Assessing the impact of environmental regulation on pollution abatement and collaborative emissions reduction: Micro-evidence from Chinese industrial enterprises

Given the rapid industrialization and urbanization of China, environmental problems have gradually become major constraints that hinder its sustainable economic development. Moreover, China's pollution abatement and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions have been severely affected by pressures coming from domestic environmental appeals and international environmental diplomacy. By using integrated data from the Chinese Industrial Enterprise and the Chinese Enterprise Environmental Survey and Reporting databases, this study constructs comprehensive indicators of pollutant discharge intensity and carbon emissions index at the enterprise level and uses the panel fixed effect model, Kaya identity, and mediation effect model to assess the effects of environmental regulations on pollution abatement and collaborative emissions reduction from the micro-perspective. Results show that these regulations can abate the pollution emissions of Chinese industrial enterprises and verify the effectiveness of environmental policies. These regulations can also efficiently reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of enterprises through pollution abatement. In other words, environmental regulations facilitate a collaborative emissions reduction of pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions from enterprises. Such collaborative emissions reduction effect is also influenced by the energy structure and consumption of enterprises. This paper presents empirical evidence and policy basis for further improving China's environmental regulation policy system and achieving coordinated progress in China's economic development and environmental governance.     

Marginal Abatement Costs and Marginal Welfare Costs for Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions: Results from the EPPA Model

Marginal abatement cost (MAC) curves, relationships between tonnes of emissions abated and the CO₂ (or greenhouse gas (GHG)) price, have been widely used as pedagogic devices to illustrate simple economic concepts such as the benefits of emissions trading. They have also been used to produce reduced-form models to examine situations where solving the more complex model underlying the MAC is difficult. Some important issues arise in such applications: (1) Are MAC relationships independent of what happens in other regions?, (2) are MACs stable through time regardless of what policies have been implemented in the past?, and (3) can one approximate welfare costs from MACs? This paper explores the basic characteristics of MAC and marginal welfare cost (MWC) curves, deriving them using the MIT Emissions Prediction and Policy Analysis model. We find that, depending on the method used to construct them, MACs are affected by policies abroad. They are also dependent on policies in place in the past and depend on whether they are CO₂-only or include all GHGs. Further, we find that MACs are, in general, not closely related to MWCs and therefore should not be used to derive estimates of welfare change. We also show that, as commonly constructed, MACs may be unreliable in replicating results of the parent model when used to simulate GHG policies. This is especially true if the policy simulations differ from the conditions under which the MACs were simulated.     

Preparation and Validation of Gridded Emission Inventory of Criteria Air Pollutants and Identification of Emission Hotspots for Megacity Delhi

Delhi is one of the many megacities struggling with punishing levels of pollution from industrial, residential, and transportation sources. Over the years, pollution abatement in Delhi has become an important constituent of state policies. In the past one decade a lot of policies and regulations have been implemented which have had a noticeable effect on pollution levels. In this context, air quality models provide a powerful tool to study the impact of development plans on the expected air pollution levels and thus aid the regulating and planning authorities in decision-making process. In air quality modeling, emissions in the modeling domain at regular interval are one of the most important inputs. From the annual emission data of over a decade (1990–2000), emission inventory is prepared for the megacity Delhi. Four criteria pollutants namely, CO, SO₂, PM, and NO _x are considered and a gridded emission inventory over Delhi has been prepared taking into account land use pattern, population density, traffic density, industrial areas, etc. A top down approach is used for this purpose. Emission isopleths are drawn and annual emission patterns are discussed mainly for the years 1990, 1996 and 2000. Primary and secondary areas of emission hotspots are identified and emission variations discussed during the study period. Validation of estimated values is desired from the available data. There is a direct relationship of pollution levels and emission strength in a given area. Hence, an attempt has been made to validate the emission inventory for all criteria pollutants by analyzing emissions in various sampling zones with the ambient pollution levels. For validation purpose, the geographical region encompassing the study area (Delhi) has been divided into seven emission zones as per the air quality monitoring stations using Voronoi polygon concept. Dispersion modeling is also used for continuous elevated sources to have the contributing emissions at the ground level to facilitate validation. A good correlation between emission estimates and concentration has been found. Correlation coefficient of 0.82, 0.77, 0.58 and 0.68 for CO, SO₂, PM and NO _x respectively shows a reasonably satisfactory performance of the present estimates.     

