World's Largest Carbon Research Articles

Evaluating the performance of carbon dioxide and methane observations from carbon-monitoring satellite products over China

As the primary greenhouse gases contributing to climate change, carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH4) play a critical role in the Earth's radiative balance and temperature regulation. Continuous and accurate satellite monitoring of CO₂ and CH₄ is essential for developing effective policies and strategies to mitigate their impacts. This study utilizes ground-based Fourier-transform infrared measurements from the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) to evaluate the performance of current mainstream carbon-monitoring satellites over China, the world's largest carbon emitter. Our findings show that TanSat performs excellently for CO₂ observations at both Hefei and Xianghe sites, achieving a standard deviation (SD) of about 2 ppm and a maximum bias of 0.25 ppm, dropping to 0.02 ppm at Xianghe. In contrast, Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO)-3 and Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT)-2 CO2 measurements are slightly less reliable. For CH₄ monitoring, GOSAT outperforms GOSAT-2, with a SD of around 14 ppb and bias within 2 ppb, compared to GOSAT-2's 17.58 ppb SD and 2.15 ppb bias at Hefei. These results indicate that the latest carbon-monitoring satellites are less precise and accurate than their predecessors. Additionally, we provide detailed assessments of the data products based on different spatial matching criteria. We also discuss the variation in satellite accuracy over time, revealing periodic bias variations and the instability in satellite performance. Furthermore, while the spatial distribution trends of satellite acquisitions are generally consistent on an annual scale, we observe non-negligible differences in the annual averages across specific land surfaces. Our study presents a meticulous evaluation of the reliability of satellite-based carbon-monitoring products over the Chinese region and provides scientific evidence for analyzing uncertainty in carbon source-sink studies.

Terrestrial Carbon Sink and Clean Air Co‐Benefits From China's Carbon Neutrality Policy

AbstractAs the world's largest carbon emitter, China has been confronting the dual challenge of climate change and air pollution. China's quest for reducing carbon emissions will promisingly benefit the air quality, yet its impact on carbon sinks remains unclear. Here, we assess the effect of China's clean air actions and carbon neutrality policy on air quality and its associated co‐benefits for terrestrial carbon sinks by integrating multiple observations and numerical modeling. We find a quadratic response of plant photosynthesis to aerosol loading due to trade‐offs between diffuse fertilization effect and light limitations. The estimations show that China's air pollution suppresses terrestrial carbon uptake through aerosol‐induced light limitations, leading to a 7.3% decrease in plant productivity in the 2010s. In the context of carbon neutrality pledge, the associated aerosol reductions tend to alleviate the suppression and produce an additional CO2 removal of 0.39 GtCO2 year−1. Our results uncover the enhanced terrestrial carbon sinks by aerosol mitigation, highlighting the synergy between carbon neutrality and clean air.

New perspective, more rational decoupling: A case study of China

Scholars usually unconsciously employ the Tapio decoupling model with a static perspective and results-oriented philosophy, which often leads to errors. Therefore, we propose an improved Tapio decoupling model that adopts a dynamic perspective and process-oriented philosophy. Taking China, the world's largest carbon emitter, as a case study, we investigate the decoupling of its provincial industrial carbon emissions (ICE) from industrial value-added (IVA) during 2005–2020 using both the conventional and improved decoupling model, followed by a comparative analysis of their results. Our findings are as follows: (1) Both China's ICE and IVA exhibited a general upward trend during the study period, with non-linear annual ICE and IVA variations observed across all provinces. (2) Overall, China's provincial IVA increasingly decoupled from ICE, with some provinces achieving a strong decoupling state during 2015–2020; however, from the long-term perspective spanning the entire study period, most provinces remained in a weak decoupling state. (3) The conventional decoupling model tends to yield overly optimistic results in empirical study of China, with the decoupling indices during the periods of 2005–2010 and 2005–2020 determined by the conventional model even had significant statistical difference between those determined by the improved model. (4) To ensure equity, differentiated carbon reduction policies should be tailored to each province, considering factors such as absolute carbon emissions, short-term decoupling states, and long-term decoupling states. The improved Tapio decoupling model is proposed as a valuable framework for researchers engaged in related studies.

