Environmental Impact Assessment and Green Energy Economy

China is currently undergoing a transition towards high-quality economic development, and the industrial structure is being optimized. However, there are still regional imbalances in economic development and energy consumption. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate whether the disparities in electricity intensity between provinces and industries can converge over time. This paper investigates the trend towards low-energy consumption in China and verifies the club convergence of electricity intensity across provinces and industries in China using a data-driven log t-test and club clustering algorithm. The study innovatively finds that the convergence of electricity intensity is more pronounced in the tertiary sector. The value added of electricity consumption in the tertiary sector is closely related to the level of regional economic development, further indicating that the pattern of low-energy development is closely related to factors such as the geographical location of the province, regional radiation capacity, and industrial structure. In order to accelerate low-energy development in China, the paper proposes policy recommendations related to low-energy development to improve the quality of China’s economic development. Full article

With the in-depth advancement of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei coordinated development strategy, establishing a new mechanism for coordinated development in regional coordinated development is an important measure to realize the green, low-carbon and sustainable development of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration. At present, there are significant differences in carbon emission intensity among different cities in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration, which poses a significant obstacle to the synergistic development goals of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region. Therefore, studying the carbon emissions of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration is of great significance for achieving synergistic development in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region and achieving China’s dual carbon goals. Based on the above practical background, this study focuses on the carbon emissions of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration, using the gravity model, the social network analysis method, and the synergistic effects of carbon emission reductions model to analyze the general characteristics of the carbon emission spatial network, individual characteristics of the carbon emission spatial network, and synergistic effects of carbon emission reduction in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration. The study found that the carbon emission spatial network of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration presents a typical core–periphery structure. From the perspective of the general characteristics of the spatial network, the ranking structure of carbon emissions among cities in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei is strict, and the network stability is good; from the perspective of individual characteristics of the spatial network, Beijing and Tianjin are the centers of the carbon emission spatial network of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration, playing an important role of “betweenness” and “bridge”, while cities in Hebei Province are in a weak position in this regard. From the perspective of the measurement result of synergistic effects of carbon emission reduction, there is significant room for improvement in the synergistic effects of carbon emission reductions in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration, and there are significant differences in the synergistic effects of carbon emission reduction among various cities. In general, at this stage, the core–periphery structure of the spatial network of carbon emissions in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration is still solid, and the synergistic effects of carbon emission reduction between cities are weak. Establishing a sound synergistic mechanism of regional carbon emission reduction is the key to solving the carbon emission problem of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration. Therefore, this study proposes countermeasures and suggestions to improve the synergistic mechanism of the reduction in carbon emissions in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration from three levels—the formation layer, the implementation layer, and the guarantee layer—in order to promote synergistic emission reduction, ecological and environmental governance, and sustainable development of Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration. Full article

Crude oil usage in (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) OECD countries has been significantly higher since the early 1970s and therefore, oil can be considered as one of the driving forces of the OECD economies. Moreover, oil prices have been frequently fluctuating over time, creating adverse economic and social impacts. The study examines the impact of oil price on the economic growth of 38 OECD countries over the period 2000–2020, through four channel variables such as real interest rate, exchange rate, government expenditure and investment. A dynamic panel data analysis based on Generalized Method of Moment (GMM) is employed to accomplish the objective of the study. The study confirms that there is a mixed impact of oil price on economic growth. More specifically, an increase in oil price positively affects economic growth only through interest rates while the oil price hike negatively affects economic growth through all other channel variables such as exchange rate, government expenditure and investment. Since the total negative effect of oil price on economic growth outnumbers the positive effect, the net impact of an oil price hike on economic growth is negative. Hence, the study strongly recommends applying appropriate polices to reduce oil price fluctuations while encouraging the use of country-specific renewable energy sources. Full article

