carbon emissions, while the econometric model is more suitable for clarifying the impact of influencing factors on carbon emissions.

Does digital technology promote carbon emission reduction in the service industry: Economic logic and empirical evidence from China

Digital technology enables the service industry to develop rapidly, which also brings about the increase of carbon emissions in the service industry (CESI). How to better integrate the service industry into China's carbon emission reduction model has become an important content that the Chinese government needs to pay attention to. This paper uses the industry-level panel data of the service in 30 provinces of China from 2008 to 2019 to examine the relationship between the degree of digital technology and CESI through theoretical and empirical methods. The results reveal that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between digital technology and CESI, and the effect of digital technology on curbing CESI is limited. Furthermore, the pilot policy of carbon market reduces CESI by 173.17 Mt and CESI per 10,000 people by 0.0065 Mt. Resource differences, regional differences and industrial structure differences bring about heterogeneous impacts. The Chinese government in particular, and the government established by the carbon emission reduction model should pay attention to promoting the digital transformation of the service industry to achieve the carbon emission reduction target, but the digital transformation of the service industry should be carried out in a hierarchical and orderly manner under the coordination of the government.

Evolutionary game analysis of carbon emission reduction of Internet enterprises under multiple constraints.

With the rapid development of information technology, internet enterprises have sprung up, bringing about huge power consumption due to constantly expanding enterprise scale, which in turn leads to significant carbon emissions. Additionally, the large influence of internet enterprises on the public and other businesses makes it particularly necessary to pay attention to their carbon emission reduction efforts. To explore the evolution path and patterns of carbon emission reduction among internet enterprises under the carbon neutrality goal, this paper constructs an evolutionary game model for internet enterprises to enter the carbon emissions trading market based on Externality and Sustainable Development Theories, while considering constraints from the carbon market, financial institutions and the public. The model utilizes Python 3.8.2 software for numerical simulations, aiming to push internet enterprises towards low-carbon development. The research findings indicate that: (1) Carbon emission reduction behavior of internet enterprises exhibits significant externality, and when constraints are weak or incentives are not evident, the motivation for enterprises to reduce carbon emissions is insufficient. (2) The carbon market can effectively promote carbon emission reduction among internet enterprises, and the strategy of entering the carbon market becomes the preferred option for these enterprises gradually. (3) Multiple constraints, including emission reduction costs, penalty for non-compliance, government subsidies, financing costs, opportunity losses, and reputation losses, can force internet enterprises towards low-carbon development.

Can agricultural mechanization promote carbon reduction in countries along the Belt and Road?

Whether agricultural mechanization can drive carbon reduction in Belt and Road countries remains an unanswered question. This paper investigates how agricultural mechanization can contribute to agricultural carbon emissions reduction in countries along the Belt and Road, and to test whether technological progress can play a moderating role. The findings show that: 1) agricultural mechanization can effectively promote carbon emission reduction in countries along the Belt and Road; 2) countries with a high level of technological progress can effectively reduce agricultural carbon emissions by improving agricultural mechanization, and technological progress plays a positive regulating role; 3) agricultural mechanization is regionally heterogeneous and income heterogeneous, and its carbon-reducing effects are more pronounced in Asia, low- and middle-income countries and upper-middle-income countries. The results of the study provide lessons for climate governance and agricultural development in countries along the Belt and Road and help governments to formulate relevant policies.

Can strengthening environmental justice promote carbon reduction? Evidence from environmental courts in China.

Environmental justice is an important safeguard for pollution control, and this paper is interested in its ability to promote carbon emission reduction. One unique facet of reinforcing local environmental justice involves the establishment of environmental courts by Intermediate People's Courts. Taking this as the starting point, this study constructs a quasi-natural experiment to investigate the strengthening of urban environmental justice. Analyzing empirical data from 283 prefecture-level cities in China spanning 2006 to 2019, we employ multi-period and spatial difference-in-differences approaches to probe the impact of environmental justice strengthening on carbon reduction. Our results indicate a substantial contribution of strengthened environmental justice to reducing carbon emissions. Specifically, the establishment of environmental courts can curtail carbon emissions by an estimated range of 11.7 to 12.9%. Also, the mechanism analysis underscores that the carbon reduction effect primarily arises from enhanced efficiency in processing environmental cases. Moreover, this effect is notably pronounced in regions with robust governmental environmental regulations. Notably, in areas with limited public environmental concern, environmental courts effectively complement existing environmental regulations. Furthermore, a significant positive spillover effect of environmental courts on carbon emission reduction is observed in geographically adjacent economic zones.

Does green technology innovation contribute to regional carbon emission reduction? –Empirical analysis based on China provincial panel data

To promote low-carbon economic, China proposed building a green low-carbon circular development economic system. Green technology innovation is the essential core to promote green high-quality development, and is an important support to solve the realistic ecological environmental problems in our country. To study the influence mechanism of green technology innovation on regional carbon emission reduction, a fixed-effect model is constructed based on panel data from 30 provinces during 2011-2020, and this paper examines the mediating mechanism of energy efficiency. The results show that green technology innovation can significantly promote carbon emission reduction. Further research shows that green technology innovation can promote carbon emission reduction by improving energy efficiency.

