Assessing the impact of emissions trading scheme on low-carbon technological innovation: Evidence from China

A global consensus on carbon emission reductions has been reached for combating climate change. The Chinese government has clearly stated that it is necessary to make full use of market means to improve the level of environmental governance. Emissions trading scheme (ETS) is a typical market means to accelerate low-carbon economic transition. Low-carbon technological innovation is one of the key factors affecting carbon emissions. However, literature on the relationship between ETS and low-carbon technological innovation is relatively scarce at present. This study assesses the effect of pilot ETSs on low-carbon technological innovation, and a difference in differences (DID) model is adopted to analyze China's provincial panel data from 2003 to 2017. The results indicate that China's pilot ETSs can significantly promote low-carbon technological innovation, and changing the window period, PSM-DID and placebo test all verify the robustness of this finding. The dynamic effect test reveals that China's pilot ETSs will gradually increase the effect on low-carbon technological innovation over time. The heterogeneity analysis shows that the effect of China's pilot ETSs on low-carbon technological innovation is more obvious in Guangdong, Hubei, Tianjin and Chongqing. The mechanism analysis suggests that marketization degree and green consumption concept can positively moderate the impact of China's pilot ETSs on low-carbon technological innovation, and industrial structure upgrading plays a positive mediating role between China's pilot ETSs and low-carbon technological innovation. This study is conducive to assessing the policy effectiveness of China's pilot ETSs and provides an empirical evidence for promoting the development of the carbon emissions trading market.     

Assessing the effects of noise abatement measures on health risks: A case study in Istanbul

In recent decades, noise pollution caused by industrialization and increased motorization has become a major concern around the world because of its adverse effects on human well-being. Therefore, transportation agencies have been implementing noise abatement measures in order to reduce road traffic noise. However, limited attention is given to noise in environmental assessment of road transportation systems. This paper presents a framework for a health impact assessment model for road transportation noise emissions. The model allows noise impacts to be addressed with the health effects of air pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions from road transportation. The health damages assessed in the model include annoyance, sleep disturbance, and cardiovascular disease in terms of acute myocardial infarction. The model was applied in a case study in Istanbul in order to evaluate the change in health risks from the implementation of noise abatement strategies. The noise abatement strategies evaluated include altering pavement surfaces in order to absorb noise and introducing speed limits. It was shown that significant improvements in health risks can be achieved using open graded pavement surfaces and introducing speed limits on highways.     

唐山市钢铁行业大气污染物排放清单建立

以唐山市钢铁企业为研究对象,在收集已有排放源数据的基础上,基于排放因子和活动水平数据采用排放因子法估算了唐山市钢铁企业多个大气污染物的排放量,得到了符合空气质量模型要求的污染源输入数据,建立钢铁行业和主要防控因子污染源数据库。结合唐山市各县区的环境空气质量状况,利用GIS技术,将不同污染因子的排放进行空间分布,最终形成准确完善的多尺度、高时空分辨率大气污染源排放清单。研究介绍了符合中国特色的区域高分辨率大气排放源清单建立的方法体系,为京津冀地区区域大气污染联防联控及2020年大气污染物区域削减计划工作提供数据支撑。     

Influencing factors of carbon emissions in transportation industry based on CD function and LMDI decomposition model: China as an example

