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.

Long-term costs and benefits analysis of China’s low-carbon policies

China’s long-term,low-emission development goals will hinge on effective low-carbon policies.Therefore,it is valuable to evaluate the costs and benefits of low-carbon policy packages to ensure that low-carbon development concepts and strategies can be well integrated into the policy making process.This work uses the Low-carbon Policy Assessment(LPA)model to assess long-term costs and benefits of climate and energy policies in China under the reference(RS)scenario and the low-carbon(LC)scenario,which includes 25 additional climate and energy policies.In the LC scenario,both energy-related CO2 emissions and total greenhouse gas(GHG)emissions peak around 2030,achieving China’s Nationally Determined Contribution(NDC)target.Of the policies included in the LC scenario,the five with the highest GHG mitigation potential beyond China’s existing policies are:fluorinated gas(F-gas)substitution,a renewable portfolio standard,carbon pricing,carbon capture utilization and storage(CCUS),and a fuel economy standard for heavy duty vehicles(HDVs).In addition to reducing GHG emissions,these policies decrease particulate emissions and associated premature deaths,which would otherwise reduce China’s GDP by nearly 1.5%in 2050.Together,these policies have the potential to promote significant low-carbon prosperity in China.

Can the low-carbon city pilot policy promote the upgrading of high-carbon emitting enterprises? Evidence from China

As a crucial environmental reform system to realize“carbon peaking”and“carbon neutrality”,the pilot policy of low-carbon cities(LCCs)puts pressure and challenges on high-carbon emitting enterprises(HCEEs)while providing opportunities for these firms to take the path of independent transformation.Employing the data of Chinese listed enterprises from 2006 to 2016 and adopting a difference-in-differences(DID)model,we evaluated the impact of LCC construction on the upgrading of HCEEs and its mechanisms.The results indicate that LCC construction enhances the upgrading of HCEEs in the pilot cities.The conclusions remain stable after a series of robustness tests.The mechanism analysis reveals that LCC construction triggers the upgrading of HCEEs by promoting resource allocation efficiency,R&D investment,and green technology innovation.The heterogeneity results indicate that this positive effect is more pronounced for HCEEs in regions with more stringent environmental law enforcement.This study also observes that the upgrading impact is more promi‐nent for state-owned enterprises,enterprises with higher bargaining power,and enterprises whose managers have a long-term vision.The above results provide directions for upgrading HCEEs and replicable evidence for cities in developing economies to fulfill the win-win target of environmental protection and economic transfor‐mation.

Optimization and Regulation Policy for Land Use Changes Based on Low-carbon Emission in Developed Regions of China

Land use and cover change(LUCC) is one of the important causes of the Earth’s carbon cycle imbalances resulting from failure in optimizing land use. The solution to this problem has been the hotspot of research in land and environmental science. We took 'low carbon', 'energy saving' and 'high-efficiency' as the goals of land use optimization,and integrated Markov-CA(Cellular Automaton),the Grid-Fractal model and GIS,in order to study carbon emission objective function,to establish a simulation method for land use spatial allocation optimization,to evaluate the effect of the method on carbon emissions. Regulation policy on three types of land use spatial allocation was proposed,including 'low-carbon type', 'low-carbon-economic type' and 'economic type'. We applied the method to analyze the land use spatial allocation in Taixing City of the 'Yangtze River Delta' regions in China,and obtained the following results:(i) The three optimization types would improve carbon emissions by 3. 21%,1. 80% and 0. 36% respectively in 2020,compared with 2010;(ii) The actual planning for 2020 was close to the 'low-carbon-economic type';(iii) The optimization method and regulation policy,combining local optimization and global control,could meet the sustainable multi-objective requirements for low-carbon constraints of land use spatial allocation. The result of this research could also serve as a reference for exploration into patterns of regional low-carbon land use and measures for energy saving and emission reduction.

