Global Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Research Articles

Development of a Multi-Criteria Analysis Decision-Support Tool for the Sustainability of Forest Biomass Heating Projects in Quebec

Residual forest biomass for heating is an alternative to fossil fuels that is in line with global greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. Even if the opportunities and the benefits of such projects may be important, one should not neglect the barriers and potential impacts of these projects regarding their sustainability. The decision support tool developed and presented in this paper will help guide and support public decision makers in selecting the best project and improving its sustainability. A reliable and relevant weighting method is determined, based on the use of the Analytic Hierarchical Process multi-criteria decision analysis method, allowing the integration of stakeholders and the consideration of their views and opinions. This choice, combined with the privileged use of quantifiable qualitative data, allows the use of the tool in a preliminary phase of the project development and enables the evaluation of the project and its sustainability from a social acceptability perspective. The tool was applied to two fictional scenarios to demonstrate its ability to guide decision making and to highlight the differentiation of weights and scenarios through both weighting and evaluation methods.

Towards indicative baseline and decarbonization pathways for embodied life cycle GHG emissions of buildings across Europe

Buildings’ construction and operation are major contributors to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and the substantial reduction of GHG emissions across their full life cycle is required to enable meeting international climate targets. For effective climate change mitigation - as recent studies have shown - a special focus has to be put on lowering embodied GHG emissions, i.e., emissions related to construction production manufacturing and construction processes, maintenance and replacement as well as end-of-life processing. As the importance of reducing embodied GHG emissions rises, so does the need for understanding both the baseline and pathways for reduction across the full life cycle of buildings. In this paper, we offer insights into the data-driven analysis of embodied GHG emissions across the whole life cycle of buildings from recent studies. Our investigation builds on the data collection, processing and harmonisation of around 1.000 building LCA case studies. We offer an integrated perspective on GHG emissions across the life cycle of buildings, considering historical trends, current baselines and indicative reduction pathways for embodied GHG emissions in different countries across Europe. This serves to inform our current ‘decade of action’ and the transformation to a regenerative built environment by 2050.

A systematic review protocol for identifying the effectiveness of greenhouse gas mitigation interventions for health care systems in low- and middle-income countries

Background: Climate change is predicted to be our century's most significant health threat. In 2021, 46 countries committed to environmentally sustainable low carbon health care systems. Of those, 34 were from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Currently, health systems are responsible for 4.4% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with health systems in high-income countries (HICs) contributing the largest proportion to the sector's GHG emissions. However, future increases are predicted in LMICs in the absence of robust GHG mitigation. This systematic review aims to identify evidence-based GHG mitigation interventions to guide the transformation of health care systems towards net zero, specifically in LMICs. Additionally, potential synergies between interventions that aid adaption to climate change and mitigate GHG emissions will be investigated. Methods: This protocol will follow the 'Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) checklist of recommended items to address in a systematic review protocol'. A comprehensive search will be conducted on electronic databases identified as relevant. Search terms were identified to capture all relevant peer-reviewed, primary research published between 1990 and 2022. The risk of bias will be assessed, and the quality of evidence graded. The eventual narrative synthesis will feed into a theory of change framework on GHG mitigation of health care systems in LMICs. Discussion: This systematic review will synthesise the existing evidence around GHG mitigation interventions across all scopes of emissions, including scope 1 (health care operations), scope 2 (energy), and scope 3 (supply chains). It can be used to inform recommendations on how health care systems in LMICs can reduce emissions while prioritising which actions to take to gain the most significant reductions in GHG emissions, considering ease of implementation, scope and cost. Finally, this can catalyse further research in this area which is urgently needed.

