Challenges and Innovations in Low-Carbon Energy

Dear Colleagues,

To cope with global climate change and implement the Paris Agreement, all regions and industries need to accelerate the transition to low-carbon energy systems in a practical manner and finally realize carbon neutrality. However, there are still a series of policy, technical, and commercial challenges to overcome in the process of low-carbon energy transition, due to the system complexities, dynamics, and openness involved. The purpose of this Special Issue is to focus on challenges and innovations in the low-carbon energy transition of regions and industries, reveal the latest problems and progress in this transition from the policy, technology, and business aspects, and put forward enlightenment for practice through innovations in system methodology. The purpose is to promote critical and original thinking around low-carbon energy transition, explore the frontiers of system theory and methods, and share typical regional and industrial practice cases.

The scope of this Special Issue includes but is not limited to the following issues:

1. The implications of carbon neutrality on the economy, on regions, industries, international trade, and on the development of low-carbon technology, and the co-benefits/trade-offs of low-carbon energy transition in economic development, resource utilization, ecological environment, and social welfare;
2. The challenges, mechanisms, and innovative measures to accelerate low-carbon energy transition in regions, cities, and key industrial sectors/supply chains/enterprises, such as power, coal, steel, cement, chemical industry, etc.;
3. Major technological innovation in the supply chain of energy, electric power, and industries, and the cost–benefit analysis of mitigation technologies for energy activities, especially the challenges and innovations to develop and deploy negative emission technologies;
4. Major issues of social governance, law, and planning and business models to accelerate the low-carbon energy transition;
5. The challenges to estimating GHG emissions from energy activities, including CO2 and non-CO2 GHGs;
6. Green Belt-and-Road and the role of low-carbon energy.

Dr. Linwei Ma
Prof. Dr. Bo Zhang
Dr. Wenjia Cai
Dr. Zongxiang Lu
Guest Editors

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