Research on the transmission mechanism of low-carbon policies:an empirical study of agricultural companies

Companies bear primary responsibility for low-carbon economy,thus relevant low-carbon policies should be set properly to guide them and to ensure their low-carbon production effectively.To solve the problems generated during low-carbon development,this article verifies the existence of the transmission path and strength.This verification includes mediating variables of companies'willingness and capacity to conduct low-carbon production,a transmission mechanism through incentive path and resources protection,and questionnaire data of agricultural companies.Conclusions show that the lowcarbon policies have obvious positive effects on willingness of corporation;the basic service-oriented policy has a significantly promoting effect on low-carbon production capacity;and low-carbon production performance is positively influenced by willingness as well as capability.Aiming at a better transmission path,some corresponding recommendations have been put forward in the end.

Scaling up private investment in low-carbon energy systems through regional cooperation: Effective trade policy measures

How to ensure energy supply and reduce environment pollution have turned into governments’ top priorities and key factors to maintain sustainable development. In this context, two major trade and investment agreements that could lead to profound influence on low-carbon energy systems development around the Asia-Pacific region are the Regional comprehensive economic partnership (RCEP) consisted of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) plus Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, and Republic of Korea and the Belt and road initiative (BRI) initiated by China. In order to have a smooth transition to low-carbon energy systems in Asia, besides RCEP and BRI, it is imperative to boost private sector investment. Success of encouraging private sector investment depends on appropriate government policies towards promoting innovations and reducing financial risks to private investors. The research questions that are examined in this study are: What type of policy measures affects trade in low-carbon transition, particularly renewable energy (RE) transition? How can investment signals and incentives be reframed to scale up private finance in RE? The objective is to investigate and to provide several feasible trade policy and investment policy tools for both national and regional markets that governments could adopt to accelerate the speed of private financing of the low-carbon energy industry, particularly the RE industry.

Research on low-carbon development of electric power industry:from the perspectives of public policy

It is a fundamental way to achieve sustainable development and inclusive growth that China takes the low-carbon development path.And low-carbon development is an effective way to respond to many threats,including global climate anomalies,environmental degradation,and energy shortage.Low-carbon economy is policy economy to a large extent.Although the external environment demands low-carbon development of electric power industry,enterprises lack intrinsic motivation.Electric power industry is the pillar industry of China,and is one of the key industries for China's low-carbon development.The government needs to ensure its dominant position in the low-carbon development of electric power industry,and reform the government performance management system and promote the planning and management of electric power industry through appropriate public policy,in order to adjust the structure of the electric power industry and take a low-carbon development road with Chinese characteristics.

A quantitative study of disruptive technology policy texts:An example of China’s artificial intelligence policy

Purpose:The transformative impact of disruptive technologies on the restructuring of the times has attracted widespread global attention.This study aims to analyze the characteristics and shortcomings of China’s artificial intelligence(AI)disruptive technology policy,and to put forward suggestions for optimizing China’s AI disruptive technology policy.Design/methodology/approach:Develop a three-dimensional analytical framework for“policy tools-policy actors-policy themes”and apply policy tools,social network analysis,and LDA topic model to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the utilization of policy tools,cooperative relationships among policy actors,and the trends in policy theme settings within China’s innovative AI technology policy.Findings:We find that the collaborative relationship among the policy actors of AI disruptive technology in China is insufficiently close.Marginal subjects exhibit low participation in the cooperation network and overly rely on central subjects,forming a“center-periphery”network structure.Policy tool usage is predominantly focused on supply and environmental types,with a severe inadequacy in demand-side policy tool utilization.Policy themes are diverse,encompassing topics such as“Intelligent Services”“Talent Cultivation”“Information Security”and“Technological Innovation”,which will remain focal points.Under the themes of“Intelligent Services”and“Intelligent Governance”,policy tool usage is relatively balanced,with close collaboration among policy entities.However,the theme of“AI Theoretical System”lacks a comprehensive understanding of tool usage and necessitates enhanced cooperation with other policy entities.Research limitations:The data sources and experimental scope are subject to certain limitations,potentially introducing biases and imperfections into the research results,necessitating further validation and refinement.Practical implications:The study introduces a three-dimensional analysis framework for disruptive technology policy texts,which is significant for formulating and enhancing disruptive technology policies.Originality/value:This study utilizes text mining and content analysis techniques to quantitatively analyze disruptive technology policy texts.It systematically evaluates China’s AI policies quantitatively,focusing on policy tools,policy actors,policy themes.The study uncovers the characteristics and deficiencies of current AI policies,offering recommendations for formulating and enhancing disruptive technology policies.

