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Legislation plays a vital role in solving carbon emissions reduction and climate change issues. China began to implement a low-carbon economic policy in 2010, but the effect of the policy needs to be evaluated. Accordingly, this paper aims to discuss China’s low-carbon policy through exploring the following two questions, namely, whether the policy effect reaches the expected goal and whether the policy effects will balance economic development and emission reduction. Then, the paper puts forward suggestions for the improvement of China’s low-carbon policy.

This paper is organized around three distinct aspects of policy effect evaluation. This paper uses the synthetic control method to construct a policy effect evaluation model and conducts a quasi-natural experiment. The paper selects annual panel data from 2003 to 2015, which is selected from 33 provinces. A comparative analysis of carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption and economic development between Hubei Province and Liaoning Province.

The results reveal that the implementation of the low-carbon pilot province policy in 2010 has a significant impact on the emission reduction effect of Liaoning Province, but the impact on the emission reduction effect of Hubei Province is not significant. The carbon emission trading system implemented in 2012 has reduced the emission reductions in Hubei Province and Liaoning Province has achieved better emission reduction effects after the implementation of this policy. After the implementation of the policy, the economic development of Hubei Province has been improved, but it has not brought help to the economic development of Liaoning Province. These findings provide new insights into the use of an emissions trading system for improving economic development and ultimately facilitate the attainment of the broader goal of sustainability.

This paper proposes an innovative policy effect evaluation method by considering the status of unit gross domestic product, fixed asset investment in the energy industry, energy consumption, emission reduction technology innovation and other evaluation indicators. This paper contributes to broadening current methods of policy effect evaluation in China.

Carbon trading mechanism has been adopted to foster the green transformation of the economy on a global scale, but its effectiveness for the power industry remains controversial. Given that energy-related greenhouse gas emissions account for most of all anthropogenic emissions, this paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of this trading mechanism at the plant level to support relevant decision-making and mechanism design.

This paper constructs a novel spatiotemporal data set by matching satellite-based high-resolution (1 × 1 km) CO₂ and PM_2.5 emission data with accurate geolocation of power plants. It then applies a difference-in-differences model to analyse the impact of carbon trading mechanism on emission reduction for the power industry in China from 2007 to 2016.

Results suggest that the carbon trading mechanism induces 2.7% of CO₂ emission reduction and 6.7% of PM_2.5 emission reduction in power plants in pilot areas on average. However, the reduction effect is significant only in coal-fired power plants but not in gas-fired power plants. Besides, the reduction effect is significant for power plants operated with different technologies and is more pronounced for those with outdated production technology, indicating the strong potential for green development of backward power plants. The reduction effect is also more intense for power plants without affiliation relationships than those affiliated with particular manufacturers.

This paper identifies the causal relationship between the carbon trading mechanism and emission reduction in the power industry by providing an innovative methodology for identifying plant-level emissions based on high-resolution satellite data, which has been practically absent in previous studies. It serves as a reference for stakeholders involved in detailed policy formulation and execution, including policymakers, power plant managers and green investors.

This study estimated greenhouse gas emissions from aviation transportation and sought systems that could manage these emissions based on the IPCC guidelines to prepare for greenhouse gas regulations on international airlines. For this purpose, policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from aviation transportation were developed based on international agreements and the cases of advanced countries. In addition, marginal abatement costs and greenhouse gas reduction measures were derived for the effective execution of these policies. While estimating greenhouse gas emissions from aviation transportation, it was found that there has been an average increase of 3.9% and 12.9% for domestic and international flights, indicating that it is urgent that we prepare global greenhouse gas regulations. The estimated marginal abatement cost of greenhouse gas from airplanes was approximately. USD 123, and this amount could be used to decide the price of emission rights, the amount of carbon tax, and could be referred to when distributing incentives for voluntary agreements.

The measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for aviation transportation were classified into four types: voluntary agreements, international collaboration, greenhouse gas reduction technology and operation process development, and application of emission trading and carbon tax.

This paper aims to review the literature on carbon trading from the perspective of evolution, finds out the evolution path of these literatures and gives out the future research hotspots in this field.

Uses visualization tools (CiteSpace and HistCite) to systematically categorize the literature on carbon-trading schemes in the Web of Science core collection from 1998 to 2018, comprehensively analyzes carbon-trading schemes from four dimensions, namely, discipline evolution, keyword evolution, citation cluster evolution and citation path evolution.

Research on carbon-trading schemes has a specific development and evolution path along four dimensions, namely, in the discipline dimension, the largest change lies in the mathematics pointed to by at least four different disciplines; the keyword evolution dimension shows a gradual deepening emphasis on coordinated development; citation clusters identify three major clusters – carbon prices, China’s carbon trading, carbon market and supply chain; and citation paths identify three major evolutionary paths, the most important of which shows that “What affects carbon price?” has changed to “What is the impact of carbon prices?”

Reveals the evolution path of carbon trading research studies and proposes four possible development directions for carbon-trading scheme research, which is helpful for future carbon trading-related research and serves as a reference for the promotion of and improvements in carbon-trading schemes.

Environmental problems such as CO₂ (Carbon Dioxide) emissions have seriously affected the development of the steel industry, which has urged the industry to adopt a more effective emission reduction policy. This paper aims to analyze the impact of various CO₂ emission reduction policies combinations on the economic benefits and environmental changes of the steel industry and to determine the scope of application.

