Can Emissions Trading System Aid Industrial Structure Upgrading?—A Quasi-Natural Experiment Based on 249 Prefecture-Level Cities in China

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

(1)   Line 60, the review on research of ETS are not enough. The following references may expand the author’s opinion on “Research on Emission Trading System”. More references are suggested to be reviewed. The research progresses of also suggested to be summarized.

(a) Zhang, J.L., Li, Y.P., You, L., Huang, G.H., Xu, X.M., Wang, X.Y. Optimizing effluent trading and risk management schemes considering dual risk aversion for an agricultural watershed. Agricultural Water Management, 2022, 269, 107716.

(b) Wang, T.S., Zhang, J.L., Li, Y., Xu, X.M., Li, Y.P., Zeng, X.T., Huang, G.H., Lin, P.Y. Optimal design of two-dimensional water trading based on risk aversion for sustainable development of Daguhe watershed, China. Journal of Environmental Management, 2022, 309, 114679.

(c) Xu, Z.W., Yao, L.M., Chen, X.D., 2020. A robust optimization for agricultural crops area planning and industrial production level in the presence of effluent trading. Journal of Cleaner Production, 2020, 254, 119987

(2)   Line 251, what is β2?

(3)   The variable selection should be justified.

(4)   More specific policy recommendations should be summarized and provided based on the abundant empirical results.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer:

Thank you for your valuable comments on our manuscript. We have carefully revised the manuscript according to your comments, please refer to our revision in the attachment. If you have any questions, please let me know. Thank you very much.

LI Chunxiao 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Title: Can Emission Trading System Aid Industrial Structure Upgrad-2 ing? —A Quasi-natural experiment based on 249 Prefecture-3 level Cities in China

This paper proposes some policies to improve the emission trading system.

The following modifications are recommended:

1. The novelty of the manuscript is not highlighted well in the Introduction.

2. I see that all comparisons are made in tables. Adding graphical plots/curves is highly important for a better understanding for the reader.

3. The panel data are from 2001 to 2018. it is recommended to have it up to date.

4. Explain in short lines the possible impact(s) of Covid-19 on Emission Trading System and Industrial Structure Upgrading.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer:

Thank you for your valuable comments on our manuscript. We have carefully revised the manuscript according to your comments, please refer to our revision in the attachment. If you have any questions, please let me know. Thank you very much.

LI Chunxiao 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

The Strengths of this research work are:

-          The problem is well-motivated and well-defined.

-          The literature review is good.

-          The references are appropriate.

-          The figures are appropriate.

Weaknesses of this research work are:

-          The introduction must be improved.

-          The related work section must be enhanced.

-          Experimental evaluation must be improved.

-          Some improvements are needed in the description of the method.

This research proposes policy recommendations to Improve the emission trading system.

The following points should be incorporated to improve the papers.

·         Some sentences are too long. Generally, it is better to write short sentences with one idea per sentence.

·         The introduction should clearly explain the key limitations of prior work that are relevant to this paper.

·         The authors should explain clearly what the differences are between the prior work and the solution presented in this paper.

·         The authors should first give an overview of their solution before explaining the details.

·         It is necessary to discuss the complexity of the proposed solution.

·         The experiments should be updated to include some comparisons with newer studies.

·         Some text must be added to discuss future work or research opportunities.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer:

Thank you for your valuable comments on our manuscript. We have carefully revised the manuscript according to your comments, please refer to our revision in the attachment. If you have any questions, please let me know. Thank you very much.

LI Chunxiao 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

The paper is now good enough.

Reviewer 3 Report

The article has been sufficiently improved for publication . Minor typo error can be checked.