Globally, the transportation industry is one of the leading fields that generate the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions. While undergoing rapid development, countries worldwide aim to solve the problems involved in high energy consumption. Taking China as an example, this paper studies the main factors of carbon emissions in the transport sector and analyses the decoupling states between carbon emission and economic growth, making energy efficiency policies accordingly. In order to better demonstrate the dependence of the economy on the carbon emissions in China's transportation industry comprehensively, combined with the CD production function, this paper develops the decomposition and decoupling technology based on the LMDI approach. Additionally, it quantifies seven effects: energy emission intensity effect, energy structure effect, energy intensity effect, transportation intensity effect, technology state effect, labor input effect and capital input effect. The results show three major points: (1) From 2001 to 2018, the cumulative carbon emissions of China's transportation industry increased by 633.46 million tons, in which the capital input effect is the key factor driving carbon emissions, accounting for 157.70% of the total cumulative increased emissions, followed by energy structure effect at 10.39%. The labor input effect accounted for the smallest proportion at 2.26%. In this case, the technology state effect is the primary factor in restraining carbon emissions. During the study period, it reduced carbon emissions by 292.27 million tons, accounting for 46.14%. To a certain extent, energy intensity effect, transportation intensity effect and energy emission intensity inhibited carbon emissions, representing 16.67%, 5.32% and 2.22%, respectively. (2) During the research period, two decoupling states existed between carbon emissions and economic growth in China's transportation industry, specifically weak decoupling and expansive coupling. (3) The analysis of decomposition and decoupling state of influencing factors of carbon emissions shows that, on the one hand, factors promoting carbon emissions (capital input effect, energy structure effect and labor input effect) hinder the decoupling process. On the other hand, factors restraining carbon emissions (technology state effect, transportation intensity effect, energy intensity effect and energy emission intensity effect) accelerate the decoupling process. The research findings provide a new perspective for achieving carbon emission reduction in the transportation industry and curbing energy consumption growth.     

Estimating the mitigation potential of the Chinese service sector using embodied carbon emissions accounting

It is universally recognized that direct carbon emissions based on energy consumption and industrial production lead to carbon leakage and inequality. This paper employs input–output analysis (IOA) and the hypothetical extraction method (HEM) to establish an embodied carbon analysis framework to resolve the above externalities. As a typical downstream consumption industry, the service sector has had very little work examining its embodied carbon transfer structure and related climate policies. In this paper, carbon flows of China's service sector between 1997 and 2015 are mapped and a scenario analysis is conducted that accounts for the service sector development plan and carbon emissions reduction targets. The results demonstrate that 13–19% of carbon flows in the Chinese economy are caused by the service sector's demand of other sectors. Controlling the industry scale and carbon intensity of its upstream industries effectively mitigates the dramatic growth of embodied carbon emissions in the service sector. The embodied carbon emissions accounting framework might provide new insights for the definition of emissions reduction responsibility on both a regional and sectoral scale. The further exploration of the service industry from this novel perspective will be helpful in realizing China's overall carbon emissions reduction goals.     

Joint prevention and control mechanism for air pollution regulations in China: A policy simulation approach with evolutionary game

China's environmentalism with autocratic characteristics has far-reaching effects for fighting air pollution effectively. Political blue sky is unsustainable because conflict of interest in China's authoritarian environmentalism leads to failure of joint prevention and control in air pollution regulations. This study aims to explore policy mechanisms that would integrate intergovernmental join efforts in air pollution control. A non-cooperative tripartite evolutionary game is employed to model the dynamic interactions among the central government, Beijing municipality, and local governments for fighting air pollution. A double-payment with dual-supervision mechanism is proposed for air pollution control in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region. Simulations are conducted to examine the effectiveness of air pollution regulations involving multiple policy instruments for yielding the ideal outcome. It is shown that appropriate coordination of these policy instruments can address the intergovernmental challenge in collective action against air pollution. In addition, two long-term scenarios per the Porter hypothesis are investigated regarding environmental tax reform and enterprise innovations. It is found that such long-term inspirations can improve regulatory flexibility and efficacy. The double-payment with dual-supervision mechanism can effectively engage all governmental stakeholders for promoting sustainable air pollution governance in China. From a methodology perspective, policy simulations in an evolutionary game framework provide a novel addition to the research toolkit for policy studies.     