Comments: The Stark Realities of Energy Supply

Natural gas is considered the transition fossil fuel to move the world toward a meaningful reduction in global greenhouse-gas emissions. But the clampdown of Russia’s natural gas supplies shifted the market’s dynamics, and the repercussions are being experienced around the world. Europe is one of the hardest hit by this disruption in natural gas supplies. In a commentary posted on 18 July, Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, called for coordinated actions across Europe to prepare for the coming winter months and for worst-case scenarios of a complete shutoff of Russian gas and limited availability from other sources. Although Russia resumed a reduced flow of gas to Germany via the Nord Stream pipeline on 21 July, there is no certainty about the fluctuations or duration of the flow. Birol wrote, “Europe is now forced to operate in a constant state of uncertainty over Russian gas supplies, and we can’t rule out a complete cutoff.” The start of Europe’s winter heating season is 1 October. Birol called for action to fill European gas storage to adequate levels by reducing current gas consumption and to put that conserved gas into storage. High natural gas prices have led to gas conservation to some extent, but more efforts are required. He wrote that the gas required to be saved over the next 3 months “is in the order of 12 billion cubic metres—enough to fill about 130 LNG tankers,” equivalent to 424 Bcf. To lend some perspective to this, consider that US LNG exports averaged 10.1 Bcf/D in June. This reflects a 1.5 Bcf/D decrease from May because of a fire on 8 June that shut down Freeport LNG in Texas, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). The agency expects US LNG exports to remain below average at 10.5 Bcf/D in the second half of this year. The Freeport LNG shutdown, and the resulting lower demand for LNG export gas, decreased the US benchmark Henry Hub natural gas spot price. It fell by $1.27/MMBtu to $8.16/MMBtu on 9 June and averaged $7.70/MMBtu in June. EIA expects the spot price to continue to decline to an average of $5.97/MMBtu in the second half of this year. European imports of LNG rose by more than 50% in the first 5 months of 2022 compared with the period a year earlier, according to Bernstein, a Wall Street research firm. Although a wide range of shippers have sent fuel to Europe, the major increases in its LNG imports have come from gas produced from US shale. The increased European demand also increased the price of its imported LNG to nearly nine times what it was about 2 years ago, and those higher prices enticed LNG shippers away from Asia. European futures prices have been around $40/MMBtu. The Wall Street Journal compared that to more than $200/bbl for oil, about twice the price for Brent crude, the international benchmark, as of 22 July. In most years, China, Japan, and South Korea have been the major markets for LNG. During the first 5 months of 2022, Asian imports fell by 8%—in part because of slowing demand from China caused by COVID-19 lockdowns. Birol’s commentary began with this sentence: “The world is experiencing the first truly global energy crisis in history.” For Europe, the Russian invasion of Ukraine also sparked a cost-of-living crisis when oil and gas prices soared. Crises, by definition, require immediate and effective actions.

Potential global GHG emissions reduction from increased adoption of metals recycling

Materials production is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and as consumption of commodities and resources continues to increase, so does the environmental footprint of extraction per unit of material. Primary production of metals has been progressing with steadily declining ore grades, resulting in higher energy requirements for extraction and processing of larger ore volumes bearing lower metal concentrations. Secondary production from recycled material stocks requires less energy than primary production and thereby has a lower GHG footprint. An LCA-based assessment of potential future adoption scenarios (Plausible, Ambitious, Maximum) of secondary production in the total global market for major commodity metals was conducted to identify the GHG emissions reductions possible from increased metal recycling and secondary production. The Plausible and Ambitious future scenarios result in 4.5 to 12 Gt of GHG emissions reduction globally from 2014 to 2050, and a Maximum future scenario results in over 42 Gt of GHG emissions reductions for the same period. The results of the analyses of the Plausible and Ambitious scenarios, though not close to maximizing use of total scrap available, clearly indicate that even small increments of improved metal recovery for secondary production have significant potential for GHG emission reductions. Analysis of material feedstock costs was also performed to assess the cost to producers of switching from virgin feedstocks to recycled materials.

Electric Power Integration Schemes of the Hybrid Fuel Cells and Batteries-Fed Marine Vessels—An Overview

Transportation electrification is undergoing a significant transition toward the utilization of efficient and reliable energy sources and smart integration schemes, where this transitioning is continuously facing ever-tightening challenges in order to comply with the increased environmental regulations. Among the different means of transportation, global maritime transport is responsible for 2%–3% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and it is predicted to increase to 17% by 2050 if no changes are adapted. Hence, the international maritime organization (IMO) has targeted to reach a 50% reduction in GHG emissions by 2050 compared to 2008. Hence, alternative energy sources shall be utilized in order to meet these strict GHG emissions reduction targets, where battery- and hydrogen-fed fuel cells can play a vital role in such aspects. Since the output of these two energy sources is unregulated dc voltage, their connection to the whole ship power system can be accomplished in several ways, where each way has its features, in addition to utilizing different power conditioning stages (PCSs), and these features are not well clarified and compared in the literature. Hence, this article presents an overview of the possible integration schemes that can be utilized in fuel cell- and battery-fed vessels, which is supported with a comparative assessment. This is also presented along with highlighting the state-of-the-art PCSs that are available in the market and can be utilized in these integration schemes within marine vessels. Such overview and comparative assessment are seen to be of significant importance and added value for researchers and developers in both the academic and industrial sides in order to accelerate the adoption of fuel cells in marine systems for zero-emission shipping.

