An Integrated Analysis on the Synergistic Reduction of Carbon and Pollution Emissions from China’s Iron and Steel Industry

Decarbonization and decontamination of the iron and steel industry(ISI),which contributes up to 15%to anthropogenic CO_(2) emissions(or carbon emissions)and significant proportions of air and water pollutant emissions in China,are challenged by the huge demand for steel.Carbon and pollutants often share common emission sources,indicating that emission reduction could be achieved synergistically.Here,we explored the inherent potential of measures to adjust feedstock composition and technological structure and to control the size of the ISI to achieve carbon emission reduction(CER)and pollution emission reduction(PER).We investigated five typical pollutants in this study,namely,petroleum hydrocarbon pollutants and chemical oxygen demand in wastewater,particulate matter,SO_(2),and NO_(x) in off gases,and examined synergies between CER and PER by employing cross elasticity for the period between 2022 and 2035.The results suggest that a reduction of 8.7%-11.7%in carbon emissions and 20%-31%in pollution emissions(except for particulate matter emissions)could be achieved by 2025 under a high steel scrap ratio(SSR)scenario.Here,the SSR and electric arc furnace(EAF)ratio serve critical roles in enhancing synergies between CER and PER(which vary with the type of pollutant).However,subject to a limited volume of steel scrap,a focused increase in the EAF ratio with neglection of the available supply of steel scrap to EAF facilities would lead to an increase carbon and pollution emissions.Although CER can be achieved through SSR and EAF ratio optimization,only when the crude steel production growth rate remains below 2.2%can these optimization measures maintain the emissions in 2030 at a similar level to that in 2021.Therefore,the synergistic effects between PER and CER should be considered when formulating a development route for the ISI in the future.

Central environmental protection inspection and carbon emission reduction: A tripartite evolutionary game model from the perspective of carbon neutrality

Since the carbon neutrality target was proposed,many countries have been facing severe challenges to carbon emission reduction sustainably.This study is conducted using a tripartite evolutionary game model to explore the impact of the central environmental protection inspection(CEPI)on driving carbon emission reduction,and to study what factors influence the strategic choices of each party and how they interact with each other.The research results suggest that local governments and manufacturing enterprises would choose strategies that are beneficial to carbon reduction when CEPI increases.When the initial willingness of all parties increases 20%,50%—80%,the time spent for the whole system to achieve stability decreases from 100%,60%—30%.The evolutionary result of“thorough inspection,regulation implementation,low-carbon management”is the best strategy for the tripartite evolutionary game.Moreover,the smaller the cost and the larger the benefit,the greater the likelihood of the three-party game stability strategy appears.This study has important guiding significance for other developing countries to promote carbon emission reduction by environmental policy.

Reduction effect of carbon emission and optimisation path of green finance

Under the background of"dual-carbon",green finance is an important way to promote carbon emission reduction and realize the development of a low-carbon economy.Using provincial panel data from 2000 to 2020,this paper constructs a basic regression model to study the"carbon reduction"effect,mechanism of action,and heterogeneity of green finance.The study finds that:the development of green finance significantly inhibits carbon emissions and has an obvious"carbon reduction"effect;green technology innovation has a mediating effect on the carbon emission reduction effect of green finance;in regions with a high level of economic development or a high degree of marketization,the"carbon reduction"effect of green finance is significant.

Towards green asphalt materials with lower emission of volatile organic compounds: A review on the release characteristics and its emission reduction additives

Recently, researchers in the road field are focusing on the development of green asphalt materials with loweremission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The characterization methodology of asphalt VOCs and theinfluencing factors on VOCs release have always been the basic issue of asphalt VOCs emission reduction research.Researchers have proposed a variety of asphalt VOCs characterization methodologies, which also have mutuallyirreplaceable characteristics. Asphalt VOCs volatilization is affected by many factors. In this study, asphalt VOCscharacterization methodologies were summarized, including their advantages, disadvantages, characteristics andapplicable requirements. Subsequently, the influencing factors of VOCs release, such as asphalt types and environment conditions, are summarized to provide theoretical support for the emission reduction research. Theclassification and mechanism of newly-development asphalt VOCs emission reduction materials are reviewed. Thereduction efficiencies are also compared to select better materials and put forward the improvement objective ofnew materials and new processes. In addition, the prospects about development of VOCs release mechanism ofasphalt materials during the full life cycle and feasibility research of high-efficiency composite emission reductionmaterials in the future were put forward.

