Prospects for green steelmaking technology with low carbon emissions in China

The steel industry is a major source of CO_(2) emissions,and thus,the mitigation of carbon emissions is the most pressing challenge in this sector.In this paper,international environmental governance in the steel industry is reviewed,and the current state of development of low-carbon technologies is discussed.Additionally,low-carbon pathways for the steel industry at the current time are proposed,emphasizing prevention and treatment strategies.Furthermore,the prospects of low-carbon technologies are explored from the perspective of transitioning the energy structure to a“carbon-electricity-hydrogen”relationship.Overall,steel enterprises should adopt hydrogen-rich metallurgical technologies that are compatible with current needs and process flows in the short term,based on the carbon substitution with hydrogen(prevention)and the CCU(CO_(2) capture and utilization)concepts(treatment).Additionally,the capture and utilization of CO_(2) for steelmaking,which can assist in achieving short-term emission reduction targets but is not a long-term solution,is discussed.In conclusion,in the long term,the carbon metallurgical process should be gradually supplanted by a hydrogen-electric synergistic approach,thus transforming the energy structure of existing steelmaking processes and attaining near-zero carbon emission steelmaking technology.

Synergistic dance of digital economy and green finance on carbon emissions:Insights from China

China has recently implemented a dual-carbon strategy to combat climate change and other environmental issues and is committed to modernizing it sustainably.This paper supports these goals and explores how the digital economy and green finance intersect and impact carbon emissions.Using panel data from 30 Chinese provinces over the period 2011-2021,this paper finds that the digital economy and green finance can together reduce carbon emissions,and conducts several robustness tests supporting this conclusion.A heterogeneity analysis shows that these synergistic effects are more important in regions with low levels of social consumption Meanwhile,in the spatial dimension,the synergistic effect of the local digital economy and green finance adversely impacts the level of carbon emissions in surrounding areas.The findings of this paper provide insights for policymakers in guiding capital flow and implementing carbon-reduction policies while fostering the growth of China’s digital economy and environmental sustainability.

Rolling Decision Model of Thermal Power Retrofit and Generation Expansion Planning Considering Carbon Emissions and Power Balance Risk

With the increasing urgency of the carbon emission reduction task,the generation expansion planning process needs to add carbon emission risk constraints,in addition to considering the level of power adequacy.However,methods for quantifying and assessing carbon emissions and operational risks are lacking.It results in excessive carbon emissions and frequent load-shedding on some days,although meeting annual carbon emission reduction targets.First,in response to the above problems,carbon emission and power balance risk assessment indicators and assessment methods,were proposed to quantify electricity abundance and carbon emission risk level of power planning scenarios,considering power supply regulation and renewable energy fluctuation characteristics.Secondly,building on traditional two-tier models for low-carbon power planning,including investment decisions and operational simulations,considering carbon emissions and power balance risks in lower-tier operational simulations,a two-tier rolling model for thermal power retrofit and generation expansion planning was established.The model includes an investment tier and operation assessment tier and makes year-by-year decisions on the number of thermal power units to be retrofitted and the type and capacity of units to be commissioned.Finally,the rationality and validity of the model were verified through an example analysis,a small-scale power supply system in a certain region is taken as an example.The model can significantly reduce the number of days of carbon emissions risk and ensure that the power balance risk is within the safe limit.

Spatiotemporal Differentiation of Urban Spatial Form and Carbon Emissions in Poyang Lake City Group

In response to the inherent requirements of low-carbon land spatial planning in Jiangxi Province and the lack of existing research,this paper explored the mechanism of spatial form elements of Poyang Lake urban agglomeration on urban carbon emissions.Based on generalized linear regression and geographically weighted regression models,this paper analyzed the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of carbon emissions,the spatiotemporal relationship between urban form index and carbon emissions,and the spatial differentiation of the intensity of dominant factors from 63 county-level administrative units in the Poyang Lake city group from 2005 to 2020.The results showed that:①The carbon emissions of urban agglomerations around Poyang Lake are generally increasing,and the spatial distribution of carbon emissions is characterized by high-value concentration in the middle and low-value agglomeration in pieces;②The main driving factor for the spatial heterogeneity of carbon emissions was the expansion of built-up area;③Improving urban compactness and optimizing urban form could effectively reduce urban carbon emissions.The results showcased the correlation between urban spatial landscape pattern and the spatiotemporal distribution of carbon emissions,which could make the low-carbon land spatial planning in the Poyang Lake city group more reasonable and practical.