Technical and Environmental Feasibility Study of the Co-Production of Crude Oil and Electrical Energy from Geothermal Resources: First Field Trial in Colombia

In the oil and gas industry, there has not been a consistent, concerted effort to reduce global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across the supply chain. In addressing this challenge, this study evaluates the potential GHG emissions reduction that may be realized through deployment of a geothermal power co-production system in two Colombian oil fields, compared to a base case where energy needs are derived through non-renewable sources such as gas and diesel. These geothermal power co-production systems make use of organic Rankine cycle (ORC) engines to convert the heat from produced oilfield fluids into electrical energy. The energy potential of this resource is evaluated through the exergy concept, and a life cycle analysis is implemented to calculate the carbon footprint using the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2013 methodology. In the two oil fields of interest, OFA and OFB, the results show a maximum potential energy production of 2260 kWe for OFA and 657 kWe for OFB. The co-production of crude oil and electrical energy from geothermal resources suggests a possible a carbon footprint reduction of 19% and 11% for OFA and OFB, respectively, when compared to conventional power systems. In addition, four emissions scenarios are assessed where the current energy sources in these oil fields are substituted by gas, diesel, co-generated geothermal power, or a combination of the three while maintaining the average power output in each field. The highest carbon footprint reduction is found in Scenario 1, which replaces 100% of the liquid fuel consumption with purchased gas (gas provided by a third party and treated outside the system’s limits), thereby achieving carbon footprint reductions up to 54% for OFB. This research opens the prospect for the use of renewable energies in the oil and gas industry.

Robustly coordinated operation of a ship microgird with hybrid propulsion systems and hydrogen fuel cells

Increasing global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions call for new operation strategies towards low-carbon marine transportation. This paper proposes a coordinated operation strategy for a ship micorgird with hybrid propulsion systems (HPSs) to minimize the whole-voyage operation cost within GHG emission limitations. Hydrogen fuel cells are integrated to the ship microgrid for further reduction of GHG emissions. Purchase costs of fuel, hydrogen and electricity and degradation costs of fuel cells (FCs) and batteries are considered in the calculation of whole-voyage operation cost. The proposed coordinated operation strategy consists of two stages. At the pre-voyage scheduling stage, the amount of purchased fuel, hydrogen and electricity, the power of diesel engines (DEs) and FCs, the charging/discharging states of batteries and the motor/shaft-generator modes of electric machines (EMs) are formulated to minimize the whole-voyage operation cost under the worst case of uncertain propulsion and auxiliary power. At the intra-voyage operation stage, power of batteries and EMs is optimized according to the short-leading-time prediction of propulsion and auxiliary power. Above coordinated operation strategy is formulated as a two-stage robust optimization model and solved by a two-level column-and-constraint-generation (C&CG) algorithm. Numerical simulations based on a practical voyage are carried out to validate the effectiveness of proposed strategy.

Gold mining greenhouse gas emissions, abatement measures, and the impact of a carbon price

Global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from gold mining exceed 100 Mt CO2-e annually, with country emissions intensity from 129 to 2754 kg CO2-e/oz, yet clear knowledge gaps remain regarding country contributions, emissions reduction potential, and impact of carbon pricing. The cost impacts upon global gold miners of the introduction of a hypothetical US$50/t CO2-e and US$100/t CO2-e carbon price are quantified and are affordable. Carbon price impacts vary markedly between countries, with a US$100/t CO2-e price increasing gold production costs on average by US$13 per ounce in Finland and up to US$275/oz in South Africa. The research method aggregated 2018 mine-specific GHG emission and production data to the country level, allowing carbon price impacts to be quantified. Global adoption of carbon pricing changes the relative cost competitiveness of countries, having policy implications. Clean energy substitution and energy efficiencies, including new mining technologies, are at the forefront of the gold sector responses to reduce emissions. The reduction in GHG emissions from energy substitution of the mine's primary energy source is up to 46%. The most significant reductions in GHG emissions from energy efficiencies are in underground mines from ventilation and cooling, up to 24%. Gold companies that reduce their carbon footprint benefit from a lower cost of capital. Clear potential exists for a shift towards a cleaner, decarbonised global gold industry.