Study on Carbon Emission Driving Factors and Low-carbon Policy of Transportation Industry in Henan Province

The transportation industry is the basic industry of national economic development. At the same time, it is the only industry in China that has continuously increased CO2 emissions, and the high energy consumption problems have not been solved. Henan province, as a major energy consumption province, it is urgent to improve the supply quality of transportation industry. The paper uses the IPCC calculation method for carbon emission to calculate the CO2 emissions of transportation industry in Henan province from 2004 to 2014. Then, this paper uses the LMDI method to decompose the CO2 emission in the transportation industry and give the proposal to reduce the CO2 emission according to the CO2 emission drivers.

Research on the Work-for-Relief Policy within the Scope of Comprehensive Rural Revitalization:Quantitative Analysis of Policy Texts Based on 71 Policy Documents

Work-for-relief plays a unique role in China’s journey toward modernization.From the perspectives of policy tools and interest analysis,this paper uses quantitative analysis of policy texts and integrates grounded theory to build a policy expression analysis model to discuss the current work-for-relief policy system.The study found that China’s use of the work-for-relief policy is unbalanced,and it is necessary to enhance the involvement of non-governmental sectors,as well as to fully consider the policy’s target groups and the social issues that need addressing.

A Mechanism for Digital Finance to Drive Green and Low-Carbon Development

Given the global focus on green and low-carbon development and the increasing prominence of digital finance,it is particularly important to explore how to leverage digital finance to achieve these environmental goals.This study,through mechanism analysis,deeply examines how China’s digital finance promotes green and low-carbon development and elucidates the positive interaction between digital finance and the green industry.The study found that digital finance,through more flexible and efficient financial functions,alters the cost structure of carbon emissions,and reduces the risks and costs of green investments,thereby creating a cooperative green mechanism benefiting all parties,and guiding social groups toward a green and low-carbon transformation.Additionally,the rapid development of digital finance has strengthened the implementation of environmental protection policies,effectively promoted the expansion of the environmental protection industry,and established the green ethos as a mainstream concept in financial development.This study aims to provide reference perspectives and suggestions,assist policymakers in promoting the green and lowcarbon development of digital finance,and offer insights into the integrated development of digital finance and the green environmental protection industry.

Overview of Low-carbon Economy Research

The paper has a detailed literature review in low-carbon economy research of academic circle in our country from three aspects that are conception and connotation of low-carbon economy, necessity and urgency of developing low-carbon economy and path choice of realizing low-carbon economy in our country. low-carbon economy is the "green economy" that obtains the maximum output by discharging minimum greenhouse gases with the main characteristics of "three low and three high" that are low energy consumption, low pollution, low discharge and high effect, high efficiency, high benefit. To China, developing low-carbon economy is the inevitable choice in realizing peaceful rising and sustainable development as a responsible large country. It conforms to world trends and corresponds to China's actual conditions. Finally, the paper makes a overview of the path choice in realizing low-carbon economy in our country from eight aspects-integral countermeasures and suggestions, technology innovation, consumption pattern innovation, policy innovation, environmental and financial innovation, building low-carbon city, establishing carbon trading market and developing low-carbon agriculture.

Comparative Analysis of Food Price Policies in the Developed Countries

As the basis for maintenance of national security and global strategic material,food has always captured the attention of governments in the world.After reaching a certain stage of industrialization,most countries will take the food support and protection measures,and the policy objectives and policy tools have evolved into a set of policy systems through continuous adjustment,but the intervention in food price has always been present.The food price intervention only plays a role in regulating food market supply and demand and guaranteeing minimum income for grain producers,and it can not reflect the cost of food production and continuously improve grain producers' income,but because of its simple operation,low cost and immediate effect,it is suitable for the countries with a large number of grain producers but small operation scale in the short term.