Dynamic optimisation of carbon allowance considering inter-provincial energy resources trade for emissions reduction: Case of China southern power grid

As the main carrier of natural resources into energy, the power industry is the world's largest carbon emitter, and its sustainable development will have far-reaching impacts on the utilization of natural resources and economic growth. Carbon trading market is a widely used tool to promote proactive emissions reductions in the electricity industry in different regions. On this basis, inter-provincial trading in the power industry creates a hidden carbon transfer between producers and consumers of energy resources. Therefore, it is necessary to construct systematic multi-period emission reduction measures to deal with the conflict and coordination of the operation of the two systems. In this study, to promote orderly emission reductions in the power industry in areas with different natural resource endowments, a two-tier decision-making model for carbon allowances allocation based on interactive model predictive control technique is constructed. The model readjustss the overall allowances by tracking the implied carbon transfer flows between regions and implementing a production-oriented allowance compensation mechanism, forming an optimisation strategy for carbon compliance cost and emission intensity in the power sector. The experimental results show that adjusting the regional allowance distribution in inter-provincial transmission can alleviate the impact of high emission reduction pressure on the overall carbon compliance cost, while the rolling horizon optimisation of the carbon baseline value can approach the expected emission reduction target in stages. Taking the Southern Power Grid as an example, this study ultimately provides policy recommendations for sustainable emission reductions under multi-period inter-provincial trade in energy resources.

Talent Training Mechanism of Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutralization in New Liberal Arts: A Chinese Perspective

China is currently the world's largest carbon emitter. New liberal arts, as an important discipline for cultivating humanistic literacy and social responsibility, is closely related to the achievement of carbon neutrality goals. By using the method of logical reasoning and deduction, seven talent training mechanisms were proposed including the optimization mechanism of the talent training goal, the interdisciplinary course integration mechanism, the education mechanism of the scientific research innovation platform, the social practice mechanism, the cultivating mechanism with a sense of social responsibility, the mechanism of international cooperation and school-enterprise cooperation and exchange mechanism, and the evaluation mechanism of talent training. These mechanisms may improve the comprehensive quality and ability level of students and provide talent guarantees for the achievement of China's “carbon peak and carbon neutralization” goal.

How do industrial land transfer modes impact carbon emissions? An intermediation perspective based on industrial structure.

Industrial land is currently the main carrier and important source of global carbon emissions, and as the world's largest developing country, China's large-scale and diversified industrial land supply has made it the world's largest carbon emitter. Therefore, researching the impact of different supply methods of industrial land on carbon emissions and its impact paths in China can help provide a reference for other countries to reduce carbon emissions from the perspective of urban industrial land management, which is of great significance for effectively promoting global carbon reduction. Based on this, this paper analyses the impact of different supply methods of industrial land on carbon emissions and its urban heterogeneity using the SYS-GMM and chain-mediated effects models for 285 cities in China from 2008 to 2020. The study found that, in general, the impact of different industrial land transfer modes on carbon emission has hysteresis and persistence. Agreement and listing transfer with government intervention can significantly exacerbate carbon emissions, while more market-based bidding and auction transfer can dampen carbon emissions. In terms of intermediary effects, the transfer of industrial land by agreement and listing will inhibit the rationalization and advancement of industrial structure, thus aggravating carbon emissions. The transfer of industrial land by bidding and auction will create barriers to entry and a crowding-out effect, promote the rationalization of industrial structure and the transformation and upgrading of industrial structure and moderate carbon emissions. In terms of city heterogeneity, there is urban heterogeneity in the impact of industrial land transfer on carbon emissions in cities with different economic types. Bidding and auction transfer for industrial land in both economically developed and less developed cities can promote carbon pollution. While the more developed urban economy makes the intermediary effect of industrial structure not significant. In the future, it is necessary to strictly control the scale of industrial land supply; the whole process supervision mechanism of industrial land allocation and differentiated industrial land supply strategies will provide useful experience for many developing countries in allocating industrial land to mitigate carbon emissions, generating effective contributions to global carbon emission reduction.