Rent-seeking analysis of carbon emission verification based on game theory and prospect theory from the perspective of multi-participation

Emissions trading system (ETS) is an important tool to promote carbon emission reduction. Accurate emission data is the basis for the comprehensive benefits of ETS. However, carbon emission companies and third-party verification agencies conspired to falsify carbon emission reports. Therefore, this paper builds a three-party game model among carbon emission companies, third-party verification agencies and the government to study rent-seeking behaviors. Moreover, the prospect theory is introduced to characterize the bounded rationality of the participants to make the game process closer to reality. On this basis, the strategy evolution trend of participants under the influence of various factors is analyzed. Finally, simulation analysis is carried out under the background of Shenzhen ETS, and suggestions are put forward for the government to develop the carbon emission report re-verification mechanism. The results show that: 1) Driven by economic benefits, carbon emission companies and third-party verification agencies have high rent-seeking intentions, which do not change with the re-verification policy; 2) Higher review probability can effectively inhibit rent-seeking behavior; 3) The choice of government strategy is related to the success rate and the cost of re-verification, and the income and penalty of rent-seeking, and these factors have obvious thresholds.

Can green finance and environmental regulations promote carbon emission reduction? Evidence from China.

Carbon reduction has become a major challenge for China's economy in its transition toward sustainability. The government has been monitoring the behavior of enterprises through regulations to protect the environment, while green finance has rapidly developed in recent years as a new tool to reduce carbon emissions. Despite these measures, few studies have explored the interaction between these two drivers of carbon reduction. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the impact of green finance and environmental regulations on carbon emissions. To determine whether their coordination can lead to greater carbon reduction, the spatial spillover effect of this impact was also investigated. The results show that green finance can reduce carbon emissions and that the interaction of green finance with environmental regulations plays a significant positive role in reducing carbon emissions. Finally, this study concludes that the carbon reduction effects of green finance and environmental regulations have positive spillover effects on adjacent areas.

Impacts of energy-saving and emission-reduction on sustainability of cement production

How energy saving and emission reduction measures influence the interrelationship between carbon emissions and environmental sustainability of cement industry is not very clear, and this could lead to trade-off. This study investigates effects of three representative energy saving and emission reduction measures (steam Rankine cycle power generation (SRC), organic Rankine cycle power generation (ORC) and carbon capture and utilization (CCU)) on environmental performance of cement production using an improved emergy analysis and carbon emissions amounting. The proposed approach can investigate resource efficiency and emissions' impact as well as carbon footprint of a system in study simultaneously. A cement enterprise, in Jilin Province in China, as a case, is explored using the proposed combined approach based on scenario analysis. The results illustrate that combination of SRC + ORC can promote environmental sustainability of cement production and carbon emission reduction by 4.61 % and 4.28 % respectively, mainly derived from SRC application (by 4.06 % and 3.81 %), (2) CCU can promote carbon emission reduction by 3.97 % but weaken the environmental sustainability by 2.10 % due to enhancing share of purchased nonrenewable electricity, and (3) combination of SRC + ORC + CCU can promote the environmental sustainability (by 2.43 %) and carbon emission reduction by 8.25 %. In addition, due to strong dependence on nonrenewable resources, combination of SRC + ORC + CCU is still limited in improvement of environmental performance of the industry. In the future, China's cement industry should further enhance environmental performance of CCU and efficiency of ORC, as well as improve the resource structure of this industry.

Effective mechanism for trading generation rights in the context of carbon emission rights

In the global context of intensive energy resource consumption and substantial greenhouse gas emissions, as the energy sector with the highest share of carbon emissions, the power generation industry is destined to play a central role in China's efforts to promote energy conservation and emission reduction. With the emergence of local carbon pilot projects and the implementation of a national carbon market, key emission units in the power industry, in addition to the electricity market business, also need to fulfill and pay carbon emission rights on schedule. The power generation rights are a market-based mechanism for clean energy units to replace conventional energy units in electricity generation, which can promote carbon emission reduction by incorporating the actual carbon emissions from conventional energy units. This paper establishes an optimized social welfare model that incorporates the interdependency between the thermal power generation unit market and the electric carbon market. It is based on the social welfare model of power generation rights and the initial allocation of carbon emission rights for the units, while considering the cost increase of excess emission under monthly forecasted power generation by the thermal power units. Taking a certain hydropower province as the simulation object, it was verified that the optimized model has a higher transaction rate of power generation rights, greater social welfare, and no reduction in unit revenue.

