Evaluation on the development degree of China's seven pilot carbon markets

China is preparing to establish a nationwide carbon market in 2017, and in order to facilitate this goal, seven pilot carbon markets have been under study for the past few years. This paper summarizes the operation experience and challenges of the seven pilot carbon markets in China.It has been widely accepted that the essence of a carbon market is to solve environmental problems through market mechanisms, with environmental benefit being the fundamental purpose, market mechanism being the key measure, and policies and regulations being an important guarantee for an orderly carbon market. Therefore, this paper constructs an evaluation index system composed of 34 detailed sub-indexes in three dimensions, such as environmental constraint force, market resource allocation ability, and supporting policies and facility completeness. Through analyzing the operation data from 2013 to 2016, the weights of the sub-indexes are obtained. In addition, the study obtains experts' opinions from over 10 carbon permits exchanges, consultancy firms and research institutions in China, and conducts a comprehensive evaluation on the development degree of the seven pilot carbon markets. Results show that the pilot carbon markets that include private SMEs as the covered entities for emissions control present relatively higher environmental constraint force. But too many covered entities could increase the difficulty of market performance management, while the pilots that include high energy-consuming state-owned enterprises as the entities for emissions control demonstrate a phenomenon of "high market compliance rate with low trading volume". The resource allocation capability of China's carbon market has not been effectively brought into play, and low degree of market participation has become an important constraint factor for market development. Due to the lack of laws and regulations at the national macro-level, the legally binding force of the pilot markets construction is obviously insufficient, and the supporting policies are lacking foresights.Generally, the development of China's pilot carbon markets is still in such a fragmented state as in the aspects of environment, market and policy development, and the market operation has not yet achieved the purpose of solving environmental problems through market mechanisms.Accordingly, policy recommendations pointed out by this study are that tightening the allowance of free quota and progressively increasing the auction proportion, improving legal construction,increasing the services and products of carbon finance and standardizing the order of market transactions, enhancing capacity building of local governments and promoting the participation willingness and capability of emissions control entities, will be necessary.

Appraisal of typical rural development models during rapid urbanization in the eastern coastal region of China

The sustainability of regional rural development depends on the integrated status and the coordination between rural resources-environment conditions and rural socioeco- nomic development. In this paper a diagnostic indicator system is proposed to appraise four representative rural development models such as Mentougou model, Taicang model, Yueqing model and Qionghai model in the eastern coastal region of China from the integrated perspective of population, resources, environment, and development. In conclusion, the formation and evolution of these diverse rural deveJopment models are the direct response to the very different characteristics in the environment, market demand, and regional culture. These models are common in that their sustainability depends on the scientific guidance of the regional development functional positioning, strong intra-regional interactions, and self-adaptability to the external conditions.

Evaluation and countermeasures for coordinated development in the active export-oriented region: a case study on Zhejiang, China

Taking a typical active export-oriented region Zhejiang as an example, this paper tries to evaluate its Coordinated Development Degree （CDD） form 1997, focusing on the characteristics of its export-oriented econom〉 and regional environment. The results show that Zhejiang ＇s CDD has kept increasing steadily after its slight drop in 1998. Finally, four measurements are proposed to promote sustainable development, including increasing and equalizing region＇s environmental investment, changing pollution-intensive export structure to avoid restricting the whole industrial structure, restricting simple spatial translocation of high-material consumption, high-energy consumption and high-pollution industries, etc.

Non-coordination in China′s Urbanization: Assessment and Affecting Factors

Urbanization is a comprehensive concept, a trinity process that population urbanization, economic urbanization and space urbanization, is based on the interactions and mutual influences among the in which, people are the central and leading players in this process, while economic activities serve as the driving force and space is the carrier-the physical or material setting as well as the product. So the coordination among these processes is crucial for a country or region＇s sustainable development. China is experiencing rapid growth of cities and a surge in urban population, with the basic national condition of many people and little land, which calls for a systematic study of the issue of coordinated urbanization from theoretical, methodological and practical perspectives. Based on the concept of urbanization and non-coordination of urbanization, this article built a quantitative method to identify and evaluate the urbanization and non-coordination of urbanization, and made an empirical analysis in China between 2000 and 2008. The results show that the non-coordination overall level of China＇s urbanization declined during the study period, because population urbanization, economic urbanization, and space urbanization exhibited different trajectories of change. This study also reveals that performance assessment system, household registration system, and urban land expropriation system, etc., are the main affecting factors. At the end, we put forward some suggestions to achieve sustainable development of China＇s urbanization from the aspects of improving the local government＇s obiective function, imolementing the urban plalming svstem, enforcing public particination asnects and so on.

