The Future of Quasi Emission Control Enterprises in a Low-Carbon Economy

At 9:30 a.m.on July 16,2021,the national carbon emission trading market started operation at Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange.On the first day,the carbon emission quota totaled 4.244 million tons,with a turnover of 210 million yuan and an average transaction price of 51.23 yuan/ton.The carbon trading price is on the rise.With the gradual maturity and improvement of conditions,there will be about 8,000 to 10,000 emission control enterprises under the eight major industries in the future,and China’s carbon market will become the largest market covering greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.It can be seen that carbon trading is a“big deal.”If enterprises participate well,they will form carbon assets,but if they do not participate well,they will form carbon liabilities.This paper analyzes the opportunities and challenges faced by quasi emission control enterprises under the background of low-carbon economy.This provides certain reference significance for these enterprises to actively participate in the national carbon trading market in the future.

An Empirical Study on the Environmental Kuznets Curve for China's Carbon Emissions:Based on Provincial Panel Data

Based on the Environmental Kuznets Curve theory, the authors choose provincial panel data of China in 1990-2007 and adopt panel trait root and co-integration testing method to study whether there is Environmental Kuznets Curve for China＇s carbon emissions. The research results show that： carbon emissions per capita of the eastern region and the central region of China fit into Environmental Kuznets Curve, but that of the western region does not. On this basis, the authors carry out scenario analysis on the occurrence time of the inflection point of carbon emissions per capita of different regions, and describe a specific time path.

Decomposition of factors influencing carbon emissions in the region of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei,based on the perspective of terminal energy consumption

In order to analyze the factors influencing carbon emissions in the region of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and to explore the pathways to developing a low-carbon economy,this paper begins with the terminal energy consumption of three industries and residential consumption,and constructs an identical equation which is composed of population size,level of economic development,energy intensity,the proportion of energy consumption,energy structure,and the coefficient of carbon emissions.Based on the data of terminal energy consumption during 2000-2012,various factors are analyzed and their contribution is measured by Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index(LMDI).The results show that the levels of population and economy have a positive driving effect while energy intensity,energy structure,and carbon intensity have a negative driving effect;the proportion of energy consumption had a negative driving effect prior to 2006,then changed to positive.Among suggestions for a low-carbon economy are controlling population size,improving the quality of economic development,supporting research into new energy technology,accelerating regional integration and optimizing industrial structure,and enhancing environmental protection and spreading the concept of a low-carbon economy.

China's Voluntary Mitigation Target and Road of Low-carbon Development

China is going through a rapid development stage of industrialization and urbanization.Although tremendous achievements have been made in the aspects of energy conservation,improvement of energy effectiveness and development of new and renewable energies,because of the rapid development of economy,it is difficult to change the huge total amount and fast increase of CO2 emission in the near future.China has to confront the tough challenge to address global climate change.China plans to reduce carbon intensity,that is,CO2 emissions per unit GDP,by 40 to 45% by 2020 compared with the 2005 level.It is a strategic option to coordinate domestic sustainable development with coping with global climate change on the basis of China's national circumstances,representing the core content and key measures for transforming development pattern and realizing low-carbon development.To achieve the target,more capital and technology inputs are required for energy conservation and low-carbon development during the twelfth and Thirteenth Five Year Plan period than in the Eleventh Five Year Plan period.In addition,energy conservation achieved by structural adjustment,industrial upgrading and product value-added improvement is also expected to play a greater role.Therefore,China should strengthen technological innovation,make greater efforts to transform the development pattern,take advantage of the synergistic effect of policies and measures while coping with global climate change and building a domestic tow-oriented society.China should also establish an industrial system characterized by low-carbon emission.Then China will ultimately achieve a win-win situation in both domestic sustainable development and coping with global climate change.

A review of low-carbon city construction research in China

Based on the analysis on the global warming and environmental deterioration,low-carbon concept has received more and more attention from governments,experts and scholars at home and abroad.The British government first put forward the concept of low-carbon economy,and after that the Japanese government proposed the construction of low-carbon society.In our country,experts and scholars began to research on low-carbon city from 2007.This paper looks through the practical and theoretical studies on low-carbon city construction of the domestic experts and scholars.The current background of lowcarbon city construction is first introduced.To clarify fundamental connotation,characteristics and target of China's low-carbon city is very important.Therefore,this paper summarizes the research progress of the low-carbon city construction from the necessity,the connotation and characteristics of target.Then,we should pay attention to choosing the right index,combining the region characteristics with the current development model and evaluation indexes system,to reflect and improve carbon emissions.Finally,the paper gives an overview of suggestions by experts and scholars on the construction of low carbon city.