Analysis of carbon emission differences between Chinese and Japanese buildings based on qualitative and quantitative comparisons

As the world's largest carbon emitter, China's building-related carbon emissions contributed to 50.9 % of the country's total carbon emissions in 2020, making it an important area for carbon reduction. In contrast, Japan, one of the world's most energy-efficient nations, has already achieved carbon peaking. To further clarify the current status of China's building carbon emissions and explore a reasonable path for reducing them, this study applied life cycle assessment to analyze the differences in carbon emissions from buildings in China and Japan. Firstly, the impact of five factors (climate environment, building structure, energy structure, population and economy) on the carbon emissions of buildings was assessed qualitatively. Secondly, example calculation and statistical analysis were used to quantitatively compare the carbon emissions of office buildings in China and Japan at the embodied carbon emission, operation, and demolition stages. In the example calculation, the total carbon emissions of the Chinese case are smaller than those of Japan, with the embodied carbon emissions, operation, and demolition carbon emissions are 1.23 times, 0.8 times, and 0.89 times higher than those of Japan respectively. And the statistical results show that the average value of carbon emissions in the Chinese case is larger than that of Japan, and the embodied carbon emissions, operation, and demolition carbon emissions are 1.54 times, 1.29 times, and 2.46 times of Japan respectively. The operation phase contributes 70 % of the difference in carbon emissions, with the nuclear shutdown leading to fluctuations in the carbon emission factor of electricity being the key to the opposite conclusion of the two comparisons. In addition, China has made a lot of efforts to save energy and develop clean energy, and Japan's operation energy consumption is 1.2–2.9 times higher than China's. Finally, recommendations are made in terms of energy saving, carbon reduction, and public awareness.

Assessing the potential for CO2 storage in saline aquifers in Brazil: Challenges and Opportunities

AbstractThis study underscores the critical role of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and addresses the potential for CCS projects in saline aquifers in Brazil, one of the world's largest carbon emitters. The country's ability to adopt CCS is significantly influenced by the availability of data related to regional CO2 storage potential and identifying suitable geological framework for CO2 injection. While oil and gas reservoirs have traditionally been prioritized, saline aquifers represent an underexplored and potentially higher capacity storage option. Despite Brazil's 31 sedimentary basins, the data quantity and availability for these contexts remain insufficient for advanced studies on the geological storage of CO2 considering saline aquifers. An initial study was conducted indicating five potential targets in the Paraná and Potiguar Basins for geological storage in saline aquifers based on available public data, mainly drilling data. This review reveals substantial challenges related to the evaluation of Brazil's CO2 storage capacity, such as the lack of modern seismic studies, the absence of a regulatory framework for CO2 storage, and insufficient investment in new well exploration. These challenges necessitate multistakeholder collaboration, the development of a supportive regulatory environment, and investment in extensive site characterization campaigns. Addressing these barriers is fundamental to realizing the country's CCS potential and contributing to global decarbonization efforts. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Uncovering the world's largest carbon sink-a profile of ocean carbon sinks research.

As the world's largest carbon sink, the oceans are essential to achieving the 1.5°C target. Marine ecosystems play a crucial role in the "sink enhancement" process. A deeper comprehension of research trends, hotspots, and the boundaries of ocean carbon sinks is necessary for a more effective response to climate change. To this end, academic literature in the field of ocean carbon sinks was investigated and analyzed using the core database of the Web of Science. The results show that (1) The ocean carbon sink is a global study. The number of literatures in the field of ocean carbon sinks is growing, and the USA and China are the main leaders, with the USA accounting for 31.19% of the global publications and China accounting for 26.57% of the global publications, and the environmental science discipline is the most popular in this field. (2) Keyword burst detection shows that the keywords "sink, sensitivity, land, dynamics, and seagrass" appear earliest and have high burst intensity, which are the hot spots of research in this field; the keyword clustering shows that the global ocean carbon sinks research mainly focuses on three themes: (i) carbon cycle and climate change; (ii) carbon sinks estimation models and techniques; and (iii) carbon sinks capacity and ocean biological carbon sequestration in different seas. Finally, targeted research recommendations are proposed to further match the ocean carbon sink research.