Industrial Carbon Emission Distribution and Regional Joint Emission Reduction:A Case Study of Cities in the Pearl River Basin,China

China’s low-carbon development path will make significant contributions to achieving global sustainable development goals.Due to the diverse natural and economic conditions across different regions in China,there exists an imbalance in the distribution of car-bon emissions.Therefore,regional cooperation serves as an effective means to attain low-carbon development.This study examined the pattern of carbon emissions and proposed a potential joint emission reduction strategy by utilizing the industrial carbon emission intens-ity(ICEI)as a crucial factor.We utilized social network analysis and Local Indicators of Spatial Association(LISA)space-time trans-ition matrix to investigate the spatiotemporal connections and discrepancies of ICEI in the cities of the Pearl River Basin(PRB),China from 2010 to 2020.The primary drivers of the ICEI were determined through geographical detectors and multi-scale geographically weighted regression.The results were as follows:1)the overall ICEI in the Pearl River Basin is showing a downward trend,and there is a significant spatial imbalance.2)There are numerous network connections between cities regarding the ICEI,but the network structure is relatively fragile and unstable.3)Economically developed cities such as Guangzhou,Foshan,and Dongguan are in the center of the network while playing an intermediary role.4)Energy consumption,industrialization,per capita GDP,urbanization,science and techno-logy,and productivity are found to be the most influential variables in the spatial differentiation of ICEI,and their combination in-creased the explanatory power of the geographic variation of ICEI.Finally,through the analysis of differences and connections in urban carbon emissions under different economic levels and ICEI,the study suggests joint carbon reduction strategies,which are centered on carbon transfer,financial support,and technological assistance among cities.

Carbon Emission Effects Driven by Evolution of Chinese Dietary Structure from 1987 to 2020

Exploring carbon emission effects based on the evolution of residents’ dietary structure to achieve the carbon neutrality goal and mitigate climate change is an important task.This study took China as the research object(data excluding Hong Kong,Macao and Taiwan) and used the carbon emission coefficient method to quantitatively measure the food carbon emissions from 1987–2020,then analyzed the carbon emission effects under the evolution of dietary structure.The results showed that during the study period,the Chinese dietary structure gradually changed to a high-carbon consumption pattern.The dietary structure of urban residents developed to a balanced one,while that of rural residents developed to a high-quality one.During the study period,the per capita food carbon emissions and total food consumption of Chinese showed an increasing trend.The per capita food carbon emissions of residents in urban and rural showed an overall upward trend.The total food carbon emissions in urban increased significantly,while that in rural increased first and then decreased.The influence of beef and mutton on carbon emissions is the highest in dietary structure.Compared with the balanced dietary pattern,the food carbon emissions of Chinese residents had not yet reached the peak,but were evolving to a high-carbon consumption pattern.

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.

Activity Data and Emission Factor for Forestry and Other Land Use Change Subsector to Enhance Carbon Market Policy and Action in Malawi

Activity data and emission factors are critical for estimating greenhouse gas emissions and devising effective climate change mitigation strategies. This study developed the activity data and emission factor in the Forestry and Other Land Use Change (FOLU) subsector in Malawi. The results indicate that “forestland to cropland,” and “wetland to cropland,” were the major land use changes from the year 2000 to the year 2022. The forestland steadily declined at a rate of 13,591 ha (0.5%) per annum. Similarly, grassland declined at the rate of 1651 ha (0.5%) per annum. On the other hand, cropland, wetland, and settlements steadily increased at the rate of 8228 ha (0.14%);5257 ha (0.17%);and 1941 ha (8.1%) per annum, respectively. Furthermore, the results indicate that the “grassland to forestland” changes were higher than the “forestland to grassland” changes, suggesting that forest regrowth was occurring. On the emission factor, the results interestingly indicate that there was a significant increase in carbon sequestration in the FOLU subsector from the year 2011 to 2022. Carbon sequestration increased annually by 13.66 ± 0.17 tCO2 e/ha/yr (4.6%), with an uncertainty of 2.44%. Therefore, it can be concluded that there is potential for a Carbon market in Malawi.

