CO2 Marginal Abatement Cost and Determinants——An Empirical Analysis of Sample Cities in China

This paper investigates the marginal abatement cost （MAC） of CO： emissions across 104 Chinese cities between 2001 and 2008. Based on parametric directional distance function, this paper discovers that the mean marginal abatement cost of CO2 emissions for sample cities was 967 yuan/ton. In terms of region, CO： marginal abatement cost is significantly higher in China＇s eastern region than in central and western regions; in terms of provincial-level region, it is the highest in Shanghai and the lowest in Shaanxi in terms of city, it is the highest in Shanghai and the lowest in Zhangjiajie with the ratio between their medians being at 48：1; in terms of time, marginal abatement cost has been always on the rise with significant intercity disparities. There is a U-shaped curve relationship between marginal abatement cost of cities and CO2 emissions per unit of GDP, which is negatively correlated with the share of secondary industry and positively correlated with the level of urbanization.

A nonparametric distance function approach with endogenous direction for estimating marginal abatement costs of CO_(2) emissions

The directional distance function(DDF)framework has been widely used to estimate the marginal abatement cost(MAC)of CO_(2)emissions to support decision-making in environmental sustainability and climate change issues.In the use of DDF,an important task is mapping evaluated entities towards a realistic production technology frontier.This study develops a new nonparametric approach for estimating the MAC of CO_(2)emissions.The approach incorporates the optimal endogenous direction into an enhanced environmental production technology and has three advantages.First,it avoids the arbitrariness in mapping directions.Second,it captures the heterogeneity in optimization paths across different decision-making units(DMUs).Third,it generates more reliable benchmarks for estimating MAC by constructing an environmental technology frontier that is consistent with the material balance principle.We apply the approach to study China's thermal power industry and find clear heterogeneity in MACs and optimization paths at the province level.The results on the optimal endogenous directions show that the DMUs prefer to increase both desirable output and CO_(2)emissions when CO_(2)emissions are unregulated.Comparisons with other approaches reveal that arbitrarily mapping exogenous directions and technology representations are likely to generate distorted and unrealistic MACs.

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.