基于区域环境空气质量和碳排放数据的减污降碳协同效果评估

化石燃料燃烧产生的温室气体与大气污染物具有同根同源性，但具体治理中减污降碳的协同效果尚不明确。以浙江省11个设区市为研究样本，对环境空气质量和二氧化碳(CO₂)排放数据进行分析研究，结果显示：2016—2020年浙江省环境空气质量持续改善，但CO₂排放总量仍处于增长阶段。11个设区城市PM_2.5年均浓度降幅在26%～41%之间，二氧化氮(NO₂)年均浓度下降趋势不明显，大部分城市呈现碳排放增加、NO₂浓度下降的特征，只有杭州和温州两市呈现碳排放总量和NO₂、PM_2.5浓度协同下降的趋势。因子相关性分析结果表明，各设区市呈现NO₂浓度与碳排放相关性较大、协同性强，PM_2.5浓度与碳排放相关性较小的特点。进一步通过减污降碳协同定量评价分析表明，浙江地区在环境空气质量改善和温室气体减排已表现出一定成效，但各设区市因产业结构、环境基础条件、协同程度等不同导致减污降碳综合绩效有明显差异。从源头减排实现...     

On the optimal control of carbon dioxide emissions: an application of FUND

This paper presents the Climate Framework for Uncertainty, Negotiation and Distribution (FUND), an integrated assessment model of climate change, and discusses selected results. FUND is a nine‐region model of the world economy and its interactions with climate, running in time steps of one year from 1990 to 2200. The model consists of scenarios for economy and population, which are perturbed by climate change and greenhouse gas emission reduction policy. Each region optimizes its net present welfare. Policy variables are energy and carbon efficiency improvement, and sequestering carbon dioxide in forests. It is found that reducing conventional air pollution is a major reason to abate carbon dioxide emissions. Climate change is an additional reason to abate emissions. Reducing and changing energy use is preferred as an option over sequestering carbon. Under non‐cooperation, free riding as well as assurance behaviour is observed in the model. The scope for joint implementation is limited. Under cooperation, optimal emission abatement is (slightly) higher than under non‐cooperation, but the global coalition is not self‐enforcing while side payments are insufficient. Optimal emission control under non‐cooperation is less than currently discussed under the Framework Convention on Climate Change, but higher than observed in practice. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Agricultural trade shocks and carbon leakage: Evidence from China's trade shocks to the Belt & Road economies

Existing literature on carbon leakage mostly focused on polluting industries or at the national level. Agriculture is one of the main sources of carbon emissions, however, research on agricultural carbon leakage is still insufficient. To fill this gap, this paper investigates the impact of China's agricultural trade shocks on carbon emissions in a panel of 62 economies along the Belt and Road (B&R) over the period 1990–2017. The results show that China's supply shocks have a significant inhibitory effect on the agricultural carbon emissions of the B&R economies, and this inhibitory effect is very stable and will not be disturbed by other factors. On the contrary, China's demand shocks only have a significant inhibitory effect on the carbon emission intensity of economies with a higher proportion of agriculture, but it will significantly increase the agricultural carbon emissions share in all economies.     

The Kyoto Protocol and non-CO2 Greenhouse Gases and Carbon Sinks

Many trace constituents other than carbon dioxide affect the radiative budget of the atmosphere. The existing international agreement to limit greenhouse gases, the Kyoto Protocol, includes carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF₆) and credit for some carbon sinks. We investigate technological options for reducing emissions of these gases and the economic implications of including other greenhouse gases and sinks in the climate change control policy. We conduct an integreated assessment of costs using the MIT Emissions Prediction and Policy Analysis (EPPA) model combined with estimates of abatement costs for non-CO₂ greenhouse gases and sinks. We find that failure to take advantage of the other gas and sink flexibility would nearly double aggregate Annex B costs. Including all the GHGs and sinks is actually cheaper than if only CO₂ had been included in the Protocol and their inclusion achieves greater overall abatement. There remains considerable uncertainty in these estimates, the magnitude of the savings depends heavily on reference projections of emissions, for example, but these uncertainties do not change the overall conclusion that non-CO₂ GHGs are an important part of a climate control policy.     