Surface Morphology of Soil Cracks in Yuanmou Dry-hot Valley Region,Southwest China

Surface morphology of soil cracks is one of the important factors influencing the water evaporation rate in cracked soil in Yuanmou Dry-hot Valley Region,Southwest China. Quantitative study of the complicated surface morphology of soil cracks is a prerequisite for further studies of soil-cracking mechanisms. The present paper establishes a quantitative indicator system by application of concepts and methods originating from Fractal Geometry and Network Analysis. These indicators can effectively express the complicated features of soil-crack network structure. Furthermore,a series of values related to soil-crack morphology was obtained by image processing on field photos of soil-crack quads,and gradation criteria for the degree of development of soil cracks were determined. Finally,the changes in values of the morphological indicators under different degrees of development were analyzed in detail. Our results indicate that (1) the degree of development of soil cracks can be divided into five grades,i.e.,feeble development,slight development,medium development,intensive development and extremely intensive development; (2) the values of the indicators change predictably with increasing degree of development of soil cracks. The area density (Dc) increases,and both the area-weighted mean ratio of crack area to perimeter (AWMARP),which reflects the intensity of cracking,and the index r,which is related to the connectivity of a soil crack,grow uniformly (albeit with different forms). AWMRAP increases at a geometric rate while r shows logarithm-mic growth,indicating a gradual increase in theconnectivity of a soil crack. Nevertheless,the area-weighted mean of soil-crack fractal dimension (AWMFRAC) shows a decreasing trend,indicating a gradual decline in the complexity of cracks as area density increases.

Coupling relationship between environment and economy ofmetropolis:a case study of Chongqing, China

City is a coupling system of economy, society and environment. The urban environment is a supporting systemto the sustainable development of city. Taking the urban area of Chongqing as an example, this paper establishes theindicator system for assessment of the coordination between urban environment and economy according to the resultfrom principal component analyses by software SPSS11.0. Meanwhile, the weight was assigned for each indicator basedon the load of the first proper principal components. Through computation of the coordinated development model set upaccording to the knowledge of statistics, the paper draws the conclusion that the situation of the coordination betweenenvironment and economy in Chongqing developed well from 1996 to 2004. Finally, countermeasures for the coordina-tion in the coming years are proposed.

Improvement of Ecological Footprint Method and Application in Henan Province

The measure of sustainable development has always been an important and difficulty subject, and the major evaluation model has three types: indicators based on system theory and methods, indicators relied on economic valuation of the environment, sustainability indicators including biophysical assessments. The ecological footprint analysis initiated by William E. Rees, one of the indicators including biophysical assessments, gets rid of the defects of the other models. Ecological footprint has gradually become popular on account of the measuring indexes based on scientific theory, innovative thought-way and its wide adaptability. This paper introduces the conception and computation method, making a progress and making up for the method of ecological footprint, and finally, makes an application analyses through Henan province regional sustainable development.

Research on Coordinating relations between Industrial agglomeration and Regional Technology Innovation Ability in Yangtze River Economic Belt

Based on principal component analysis, coordinated development model and location entropy, this paper analyzes the coordinated development of regional scientific and technological innovation ability and industrial agglomeration level and the spatial differences in Yangtze River economic zone. Firstly, the regional science and technology innovation ability is divided into two parts： innovation input and innovation transformation result. The accumulation of knowledge outside the region is introduced as a variable influencing the correlation effect, and the index system of regional innovation capability is constructed. According to the degree of coordination between the regional technological innovation ability and the level of industrial agglomeration, the Yangtze River economic belt provinces and municipalities are divided into moderate disorder class, serious disorder class, extreme disorder class, middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River region interregional knowledge accumulation weak.

Effective migration system of coalbed methane reservoirs in the southern Qinshui Basin

Effective migration system of coalbed methane(CBM)reservoir,which was controlled by development degree and opening-closing degree of fractures,determines the permeability of coal reservoir and can be characterized by the pore-fracture system in the extrinsic form.In this paper,based on coal matrix elastic self-regulating effect theory and coal reservoir combined elastic energy theory,the fracture opening-closing degree parameterΔand the fracture development degree parameterξare suggested for the quantitative study of the effective migration system of CBM reservoir in southern Qinshui Basin.Further,the control functions ofξandΔto CBM enrichment and high production are discussed.The results show that in present stage the area with highξvalue is located in Anze and Qinyuan,and then Zhengzhuang and Fangzhuang,where fracture development degree is high.The area with highΔvalue is located in Zhengzhuang and Fanzhuang,and then Anze and Qinyuan,indicating where coal matrix elastic self-regulating positive effect dominates and fractures tend to be open.Through the comprehensive analysis onξandΔ,it can be found that their best match area is located in Zhengzhuang and Fanzhuang,with high values for fracture development degree and opening-closing degree probably bringing about high fluid pressure and good permeability of reservoirs,which are advantageous to an abundant CBM production.

Analysis of driving forces of water demand in Jing-Jin-Ji district in recent years based on water demand field theory

In recent years,urbanization has accelerated and the gap between urban water supply and demand has become more significant.This phenomenon has led to greater demands on urban water resource management. Thus,analyses of the forces that drive urban water demand growth can help efficient management of urban water resources. "Jing-Jin-Ji" refers to the district composed of Beijing and Tianjin,municipality as well as Hebei Province,which is among the political and economic centers of China. The traditional analysis of driving force for water resources often consider cities as independent individuals and ignores the interaction between them. Such method cannot describe the spatial distribution of regional water demand. In this study,the water demand field theory is used to construct water demand and social development fields for the Jing-Jin-Ji district with relevant indicators. The distribution trends of the two fields,and the correlation of their intensities,are then analyzed. Principal component analysis is used to specifically determine the forces that drive water demand at different stages of development.Results indicate that the water demand field theory can accurately describe spatial variations in water demand intensity in the study area. The main driving force for water demand in the Jing-Jin-Ji district from 2000 to 2014 is the growth of urban population. However,in 2015 and 2016,"GDP of the tertiary industry" overtook it. The results of this study can serve as a basis for regional water demand forecasting,with large potential to be applied to urban water resource management.