Effect of Photovoltaic Power Generation on Carbon Dioxide Emission Reduction under Double Carbon Background

Increasing the efficiency and proportion of photovoltaic power generation installations is one of the best ways to reduce both CO_(2) emissions and reliance on fossil-fuel-based power supplies.Solar energy is a clean and renewable power source with excellent potential for further development and utilization.In 2021,the global solar installed capacity was about 749.7 GW.Establishing correlations between solar power generation,standard coal equivalent,carbon sinks,and green sinks is crucial.However,there have been few reports about correlations between the efficiency of tracking solar photovoltaic panels and the above parameters.This paper calculates the increased power generation achievable through the use of tracking photovoltaic panels compared with traditional fixed panels and establishes relationships between power generation,standard coal equivalent,and carbon sinks,providing a basis for attempts to reduce reliance on carbon-based fuels.The calculations show that power generation efficiency can be improved by about 26.12%by enabling solar panels to track the sun's rays during the day and from season to season.Through the use of this improved technology,global CO_(2) emissions can be reduced by 183.63 Mt,and the standard coal equivalent can be reduced by 73.67 Mt yearly.Carbon capture is worth approximately EUR 15.48 billion,and carbon accounting analysis plays a vital role in carbon trading.

Exploration on Key Technologies and Practical Paths for Carbon Emission Reduction in Food System

On the basis of existing research,carbon emission reduction technologies in production,processing,packaging,transportation and storage of the food system were summarized,and their application effects were analyzed.In view of the inherent inadequacy of carbon emission reduction technologies in Chinese food system,starting from carbon labeling technologies and ESG system of the food industry,the unsoundness of the carbon emission reduction evaluation system and the high cost of related technology promotion,countermeasures such as strengthening top-level design,encouraging and supporting the development of new carbon emission reduction technologies,and improving carbon emission reduction technology subsidies were proposed by drawing on domestic and international experiences.

Carbon emissions reduction potentiality for railroad transportation based on life cycle assessment

This study addresses the comparative carbon emissions of different transportation modes within a unified evaluation framework,focusing on their carbon footprints from inception to disposal.Specifically,the entire life cycle carbon emissions of High-Speed Rail(HSR),battery electric vehicles,conventional internal combustion engine vehicles,battery electric buses,and conventional internal combustion engine buses are analyzed.The life cycle is segmented into vehicle manufacturing,fuel or electricity production,operational,and dismantlingrecycling stages.This analysis is applied to the Beijing-Tianjin intercity transportation system to explore emission reduction strategies.Results indicate that HSR demonstrates significant carbon emission reduction,with an intensity of only 24%-32% compared to private vehicles and 47%-89% compared to buses.Notably,HSR travel for Beijing-Tianjin intercity emits only 24% of private vehicle emissions,demonstrating the emission reduction benefits of transportation structure optimization.Additionally,predictive modeling reveals the potential for carbon emission reduction through energy structure optimization,providing a guideline for the development of effective transportation management systems.

Damage and fracture behavior and spatio-temporal evolution of acoustic emission of sandstone before and after laser radiation

Laser technology holds significant promise for enhancing rock-breaking efficiency.Experimental investigations were carried out on sandstone subjected to laser radiation,aiming to elucidate its response mechanism to such radiation.The uniaxial compressive strength of sandstone notably decreases by 22.1%–54.7%following exposure to a 750 W laser for 30 s,indicating a substantial weakening effect.Furthermore,the elastic modulus and Poisson ratio of sandstone exhibit an average decrease of 33.7%and 25.9%,respectively.Simultaneously,laser radiation reduces the brittleness of sandstone,increases the dissipated energy proportion,and shifts the failure mode from tensile to tension-shear composite failure.Following laser radiation,both the number and energy of acoustic emission events in the sandstone register a substantial increase,with a more dispersed distribution of these events.In summary,laser radiation induces notable damage to the mechanical properties of sandstone,leading to a substantial decrease in elastic energy storage capacity.Laser rock breaking technology is expected to be applied in hard rock breaking engineering to significantly reduce the difficulty of rock breaking and improve rock breaking efficiency.