Research on Carbon Emission for Preventive Maintenance of Wind Turbine Gearbox Based on Stochastic Differential Equation

Time based maintenance(TBM)and condition based maintenance(CBM)are widely applied in many large wind farms to optimize the maintenance issues of wind turbine gearboxes,however,these maintenance strategies do not take into account environmental benefits during full life cycle such as carbon emissions issues.Hence,this article proposes a carbon emissions computing model for preventive maintenance activities of wind turbine gearboxes to solve the issue.Based on the change of the gearbox state during operation and the influence of external random factors on the gearbox state,a stochastic differential equation model(SDE)and corresponding carbon emission model are established,wherein SDE is applied to model the evolution of the device state,whereas carbon emission is used to implement carbon emissions computing.The simulation results indicate that the proposed preventive maintenance cannot ensure reliable operation of wind turbine gearboxes but reduce carbon emissions during their lifespan.Compared with TBM,CBM minimizes unit carbon emissions without influencing reliable operation,making it an effective maintenance method.

Effect of building energy efficiency standards on carbon emission efficiency in commercial buildings

The building sector plays a crucial role in the worldwide shift toward achieving net-zero emissions.Building energy efficiency standards(BEESs)are highly effective policies for reducing carbon emissions.Therefore,exploring the provincial variations in carbon emission efficiency(CEE)in the building sector and identifying the effect of BEESs on CEE is crucial.This study focuses on commercial buildings in China and applies a difference in differences model to evaluate the impact of BEESs on the CEE of commercial buildings.The slacks-based measure–data envelopment analysis model is employed to assess the CEE of commercial buildings in 30 Chinese provinces from 2000 to 2019.Furthermore,heterogeneous tests are used to explore how climate characteristics and economic conditions affect the efficiency of BEESs.The results indicate that BEESs positively influence the CEE of commercial buildings.Specifically,a 1%increase in the intensity of BEESs causes a 0.1484%increase in the CEE of commercial buildings.Moreover,the impact of BEESs is particularly pronounced in the southern and western provinces.This study provides valuable scientific evidence for governments to enhance BEESs implementation.

Structural Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Carbon Emission Spatial Association Network:A Case Study of Yangtze River Delta City Cluster,China

City cluster is an effective platform for encouraging regionally coordinated development.Coordinated reduction of carbon emissions within city cluster via the spatial association network between cities can help coordinate the regional carbon emission management,realize sustainable development,and assist China in achieving the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals.This paper applies the improved gravity model and social network analysis(SNA)to the study of spatial correlation of carbon emissions in city clusters and analyzes the structural characteristics of the spatial correlation network of carbon emissions in the Yangtze River Delta(YRD)city cluster in China and its influencing factors.The results demonstrate that:1)the spatial association of carbon emissions in the YRD city cluster exhibits a typical and complex multi-threaded network structure.The network association number and density show an upward trend,indicating closer spatial association between cities,but their values remain generally low.Meanwhile,the network hierarchy and network efficiency show a downward trend but remain high.2)The spatial association network of carbon emissions in the YRD city cluster shows an obvious‘core-edge’distribution pattern.The network is centered around Shanghai,Suzhou and Wuxi,all of which play the role of‘bridges’,while cities such as Zhoushan,Ma'anshan,Tongling and other cities characterized by the remote location,single transportation mode or lower economic level are positioned at the edge of the network.3)Geographic proximity,varying levels of economic development,different industrial structures,degrees of urbanization,levels of technological innovation,energy intensities and environmental regulation are important influencing factors on the spatial association of within the YRD city cluster.Finally,policy implications are provided from four aspects:government macro-control and market mechanism guidance,structural characteristics of the‘core-edge’network,reconfiguration and optimization of the spatial layout of the YRD city cluster,and the application of advanced technologies.

Current situation of carbon emissions and countermeasures in China's ironmaking industry

The iron and steel industry(ISI) involves high energy consumption and high pollution. ISI in China, a leading country in the ISI,consumed 15% of the country’s total energy and produced more than 50% of the global ISI’s carbon emissions. Therefore, in the context of global low-carbon economy and emission reduction requirements, low-carbon smelting technology in the ISI has attracted increasingly more attention in China. This review summarizes the current status of carbon emissions and energy consumption in China’s ISI and discusses the development status and prospects of low-carbon ironmaking technology. The main route to effectively reducing carbon emissions is to develop a gas-based direct reduction process and replace sintering with pelletizing, both of which focus on developing pelletizing technology. However,the challenge of pelletizing process development is to obtain high-quality iron concentrates. Consequently, the present paper also summarizes the development status of China’s mineral processing technology, including fine-grained mineral processing technology, magnetization roasting technology, and flotation collector application. This paper aims to provide a theoretical basis for the low-carbon development of China’s ISI in terms of a dressing–smelting combination.