Can the coordinated development of two-way FDI promote carbon emission reduction? Evidence from industrial sectors in China

In this study, the panel data of 34 industrial sectors are selected from 2004 to 2019 in China and empirically tested the carbon emission reduction effect and its transmission path during the coordinated development of two-way FDI. The results show that the coordinated development of two-way FDI in China's industrial sector had a significant but heterogeneous carbon emission reduction effect. The coordinated development of two-way FDI in high-yield scale groups, low-energy-consumption industries and high-tech industries had a stronger inhibitory effect on carbon emissions. When the coordinated development level of two-way FDI in China's industrial sector was high, its carbon emission reduction effect was more significant. After the Belt and Road Initiative was put forward in 2013, the carbon emission reduction effect of the coordinated development of two-way FDI in China's industrial industry was stronger. The mechanism test results showed that the coordinated development of two-way FDI in China's industrial sector mainly affected domestic carbon emissions through three transmission paths: scale, structure, and technology effects. Of these, the scale effect was positive, and the structure and technology effects were negative.

The impact of land resource mismatch and environmental regulation on carbon emissions: evidence from China

Municipalities’ inefficient use of land resources may influence local carbon emissions. The spatial Durbin model is utilized for analysis to look at the direct effect of land resource mismatch on carbon emissions, as well as the spatial spillover effect. The moderating effect model and the threshold effect model are used, respectively, to investigate the moderating and threshold effects of environmental regulation in land resource mismatch affecting carbon emissions. Panel data gathered from China’s prefecture-level cities between 2011 and 2021 are the foundation for this research. The results indicate that: (1) the mismatch of land resources will significantly increase the carbon emissions of local and adjacent areas. (2) Environmental regulation has a significant negative moderating effect on local carbon emissions caused by land resource mismatch. That is, environmental regulation can improve the environmental quality brought by land resource mismatch. (3) The mismatch of land resources presents a significant threshold effect on carbon emissions. When the intensity of environmental regulation reaches a certain threshold, the positive promotion effect of land resource mismatch on carbon emissions shows a decreasing marginal effect. Therefore, the government should keep advancing land marketization reform, strengthen environmental regulation, and create an interactive mechanism for regional cooperation in pollution prevention and control to improve regional environmental quality and promote carbon emission reduction.

The Impact of the Digital Economy on Regional Carbon Emissions: Evidence from China

As a high-tech, energy-efficient mode of economic development, the digital economy has a strong impact on regional carbon emissions and sustainable development. With a sample of panel data from 30 provinces in China ranging from 2011 to 2021, this study employs an expanded STIRPAT model to examine the impact of the digital economy on regional carbon emissions. The results reveal that the digital economy significantly inhibits regional carbon emissions, and specifically, a 1% increase in the level of digital economy development leads to a decline of approximately 1.09% in total carbon emissions. The heterogeneity analysis indicates that the digital economy has a more significant inhibitory effect on carbon emissions in the eastern region and areas with a higher level of development of the digital economy. The mechanism analysis shows that the digital economy can inhibit regional carbon emissions by affecting energy efficiency and changing the energy structure. A further study shows that the digital economy has a spatial spillover effect on the reduction in carbon emissions. Therefore, the government should fully leverage the potential of the digital economy to promote carbon emission reduction, promote the development and innovation of carbon emission reduction technology, continuously improve energy utilization efficiency, and achieve the mutually beneficial goal of economic benefits and emission reduction.

Effects of digital economy on carbon emission intensity in Chinese cities: A life-cycle theory and the application of non-linear spatial panel smooth transition threshold model

China has become the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide and there is a growing pressure for China to reduce its total carbon emission and intensity. This paper first theorizes the non-linear and spatial effects of digital economy on carbon emission intensity from a technology adoption life-cycle perspective, and then employs a new spatial panel smooth transition threshold model to examine the effects based on a panel data set of 271 prefectural cities in China from 2011 to 2019. The results show that (1) the direct effect of the digital economy on carbon emission intensity follows an inverted “U”-shaped nonlinear relationship, featuring a patten of rising first and then falling after passing the threshold; (2) the spatial spillover effect of the digital economy on carbon emission intensity is nonlinear and exhibits a “U”-shaped pattern; (3) the impact of the digital economy on carbon emission intensity is heterogeneous in different industrial structure types. Although the development of the digital economy can promote carbon emission reduction and efficiency improvement in the old industrial bases, the effect is not evident in the resource-based economic regions. These findings suggest to promote earlier digital technology adoption, regional cooperation and co-governance, and locally adapted policies.

Research of Patents for Automotive Hydrogen Energy in China

Hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (FCV) technology is of great significance to energy security and environmental protection. With the rapid development of automotive hydrogen patents in the world, the development and application of automotive hydrogen energy will promote carbon emission reduction and energy transformation in the transportation sector. Based on the comparative analysis of the patent application of automotive hydrogen energy in the world and the application of automotive hydrogen energy in China, it is concluded that China has a large development space of technology and market.