Realizing low-carbon development in a developing and industrializing region: Impacts of industrial structure change on CO2 emissions in southwest China

Decomposing main drivers of CO2 emissions and predicting the trend of it are the key to promoting low-carbon development for coping with climate change based on controlling GHG emissions. Here, we decomposed six drivers of CO2 emissions in Changxing County using the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) method. We then constructed a model for CO2 emissions prediction based on a revised version of the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology (STIRPAT) model and used it to simulate energy-related CO2 emissions in five scenarios. Results show that: (1) From 2010 to 2017, the economic output effect was a significant, direct, dominant, and long-term driver of increasing CO2 emissions; (2) The STIRPAT model predicted that energy structure will be the decisive factor restricting total CO2 emissions from 2018 to 2035; (3) Low-carbon development in the electric power sector is the best strategy for Changxing to achieve low-carbon development. Under the tested scenarios, Changxing will likely reach peak total CO2 emissions (17.95 million tons) by 2030. Measures focused on optimizing the overall industrial structure, adjusting the internal industry sector, and optimizing the energy structure can help industry-oriented counties achieve targeted carbon reduction and control, while simultaneously achieving rapid economic development.

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Enterprise Low-Carbon Behavior, Financial Performance and Economic Transformation——Data from Listed Companies in China

E3S Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/e3sconf/202127502004 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 275 ◽

pp. 02004

Author(s):

Hongmei Sun ◽

Shuqi Yao ◽

Mucun Zhai

Keyword(s):

Financial Performance ◽

Industrial Structure ◽

Listed Companies ◽

Economic Transformation ◽

Carbon Intensity ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Positive Relationships ◽

Chinese Listed Companies ◽

Low Carbon Development ◽

Optimization And Upgrading

The low-carbon development of enterprises is an important breakthrough in Chinese economic transformation and the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure. Based on a sample of Chinese listed companies involved in the low-carbon industry from 2010 to 2018, this paper empirically analyzes the correlation between the low carbon behavior, economic transformation and financial performance of listed companies. The results show that a company’s carbon intensity and financial performance are negatively related, and this relation is more significant when the financial performance is measured using the ROA (return on asset) of listed companies. The level of economic transformation in places where enterprises are located can significantly strengthen the positive relationship between enterprise low-carbon behavior and financial performance, including in central and western areas, where positive relationships are strengthened, and areas with heavy polluting industries, where positive relationships are weakened. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen carbon emission supervision for non-heavy polluting industries and enterprises in the central and western regions.

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How much CO2 emissions will be reduced through industrial structure change if China focuses on domestic rather than international welfare?

Energy ◽

10.1016/j.energy.2014.05.022 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 72 ◽

pp. 168-179 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Yongbin Zhu ◽

Yajuan Shi ◽

Zheng Wang

Keyword(s):

Co2 Emissions ◽

Industrial Structure ◽

Structure Change

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Impacts of city size change and industrial structure change on CO2 emissions in Chinese cities

Journal of Cleaner Production ◽

10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.05.208 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 195 ◽

pp. 831-838 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Li Li ◽

Yalin Lei ◽

Sanmang Wu ◽

Chunyan He ◽

Jiabin Chen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Co2 Emissions ◽

Industrial Structure ◽

Structure Change ◽

City Size ◽

Size Change ◽

Chinese Cities

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Study on the Transition to Low-Carbon Electricity in Coal Industry in Shandong

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.734-737.1702 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 734-737 ◽

pp. 1702-1706

Author(s):

Zhong Wen Liu ◽

Bin Gao ◽

Peng Zhao Gao

Keyword(s):

Industrial Structure ◽

Paper Analysis ◽

Coal Industry ◽

Shandong Province ◽

Energy Structure ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Coal Technology ◽

Low Carbon Development ◽

Mode Of Development ◽

Economic Growth Mode

Economic development of Shandong province is over-reliance on coal resources, which produces shackles for the development of economy in Shandong. No matter from the current economic growth mode, the structure of energy consumption and current environmental pollution, the development model of economy in Shandong requires the transition to a low-carbon model, and there is an urgent requirement to go low carbon development path. This paper analysis that the energy structure in the presence of low carbon development of coal industry in Shandong province is not coordinated, the industrial structure is irrational, the extensive mode of development has not fundamentally change and there are some achievements in low carbon technology innovation and the development of circular economy. The paper provides the path for transition to low-carbon electricity in coal industry in Shandong through coal production, coal utilization, coal technology of low-carbon transition and other aspects.