Review on carbon emissions, energy consumption and low-carbon economy in China from a perspective of global climate change

Accompanying the rapid growth of China's population and economy, energy consumption and carbon emission increased significantly from 1978 to 2012. China is now the largest energy consumer and CO2 emitter of the world, leading to much interest in researches on the nexus between energy consumption, carbon emissions and low-carbon economy. This article presents the domestic Chinese studies on this hotpot issue, and we obtain the following findings. First, most research fields involve geography, ecology and resource economics, and research contents contained some analysis of current situation, factors decomposition, predictive analysis and the introduction of methods and models. Second, there exists an inverted "U-shaped" curve connection between carbon emission, energy consumption and economic development. Energy consumption in China will be in a low-speed growth after 2035 and it is expected to peak between 6.19–12.13 billion TCE in 2050. China's carbon emissions are expected to peak in 2035, or during 2020 to 2045, and the optimal range of carbon emissions is between 2.4–3.3 PgC/year(1 PgC=1 billion tons C) in 2050. Third, future research should be focused on global carbon trading, regional carbon flows, reforming the current energy structure, reducing energy consumption and innovating the low-carbon economic theory, as well as establishing a comprehensive theoretical system of energy consumption, carbon emissions and low-carbon economy.

Study on Development Status of China Carbon Finance Market,International Experience and Countermeasures

With continuous enhancement of commodity attribute of carbon dioxide emission right and day-by-day maturity of market,trading scales of spot and futures surrounding " carbon emission" which is emerging valuable commodity are getting larger. The development and perfection of carbon finance market has become an important realistic subject under low-carbon economy background. China's carbon finance market is still immature,and lacks the relevant law and government supports and mature intermediary agency; the construction of carbon trading platform is imperfect; it lacks carbon finance products and understanding on carbon finance. To better develop China's carbon finance market,development statuses of carbon finance markets at home and abroad are contrasted from three aspects: legal environment of carbon finance,trading condition of carbon finance and carbon finance business of financial institution,and their difference is analyzed. By referring to foreign development experience,the relevant policy measures of promoting and perfecting carbon finance market in China are proposed.

Black or Green?Economic Growth Patterns in China under Low Carbon Economy Targets

Achieving dual goals of economic growth and carbon emission reduction is a major issue in China. In this paper we deifne three economic growth patterns （green growth, brown growth and black growth） according to the relationship between economic scale and carbon emissions, and then trace the historical trajectory of economic growth over the last 40 years. Granger causality is used to test China’s economic growth and carbon emission linkage. We argue that green growth means that the rate of carbon emission reduction is faster than the increase in GDP. When carbon intensity reduction is slower than GDP growth, brown growth occurs. Black growth occurs when both carbon intensity and economic scale increase. For China, we denote the four periods of black growth （1971–1977）, brown growth （1978–2001）, black growth （2002–2004）, and brown growth （2004–2010）. Granger causality tests indicate that mutual causality between carbon emissions and economic growth exists in the short term, but not the long term. In order to achieve the goals of economic growth and carbon intensity reduction, it is necessary for China to actively participate in global carbon reduction activities, technological innovation and ecological civilization construction.

数字经济对企业碳排放强度的影响研究——基于绿色技术创新的中介效应

在“双碳”目标导向下,数字经济发展持续推动企业进行碳减排。基于2012—2021年我国沪深A股工业上市公司相关数据,研究采用面板固定效应模型实证检验数字经济对企业碳排放强度的影响。研究结果表明,数字经济发展能显著降低企业碳排放强度,企业绿色技术创新在数字经济影响企业碳排放强度中发挥中介作用。异质性分析发现,数字经济对西部地区企业、重污染企业及国有企业碳排放强度的影响更显著。持续推进数字经济发展、提高企业绿色技术创新水平和社会责任意识对降低企业碳排放强度有积极意义。