Impact of Beef Self-Sufficiency Improvement in Korea on Global Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction

Impact of Beef Self-Sufficiency Improvement in Korea on Global Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction

Evolutionary Analysis of Emission Reduction Strategies

In recent years, the global climate problem has become increasingly prominent and has attracted great international attention, and the development of a low-carbon economy has become an inevitable choice at this stage. Carbon emissions trading is a market mechanism adopted to promote global greenhouse gas emission reduction and reduce global carbon dioxide emissions. By releasing uniform price information, the carbon trading market motivates enterprises to carry out energy saving and emission reduction, and optimizes the allocation of carbon emission resources, which is considered an important policy to reduce carbon emissions and control climate change. Based on this, this paper constructs the decision model and evolutionary game model of the government and enterprises on the basis of the existing ones, and analyzes the mixed strategy stability of the government and enterprises according to the replicated dynamic equation system to obtain the evolutionary stable strategies of the government and enterprises under different situations. Subsequently, the parameters of each situation are assumed and numerical simulation is performed using Matlab software to draw conclusions.

Cooperative decisions of competitive supply chains considering carbon trading mechanism

Abstract Carbon emissions trading policy is a market mechanism which promotes global greenhouse gas emissions reduction and reduces global carbon dioxide emissions. The emissions reduction in the supply chain operation has become a hot issue in supply chain management. Thus, this paper studies the optimal cap setting and pricing in chain-to-chain system under carbon emissions trading mechanism. Based on the double decentralized scenario, the five different cooperation models are established by introducing the structural cooperation and the contractual cooperation (the wholesale price contract) of supply chains. The optimal solutions of these models are obtained through the Stackelberg game and Nash game. The results show that the bargaining power of the supply chains is changed by the asymmetric competition structure. Besides, the government should emphasize the influencing factors change of the cap in the process of setting carbon emissions cap.

Countries with sustained greenhouse gas emissions reductions: an analysis of trends and progress by sector

ABSTRACT While global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are still rising, a number of countries have emerged with a sustained record of emissions reductions. In this article, we identify these countries and examine their progress, exploring how fast, how deep, and in which sectors they have reduced emissions. We analyse changes in all major GHG emissions sources, with both production – and consumption-based accounting, but exclude very small countries with high volatility, along with land-use, land-use change and forestry CO2 emissions. We find that 24 countries have sustained reductions in annual CO2 and GHG emissions between 1970 and 2018, in total equalling 3.2 GtCO2eq since their respective emissions peaks. In all but three countries, overall GHG reductions are less than energy and industrial CO2 reductions alone. We group countries into three types of emissions pathway: six former Eastern Bloc countries, where emissions declined rapidly in the 1990s and have continued on a downward trajectory since; six Long-term decline countries, which have sustained reductions since the 1970s; and 12 Recent peak countries, whose emissions decline began in the 2000s. In all cases, emissions reductions were achieved primarily in the energy systems sector, specifically in electricity and heat generation, which still remains the largest source of emissions in most countries. By contrast, in the transport sector, emissions tend to be stable or increasing. Transport is the second largest source of current emissions in Recent peak and Long-term decline countries. While the total GHG reductions of these 24 countries are trivial compared to recent global emissions growth, some have achieved a decline of up to 50% in their annual emissions, showing what is possible even under very moderate climate action. Most countries achieved emissions reductions alongside sustained economic growth, and some approached the fast annual rates of change that will be needed across the world in the coming decades to limit warming to 2°C. This raises the hope that more substantive climate policy, as planned in a growing number of countries, may bring about deeper and more rapid emissions reductions than some may expect today. Key policy insights 24 countries have sustained CO2 and GHG emissions reductions between 1970 and 2018 The annual emissions reductions of some countries are within the range of those needed to limit global warming to 2°C, but not consistently, nor across all underlying sectors Most emissions reductions were achieved in the energy sector; transport emissions have remained stable or continue to grow

Cutting through the noise on negative emissions

Cutting through the noise on negative emissions

China‐U.S. trade dispute and its impact on global agricultural markets, the U.S. economy, and greenhouse gas emissions