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City-Level Features of Energy Footprints and Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Sichuan Province of China

Energies ◽

10.3390/en12102025 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (10) ◽

pp. 2025 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Junbo Wang ◽

Liu Chen ◽

Lu Chen ◽

Xiaohui Zhao ◽

Minxi Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Co2 Emissions ◽

Carbon Emissions ◽

Sichuan Province ◽

Provincial Government ◽

Western China ◽

Western Region ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Central Regions ◽

Low Carbon Development ◽

The Western Region

The sustainable development of the western region of China has always been essential to the national development strategy. The Western region has undertaken an industrial transfer from the Eastern and Central regions. Therefore, the CO2 emission intensity in the western region is higher than those of the Eastern and Central regions of China, and consequently its low-carbon development pathway has an important impact for China as a whole. Sichuan Province is not only the province with the highest CO2 emissions, but also the most economically developed province in Western China in 2018. In order to promote low carbon development in the western region, it is important to understand the features of emissions in Sichuan Province and to formulate effective energy strategies accordingly. This paper uses the IPCC regional emission accounting method to calculate the carbon emissions of 15 cities in Sichuan province, and to comply with the city-level emission accounts. The results show that the total carbon emissions of Sichuan province over the past 10 years was 3258.32 mt and reached a peak in 2012. The smelting and pressing of ferrous metals, coal mining and dressing were the leading sectors that contributed to the emissions, accounting for 17.86% and 15.82%, respectively. Raw coal, cleaned coal, and coke were the most significant contributors to CO2 emissions, accounting for 43.73%, 9.55%, and 6.60%, respectively. Following the above results, the Sichuan provincial government can formulate differentiated energy structure policies according to different energy consumption structures and carbon emission levels in the 15 cities. By controlling the level of total emissions and regulating larger industrial emitters in Sichuan province, some useful information could be provided as an essential reference for low-carbon development in Western China, and contribute to the promotion of emissions mitigation from a more holistic perspective.

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Investigating the Uncertainties Propagation Analysis of CO2 Emissions Gridded Maps at the Urban Scale: A Case Study of Jinjiang City, China

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs12233932 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (23) ◽

pp. 3932

Author(s):

Shaoqing Dai ◽

Yin Ren ◽

Shudi Zuo ◽

Chengyi Lai ◽

Jiajia Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Co2 Emissions ◽

Co2 Emission ◽

Uncertainty Propagation ◽

Decision Makers ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Propagation Analysis ◽

Low Carbon Development ◽

Fine Resolution ◽

Aid Decision

Gridded CO2 emission maps at the urban scale can aid the design of low-carbon development strategies. However, the large uncertainties associated with such maps increase policy-related risks. Therefore, an investigation of the uncertainties in gridded maps at the urban scale is essential. This study proposed an analytic workflow to assess uncertainty propagation during the gridding process. Gridded CO2 emission maps were produced using two resolutions of geospatial datasets (e.g., remote sensing satellite-derived products) for Jinjiang City, China, and a workflow was applied to analyze uncertainties. The workflow involved four submodules that can be used to evaluate the uncertainties of CO2 emissions in gridded maps, caused by the gridded model and input. Fine-resolution (30 m) maps have a larger spatial variation in CO2 emissions, which gives the fine-resolution maps a higher degree of uncertainty propagation. Furthermore, the uncertainties of gridded CO2 emission maps, caused by inserting a random error into spatial proxies, were found to decrease after the gridding process. This can be explained by the “compensation of error” phenomenon, which may be attributed to the cancellation of the overestimated and underestimated values among the different sectors at the same grid. This indicates a nonlinear change between the sum of the uncertainties for different sectors and the actual uncertainties in the gridded maps. In conclusion, the present workflow determined uncertainties were caused by the gridded model and input. These results may aid decision-makers in establishing emission reduction targets, and in developing both low-carbon cities and community policies.