Projection-Based Dimensional Reduction of Adaptively Refined Nonlinear Models

Adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) is fairly practiced in the context of high-dimensional, mesh-based computational models. However, it is in its infancy in that of low-dimensional, generalized-coordinate-based computational models such as projection-based reduced-order models. This paper presents a complete framework for projection-based model order reduction (PMOR) of nonlinear problems in the presence of AMR that builds on elements from existing methods and augments them with critical new contributions. In particular, it proposes an analytical algorithm for computing a pseudo-meshless inner product between adapted solution snapshots for the purpose of clustering and PMOR. It exploits hyperreduction—specifically, the energy-conserving sampling and weighting hyperreduction method—to deliver for nonlinear and/or parametric problems the desired computational gains. Most importantly, the proposed framework for PMOR in the presence of AMR capitalizes on the concept of state-local reduced-order bases to make the most of the notion of a supermesh, while achieving computational tractability. Its features are illustrated with CFD applications grounded in AMR and its significance is demonstrated by the reported wall-clock speedup factors.

Analysis of transportation carbon emissions and its potential for reduction in China

The transportation industry is an essential sector for carbon emissions mitigation.This paper firstly used the LMDI(Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index)decomposition method to establish factors decomposition model on China's transportation carbon emission.Then,a quantitative analysis was performed to study the factors influencing China's transportation carbon emissions from 1991 to 2008,which are identified as transportation energy efficiency,transportation structure and transportation development.The results showed that:(1)The impact of transportation development on transportation carbon emissions showed pulling function.Its contribution value to carbon emissions remained at high growth since 1991 and showed an exponential growth trend.(2)The impact of transportation structure on transportation carbon emissions showed promoting function in general,but its role in promoting carbon emissions decreased year by year.And with the continuous optimization of transportation structure,the promoting effect decreased gradually and showed the inversed"U"trend.(3)The impact of transportation energy efficiency on transportation carbon emissions showed a function of inhibition before pulling.In order to predict the potential of carbon emission reduction,three scenarios were set.Analysis of the scenarios showed that if greater intensity emission reduction measures are taken,the carbon emissions will reduce by 31.01 million tons by 2015 and by 48.81 million tons by 2020.

CH_4 emissions and reduction potential in wastewater treatment in China

The treatment of domestic and industrial wastewater is one of the major sources of CH_4 in the Chinese waste sector. On the basis of statistical data and country-specific emission factors, using IPCC methodology, the characteristics of CH_4 emissions from wastewater treatment in China were analyzed. The driving factors of CH_4 emissions were studied, and the emission trend and reduction potential were predicted and analyzed according to the current situation. Results show that in 2010, CH_4 emissions from the treatment of domestic and industrial wastewater were0.6110 Mt and 1.6237 Mt, respectively. Eight major industries account for more than 92% of emissions, and CH_4 emissions gradually increased from 2005 to 2010. From the controlling management scenario, we predict that in 2020, CH_4 emissions from the treatment of domestic and industrial wastewater will be 1.0136 Mt and 2.3393 Mt, respectively, and the reduction potential will be 0.0763 Mt and 0.2599 Mt, respectively.From 2010 to 2020, CH_4 emissions from the treatment of domestic and industrial wastewater will increase by 66% and 44%, respectively.

Energy conservation and emissions reduction strategies in foundry industry

Current energy conservation and emissions reduction strategies in iron and steel industry were reviewed. Since foundry industry is one of the major source of energy consumption and pollution emission (especially CO 2 ), issues concerning energy-saving and emission-reduction have been raised by governments and the industry. Specialists from around the world carried out multidimensional analyses and evaluation on the potentials in energy conservation and emissions reduction in iron and steel industry, and proposed various kinds of analyzing models. The primary measures mainly focus on the targeted policies formulation and also on clean and highefficient technologies development. The differences and similarities in energy conservation and emission reduction in foundry industry between China and other countries were discussed, while, the future development trend was also pointed out.

Chinese Public's Willingness to Pay for CO＿2 Emissions Reductions: A Case Study from Four Provinces/Cities

Contingent Valuation Method(CVM) was used to investigate the Chinese public's willingness to pay(WTP) for a policy to reduce CO2 emissions. Face to face interviews were conducted to collect 1,653 valid questionnaires from Beijing, Shanghai, Shandong province, and Fujian province. A model was constructed to understand the factors that influence WTP. The results indicate that the Chinese public is willing to pay CN 201.86 annually to support the policy of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Participants from Beijing show the highest WTP, followed by participants from Fujian and Shandong, while those from Shanghai report the lowest WTP. The findings reveal that participants with higher income, higher satisfaction with their current life, and awareness of climate issues are willing to pay more for CO2 emissions reductions. In addition, those who are young, male and members of the Communist Party also indicate a higher WTP. The results imply that translating the public's willingness to protect climate into actions should be taken into account in China's low carbon policy. There is a need to consider the difference in degree of willingness, among different social groups, to pay for emissions reductions if the market-based mechanisms such as carbon tax were designed to facilitate emissions reductions.