Toward inclusive list-making for trade liberalization in environmental goods to reduce carbon emissions

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation(APEC)is contemplating expanding its list of environmental goods(EG)for trade liberalization to fight climate change.In support of doing so,this study proposes that a long list that retains controversies is better for carbon emission reduction than a short common list.This study examines four mechanisms of longer lists:enlarging market scales,enriching product mixes,enhancing product sophistication,and enriching trade patterns.Using China’s emerging EG trade during the 2001-2015 period as a case study,this study compares four EG lists with different EG.The results show that:(1)a longer list reduces carbon emissions from both imports and exports,making domestic regions with different advantages have better chances of improving carbon efficiencies.(2)Product sophistication reduces the emission gap between trading partners,regardless of the length of EG lists.(3)China’s EG exports contribute to carbon reduction in leading regions,while EG imports provide laggard regions with better chances of reducing carbon emissions.These findings provide three implications for future list-making:it is important to(1)seek a long and inclusive list rather than a short common list,(2)shift the focus from environmental end-use to the technological contents of products,and(3)balance the demand of laggard regions to import and the capacity of leading regions to export.

Does enterprise digitization reduce carbon emissions? Evidence from China

The digital transformation and expansion of businesses will provide China’s low-carbon economic develop‐ment strategy with fresh impetus in the backdrop of the emerging digital economy and environmentally friendly growth.This article measures the level of enterprise digitization using two methods:the enterprise digitization index and text analysis word frequency statistics.Additionally,carbon emissions are obtained by measuring various types of emissions according to the carbon emission classification range standard.To ac‐count for endogeneity and unobservable variables,relative indicators,such as the rate of increase for company emissions of carbon,are utilized.Using microdata from Chinese listed firms from 2011 to 2021,this study ex‐amines the implications of corporate digitization on enterprise carbon emissions.This study further analyzes the transmission mechanism and investigates the function of green finance in controlling corporate digitiza‐tion and reducing corporate carbon emissions by distinguishing between two types of green patents.Research shows that businesses’carbon emissions are greatly reduced as a consequence of getting digital.Even after performing several robustness and endogeneity tests,the conclusion still remains valid.According to mecha‐nism analysis,which demonstrates that the main strategy for reducing corporate emissions of carbon through the digitalization of enterprises is to promote innovation in green technology.The regulation of green finance in enterprise digitalization will further reduce corporate carbon emissions.According to the analysis of hetero‐geneity,state-owned businesses and those situated in areas with stringent environmental regulations are more significantly impacted by enterprise digitization on corporate carbon emissions.This article discusses the mechanism of promoting corporate carbon emissions through digitalization,expands on relevant research on corporate digitalization,and analyzes the achievable paths of corporate digitalization and low-carbon develop‐ment strategies.

Asymmetric nexus between commercial policies and consumption‑based carbon emissions:new evidence from Pakistan

The current study extends the previous literature by exploring the effects of a newly discovered driver,i.e.,import taxes(as a proxy for commercial policies),on the consumption-based carbon emissions(CCO2e)for 1990Q1-2017Q4.For empirical analysis,several tests and methods,including Augmented Dickey–Fuller unit root test,Zivot–Andrews unit root test,asymmetric cointegration bound testing approach,non-linear ARDL,Wald-test,Granger causality test and wavelet quantile correlation(WQC)method are utilized.Furthermore,NARDL technique estimates reveal that contractionary commercial policy enhances the environmental quality by disrupting the detrimental effects of CCO2e.However,expansionary commercial policy escalates the environmental pollution by boosting the carbon emissions.Also,the exports and the renewable energy improve the ecological quality;however,GDP deteriorates the atmospheric quality by increasing the CCO2e.Besides,WQC method and the trivariate Granger causality test are deployed to confirm the robustness of the results.Based on the findings,some crucial policies are also recommended for sustainable and green development in Pakistan.

Has China-ASEAN Trade opening increased China’ s carbon emissions?

This study uses carbon emission data at the provincial level in China between 1998-2018 and the proportion of the total import and export trade between provinces and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN)in GDP to measure the level of China-ASEAN trade openness.It examines the impact of China ASEAN trade openness on carbon emissions and its transmission mechanism,and selects the RMB/USD exchange rate as an instrumental variable to address the endogeneity of China-ASEAN trade openness variables.The impact of China-ASEAN trade openness on China’s environment is estimated within a two-stage least squares framework.The results show that trade openness between China and ASEAN positively impacts China’s environment and can facilitate carbon emission reduction.The scale,structural,and technology effects brought by China-ASEAN trade liberalization jointly promote China’s carbon dioxide emission reduction.An inverted“U”relationship is found between economic growth and environmental quality in China,and some provinces and municipalities have now crossed the inflection point of the curve,in which carbon emi ssions decrease with an increase in per capita wealth.