The purpose of the coordinated development of urbanization is to achieve the coordination of the internal subsystems of urbanization and the spatial coordination within the region. The coordinated development level of urbanization and its spatial effect are affected by many factors. Based on the influence mechanism of coordinated development of urbanization, in this study, the evaluation index system of coordinated development of urbanization and the analysis of influencing factors are constructed respectively. The coupling coordination model, fixed effect model and spatial lag model are used to analyze the coordinated development level and influencing factors of urbanization in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and the changes of influencing factors before and after the spatial effects are compared. The results are as follows: although the coordinated development level of urbanization in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region shows a trend of increasing year by year, the spatial differentiation phenomenon is becoming more and more obvious. In this process, the internal and external influencing factors of coordinated development of urbanization play a decisive role. In addition, after the spatial effect is included, the significance level of the influencing factors has changed, and the promotion effect on the coordinated development of urbanization is reduced. The performance is as follows: there is insufficient population transfer and employment among regions, low spatial spillover effect of economic development, strong dependence on land finance, expansion of habitat destruction and low degree of governance coordination, imbalance between public resource allocation and public service supply, lack of unified market-oriented environment and strong government intervention. The key points of future policies and reforms are as follows: under the guidance of the national strategic thinking, we should deepen the reform of the administrative system of the government, actively break through the institutional obstacles restricting the coordinated development of urbanization, continuously optimize the state of the urbanization system and form a joint force of coordinated development. Full article

Global institutional changes (GICs), having influenced energy prices, led to a steady upward trend in carbon prices on the EU ETS. The aim of the article is to assess the changes in the relationship between carbon prices and energy prices under GICs. The Bai–Perron tests for structural breaks identified two dates as the breakpoint, 21 April 2016 and 21 September 2020. We test the hypothesis that powerful external factors (GIC) are changing the trend pattern of the carbon price time series. New pricing rules of the carbon price are being formed after the breakpoint. We use daily observations from 4 January 2010 to 1 September 2022. We use GARCH models with multiple stationary time series to discover a relationship energy price with the carbon price before and after the break points. We found that three models for two breakpoints better describe the relationship between carbon prices and energy prices than two models for one breakpoint, much less one model for the entire period. We find that the carbon price depends on energy prices, especially on the price of oil, in a statistically significant way, but the gas price is not statistically significant after 21 September 2020. Full article

The increase in the proportion of renewable energy in a new power system requires supporting the construction of energy storage to provide support for a safe and stable power supply. In this paper, the computable general equilibrium (CGE) quantitative assessment model is used coupled with a carbon emission module to comprehensively analyze the benefits and costs of energy storage construction from a macro perspective. Taking Zhejiang Province as an example, the investment in and construction of energy storage under the new power system of the 14th Five-Year Plan will slow down the economic growth of Zhejiang Province to a slight extent, but this investment and construction can improve the income level of residents and further redistribute the income structure. At the same time, energy storage investment and construction are conducive to building a clean, low-carbon, and efficient power system. The construction of energy storage can smooth out changes in electricity demand, while enhancing the electricity consumption of the residential sector, making the core sector’s electricity consumption more efficient. In addition, the construction of energy storage in the new power system has a positive effect on carbon emission reduction in Zhejiang Province, with the CO₂ growth rate being significantly lower than the baseline scenario. Full article

With changing times as countries pursue sustainable development, traditional profit-driven strategic decisions are no longer sustainable. A well-planned financial investment may improve a business’s capital flow efficiency, but when short-term wealth overrides long-term value, the financialization of companies will inevitably impede their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance. This study examined how company financialization was related to its ESG performance by China Listed Companies between 2010 and 2019. According to empirical tests using data from the China Stock Market & Accounting Research database and the Wind Financial Terminal, corporate financialization negatively affects ESG performance. After a series of robustness tests, such as endogenous analysis, the conclusion still holds. Furthermore, financialization dampens ESG performance more in the private sector and in companies with high technology dependence. Mechanistic analysis shows that corporate financialization not only creates long-term value risks through crowding out real capital and appropriation of green resources but also undermines company ESG performance through a lack of balanced development to achieve objectives and capabilities. Lastly, using the green patent data provided by the Chinese Research Data Services Platform database, it is found that improved green technology innovation can mitigate the damage of corporate financialization on ESG performance, and this mitigation is more pronounced in regions with better green development. This study adds to the empirical evidence on the theoretical and controversial role of corporate financialization. It helps to warn of its short-sighted effects on sustainable development and provides implications through the positive effects of green technology innovations. Full article