The price behavior characteristics of China and Europe carbon emission trading market based on the perspective of time scaling and expected returns.

China has the world's largest carbon market in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, but its system needs to be improved and enhanced. In comparison, the European carbon market stands as the most mature and well-developed carbon market globally. Carbon trading prices, serving as a barometer for the carbon market, are significantly influenced by investor behavior. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the characteristics of carbon trading prices in both China and Europe, considering the impact of investor trading intervals and psychological expected returns. This study utilizes the Zipf method to characterize the dynamic behavior of carbon trading prices between China and Europe, conducting a comparative analysis. The results show distinctive asymmetry in the behavior of carbon trading prices in both markets. In the Chinese market, when τ < 277, the absolute deviation da(τ, ε) value gradually changes but consistently indicates a bullish trend. However, when τ ≥ 277, the da(τ, ε) value surges rapidly, reflecting a pronounced bullish sentiment among investors toward carbon trading prices in China. In the European market, within the sample period, regardless of variations in τ and ε, the da(τ, ε) value shows a linear upward trend, indicating a significant overall bullishness in prices. This suggests a higher probability of long-term bullishness in carbon trading prices. Investors' investment time scale (τ) and expected returns (ε) both influence the behavior of carbon trading prices in both China and Europe. Generally, a longer τ implies a higher probability of bullishness. As for ε, higher values lead to more extreme judgments on price movements, resulting in greater distortion in carbon trading prices. Short-term investors (τ<1 month) anticipate extreme fluctuations, exhibiting random behavior when ε < 0.15 and converging rapidly to extreme values of 1 or 0 when ε ≥ 0.15. Long-term investors (τ>quarter) are less biased, expressing a bullish outlook on both Chinese and European carbon prices. With increasing ε, the probability of bullishness either increases or decreases rapidly until reaching the saturation point. Once saturated, there is no further distortion in carbon price behavior. Furthermore, the Chinese carbon market displays a positive trend in carbon trading prices and a higher probability of long-term bullishness. For the European market, lower expected returns contribute to considerable carbon trading price fluctuations, exacerbating risk and uncertainty. The results of this study contribute to understanding the diverse trading behaviors in Chinese and European carbon markets and provide guidance for avoiding extreme volatility in carbon trading prices.

How to promote the construction of low‐carbon cities in China? An urban complex ecosystem perspective

AbstractThe escalation of carbon emissions has propelled global warming into a global issue requiring urgent attention. As primary contributors to global carbon emissions, cities constitute the central battleground for efforts aimed at carbon emission reduction. Notably, China, the world's largest carbon emitter, has channeled substantial human and financial resources towards the development of low‐carbon cities. However, the multifaceted challenges confronting Chinese low‐carbon city construction (LCC), including the lack of clearly defined construction strategies and deficiencies in government policy implementation, underscore the need for a systematic exploration of the influencing factors and mechanisms to overcome these obstacles. In response to this pressing need, this study utilizes a conceptual framework that is deeply rooted in the complex urban social‐economic‐natural‐management ecosystem. Within this framework, the study meticulously identified 12 influencing factors and, employing the pressure‐state‐response (PSR) model, categorized them to elucidate the dynamic and multidimensional nature of low‐carbon city construction. Subsequently, the DEMATEL method was employed to explore the causality and centrality of these 12 factors, and the ISM method was used to analyze the hierarchical structure and influencing factors and mechanisms of LCC. Three paths from LCC pressure to LCC response were established. Finally, three major implications were proposed to help Chinese LCC: (i) improve urban strategic planning applicability in a one‐city‐one‐policy manner, (ii) strengthen the green economy's long‐term development mechanism, and (iii) use the enthusiasm of market forces and public participation.