AbstractChina is a major importer of agricultural products and we examine retaliatory tariffs imposed by China on U.S. pork, soybeans, corn, and wheat. We use an agricultural trade model to determine the impacts on agricultural commodity markets and combine our results with an input‐output model to measure economic effects in the United States. In addition, we calculate global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from land‐use change. The consequences of retaliatory tariffs are both trade destruction (lower overall trade) and trade diversion (trade diverted away from the U.S. and to other exporting countries). By the end of the projection period, total U.S. pork exports decline by 4.7%. Total soybean and wheat exports decrease by 31.2% and 0.5%, respectively whereas corn exports increases by 4.0%. Domestic U.S. retail pork prices decline by 0.8% and commodity farm prices decrease by 4.2%, 5.1%, and 15.8% for corn, wheat, and soybeans, respectively. The decline in foreign demand reduces U.S. production and welfare. Key among these impacts are a loss of nearly 15,400 jobs and a fall in labor income by $1.35 billion due to a $3.70 billion decline in national output at the beginning of the projection period. By the last year of the projection, the impacts grow to almost 30,000 fewer jobs and $2.31 billion less labor income. The U.S. economy experiences a loss of slightly under $6.80 billion in national output. Changes in trade due to the tariffs result in a reduction of GHG emissions from land‐use change of up to 83.7 teragram (Tg) of CO2‐equivalent.

Personal Carbon Trading—Lost in the Policy Primeval Soup?

The number of emission trading and carbon taxation schemes implemented has grown rapidly over the past decade. Together, they cover approximately 16% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Although more than two-thirds of global GHG emissions are related to household consumption, approaches that directly target households, such as personal carbon trading (PCT), do not play a role in the fight against climate change. This is especially puzzling as measures taken so far are not sufficient to reach the 2 °C target. One clue to solving this puzzle comes from political science in the form of the multiple streams approach, which defines criteria that a policy proposal must meet to become part of the political agenda. Based on these criteria, this article conducts a systematic review on PCT to clarify why PCT does not play a role in the reduction of GHG emissions. The results show that there are three main problems with the PCT proposal. First, scholars often criticize the set-up costs as well as the running costs of such a system. Second, there is no clear consensus within the research community on public acceptance of PCT. Third, it is still unclear whether politicians are receptive to PCT or not.

Global urban subway development, construction material stocks, and embodied carbon emissions

Urban subway system, as an important type of urban transportation infrastructure, can provide mass mobility service and help address urban sustainability challenges such as traffic congestion and air pollution. The continuous construction of subways, however, causes large amounts of construction materials and embodied greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In this study, we characterized the patterns of subway development, construction material stocks, and embodied emissions covering all 219 cities in the world in which subways are found by July 2020. The global subway length reached 16,419 km in 2020, and the construction material stocks amounted to 2.5 gigatons, equaling to an embodied emission of 560 megatons. In particular, China’s subway system contributes to ~40% of the total global stocks, with a pattern of moderate and steady stocks growth before 2010 and a rapid expansion afterwards, implying the late-development advantages and infrastructure-based urbanization mode. Our results demonstrated that identifying the spatiotemporal characteristics of subway materials stocks development is imperative for benchmarking future resource demand, informing sustainable subway planning, prospecting urban mining and waste management opportunities and challenges, and mitigating the associated environmental impacts for global GHG emission reduction.

Prospective contributions of biomass pyrolysis to China\u2019s 2050 carbon reduction and renewable energy goals

Recognizing that bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) may still take years to mature, this study focuses on another photosynthesis-based, negative-carbon technology that is readier to implement in China: biomass intermediate pyrolysis poly-generation (BIPP). Here we find that a BIPP system can be profitable without subsidies, while its national deployment could contribute to a 61% reduction of carbon emissions per unit of gross domestic product in 2030 compared to 2005 and result additionally in a reduction in air pollutant emissions. With 73% of national crop residues used between 2020 and 2030, the cumulative greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction could reach up to 8620 Mt CO2-eq by 2050, contributing 13–31% of the global GHG emission reduction goal for BECCS, and nearly 4555 Mt more than that projected for BECCS alone in China. Thus, China’s BIPP deployment could have an important influence on achieving both national and global GHG emissions reduction targets.