Due to the wide coverage of first-tier electricity consumption and the small price difference between different tiers, the current tiered pricing for household electricity (TPHE) cannot give full play to the advantages of the increasing block electricity tariffs (IBTs). Based on the microscopic survey data provided by the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) in 2015, this paper innovatively uses the predicted average electricity price as the instrumental variable of electricity price to explore the influencing factors of household electricity consumption in order to solve the possible endogenous problems. Simultaneously, the samples are further grouped by income and electricity consumption, and the electricity consumption characteristics of different groups are discussed separately. The results show that, for low-income groups, the price elasticity of electricity consumption is relatively low because the electricity consumption of low-income households is concentrated on meeting the energy demand necessary for basic life, while the price elasticity of high-income groups is relatively high because the electricity consumption of the high-income households is mostly the energy demand generated by improving the quality of life. Full article

Environmental protection policy serves as an effective means for the government to curb environmental pollution and promote high-quality economic development. The government must weigh the effects of different policy mixes. From the perspective of policy combination, this paper discusses the green effect of environmental protection policy theoretically and empirically. First and foremost, this paper sorts out the reforming time of environmental protection taxes and the situation of the low-carbon pilot city, and puts forward two hypotheses. Furthermore, by referring to the environmental protection tax, the policy for the low-carbon pilot city, and the urban air quality indicator from 2014 to 2020, this paper explores the green effect of the environmental protection policy and further validates the consolidation effect of the policy mix on the green effect. The study reveals a significant decrease in the air pollution level in regions with higher standards for levying an environmental protection tax. The conclusion remains robust via parallel trend testing and substitution of the subject variables. Furthermore, an analysis of the policy mix of an environmental protection tax indicates that the policy mix of an environmental protection tax and low-carbon city produces a significant green effect, which not only curbs air pollution but also reduces greenhouse gas emissions. An in-depth analysis shows that an environmental protection tax has the best green effect in the first and second areas of a low-carbon pilot market. The synergies of low-carbon pilot effects are higher in areas with low and middle tax rates. Full article

As one of the largest energy consumers in the world, China’s total electricity consumption has increased by 416.33% during the sample years of 2001 to 2019. In 2019, the top five provinces in terms of power use were all located on the eastern coast. They have contributed 38.39% of the total consumption, causing a power shortage of 594.5 billion kWh in the provinces, while the power generation in the central and western regions have far exceeded their electricity consumption. In order to alleviate the problem of the mismatch between the power resource centers and the load centers in China, ultra-high voltage (UHV) projects, as one of the most important projects in recent years, have bridged the resource gap between the regions and have improved the allocation efficiency of the power resources. Although the cross-provincial transmission of electricity opens the pathway for the consumption of resources, the causal effects of the project on the regions along the line have not been accurately analyzed. Firstly, by constructing a quasi-natural experiment, this paper uses county-level panel data during the period of 2000 to 2019 to analyze the economic benefits that are generated by the inter-regional power transmission project. Secondly, the pathways of the economic effects of UHV are also verified. Finally, this paper also analyzes the heterogeneous effect of power-resource-rich provinces in the construction of the project. Through the pathways of local enterprise dynamics, employment level, and industrial structure, the findings prove that cross-regional power transmission has significantly enhanced the economic growth of the related regions and has played an especially positive role for the power exporting provinces. This paper provides empirical evidence for the effect of optimal resource allocation and the infrastructure development of developing countries and supplies a policy reference for developing countries’ resource allocation optimization strategies. Full article

Developing localized climate mitigation strategies requires understanding how national consumption drives local carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from a sectoral perspective. Exploring the carbon footprint considering inter-provincial trade is vitally important; however, few studies have explored the production side of embodied carbon emissions and the drivers of embodied carbon. Here, we use the multi-regional input–output model to calculate the flow of embodied carbon between provincial departments on Shanghai’s production side in 2012, 2015, and 2017. We also establish a decomposition method for the embodied carbon index with small data demand. Our results show that from 2012 to 2017, the outflow increased and went to tertiary industries in neighboring and economically developed provinces. Among them, the activity effect drove the increase in carbon emissions, and the technique effect drove the reduction in embodied carbon. Surprisingly, we found that the low efficiency of the energy utilization of metal products and the unreasonable structure of other services increased embodied carbon emissions from 2012 to 2015. Sectors with high exogenous embodied carbon emissions are critical areas in which collaborative mitigation efforts between Shanghai and downstream provinces drive these emissions. Shanghai should avoid falling into the “low-carbon trap” of developing countries. It should continue to adjust its industrial structure and increase the use of low-carbon energy to achieve carbon reduction. Full article