Spatiotemporal analysis of national carbon emission and regional carbon simulation in China.

Land use and land cover (LULC) will cause large flows of carbon sources and sinks. As the world's largest carbon emitter with a complicated LULC, China's carbon emissions have profound implications for its ecological environment and future development. In this paper, we account for the land-use changes and carbon emissions of 30 Chinese provinces and cities in China from 2000 to 2020. Furthermore, the spatial correlation of carbon emissions among the study areas is explored. Four typical regions with spatial association (Beijing, Hebei, Sichuan, and Anhui) are selected, and their land-use change trends in 2025 and 2030 are simulated to predict the total carbon emissions in the future. The results show that the distribution of land-use in China is mainly cultivated and woodland, but the growth of urban built-up (UBL) land area indirectly leads to the continuous increase of carbon emissions. Total carbon emissions have increased over the past two decades, albeit at a slower growth rate, with some provinces experiencing no further growth. In the typical regional carbon emission simulation, it is found that the carbon emissions of the four provinces would show a downward trend in the future. The main reason is the reduction in indirect carbon emissions from fossil energy in UBL, while the other part is the influx of carbon sinks due to grassland, woodland, etc. We recommended that future carbon reduction measures should focus and prioritize controlling fossil energy and mitigating carbon emissions from UBL. Simultaneously, the significant contribution of forests and other land types as carbon sinks should be acknowledged to better implement China's carbon neutral commitment.

Impact of MEPS Policies on Carbon Emissions: A Comparative Study of China and the United States

This comparative analysis evaluates the impact of MEPS policies on carbon emissions in China and the United States, two of the world's largest carbon emitters. The analysis provides valuable insights for policymakers, researchers, and stakeholders in energy efficiency and carbon reduction. It reveals that both nations have achieved significant carbon emission reductions through the implementation of MEPS policies, particularly in the residential and non-resource-based sectors. However, the study also uncovers stark differences in policy implementation, targeted sectors, and enforcement mechanisms between the two countries. In the United States, the mature market for energy-efficient technologies and robust policy enforcement mechanisms have amplified the impact of MEPS. In contrast, China's heavy reliance on coal and regional disparities in energy efficiency present unique challenges to the implementation and impact of MEPS policies. Despite these challenges, China has made substantial progress, particularly in the construction sector and in provinces outside resource-based regions. The study concludes with recommendations for enhancing the effectiveness of MEPS policies, including improving policy design, strengthening enforcement, expanding coverage to additional sectors, and addressing regional disparities. It underscores the need for continued research and international collaboration to drive further progress in carbon emission reduction.

A Study on the influence of China's green finance development on real estate prices

At present, the importance of green finance in the world market is becoming increasingly prominent. Various kinds of green products have emerged, and auxiliary policies have also come into being. China is one of the world's largest carbon dioxide emissions and the world's largest investor in new energy. In the face of severe environmental problems and challenges of sustainable development, the Chinese government attaches great importance to the development of green finance, and has adopted a series of positive policy documents and guidance, including the establishment of special funds, providing preferential fiscal and tax policies, and the establishment of a green bond market to promote its role in the financial system. In addition, China has set up a set of green financial standards and evaluation system to guide financial institutions and enterprises to be more transparent and sustainable in environmental risk management and green investment.&#x0D; The emergence of green finance has brought a certain impact on the real estate industry, a pillar industry of China's economy. At present, many people in China, especially in some central cities, have speculated on housing prices. This behavior has led to a speculative increase in the real estate market, a rapid rise in housing prices, an excessive consumption of resources, and the aggravation of social inequality. This conflicts the concept of sustainable development and environmental friendliness advocated by green finance. At the same time, the investment in green finance will squeeze out a part of the real estate market share. By directing investment in real estate to the flow of green buildings and energy conservation technologies, green finance can also promote the efficient use of resources and sustainable environmental development.&#x0D; Therefore, it is of great significance to deeply study the impact of green finance on real estate. By discussing the application of green finance in the real estate field, effective ways can be found to reduce the consumption of resources in the real estate industry, improve the energy efficiency of buildings, promote the development of green buildings, and guide China's real estate market towards the direction of sustainable development in practice. This is of great practical significance for realizing the dual goal of economic growth and environmental protection.&#x0D; Previous scholars have discussed a wide range of factors affecting real estate, including the monetary system, consumption level and so on. The related discussion on green finance also focuses on the impact of the ecological environment and some green products on the financial market. No scholar has specifically discussed the impact of green finance on real estate as a whole.&#x0D; Therefore, in order to ensure that the regression results are not affected by the economic turbulence during the epidemic period, this paper selects the relevant data of provinces and cities from 2008 to 2020 to regression the fixed effect model panel, conducts a study on the real estate price, and draws the following basic conclusions: green finance has a negative impact on the real estate price.&#x0D; The marginal contribution of this paper is the use of various green coefficient to build green financial index, to explore the influence of green finance as a whole, and make up the green finance influence the lack of the real estate research, to solve the current real estate investment market proportion and rising prices put forward new slow problems.&#x0D; The chapters of this paper are arranged as follows: the second part is the literature review, the third part is the experimental design and data, the fourth part is the empirical results, the fifth part is the robustness test, and the sixth part is the conclusion and policy suggestions.