The Path to a Low-Carbon Economy: From the Perspective of Industrial Planning

Based on the carbon emission data of China's manufacturing industry from 1998 to 2015,this paper examines the impact of carbon emission inclination of the central and local governments’industrial planning on regional carbon emissions.The findings of this study suggest that central industrial planning focuses on the long-term goal of economic development and favors low carbon emission industries,while local governments are more inclined to short-term economic growth and focus more on high-carbon emission industries with high output.The support of local industrial planning for high-carbon emission industries can reduce the intensity of regional carbon emissions,while the influence of central industrial planning is not evident.The mechanism analysis shows that government support for some industries can improve the industrial added value and reduce the carbon emission intensity.As the output value and carbon emission level of high-carbon emission industries are higher,the decline of carbon emissions caused by local government support for high-carbon emission industries will eventually lead to the reduction of carbon emission intensity in the whole region.The research explains the different paths that the central and local governments choose to develop a low-carbon economy and analyses their influences.

低碳时代的企业环境责任立法问题研究

采用比较研究的方法,分析国际社会适应低碳时代对企业环境责任的立法影响,认为低碳时代中国企业环境责任履行的制约因素有:立法的滞后性、企业节能减排量化指标的模糊性、低碳时代企业环境责任衡量标准的不统一性、引导企业节能减排的碳交易市场秩序的不健全性、低碳时代企业环境责任自律性机制的薄弱性等。企业环境责任履行是实现低碳经济的重要基础。健全企业环境责任法律制度是中国适应低碳时代企业环境责任立法的重要选择。

低碳经济背景下企业碳排放成本核算与信息披露研究

在我国低碳经济、新能源经济深入发展的情况下,各大中型企业的工业化生产和产品制造也开始注重产业结构升级,以及碳排放成本的核算。多种碳排放法律法规的出台,使得企业碳排放有着更加规范的操作标准。主要探讨低碳经济背景下企业碳排放的成本核算,通过对当下碳排放成本的核算范围、管理主体、账务处理等分析,从货币化计量角度得出企业碳排放的真实成本,并对相应的成本核算、成本管理信息进行披露,以有效控制企业生产经营的碳排放成本。

Carbon Emission Risk and Governance

Within the hazard and disaster risk research field, explicitly treating carbon emissions as a hazard remains rather nascent. Applying hazard and disaster risk research perspectives to seek new insights on integrated mitigation and adaptation approaches and policy measures is equally elusive. Since China’s pledge to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, the ‘‘dual carbon” goals of carbon emission peaking and neutrality have stimulated nationwide attention, research, and policies and action plans.How to ensure that the transition pathways are on track and well-contextualized is one of the crucial challenges for policymakers and practitioners. This article examines the‘‘risks” of missing the carbon neutrality goal at a regional scale in China, denoted as Carbon Emission Risk(CER).Carbon emissions(CE) as hazard, combined with the human socioeconomic system as exposure and human living environment, constitute the regional carbon emission environmental risk system. The ‘‘risks” of missing(or achieving) the carbon neutrality target for any region at any time, the article argues, is essentially determined by the ratio of CE to carbon absorption(CA, for uptake and removal). These variables are modified by a broadly defined ‘‘vulnerability coefficient”(Cv) that embodies both the potential for changes(decreasing CE and increasing CA), and the uncertainties of measuring CE and CA. Thus,the ratio of CE to CA is a measure of reality at any moment of time, whereas Cv indicates the overall propensity or capacity for moving the CE/CA ratio towards 1, that is,realizing carbon neutrality. Based on our calculation, CER at the provincial level in eastern China is higher than in western China. The article also calls for strengthening CER research and summarizes key measures for carbon emission risk governance.

Effects of Rolling and Cooling Conditions on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Low Carbon Cold Heading Steel

Effects of rolling and cooling conditions on microstructure and mechanical properties of low carbon cold heading steel were investigated on a laboratory hot rolling mill. The results have shown that the mechanical proper ties of low carbon steels exceed the standard requirements of ML30, ML35, ML40, and ML45 steel, respectively due to thermomechanical controlled processing （TMCP）. This is attributed to a significant amount of pearlite and the ferrite-grain refinement. Under the condition of relatively low temperature rolling, the mechanical properties exceed standard requirements of ML45 and ML30 steel after water cooling and air cooling, respectively. Fast cooling which leads to more pearlite and finer ferrite grains is more critical than finish rolling temperatures for low carbon cold heading steel. The specimen at high finish rolling temperature exhibits very good mechanical properties due to fast cooling. This result has great significance not only for energy saving and emission reduction, but also for low-carbon economy, because the goals of the replacement of medium-carbon by low-carbon are achieved with TMCP.