The Chinese Carbon-Neutral Goal:Challenges and Prospects

On 22 September 2020,within the backdrop of the COVID-19 global pandemic,China announced its climate goal for peak carbon emissions before 2030 and to reach carbon neutrality before 2060.This carbon-neutral goal is generally considered to cover all anthropogenic greenhouse gases.The planning effort is now in full swing in China,but the pathway to decarbonization is unclear.The needed transition towards non-fossil fuel energy and its impact on China and the world may be more profound than its reform and development over the past 40 years,but the challenges are enormous.Analysis of four representative scenarios shows significant differences in achieving the carbon-neutral goal,particularly the contribution of non-fossil fuel energy sources.The high target values for nuclear,wind,and bioenergy have approached their corresponding resource limitations,with solar energy being the exception,suggesting solar’s critical role.We also found that the near-term policies that allow for a gradual transition,followed by more drastic changes after 2030,can eventually reach the carbon-neutral goal and lead to less of a reduction in cumulative emissions,thus inconsistent with the IPCC 1.5°C scenario.The challenges and prospects are discussed in the historical context of China’s socio-economic reform,globalization,international collaboration,and development.

Preface to the Special Issue on Carbon Neutrality: Important Roles of Renewable Energies, Carbon Sinks, NETs, and non-CO_(2) GHGs

The year 2020 witnessed milestone commitments to carbon neutrality with the EU,China,USA,Japan,South Korea,Canada,and South Africa,each pledging to reach net-zero carbon emissions.Countries that have adopted or have considered net-zero targets now represent 63%of the total contributions to global greenhouse gas(GHG)emissions.With the efforts of all parties,the 26th Conference of the Parties(COP26)achieved a package of outcomes in the Glasgow Climate Pact.Here,a breakthrough consensus was reached on reducing coal,controlling methane,and halting deforestation(Wang et al.,2022,Page 1209).To achieve net-zero carbon,we need to take action to implement the Paris Agreement and the Glasgow Climate Pact Since the global temperature slowdown of the nationally determined contributions(NDC)scenario is only 0.6°C,all countries need to pursue stricter carbon reduction policies for a more sustainable world.(Fu et al,2022,Page 1209).

Preface to Special Topic on Atmospheric Greenhouse Gas Measurement and Application in China

China initiated a national carbon trading market in December 2017.Commitments and actions to reduce greenhouse gas(GHG)emissions require consistent,reliable and timely information on GHG emissions.GHG monitoring and modeling studies provide GHG emission estimates to evaluate and guide progress towards emission reductions.GHG monitoring has mainly focused on global-scale background networks over the last few decades,while recent efforts have been made on regional and urban scales,such as projects in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei city cluster,in Paris,Washington-Baltimore.

A review of edge-based 3D tracking of rigid objects

Three-dimensional(3D)tracking of rigid objects plays a very important role in many areas such as augmented reality,computer vision,and robotics.Numerous works have been done to pursue more stable,faster,and more accurate 3D tracking.Among various tracking methods,edge-based 3D tracking has been widely used owing to its many advantages.Furthermore,edge-based methods can be mainly divided into two categories,methods without and those with explicit edges,depending on whether explicit edges need to be extracted.Based on this,representative methods in both categories are introduced,analyzed,and compared in this paper.Finally,some suggestions on the choice of methods in different application scenarios and research directions in the future are given.

Double-uncertainty optimal operation of hybrid AC/DC microgrids with high proportion of intermittent energy sources

This paper applies double-uncertainty optimization theory to the operation of AC/DC hybrid microgrids to deal with uncertainties caused by a high proportion of intermittent energy sources.A fuzzy stochastic expectation economic model for day-ahead scheduling based on uncertain optimization theory is proposed to minimize the operational costs of hybrid AC/DC microgrids.The fuzzy stochastic alternating direction multiplier method is proposed to solve the double-uncertainty optimization problem.A real-time intra-day unbalanced power adjustment model is established to minimize real-time adjustment costs.Through comparative analysis of deterministic optimization,stochastic optimization and fuzzy stochastic optimization of day-ahead scheduling and real-time adjustment,the validity of fuzzy stochastic optimization based on a fuzzy stochastic expectation model is proved.

A photonanozyme with light-empowered specific peroxidasemimicking activity

Although nanozymes have been widely developed,directly utilizing light to drive catalytic reactions like natural photoenzymes still remains challenging.Herein,we propose that photonanozymes(PNZs),as a novel kind of nanozyme,exclusively possess enzyme-mimicking activity under illumination.Only in the presence of visible light,the as-synthesized TiO_(2) proposed in this contribution shows excellent specificity of peroxidase-like without any oxidase-or catalase-like activity.The driving force of the light-empowered peroxidase-like photonanozymatic activity is explicated in terms of the photogenerated hot charge carriers in TiO_(2) PNZs and the accompanied reactive oxygen species.The co-substrates for photonanozymatic reaction over TiO_(2) PNZs facilitate the formation of the precarious and reactive peroxo-oxygen bridge between TiO_(2) and H_(2)O_(2),enabling the catalytic specificity.With the TiO_(2) PNZ-based biosensing platform for visual glucose detection exemplifying the concept of the application of PNZs,this work may evoke more inspirations to explore strategies for enlarging the scope of photoenzyme mimics.