Revisiting the main driving factors influencing the dynamics of gross primary productivity in the Mongolian Plateau

By contributing to what is considered as the world's largest carbon flux, global climate change has been significantly altering terrestrial vegetation gross primary production (GPP) at a global level. Thus, a robust understanding of the main driving factors influencing GPP change is neccessary for increasing terrestrial carbon sequestration potential of a region. In this study, we conduct an analysis of the main driving factors that have influenced GPP change in the Mongolian Plateau in the 1982–2018 period. The results of our analysis indicate that the GPP of the plateau's total vegetated area has witnessed both growth and decline (of 51.16% and 48.48%, respectively) over the past 37 years, with the latter occurring mainly across northern Mongolia and northeastern Inner Mongolia. Water availability, temperature, and solar radiation are deemed the most crucial climatic factors behind GPP change in 51.21%, 15.51%, and 18.63%, respectively, of the plateau's total vegetated area, according to a nonlinear Granger causality test. These three factors also explain up to 31%, 25.20%, and 17.21% of GPP change in 82.78%, 64.23%, and 69.96%, respectively, of the plateau's total vegetated area, as 34.52%, 31.57%, and 48.62% of the total vegetated area affected by the abovementioned driving factors concomitantly exhibit time-lag effects. The average intensity and extent of the effects of extreme climate indices on GPP change are lesser than the effect of general climate change; up to 21.31% and 22.35% of the GPP change can be explained by the extreme precipitation and temperature in 47.41% and 34.33%, respectively, of the plateau's total vegetated area. Moreover, the standardized total effects of this study's structural equation model (SEM) show that precipitation has the greatest impact on the GPP change (0.42), followed by snow water equivalent (SWE) (–0.11), solar radiation (0.08), and soil moisture or near surface temperature (0.07). Overall, our study provides new insights into the effects of the aforementioned driving factors on GPP change in the Mongolian Plateau, which will be helpful in mitigating the adverse effects of future climate change in the region.

Research on the weak-form efficincy of China’ s carbon trading market by time series analysis

As the world's largest carbon emitter, China has made great efforts to achieve its carbon peak and carbon neutral targets. China has adopted the carbon trading market as an important means to achieve its goals and set up seven carbon trading pilot markets from 2013 to 2015. Studying the efficiency of China's pilot carbon emissions trading market is an important guide to the construction of a unified market of carbon in China and the achievement of carbon neutrality targets. Based on the efficient market hypothesis (EMH), this paper verifies the weak form efficiency of the Chinese carbon market through unit root test, run test and variance ratio test. The paper finds that compared to the previous literature, the effectiveness of China's carbon market has improved after using the latest data, and it can be argued that the Chinese carbon pilot market has initially achieved the initial level of efficiency.