Policy text quantification of urban waste classification from the perspective of policy tools:Based on the analysis of 6 cities in Northwest China

Based on the theory of policy tools and the application of content analysis method,this paper conducts a quantitative study on 32 samples of municipal waste classification policy texts in 6 cities in Northwest China.It constructs an analysis framework from the perspective of policy tools,policy contents and time series,and then measures and analyzes the policy texts according to the steps of defining analysis units,categories and coding,reliability and validity testing,etc.The results show that:(1)The urban waste classification policy in Northwest China is characterized by increasing attention year by year,a focus on government guidance and investment,and a clear division of responsibilities.These factors help to activate the motivation for policy implementation in cities across Northwest China,foster multi-departmental cooperation,and encourage active participation from various social entities in the process of implementing waste classification policies.(2)At the present stage,the design and application of policy tools are still unreasonable.On the one hand,the structure of policy tools is unbalanced,with excessive environmental policy tools leading to resource waste and insufficient demand policy tools leading to insufficient policy pulling power,which is not conducive to the long-term implementation of garbage classification management.At the same time,the internal structure of the secondary tools of the three types of policy tools is also uneven and unreasonable proportion further aggravates the waste of policy resources;On the other hand,the use of policy tools in each link of the policy content lacks focus and the concept of local policy implementation,which is difficult to meet the current practical needs and difficulties of garbage classification and treatment.According to this,the paper puts forward some policy suggestions,such as increasing the use of demand-oriented policy tools,paying attention to the reasonable matching of policy tools in various links of classification,and paying attention to the coordination of policy goal,process and result under the comprehensive dimension.

政策工具视角下我国教育数字化转型的现状与审思

政策工具是政策文本的表现形式,也是政策目标和政策行动之间的连接机制,通过施用于有关部门与目标团体从而实现相关政策目标。文章基于28份与教育数字化转型相关的政策文件,通过工具分类、议题界定、政策编码的手段,遵循“政策工具—政策议题”的二维矩阵分析框架进行统计分析,将我国当前教育数字化转型相关政策的现状予以完整呈现。研究发现,我国教育数字化转型的相关政策可分为“改善基础设施、开发在线资源、构建网络空间、改革治理体系、发展师生能力、开展试点案例”六大议题。当前,我国教育数字化转型的相关政策存在政策工具整体结构失衡、内部运用失调、选择偏向单一的问题。在未来政策制定上,应调整政策工具结构、加大基础设施建设的政策供给、加强试点示范与实践推进、优化政策工具与政策议题配置。

文旅融合政策创新体系研究——基于中央政策文本的“主体-路径-工具”三维框架分析

机构改革开启了文旅融合政策创新的新篇章,中央发布的文旅融合政策对地方政策创新和行业实践发挥“风向标”作用,但学界一般关注的是文化旅游政策,而非融合相关政策,也鲜少以一个立体化的研究框架去分析其结构和关联特征。文章以中央政策文本为例,构建了“政策主体-融合路径-政策工具”三维框架,研究有以下发现。(1)文旅融合政策创新主体以文化和旅游部、国家发展和改革委员会以及财政部等部门为主,发文方式独立创新为主、合作创新为辅。政策文件的主体属性包括单核、多核、单边等6种。(2)融合路径存在偏好性,以体制融合、业态融合和产品融合为主,其中,政策支撑、产业融合类型和高品质文旅产品等细分类别较为突出,其他路径政策内容相对较少。(3)政策工具的使用具有倾向性,以供给型为主、环境型为辅,需求型最少,其中,产业培育、目标定位、示范试点和公共服务是较为重要的工具类别。(4)文旅融合政策创新共有386条创新路径,提炼出6类典型政策创新路径。政策创新逻辑是以核心层部门为主,从体制、产品和业态等融合路径,调动供给型、环境型工具促进文旅融合。该研究进一步提出制定文旅融合专项政策、加强主体合作、优化融合路径和均衡政策工具4点政策优化建议,具有一定的理论意义和实践价值。

Carbon Emission Modeling and Analysis in Manufacturing Process for Numerical Control Machine Tools