Estimation of emission reduction potential in China's industrial sector

The industrial sector is usually the largest economy sector for carbon emissions in many countries,which made it the sector with greatest potential for carbon reduction although the process duration might be very long.Studying the potential of industrial emission reduction has great significance in estimating the carbon emission peak of China on the one hand,and adjusting its strategy in international climate change negotiations.By employing the economic accounting method,this article estimates the emission reduction potential of China's Industrial sector for the period of 2010-2050.It reveals that,taking 2030 as the year when the emission reaches the peak,the total reduction can be 8.38 billion tons(bts) for the period of 2010-2030,with 3.12 bts from structural reduction while 5.26 bts from intensity reduction.Afterwards,reduction will continue with a total amount of 6.59 bts for the period of 2030-2050,where the structural reduction accounts for 2.47 bts,and intensity reduction 4.115 bts.If both industrial and energy consumption structures are improved during the above period,the reduction potential can be even greater,e.g.the emission peak can arrive five years earlier(in the year of 2025) and the peak value can decline by about 8%as compared to the original estimation.Reviewing the trajectory of emission changes in developed countries indicates that the industry sector can contribute to the overall reduction targets through the dual wheels of structural reduction and intensity reduction,even beyond the emission peak.This article concludes with the following policy suggestions.(1) Our estimation on the emission peak of the industrial sector suggests that China should avoid any commitment earlier than 2030 on the timeline of the overall emission peak;(2) the great potential of industrial emission reduction can improve the situation of China in climate change negotiation,where the intensity reduction can serve as an important policy option.(3) Reduction potential can be further enhanced through technology advancement,which requires furthering of market oriented reforms and improvement of institutional design.(4) To secure the reduction effects of the industrial structure adjustment,the balanced development among different regions should be encouraged in order to avoid the reverse adjustment caused by industrial transferring.(5) International cooperation promoting the application and development of industrial emission reduction technologies,including carbon capture,utilization and storage,should be encouraged.

Research on the effects of command-and-control and market-oriented policy tools on China's energy conservation and emissions reduction innovation

The impact of environmental regulation on technology innovation is a hot spot in current research where a large number of empirical studies are based on Porter Hypothesis(PH). However, there are still controversies in academia about the establishment of "weak" and "narrow" versions of PH. Based on the panel data of application for patent of energy conservation and emission reduction(ECER) technology of Chinese city scale during 2008-2014, comprehensive energy price, pollutant emission, etc., mixed regression model and systematic generalized method of moments method were adopted, respectively,to study the impact of market-oriented and command-and-control policy tool on China's ECER technology innovation. The results show that the environmental regulation hindered the technological innovation in the immediate phase; however, it turned out to be positive in the first-lag phase. Hence, the establishment of "weak" PH is time-bounded. The command-and-control policy tool played a more positive role in promoting technological innovation in the first-lag phase than market-oriented policy tool. Therefore, "narrow" PH is not tenable. The reason is that the main participants of China's ECER technology innovation are state-owned companies and public institutions. Regionally speaking, the impact which command-and-control policy tool has on technological innovation at sight was nonsignificant in the eastern, the central, and the western regions of China whilst market-oriented policy tool had a negative effect. And market-oriented policy tool in the central region had strongest negative effect, which would diminish in the eastern region and become weakest in the western region. This was related to regional energy consumption level and the market economic vitality.

The Five-Year Plan: A new tool for energy saving and emissions reduction in China

China has achieved economic growth while great carbon emissions reduction in recent years. Amid China＇s effort to reduce emissions, the Five-Year Plans have guided and motivated local and foreign forces from the government, industries, and society to work together. This paper showed that a mediumehigh economic growth gate, industry structure adjustment, and energy structure adjustment, which are guaranteed under the Five-Year Plan, all contribute to energy saving in China. The economy entered a stable growing phase during the 12 th Five-Year Plan, while the economic growth rate declined to 7.8% from 11.2% in the 11 th Five-Year Plan. Simultaneously, the CO2 emissions growth rate declined from8.32%（2009-2012 mean） to 1.82%（2012-2014 mean）. Industrial structure adjustment canceled out nearly one-third of the CO2 emissions caused by economic growth. Under the 13 th Five-Year Plan, China will continue its energy saving efforts on the green development path, with greener quotas, a stricter implementation process, and more key projects.