As the world pays more attention to carbon reduction, it is of great significance to identify the factors of CO₂ to achieve carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals for China. Therefore, this paper explores the factors of CO₂ from the perspective of CO₂ mitigation potentials (CESP) and analyzes the heterogeneity of each factor. We first employ the DEA-IDA model framework to analyze the CESP and influencing factors of each region, and then use geographically and temporally weighted regress to analyze the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of influencing factors, the efficiency, coal proportion, energy intensity, per capita GDP, urbanization rate, electrification rate, trade, economic structure, and climate conditions. The research results show that: (1) for 1 unit increase in per capita CO₂, the per capita CESP increases by 0.56 units. The CESP of the central and western regions is greater than that of the eastern regions, and the improvement of resource utilization efficiency can achieve the peak in advance. (2) Per capita GDP and energy intensity are the main positive factor and negative factor, respectively, and the impact of efficiency changes on CESP is mostly positive. (3) Efficiency is the most influential factor affecting the CESP; among them, a 1% increase in efficiency in Hebei can reduce the CESP of 62.47 Mt. In regions dominated by clean power, the impact of electrification rates is negative. The rest of the factors also showed spatiotemporal heterogeneity. Our findings have important policy implications, especially in how to effectively reduce carbon emissions to formulate more appropriate policy. Full article

Cities are critical agents to promote carbon emission reduction, and are also a key part of China achieving carbon peaking by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. This study used a time-varying difference-in-difference (DID) method to provide quasi-natural experimental evidence based on the data of 284 prefecture-level cities in China. We robustly found that the low-carbon city pilot (LCCP) policy has a significant effect on carbon emissions’ reduction. The carbon emissions of pilot cities were reduced by about 1.63 percentage points compared to non-pilot cities. In addition, this study generates several intriguing findings: (1) The carbon emission reduction effect of the LCCP is more significant for cities in the eastern areas and cities with high economic development. (2) The LCCP policy is sustainable and has a lagging effect. The carbon emissions of pilot areas with one lag period and two lag periods were reduced by 1.76% and 1.90%, respectively, which means that the LCCP led to greater carbon reductions over time. (3) We prove the existence of the mediating effect of electricity consumption. The LCCP policy reduced carbon emissions by 3.72% by affecting per capita electricity consumption. (4) Cities in a state of negative decoupling between carbon emissions and economic growth gradually transformed into a state of enhanced decoupling, which shows that the carbon emissions of low-carbon pilot cities were effectively controlled with the economic growth. The conclusion of this study evaluates the current achievements of the LCCP policy and provides an empirical reference for the further formulation of environmental policies. Full article

Carbon dioxide capture and utilization (CCU) technology is a significant means by which China can achieve its ambitious carbon neutrality goal. It is necessary to explore the behavioral strategies of relevant companies in adopting CCU technology. In this paper, an evolutionary game model is established in order to analyze the interaction process and evolution direction of local governments and coal-fired power plants. We develop a replicator dynamic system and analyze the stability of the system under different conditions. Based on numerical simulation, we analyze the impact of key parameters on the strategies of stakeholders. The simulation results show that the unit prices of hydrogen and carbon dioxide derivatives have the most significant impact: when the unit price of hydrogen decreases to 15.9 RMB/kg or the unit price of carbon dioxide derivatives increases to 3.4 RMB/kg, the evolutionary stabilization strategy of the system changes and power plants shift to adopt CCU technology. The results of this paper suggest that local governments should provide relevant support policies and incentives for CCU technology deployment, as well as focusing on the synergistic development of CCU technology and renewable energy hydrogen production technology. Full article