Reducing carbon emissions( CEs) is the urgent demand all over the world. In order to realize the low-carbon numerical control( NC) machining, the evaluation model of a part's manufacturing carbon emission with NC machine tools was built by considering the influences of the cutting tool geometrical parameters.The manufacturing CEs were produced by electric power,cutting tools,and cutting fluid consumed in manufacturing process. The parameters of cutting tools affected not only the CEs,but also the machining quality. Then the actual constraint models of the machine performance,machining quality were given in order to optimize the cutting parameters and achieve the low-CEs. Finally,a case was given to analyze the influences of the cutting tool angles on the manufacturing CEs. The results show that the CEs decrease as the rake angle and edge angle increase under the constraints of the machine specifications and machining quality.

Oil and Gas Policies in the World’s Major Countries

Revolutionary adjustments were made to the global energy structure in 2017.For the first time,OPEC cooperated with non-OPEC countries to reach an agreement on production curtailment in order to stabilize the oil and gas market.On the one hand,host countries have introduced various fiscal and tax incentive policies to attract investment in the oil and gas industry;on the other,the lack of fiscal revenue has been made up for and the low-carbon environmental protection policy supported by imposing a value-added tax and environmental protection tax.Major consumers have introduced a timetable for the sales prohibition of fuel vehicles and supported the development of new energy vehicles with fiscal and taxation policies.However,from the perspective of the full life cycle,the promotion of electric vehicles is only conducive to partially improving the environment and is not the optimal choice for national energy structure optimization.Electric vehicles will have real significance for environmental protection only after clean electric power is solved.As such,implementing the sales prohibition of fuel vehicles with administrative power goes against market discipline.

我国数字乡村试点的政策工具偏好及区域差异——基于全国72个试点县域的扎根分析

以数字技术赋能乡村建设是推动农业农村现代化转型的必然要求,也是实现乡村振兴、推动共同富裕的重要战略目标。自2020年中央一号文件首次提出数字乡村试点以来,全国各试点地积极推进数字乡村建设实践。已有研究或从乡村发展与变迁视角来阐释数字化建设对于乡村高质量发展的战略意义,或从数字治理视角呈现数字化驱动乡村治理的过程和机制,而较少关注“试点”政策本身,更缺乏政策工具的类型学归纳和分析。基于政策工具视角,研究对全国72个数字乡村试点县域的一、二手资料进行扎根分析,最终提炼出能力建设型、协同治理型和创新激励型三类政策工具,并在此基础上构建数字乡村建设的“价值实践张力—动力机制—政策工具选择—政策目标实现”分析框架。研究表明,以政府主导为依托的能力建设型工具处于绝对优势地位,在此基础上叠加协同治理型与创新激励型两类政策工具,共同促进数字乡村建设的纵深发展。具体而言,东部沿海及部分中部地区因其自身物质基础较好,偏重多种政策工具的组合运用,西部及东北地区则更偏好能力建设型工具的运用。然而政策工具的选取并非一成不变,而是随着情境的变化由单一转向动态化与多样化。本研究可为数字乡村试点的深入推进提供工具借鉴,也可为相关部门的决策提供参考。

基于政策工具的河南省医养结合政策文本分析

目的:选取2016~2023年河南省医养结合政策文本为研究对象,研究分析政策文本内容的特征及不足,提出合理化建议,为完善河南省医养结合政策体系提供参考。方法:以政策工具为视角,结合参与主体维度构建二维分析框架,采用内容分析法对27个政策文本进行分析,得到有效编码172条。结果:政策工具结构不平衡,供给型政策工具占29%,需求型政策工具占8%,环境型政策工具占63%;参与主体分布不均衡,政府参与占61%,养老机构参与占8%,医疗卫生机构参与占16%,社会组织参与占12%,健康产业参与占3%。结论:河南省医养结合政策内容丰富、层次鲜明、目标清晰,但政策工具结构不平衡、参与主体分布不均衡,要优化政策工具间结构、协调各参与主体在政策工具中分布、加强各参与主体在各个政策工具中的交互协作,促进河南省医养结合政策发展。