Impacts of the meteorological condition versus emissions reduction on the PM_(2.5) concentration over Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei during the COVID-19 lockdown

The impacts of the meteorological condition and emissions reduction on the aerosol concentration over the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei(BTH) region during the COVID-19 lockdown were analyzed by conducting three numerical experiments,including one with the meteorological field in 2019 and MEIC-2019(2019 monthly Multi-resolution Emissions Inventory for China),one with the meteorological field in 2020 and MEIC-2019,and one with the meteorological field in 2020 and MEIC-2020,via a WRF-Chem model.The numerical experiments were performed from 3 to 16 February in 2019 and in 2020,during which a severe fog-haze event(3-16 February 2020) occurred in the BTH region,with a simulated maximum daily PM2.5 of 245μg m-3 in Tangshan and 175μg m-3 in Beijing.The results indicate that the daily PM2.5 decreased by 5-150μg m-3 due to the emissions reduction and increased by 10-175 μg m-3 due to the meteorological condition in Beijing,Shijiazhuang,Cangzhou,Handan,Hengshui,Chengde,Zhangjiakou,and Tangshan from 7 to 14 February.For the horizontal distribution,PM2.5 and different aerosol species concentrations from 7 to 14 February 2020 increased compared with those during the same period in 2019,indicating that the accumulation of pollutants caused by the unfavorable meteorological condition offset the decreases caused by the emissions reduction,leading to the high aerosol concentration during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Pollutant emission reduction effect through effluent tax,concentration-based effluent standard,or both

There are numerous studies comparing different kinds of environmental taxes and standards.However,forms of environmental standards focused by former researchers are usually quantitybased limits/standards(e.g.pounds per day or pounds per unit of output).Concentration-based emission standard(e.g.milligrams per liter of wastewater) as one important form of environmental standard has not been given much attention.In this article,comparable estimates of their probable effect on enterprise pollution reduction will be developed for concentrationbased effluent standards,effluent taxes,and a combination of both.A linear simulation model is used to clearly and obviously compare the effects of effluent taxes and concentration-based standards within the same figure.With one detailed application to the paper industry,some enlightenment and conclusions-as well as the general applicability of these principles-are then provided:Under the same effluent tax rate,enterprises,groups,and industries that are cleaner will reduce more pollutants than those that have higher pollutant abatement costs.It is recommended that effluent taxes are set by avoiding cutting it even at one stroke and considering the feasibility of pollution-reducing technology in various industries.It is necessary to reduce MAC of enterprises to better stimulate enterprises' or industries' emission reduction by preferential measures,such as high tax rate coordinated by speeding up the depreciation of environmental protection equipment.

GHG emission reductions and costs to achieve Kyoto target

Emission projection and marginal abatement cost curves(MACs) are the central components of any assessment of future carbon market, such as CDM (clean development mechanism) potentials, carbon quota price etc. However, they are products of very complex, dynamic systems driven by forces like population growth, economic development, resource endowments, technology progress and so on. The modeling approaches for emission projection and MACs evaluation were summarized, and some major models and their results were compared. Accordingly, reduction and cost requirements to achieve the Kyoto target were estimated. It is concluded that Annex I Parties' total reduction requirements range from 503—1304 MtC with USA participation and decrease significantly to 140—612 MtC after USA's withdrawal. Total costs vary from 21—77 BUSD with USA and from 5—36 BUSD without USA if only domestic reduction actions are taken. The costs would sharply reduce while considering the three flexible mechanisms defined in the Kyoto Protocol with domestic actions' share in the all mitigation strategies drops to only 0—16%.

Voluntary emission reduction market in China: development, management status and future supply

The voluntary emission reduction (VER) trading mechanism has played an important role in China’s seven pilot carbon markets. From a comprehensive review of the VER trading and offsetting mechanisms since 2013, this study analyses the quality management of the Chinese Certified Emission Reduction (CCER) in the pilot carbon markets, conducts a comparative analysis of the geographical and field distributions of proposed and registered projects and emission reductions and provides the CCER supply outlook for 2020 in the aspects of on record, project registration, emission reduction registration and emission reduction issuance. Results show that the potential number of CCER projects by 2020 will be 2,864, 1,047, 818, and 286 with the corresponding emission reductions amounting to 493, 212, 133, and 49 million tCO2e, respectively. Although considerable progress has been made, China remains confronted with many challenges in developing the VER trading system. Accordingly, policy stability and continuity and guarding against market risks should be maintained to enable the system to play a substantial role in promoting ecological progress and green low-carbon development in China.