Distributional Impacts of Carbon Pricing Policies Under Paris Agreement: Inter and Intra-Regional Perspectives

While bringing multiple benefits for the environment, achievement of the stringent global greenhouse gas emissions reduction target, like the one outlined in the Paris Climate Agreement, is associated with significant implementation costs and could impact different dimensions of human well-being, including welfare, poverty and distributional aspects. In this paper, we analyze the poverty and distributional impacts of different carbon pricing mechanisms consistent with reaching the Paris Agreement targets. We link a global recursive dynamic computable general equilibrium model ENVISAGE with the GIDD microsimulation model and explore three levels of mitigation effort and five carbon pricing options (trade coalitions). Results suggest that while there is a higher incidence of poverty in all scenarios, mainly driven by lower economic growth, Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) policies result in progressive income distribution at the global level. Such progressivity is caused not only by lower relative prices of food versus non-food commodities, but also by a general decline in skill wage premia. Achievement of the NDC targets without regional cooperation results in 0.45% increase in the number of people living in extreme poverty (below PPP$1.90/day) by 2030, while a more ambitious 2oC-consistent target increases this number to 1.25%. Global cooperation significantly eases the burden on poor, reducing the poverty headcount (additional number of people leaving in extreme poverty) by almost three times in the case of 2oC-consistent target and bringing it to the baseline scenario level in the case of NDC target. The global Gini coefficient falls between 0.01 and 0.04 percentage points depending on the mitigation effort and collaboration mode, while reduction in the Theil index is between 0.01 and 0.11 percentage points. Results also indicate that the reductions in inequality come mainly from reduction in income from top earners, as the results are much more sensitive to the NDC policies closer to the top of the income distribution.

Comment on “Transition of the Chinese Economy in the Face of Deep Greenhouse Gas Emissions Cuts in the Future”

The Paris Agreement's central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping the global temperature rise during this century well below 2°C above preindustrial levels and to pursue efforts to further limit the temperature increase to less than 1.5°C above the preindustrial levels. China has already signed the Paris Agreement, and its action plays a vital role in determining the outcome of the Agreement. As the largest developing country, it accounted for 26% of total global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2016. China's emissions grew very rapidly during the reform period of the past 40 years. If China does not comply with the Agreement, then it is hard for the world to achieve the goals it has set for itself. But it is by no means an easy task for China. Although the aggregate size of GHG emissions already dominate the global picture, China's per capita emissions are still significantly below the levels of many developed and developing countries. It would be difficult to convince the Chinese public that China should cut emissions aggressively, especially if this comes with a significant economic cost. As some Chinese commentators put it: since all the advanced countries had their GHG emissions during their early stages of economic development, why should China now be stripped of the right to develop its economy? So the question is if deep cuts to GHG emissions would be harmful for the Chinese economy. In their paper (Jiang et al., 2021), Jiang and his research team provide an excellent analytical foundation for thinking about the issues of GHG emission cuts, not only for the public, but also for policymakers. By building a quantitative model, Jiang et al. are able to derive numerical results on the likely impact on the macroeconomy, industrial structure, and the composition of energy. The most important finding, in my view, is that achievement of the “2°C” goal could actually result in China's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2050 being 1.5% higher, and consumption being 1.7% higher, compared with the baseline scenario. Indeed, this is very encouraging. Of course, the efforts trying to achieve the “2°C” goal could force a lot of structural changes in the Chinese economy. But these structural changes could make the overall economy more efficient, while bringing about new investment at the same time. The common perception that deep cuts to GHG emissions will mean a loss for China is simply wrong. By significantly reducing GHG emissions, China not only contributes to the global environment, but also improves its own economy. With this empirical judgment, Jiang and his colleagues should be more effective in convincing their bosses at the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the State Council to set a more ambitious target of peaking of CO2 emissions earlier – it is not only doable, but also beneficial. In fact, the Chinese economy is already in the middle of important structural changes in favor of GHG emission reduction. The share of the manufacturing sector in the overall economy peaked in 2012 and the weight of the service sector is rising quickly. Such changes and other efforts trying to improve efficiency could make the “2°C” goal or even the “1.5°C” goal more attainable. However, these results do not imply that implementation of deep cuts to GHG emissions will be painless. As Jiang et al. (2021) demonstrate, important adjustments will have to take place in order to achieve the policy goal, including changing the composition of energy supply, raising the share of electrification and upgrading technology in the transportation sector. Some industrial sectors, such as the steel, cement and chemical industries, could experience major changes. Therefore, success or failure of the “deep cut” policy depends not only on the government's determination, but also, more importantly, on policy skills to smooth the transition process. This calls for policy measures to help workers, factories, and regions that are affected by the transition process. This will be a key test for the Chinese government, including Jiang and his colleagues at the NDRC.