Assessing the Impact of Carbon Tax Differentiation in the European Union

To what extent do the welfare costs associated with the implementation of the Burden Sharing Agreement in the European Union depend on sectoral allocation of emissions rights? What are the prospects for strategic climate policy to favor domestic production? This paper attempts to answer those questions using a CGE model featuring a detailed representation of the European economies. First, numerical simulations show that equalizing marginal abatement costs across domestic sectors greatly reduces the burden of the emissions constraint but also that other allocations may be preferable for some countries because of pre-existing tax distortions. Second, we show that the effect of a single country's attempt to undertake a strategic policy to limit impacts on its domestic energy-intensive industries has mixed effects. Exempting energy-intensive industries from the reduction program is a costly solution to maintain the international competitiveness of these industries; a tax-cum-subsidy approach is shown to be better than exemption policy to sustain exports. The welfare impact either policy – exemption or subsidy – on other European countries is likely to be small because of general equilibrium effects.     

Sensitivity analysis of water quality for Delhi stretch of the River Yamuna,India

Simulation models are used to aid the decision makers about water pollution control and management in river systems. However, uncertainty of model parameters affects the model predictions and hence the pollution control decision. Therefore, it often is necessary to identify the model parameters that significantly affect the model output uncertainty prior to or as a supplement to model application to water pollution control and planning problems. In this study, sensitivity analysis, as a tool for uncertainty analysis was carried out to assess the sensitivity of water quality to (a) model parameters (b) pollution abatement measures such as wastewater treatment, waste discharge and flow augmentation from upstream reservoir. In addition, sensitivity analysis for the “best practical solution” was carried out to help the decision makers in choosing an appropriate option. The Delhi stretch of the river Yamuna was considered as a case study. The QUAL2E model is used for water quality simulation. The results obtained indicate that parameters K ₁ (deoxygenation constant) and K ₃ (settling oxygen demand), which is the rate of biochemical decomposition of organic matter and rate of BOD removal by settling, respectively, are the most sensitive parameters for the considered river stretch. Different combinations of variations in K ₁ and K ₂ also revealed similar results for better understanding of inter-dependability of K ₁ and K ₂. Also, among the pollution abatement methods, the change (perturbation) in wastewater treatment level at primary, secondary, tertiary, and advanced has the greatest effect on the uncertainty of the simulated dissolved oxygen and biochemical oxygen demand concentrations.     

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.     

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.     

Establishing the link between ammonia emission control and measurements of reduced nitrogen concentrations and deposition

In the context of international efforts to reduce the impactsof atmospheric NH₃ and NH₄ ⁺ (collectively, NH_x), it is important to establish the link between NH₃emissions and monitoring of NH_x concentrations and deposition. This is equally relevant to situations where NH₃emissions changes are certain (e.g. due to changed source sectoractivity), as to cases where NH₃ abatement technologies havebeen implemented. Correct interpretation of adequate atmosphericmeasurements is essential, since monitoring data provide the onlymeans to evaluate trends in regional NH₃ emissions.These issues have been reviewed using available measurements and modelling from nine countries. In addition to historic datasets,the analysis here considers countries where NH₃ source sector activity changed (both increases and decreases) and countries where NH₃ abatement policies have been implemented.In The Netherlands an `ammonia gap' was identified between the expected reduction and results of monitoring, and was attributedinitially to ineffectiveness of the abatement measures. The analysis here for a range of countries shows that atmospheric interactions complicate the expected changes, particularly sinceSO₂ emissions have decreased at the same time, while at manysites the few years of available data show substantial inter-annual variation. It is concluded that networks need to beestablished that speciate between NH₃ and aerosol NH₄ ⁺, in addition to providing wet deposition, and sample at sufficient sites for robust regional estimates to be established. Such measurements will be essential to monitor compliance of the international agreements on NH₃ emission abatement.     

Human Capital,Innovation, and Climate Policy: an Integrated Assessment

This paper looks at the interplay between human capital and innovation when climate and educational policies are implemented. Following recent empirical studies, human capital and general purpose research and development (R&D) are introduced in an integrated assessment model used to study the dynamics of climate change mitigation. Our results suggest that climate policy stimulates general purpose as well as clean R&D but reduces the incentive to invest in human capital formation. Both innovation and human capital have a scale effect, which increases pollution, as well as a technique effect, which saves emissions for each unit of output produced. While the energy-saving effect prevails when innovation increases, human capital is pollution-using, also because of the gross complementarity between the labor and energy input. When the role of human capital is the key input in the production of general purpose and energy knowledge is accounted for, the crowding-out of education induced by climate policy is mitigated, though not completely offset. By contrast, a policy mix that combines educational as well as climate objectives offsets the human capital crowding-out, at moderate and short-term costs. Over the long run, the policy mix leads to global welfare gains.     