To compare the impact and applicable implementation conditions, a production decision game model that incorporates these two policies has been constructed. Short-, medium- and long-term constraints are set on the emission reduction indicators and the indicators’ changes under various scenarios are compared.

In the case of a single emission reduction policy, the carbon trading (CT) mechanism is better than the carbon tax mechanism. The mixed carbon trading mechanism is superior to the mixed carbon tax mechanism in terms of total output and subsidies, but worse in terms of overall social welfare, producer surplus and macro losses.

This paper constructs multiple emission reduction and production backgrounds and discusses the impact of the comprehensive implementation of these policies, which is practically absent in previous studies. It is in line with the current industrial policy for stable production and environmental protection and also provides a reference for the formulation of detailed policies in the future.

The European Union's Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), which is already one of the EU's most impactful instruments for reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs), will soon include the maritime transport industry. Although ports are this industry's most environmental-friendly component, there are still some barriers to including ports in the system. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to identify these barriers and to reveal the barriers' interrelationships.

The study was conducted by identifying barriers from a literature review before analyzing the barriers with the Fuzzy DEMATEL method. Finally, based on the Complex Adaptive System Approach, various solutions are proposed to overcome these barriers.

The identified barriers were grouped into cause-and-effect groups. Two barriers, namely long payback period and high investment costs, were evaluated as triggers of the model while the others were more sensitive to the model.

This study only includes the perceptions of green certificated ports in Türkiye. The results revealed an expectation that elimination of financial concerns will alleviate other barriers to including ports in the system. The study's findings can guide port managers on the integration of the managers' processes into the system.

This study provides novel findings regarding the relationships between barriers hindering ports from involvement in the EU ETS.

To cope with climate change and achieve the dual carbon goal, China has actively promoted the implementation of carbon trading pilot policy, among which the power industry plays an important role in China’s carbon emission reduction work. The purpose of this paper is to study the influence of carbon trading policy on the energy efficiency of power industry and achieve the comprehensive goal of carbon emission reduction, carbon peak and carbon neutralization.

This paper constructs the difference-in-differences model based on 2012–2019 provincial data to study the impact of carbon trading policy on energy efficiency in the power industry and its effect path. Heterogeneity analysis was conducted to compare the effects of carbon trading policy in eastern, central and western regions as well as at different levels of power structures.

Carbon trading policy can significantly improve the energy efficiency of the power industry, and the policy effect is more significant in eastern and western regions and areas with high power structure. Mechanism analysis shows that carbon trading policy mainly influences the energy efficiency of power industry by environmental protection investment, power consumption demand and industrial structure.

This paper uses provincial panel data to deeply study the influence of carbon trading policy on energy efficiency of the power industry and its effect path. By constructing the difference-in-differences model, this paper empirically analyzes the governance effect of carbon trading policy. Meanwhile, it controls individual and time effects to solve the endogeneity problem prevalent in previous literature.

As a typical nature-based solution to climate change, forestry carbon sinks are vital to achieving carbon neutrality in China. However, regulations in China are insufficient to promote the development of carbon offset projects in forestry. This study aims to identify the regulatory obstacles impeding the development of forestry offsets under China’s certified emission reduction (CCER) and explore ways to improve the regulatory system.

This study conducts a qualitative analysis using a normative legal research method. This study conducted a synthetic review of national and local regulatory documents to gain insights into the regulatory landscape of forestry offsets in China. The main contents and characteristics of these documents are illustrated. Furthermore, related secondary literature was reviewed to gain further insight into forestry offset regulations and to identify significant gaps in China’s CCER regulation.

Forestry offset regulations under the CCER are characterized by fragmentation and a relatively lower legally binding force. There is no systematic institutional arrangement for forestry offset development, impeding market expectations and increasing transaction costs. The main challenges in China’s regulation of forestry carbon sinks include entitlement ambiguity, complicated rules for registration and verification, a lack of mechanisms for incentives, risk prevention and biodiversity protection.

Forestry carbon sinks’ multiple environmental and social values necessitate their effective development and utilization. This study assessed forestry offset regulations in China and proposed corresponding institutional arrangements to improve forestry carbon sink regulations under the CCER.

Although the tasks of managing carbon peaks and achieving carbon neutrality in China are arduous, they are also of great significance, which highlights China’s determination and courage in dealing with climate change. The power industry is not only a major source of carbon emissions but also an important area for carbon emission reduction. Thus, against the backdrop of carbon neutrality, understanding the development status of China’s power industry guided by the carbon neutrality background is important because it largely determines the completeness of China’s carbon reduction promises to the world. This study aims to review China’s achievements in carbon reduction in the electric industry, its causes and future policy highlights.

The methods used in this study include descriptive analyses based on official statistics, government documents and reports.

The research results show that, after years of development, the power industry has achieved positive results in low-carbon provisions and in the electrification of consumption, and carbon emission intensity has continued to decline. Policy initiatives play a key role in this process, including, but not limited to, technology innovations, low-carbon power replacement and supported policies for low-carbon transformation toward low-carbon economies.

This study provides a full picture of China’s power industry against the backdrop of low-carbon development, which could be used as a benchmark for other countries engaging in the same processes. Moreover, a careful review of China’s development status may offer profound implications for policymaking both for China and for other governments across the globe.