The Impact of Unilateral Commitment on Transboundary Pollution

To reach a common target of environmental quality, countries can choose to commit to a stream of pollution abatement right from the beginning of the game or decide upon abatement at each moment of time. Though most of the previous literature studies homogeneous strategies where no country or all countries commit to a (same) predefined policy, reality goes along a different way: some countries make more efforts than others to reduce pollutant emission. The main novelty of this paper resides in the introduction of this kind of heterogeneous strategic behavior currently observed among large pollution nations. We find that the pollution level can be lower under heterogeneous than under homogeneous strategies. A stringent environmental quality target will induce the committed player to produce an abatement effort that more than compensates the free-riding attitude of the non-committed player.     

The FAIR model: A tool to analyse environmental and costs implications of regimes of future commitments

This article describes the policy decision-support tool, FAIR, to assess the environmental and abatement costs implications of international regimes for differentiation of future commitments. The model links long-term climate targets and global reduction objectives with regional emission allowances and abatement costs, accounting for the Kyoto Mechanisms used. FAIR consists of three sub-models: a simple climate model, an emission-allocation model and a cost model. The article also analyses ten different rule-based emission allocation schemes for two long-term concentration stabilisation targets for greenhouse gases. This analysis shows that evaluating regimes requires not only an assessment of the initial allocation, but also of the distribution of abatement costs and the impacts from emissions trading. The Multi-Stage approach (with a gradual increase of Parties adopting emission intensity or reductions targets) and the Triptych approach (with sectoral targets for all Parties) seem to provide the best prospects for most of the Parties when compared to the other allocation schemes analysed.     

Can Chinese-style environmental collaboration improve the air quality? A quasi-natural experimental study across Chinese cities

Environmental management has evolved from a vertical command and control management model to a more collaborative one. A series of public administration studies take the field of environmental policy as an important background for understanding collaborative governance, yet the theoretical and empirical study of environmental collaborative governance is relatively under-developed. This article begins to fill the research lacuna through the investigation of air pollution collaborative governance practice in Jing-Jin-Ji and surrounding areas. Based on the panel data of 58 regional cities from January 2016 to March 2019, a difference in difference quasi-natural experiment design is employed to explore the effect of environmental collaboration under Chinese authoritarian regime. The analysis shows that environmental collaboration has a positive impact on air quality and exhibits different effects on primary and secondary pollutants. Specifically, it has a greater influence on the emission reduction of NO₂ compared to SO₂ and CO, the positive effects of environmental collaboration on PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ pollutants are significant, and there is no statistically positive impact on O₃ control. The time trend effect of environmental collaboration varies among pollutants, it presents positive effects on air quality improvement and secondary pollutant control (e.g., PM_2.5, PM₁₀) after the fourth month, the mitigation effect of environmental collaboration on primary pollutants represented by NO₂ is more significant and constant in the sixth month. However, the time trend effect of environmental collaboration has gradually weakened. This paper concludes with discussions on the direction and implications of improving the performance and sustainability of environmental collaboration in China.     

河北省火电企业吨煤烟气排放量测定及污染动态预测

火电企业大气污染动态预测是大气污染控制的基础。采用现场实测法,对河北省36家火电企业101台机组锅炉进行现场监测,经统计分析给出不同装机容量吨煤烟气排放量,并与其他方法进行了比较,发现实测结果更为合理。在此基础上,建立吨煤SO₂、NO_x,烟尘排放量和烟气浓度的关系,为火电企业大气污染动态预测提供新的公式,对定量测定火电企业污染物排放提供参考。     

中国高精度温室气体排放清单编制研究进展

高精度温室气体排放清单是摸清区域碳排放来源、识别时空演变特征的数据基础，也是政府部门科学制定“减污降碳”策略、实现“双碳”目标的科技支撑。通过调研国内外组织机构、科研团队在高精度排放清单方面的成果，从核算范围、核算方法、时空化方法、评估与校验4个方面介绍了我国温室气体排放清单编制方法的研究进展。针对我国高精度温室气体排放清单研究区域分散、方法与格式不统一的问题，提出我国清单编制要逐步统筹本地化、精细化和动态化的发展建议。     