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Industrial Structure Optimization and Low-Carbon Transformation of Chinese Industry Based on the Forcing Mechanism of CO2 Emission Peak Target

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13084417 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (8) ◽

pp. 4417

Author(s):

Feng Wang ◽

Changhai Gao ◽

Wulin Zhang ◽

Danwen Huang

Keyword(s):

Co2 Emissions ◽

Co2 Emission ◽

Carbon Emission ◽

Industrial Structure ◽

Objective Assessment ◽

Structure Optimization ◽

Emission Peak ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Chinese Industry ◽

Industrial Structure Optimization

The setting of a CO2 emission peak target (CEPT) will have a profound impact on Chinese industry. An objective assessment of this impact is of great significance, both for understanding/applying the forcing mechanism of CEPT, and for promoting the optimization of China’s industrial structure and the low-carbon transformation of Chinese industry at a lower cost. Based on analysis of the internal logic and operation of the forcing mechanism of CEPT, we employed the STIRPAT model. This enabled us to predict the peak path of China’s CO2 emissions, select the path values that would achieve the CEPT with the year 2030 as the constraint condition, construct a multi-objective and multi-constraint input/output optimization model, employ the genetic algorithm to solve the model, and explore the industrial structure optimization and low-carbon transformation of Chinese industry. The results showed that the setting of CEPT will have a significant suppression effect on high-carbon emission industries and a strong boosting effect on low-carbon emission industries. The intensity of the effect is positively correlated with the target intensity of the CO2 emissions peak. Under the effect of the forcing mechanism of CEPT, Chinese industry can realize a low-carbon transition and the industrial structure can realize optimization. The CEPT is in line with sustainable development goals, but the setting of CEPT may risk causing excessive shrinkage of basic industries—which should be prevented.

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Divergent Leading Factors in Energy-Related CO2 Emissions Change Among Subregions of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Area from 2006 to 2016: An Extended LMDI Analysis

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11184929 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (18) ◽

pp. 4929 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Zou ◽

Tang ◽

Wu

Keyword(s):

Co2 Emissions ◽

Industrial Structure ◽

Driving Forces ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Logarithmic Mean ◽

Index Method ◽

Positive Effects ◽

Energy Demands ◽

Rapid Economic Growth ◽

Bth Region

In recent decades, the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) region has experienced rapid economic growth accompanied by increasing energy demands and CO2 emissions. Understanding the driving forces of CO2 emissions is necessary to develop effective policies for low-carbon economic development. However, because of differences in the socioeconomic systems within the BTH region, it is important to investigate the differences in the driving factors of CO2 emissions between Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei. In this paper, we calculated the energy-related industrial CO2 emissions (EICE) in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei from 2006 to 2016. We then applied an extended LMDI (logarithmic mean Divisia index) method to determine the driving forces of EICE during different time periods and in different subregions within the BTH region. The results show that EICE increased and then decreased from 2006 to 2016 in the BTH region. In all subregions, energy intensity, industrial structure, and research and development (R&D) efficiency effect negatively affected EICE, whereas gross domestic product per capita effect and population had positive effects on EICE. However, R&D intensity and investment intensity had opposite effects in some parts of the BTH region; the effect of R&D intensity on EICE was positive in Beijing and Tianjin but negative in Hebei, while the effect of investment intensity was negative in Beijing but positive in Tianjin and Hebei. The findings of this study can contribute to the development of policies to reduce EICE in the BTH region.

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