Influences of large-scale farming on carbon emissions from cropping:Evidence from China

Reducing agricultural carbon emissions is important to enable carbon emission peaking by 2030 in China.However,China's transformation towards large-scale farming brings uncertainties to carbon emission reduction.This study quantifies the carbon emissions from cropping based on life cycle assessment and estimates the effects of farm size on carbon emissions using a fixed effects model.Furthermore,the variations of the carbon emissions from cropping driven by the changes in farm size in future years are projected through scenario analysis.Results demonstrate an inverted U-shaped change in total carbon emission from cropping as farm size increases,which is dominated by the changes in the carbon emission from fertilizer.Projections illustrate that large-scale farming transformation will postpone the peak year of total carbon emission from cropping until 2048 if the change in farm size follows a historical trend,although it is conducive to reducing total carbon emission in the long run.The findings indicate that environmental regulations to reduce fertilizer usages should be strengthened for carbon emission abatement in the early stage of large-scale farming transformation,which are also informative to other developing countries with small farm size.

Indian Solar Panel Initiatives in Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Environmental degradation and the emission of greenhouse gases particularly carbon dioxide have expanded problems to human wellness and to the atmosphere. The second-most populated country in the globe, India, is among the primary users of conventional resources, which leads to global warming. The growth rate is anticipated to raise more before 2050, which will cause the brisk industrial expansion and rising energy demand to both increases. In order to reduce carbon emissions and meet energy requirements, many countries use alternate usage of renewable energy particularly solar energy. In this review we aim to study solar panel schemes initiated by India, mainly focusing on National Solar Mission. This study also reviews the present solar installed capacity, solar panel scheme 2022, and initiatives and outcomes of solar panels in residences and offices. This study reviewed that by using solar panel resources, the (MNRE) Ministry of New and Renewable Energy hopes to help the Indian Government reach its purpose of 100 GW solar installed capacity by end of 2022. Despite having an amazing 40 GW of solar power installed capacity till December 2021, India is still far from reaching its own goal of 100 GW by March 2023 as per NSM. In essence, this means that India will need to change a few of its ongoing plans further.

An Empirical Study on the Impact of Different Structural Systems on Carbon Emissions of Prefabricated Buildings Based on SimaPro

In the context of global emission reduction, the low-carbon sustainable development of the construction industry has become an important research content. With the vigorous development of new industrial technologies, the application of prefabrication technology to buildings had become a mainstream. However, the research on the role of prefabricated technology in reducing building carbon emissions was not yet comprehensive, and the research on the relationship between prefabricated structure types and carbon emissions in the construction stage was not yet thorough. Guided by life cycle assessment (LCA), this paper used the scenario analysis method to set different working conditions for five different structural systems, and used SimaPro software to evaluate the carbon emissions of prefabricated buildings in order to clarify the carbon emissions of prefabricated buildings under different structural systems, and explore their impact mechanisms in depth. Finally, take the existing buildings in China as an empirical study, the results showed that: 1) The carbon emissions produced by the four common prefabricated structural systems were almost the same. Different structures had different requirements for the combination of components. The carbon emissions of individual buildings would be superimposed according to the carbon emission characteristics of various individual components to form the final total carbon emissions. 2) When the building structure system requires more combinations of components, the greater the amount of transportation invested in the transportation process, the more carbon emissions would be caused. In the calculation of all individual building construction stages, the carbon emissions generated by tower cranes almost exceed the sum of the carbon emissions of all mobile machinery. 3) Prefabricated shear wall structures and prefabricated frame-shear wall structures require a large amount of hoisting of prefabricated shear walls, so the carbon emissions of their mechanical equipment were also the highest.

Research Status of Land Use and Carbon Emissions in China:A Visual Analysis Based on Cite Space

In view of the reality of China’s high carbon emissions and its own development pressure,the research on land use and carbon emissions is becoming more and more important.Therefore,it is of great significance for the development of China’s low-carbon economy and related theories to have a comprehensive and clear understanding of the research on carbon emissions from land use.This paper analyzed the relevant literature on land use and carbon emissions in China in the past 19 years by using Citespace software.It summarized the research status and progress in this field,and showed the current research level of China in this field in a more concrete and vivid way through the form of knowledge graph.