Meta-Modeling to Assess the Possible Future of Paris Agreement

In the meta-modeling approach, one builds a numerically tractable dynamic optimization or game model in which the parameters are identified through statistical emulation of a detailed large scale numerical simulation model. In this paper, we show how this approach can be used to assess the economic impacts of possible climate policies compatible with the Paris Agreement. One indicates why it is appropriate to assume that an international carbon market, with emission rights given to different groups of countries will exist. One discusses the approach to evaluate correctly abatement costs and welfare losses incurred by different groups of countries when implementing climate policies. Finally, using a recently proposed meta-model of game with a coupled constraint on a cumulative CO₂ emissions budget, we assess several new scenarios for possible fair burden sharing in climate policies compatible with the Paris Agreement.     

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.     

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.     

INASUD project findings on integrated assessment of climate policies

This communication summarizes the main findings of INASUD, an European-wide research project on integrated assessment of climate policies. The project aimed at improving the framing of climate policy analysis through the parallel use of various existing integrated assessment models. It provides a comprehensive examination of the link between uncertainty regarding damages and inertia in economic systems. Results show that the Kyoto targets and timing are consistent with the precautionary principle but offers little insurance for longer-term climate protection. Flexibility mechanisms offer potentials for cooperation with developing countries, and are necessary to tap the environmental and economic benefits of joint carbon and sulfur emissions abatement.     

Coupling Climate Damages and GHG Abatement Costs in a Linear Programming Framework

The paper discusses the coupling of non-linear non-convex damage costs due to climate change with a cost-efficiency analysis based on a technical-economic linear programming model like MARKAL and studies the implications for the computation of cooperative and non-cooperative solutions. Our empirical analysis of climate damages based on different world emissions levels and paths prove (a) that the dependency of damages on the trajectory of emissions may be neglected, so that the only relevant variables are the cumulative emissions in each country, and (b) that a linear relationship links regional damages and cumulative global emissions. Based on these results, cooperative and non-cooperative equilibria can be much more easily calculated by solving local optimization problems in a case where international trade effects of GHG policies are neglected: given the linearity of damage functions, each country chooses its non-cooperative strategy by considering only the part of its own damage cost due to its own emissions; in the cooperative case, each country takes into account its contribution to the damages done to all countries. Of course, any cost-benefit conclusion that will be produced by this approach is fully dependent on the damage functions. Also, this approach may be extended to the case where trade effects are modeled.     

Science and strategies to reduce mercury risks: a critical review

Despite decades of scientific research and policy actions to control mercury, exposure to toxic methylmercury continues to pose risks to humans and the environment. This article critically reviews the linkages between scientific advancements and mercury reduction policies aimed at reducing this risk, focusing on the challenges that mercury poses as an issue that crosses both spatial and temporal scales. Scientific aspects of the mercury issue at various spatial and temporal scales are reviewed, and policy examples at global, national and local scale are analysed. Policy activity to date has focused on the mercury problem at a single level of spatial scale, and on near-term timescales. Efforts at the local scale have focused on monitoring levels in fish and addressing local contamination issues; national-scale assessments have addressed emissions from particular sources; and global-scale reports have integrated long-range transport of emissions and commercial trade concerns. However, aspects of the mercury issue that cross the political scale (such as interactions between different forms of mercury) as well as contamination problems with long timescales are at present beyond the reach of current policies. It is argued that these unaddressed aspects of the mercury problem may be more effectively addressed by (1) expanded cross-scale policy coordination on mitigation actions and (2) better incorporating adaptation into policy decision-making to minimize impacts.     