Research on the Current Situation, Challenges and Path of Green Finance Development in China under the Background of "Double Carbon"

As the world's largest carbon emission country, China has put forward the "double carbon" goal in order to better respond to climate change, and the development of green finance is an important measure to implement sustainable development and achieve the "double carbon" goal. This paper takes green finance under the background of "double carbon" as the research object, combines the current development of green finance in China, and summarizes the challenges faced by green finance in China from five aspects: institutional system, product innovation, carbon trading market mechanism, information disclosure, and risk assessment. Finally, according to the internal requirements of the "double carbon" goal and the basic national conditions of China, we propose solutions from the four dimensions of establishing a restraint and incentive mechanism, promoting product innovation, attaching importance to talent cultivation, and strengthening international cooperation, aiming at providing suggestions for the development of green finance in China.

How will China achieve net-zero? A policy text analysis of Chinese decarbonization policies

China is the world's largest carbon emitter and its decarbonization is of great significance to the global response to climate change. Since the Chinese government proposed its first carbon reduction target in 2005, it has achieved various decarbonization goals. This study sought to clarify China's decarbonization policies by constructing a three-dimensional policy analysis framework covering nearly 900 policy texts published from 2006 to 2021. The results enable three main conclusions. First, from 2006 to 2021, China's decarbonization policy objective shifted from building capacity for carbon emissions reduction to controlling energy consumption. Furthermore, the objective of carbon negative has a rising trend. Second, China has followed a policy trajectory of “regulation priority” and “technology-driven and industrial structure upgrading” for decarbonization. Moreover, policy instrument implementation is structurally unbalanced. Third, China's decarbonization policy instruments are highly rigid and inflexible; additionally, there are relatively few incentive policies. This study provides insights regarding the policies meant to reduce emissions and the design of decarbonization policies, which is conducive to the accumulation and transfer of decarbonization experience. 11Abbreviations: ES - energy supply side objective; EC - energy consumption side objective; CN - carbon negative objective; CB - capacity building for emission reduction objective

Which is the more important factor of carbon emission, coal consumption or industrial structure?

Since China is the world's largest carbon emitter with a high dependence on coal and a constantly upgrading industrial structure, therefore, we study which of these two factors can affect carbon emissions more significantly. In this study, the Cross-sectional augmented error correction method (CS-ECM) is used to investigate the impact of coal consumption and industrial structure on carbon emissions in 30 provinces of China from 2000 to 2019. For robustness check, the common dynamic process augmented mean group (AMG) is also adopted. The study suggests that in the short term, both coal consumption and industrial structure have no significant impact on carbon emissions. In the long term, coal consumption plays a decisive role in reducing carbon emissions, while the impact of industrial structure is still not. According to the CS-ECM approach, in the long run, a 1% rise in coal consumption increases carbon emissions by 1.057%; it indicates that coal consumption is the more important factor for the increase of long-term carbon emission. Government should adopt necessitating coal consumption-control measures to avoid further deterioration of carbon emissions.

An exploratory analysis of low-carbon transitions in China's construction industry based on multi-level perspective

Climate change caused by carbon emissions is a concern for many countries. As the world's largest carbon emitter, China's construction industry generates substantial carbon emissions. However, previous research has primarily focused on promoting low-carbon building products or calculating carbon emissions to propose low-carbon transition measures. There has been limited research on low-carbon transitions in the construction industry from an industry system perspective. This study aimed to identify the driving factors and their interrelationships for low-carbon transitions in the construction industry. A multi-level perspective (MLP) was presented as a heuristic structure to analyze driving factors. An integrated interpretative structural model (ISM) and cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification (MICMAC) technique was adopted to explore the interactions among factors. The results demonstrate that a six-level hierarchy of 22 drivers was constructed, and relationship degrees between the factors were discovered. The strongest drivers were low-carbon legal regulation, followed by industrial structure and organizational characteristics connected to industrial development. Improving these fundamental factors will increase the probability of successful transitions. The results also demonstrate that transitions are a collaborative process that involves multiple stakeholders. These findings can provide suggestions for low-carbon practices in the construction industry.