中药类制药工业污染物排放自行监测方案编制要点

分析了中药类制药工业企业自行监测方案的编制依据,以及中药制药生产工艺类型和污染排放特征,在此基础上确定了其污染物排放自行监测方案和周边环境质量影响监测方案的主要内容。针对废水、废气、噪声3类主要污染因子,明确了监测点位、监测指标、监测频次设定的注意事项,以及自行监测相关信息记录的内容要求。     

上海市汽车更新淘汰减排效果初步评估

选取2009年6月—2010年1月上海市汽车动态数据,讨论汽车污染物排放状况,分析汽车更新淘汰对大气环境的排放贡献影响。结果表明,上海市现行老旧车辆更新淘汰政策可以减少CO、HC、NOx、PM等污染物排放量43 565 t/a。鼓励老旧汽车淘汰更新政策对推进减排工作、改善城市大气环境有重要意义。     

Evaluating the Efficiency of a Uniform N-Input Tax under Different Policy Scenarios at Different Scales

Nitrate pollution from agriculture is an important environmental externality, caused by the excessive use of fertilizers. The internalization of this problem, via a tax on mineral nitrogen, could lead to a second best solution, reducing nitrate emissions. Several authors suggest that a reduction in agricultural support could produce similar results. In this paper, we examine the effects of different levels of a uniformly implemented nitrogen tax in France under two policy scenarios, corresponding to post Agenda 2000 and 2003 Luxembourg reforms of European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy, in order to reveal the synergies and conflicts between the tax and the policy scenarios in terms of nitrate emissions abatement. The analysis is performed at different geographical scales, from the national to the regional and is based on a bioeconomic approach that involves the coupling of the economic model AROPAj with the crop model STICS. Results show that the efficiency of the N-tax varies according to the geographical scale of the analysis and the type of farming. Furthermore, we prove that a uniform implementation may lead to perverse effects that should always be taken into account when introducing second-best instruments.     

Meat,Dairy and Climate Change: Assessing the Long-Term Mitigation Potential of Alternative Agri-Food Consumption Patterns in Canada

We use a newly developed model of the entire Canadian energy system (TIMES-Canada) to assess the climate change mitigation potential of different agri-food consumption patterns in Canada. For this, our model has been extended by disaggregating the agricultural demand sector into individual agri-food demands to allow for a more in-depth analysis. Besides a business-as-usual (baseline) scenario, we have constructed four different agri-food scenarios to assess the viability of reducing Canadian meat and dairy consumption in order to diminish Canada’s agricultural sector energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Our policy scenarios progressively restrict the consumption of different meat and dairy agricultural products until the year 2030. Our results suggest that the implementation of a meat and dairy consumption reduction policy would lead to a 10 to 40 % reduction in agricultural GHG emissions, depending on the severity of the scenario. This translates to a 1 to 3 % decrease in total Canadian GHG emissions by the year 2030. Besides these environmental benefits, health benefits associated with a reduction in meat and dairy consumption (as inferred from other studies) are presented as an additional source of motivation for implementing such a policy in Canada.     

北京市主要水污染物排放特征及水质改善对策

污染排放信息是环境决策的重要依据。分析了北京市水环境质量的现状,基于最新源排放清单,解析北京市当前主控污染物COD、氨氮排放的结构特征和空间特征,以期为北京市开展基于流域综合治理的水污染控制和水环境管理提供依据。按照工业源、农业源、生活源和集中处理设施的环境统计口径,2013年,COD、氨氮的排放构成分别为2.7%、37.1%、35.0%、25.3%和1.5%、20.1%、54.8%、23.6%。其中,农业源中畜禽养殖排放是主要来源,COD、氨氮总排放分别占农业源总排放量的94.7%和87.0%。在北京市五大水系中,北运河流域排放量最大,COD、氨氮排放量分别占全市总排放量的53.3%和57.4%。为改善北京市水环境质量,建议从加快污水处理厂提标改造、推动面源污染治理、加强水利联通、合理规划城市规模布局等4个方面入手。