大连市夏季近地面臭氧污染数值模拟和控制对策研究

通过区域空气质量模型CAMx对大连市2015年8月近地面臭氧(O_3)污染进行模拟,探讨了O_3及其生成前体物(NOx和VOCs)的来源,O_3生成控制区,并根据敏感性分析结果对前体物排放的控制效果进行了定量评估。结果表明:本地NOx排放对大连地区的NOx浓度贡献占90%以上,本地VOCs排放对大连地区的VOCs浓度贡献占80%以上,而本地NOx和VOCs排放对大连地区O_3浓度贡献仅占29%;大连市整体上为VOCs控制区,控制VOCs能有效降低O_3污染,还能有效削减O_3的峰值浓度;通过敏感性分析结果计算得出,削减大连本地工业源VOCs和民用源VOCs能够有效降低大连地区O_3浓度,削减10%的工业源VOCs能使市区O_3平均浓度降低2%左右,削减10%的民用源VOCs能使大连市区平均O_3浓度降低1%左右。建议NOx与VOCs削减比例为1∶2,对大连市O_3和PM2.5污染进行协同控制。     

Marginal Abatement Cost Curves: Combining Energy System Modelling and Decomposition Analysis

Marginal abatement cost (MAC) curves are a useful policy tool to communicate findings on the technological structure and the economics of CO₂ emissions reduction. However, existing ways of generating MAC curves do not display consistent technological detail and do not consider system-wide interactions and uncertainty in a structured manner. This paper details a new approach to overcome the present shortcomings by using an energy system model, UK MARKAL, in combination with index decomposition analysis. In addition, this approach allows different forms of uncertainty analysis to be used in order to test the robustness of the MAC curve. For illustration purposes, a sensitivity analysis concerning fossil fuel prices is applied to the transport sector of the UK. The resulting MAC curves are found to be relatively robust to different fuel costs at higher CO₂ tax levels. The new systems-based approach improves MAC curves through the avoidance of an inconsistent emissions baseline, the incorporation of system-wide interactions and the price responsiveness of demand.     

Combining policy instruments for sustainable energy systems: An assessment with the GMM model

An assessment of the impact of an illustrative portfolio of policy instruments that address different sustainability concerns in the global energy system in areas of climate change, air pollution and introduction of renewable-energy resources is conducted. The effects of a policy set containing three instruments, implemented either individually or in combination, were examined. The policy instruments under examination in this work include: Cap-and-Trade policies imposing a CO₂ emission reduction target on the global energy system, a renewable portfolio standard that forces a minimum share of renewable electricity generation, and the internalisation of external costs of power generation associated with local pollution. Implementation of these policy instruments significantly changes the structure and environmental performance of the energy sector, and particularly the structure of the electric-generation sector. The positive effects are amplified when the policy instruments are simultaneously applied, illustrating the potential for synergies between these energy-policy domains. The analysis has been conducted with the multi-regional, energy-system Global MARKAL Model (GMM), a “bottom-up” partial-equilibrium model that provides a detailed representation of energy technologies and endogenizes technology learning. ^★A preliminary version of this paper has been presented at the 6th IAEE European Energy Conference on “Modelling in Energy Economics and Policy”, 1–3 September 2004, ETH Zürich, Switzerland.     

辽河水体主要污染指标时空异质性分析

利用1987～2009年辽河干流8个常规监测断面的历年监测数据,通过统计分析确定辽河水质的主要污染指标为化学需氧量(COD)和氨氮,2007年前辽河水质首要污染指标是COD,2008年和2009年氨氮超过COD成为辽河水质污染首要污染指标;分析干流两项指标的时间、水期、空间分布规律,明确给出水质污染重点治理时段和河段.     

Concentrations, distributions and critical level exceedance assessment of SO2, NO2 and O3 in South Africa

South Africa has been identified as a source of industrial pollution that is significant at a global scale. This study was designed to provide quantitative information, by direct measurement, across northeastern South Africa, which includes the highly industrialised Mpumalanga Highveld. The specific aim of the study was to evaluate whether or not acidic atmospheric pollution poses a threat to soils, plants and water bodies of South Africa. To address this aim, a network of 37 passive sampling sites was established to measure monthly mean concentrations of near-surface SO₂, NO₂ and ozone. The area covered extended over the northern and eastern interior of South Africa while avoiding sources of local emissions such as towns, mines and highways. The field campaign was conducted between August 2005 and September 2007. Spatial distributions and temporal trends for these pollutant gases were assessed. Critical levels analysis comparisons were made against applicable air quality standards, guidelines and limits to evaluate the potential for adverse atmospheric pollution impacts on regional environments. The assessment indicates that only in the central source area of the South African industrial Highveld are some levels exceeded. In remote areas, including the sensitive forested regions of the Drakensberg escarpment, pollutant concentrations are below the critical thresholds for environmental damage.