Carbon Footprint Assessment and Mitigation Options of Dairy under Chinese Conditions

With the rapid human population growth and economic development, demand for animal products continues to increase and livestock production rapidly expands. Greenhouse gases (GHG) emission from livestock research 7.52 billion tons CO2-eq per year, accounting for 50% of agricultural emissions and 18% of global anthropogenic GHG emissions (FAO, 2014), making it become an important source of GHG emissions. The Chinese livestock production emits 373 GHG of million tons CO2-eq. Methane (CH4) emitted from enteric fermentation is 10.74 million tons (equivalent to 225.6 million tons CO2-eq), accounting for 60.7% of total livestock GHG emissions. CH4 emitted from manure management is 3.33 million tons (equivalent to 69.9 million tons CO2-eq), accounting for 18.9% of total livestock GHG emissions. Nitrous oxide (N2O) emitted from manure management is 0.25 million tons (equivalent to 77.2 million tons CO2-eq), accounted for 20.4% of the total livestock GHG emissions (MEE, 2018). The enteric fermentation and manure management contribute 40% to agricultural GHG emissions. Expansion of livestock production results in high demand of feedstuffs, bringing greater pressure on natural resources. It is of particular concern that the livestock sector has already been a major user of natural resources. For example, approximately 35% of total cropland and 20% of green water have been used for animal feed production (Opio et al., 2013). Feed-related emissions represent about half of total emissions from livestock supply chains (Gerber et al., 2013). Therefore, it is very important to evaluate GHG emissions from the whole life cycle of livestock production. Besides improved manure utilization and water usage efficiency, management of carbon emissions and carbon footprint is highlighted as an important research topic. This project is expected to identify and execute appropriate interventions for reducing carbon footprint and economic cost of dairy production

Financing Capture Ready Coal-Fired Power Plants in China by Issuing Capture Options

‘Capture Ready’ is a design concept enabling fossil fuel plants to be retrofitted more economically with carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technologies, however financing the cost of capture ready can be problematic, especially in the developing world. We propose that fossil fuel plants issue tradable Capture Options to acquire financing. The Capture Option concept could move CCS forward politically in countries such as China, speed up CCS technology development, help Capture Ready investors diversify risk, and offer global warming investors an alternative investment opportunity. As a detailed case study, we assess the value of a Capture Option and Capture Ready plant for a 600 MW supercritical pulverized coal power plant in China, using a cash flow model with Monte-Carlo simulations. The gross value of Capture Ready varies from CNY3m ($0.4m) to CNY633m ($84.4m) at an 8% discount rate and the Capture Option is valued at CNY113m ($15.1m) to CNY1255m ($167.3m) for two of the four scenarios analyzed

The contribution of Chinese exports to climate change

Within 5 years, China's CO2 emissions have nearly doubled, and China may already be the world's largest emitter of CO2. Evidence suggests that exports could be a main cause for the rise in Chinese CO2 emissions; however, no systematic study has analyzed this issue, especially over time. We find that in 2005, around one-third of Chinese emissions (1700 Mt CO2) were due to production of exports, and this proportion has risen from 12% (230 Mt) in 1987 and only 21% (760 Mt) as recently as 2002. It is likely that consumption in the developed world is driving this trend. A majority of these emissions have largely escaped the scrutiny of arguments over “carbon leakage” due to the current, narrow definition of leakage. Climate policies which would make the developed world responsible for China's export emissions have both benefits and costs, and must be carefully designed to achieve political consensus and equity. Whoever is responsible for these emissions, China's rapidly expanding infrastructure and inefficient coal-powered electricity system need urgent attention

Outsourcing CO2 within China

Recent studies have shown that the high standard of living enjoyed by people in the richest countries often comes at the expense of CO2 emissions produced with technologies of low efficiency in less affluent, developing countries. Less apparent is that this relationship between developed and developing can exist within a single country’s borders, with rich regions consuming and exporting high-value goods and services that depend upon production of low-cost and emission-intensive goods and services from poorer regions in the same country. As the world’s largest emitter of CO2, China is a prominent and important example, struggling to balance rapid economic growth and environmental sustainability across provinces that are in very different stages of development. In this study, we track CO2 emissions embodied in products traded among Chinese provinces and internationally. We find that 57% of China’s emissions are related to goods that are consumed outside of the province where they are produced. For instance, up to 80% of the emissions related to goods consumed in the highly developed coastal provinces are imported from less developed provinces in central and western China where many low–value-added but high–carbon-intensive goods are produced. Without policy attention to this sort of interprovincial carbon leakage, the less developed provinces will struggle to meet their emissions intensity targets, whereas the more developed provinces might achieve their own targets by further outsourcing. Consumption-based accounting of emissions can thus inform effective and equitable climate policy within China

Explaining differences in sub-national patterns of clean technology transfer to China and India

The Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has the capacity to incentivize the international transfer of environmentally sound technologies. Given that both countries are expected to have similar incentives when managing the distribution of technology transfer within the country, why do sub-national patterns in the allocation of projects with technology transfer differ? Using comparable political–economic data compiled for China and India, we offer an explanation for these differences. In China, where the government regards the CDM as a tool for achieving sustainable development, technology transfer is concentrated in provinces that need it the most and that are most conducive to receiving transfers (i.e., economically less developed, yet heavily industrialized provinces). In India, where the government takes on a “laissez-faire” approach to the CDM, neither level of economic development nor that of industrialization affects clean technology transfer. In this regard, although the incentives are similar, the capacity to pursue them is not comparable. We test these hypotheses using data on CDM technology transfer across Chinese provinces and Indian states during the 6-year period from 2004 to 2010

Analysis on the digital transformation index system of enterprise’s low carbon business performance based on AHP-DEA

With the arrival of the low carbon era, enterprises, as the main body of the market economy, must take the road of low carbon operation whether to fulfill their social responsibilities or to seek enterprise development. However, Chinese enterprises started late to understand the low-carbon economy. So far, except for a few state-owned enterprises, some leading private enterprises and foreign-funded enterprises, they have made remarkable achievements in low-carbon emission reduction. Most enterprises in China have not realized the importance of low carbon emission reduction. In order to step out of the “high carbon” era and coordinate economic development and environmental protection, China must solve the problem of low-carbon transformation of small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises. How to measure the degree of low carbon transformation, and how the government objectively evaluates the degree of low carbon economic development of enterprises, with a view to formulating corresponding standard incentives and punishment measures for them. It is urgent to establish a sound, reasonable and feasible low carbon operation management indicator system, and comprehensively evaluate the information related to low carbon operation of SMEs through reasonable selection of indicators. According to the connotation of low-carbon enterprises, the economic benefits of enterprises are closely combined with environmental benefits. A set of low carbon operation performance evaluation index system including economy, technology and environment has been constructed. The AHP index weight is calculated by establishing the AHP model and the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) index weight is calculated by establishing the DEA model. On this basis, the grey relational evaluation model based on AHP-DEA is established. Then the paper evaluates the performance of representative enterprises’ low carbon operation. Propose corresponding improvement suggestions for the problems reflected in the low carbon operation performance ranking of enterprises and the scoring of various indicators. The research results show that the algorithm has high efficiency and the accuracy of model evaluation is 95.51%. To a certain extent, this study makes up for the research results of the impact of digital transformation on corporate strategic performance, and also provides ideas for the research of corporate financial performance evaluation

Carbon Footprint Assessment and Mitigation Options of Dairy under Chinese Conditions

With the rapid human population growth and economic development, demand for animal products continues to increase and livestock production rapidly expands. Greenhouse gases (GHG) emission from livestock research 7.52 billion tons CO2-eq per year, accounting for 50% of agricultural emissions and 18% of global anthropogenic GHG emissions (FAO, 2014), making it become an important source of GHG emissions. The Chinese livestock production emits 373 GHG of million tons CO2-eq. Methane (CH4) emitted from enteric fermentation is 10.74 million tons (equivalent to 225.6 million tons CO2-eq), accounting for 60.7% of total livestock GHG emissions. CH4 emitted from manure management is 3.33 million tons (equivalent to 69.9 million tons CO2-eq), accounting for 18.9% of total livestock GHG emissions. Nitrous oxide (N2O) emitted from manure management is 0.25 million tons (equivalent to 77.2 million tons CO2-eq), accounted for 20.4% of the total livestock GHG emissions (MEE, 2018). The enteric fermentation and manure management contribute 40% to agricultural GHG emissions. Expansion of livestock production results in high demand of feedstuffs, bringing greater pressure on natural resources. It is of particular concern that the livestock sector has already been a major user of natural resources. For example, approximately 35% of total cropland and 20% of green water have been used for animal feed production (Opio et al., 2013). Feed-related emissions represent about half of total emissions from livestock supply chains (Gerber et al., 2013). Therefore, it is very important to evaluate GHG emissions from the whole life cycle of livestock production. Besides improved manure utilization and water usage efficiency, management of carbon emissions and carbon footprint is highlighted as an important research topic. This project is expected to identify and execute appropriate interventions for reducing carbon footprint and economic cost of dairy production

Urban energy consumption and CO2 emissions in Beijing: current and future

This paper calculates the energy consumption and CO2 emissions of Beijing over 2005–2011 in light of the Beijing’s energy balance table and the carbon emission coefficients of IPCC. Furthermore, based on a series of energy conservation planning program issued in Beijing, the Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning System (LEAP)-BJ model is developed to study the energy consumption and CO2 emissions of Beijing’s six end-use sectors and the energy conversion sector over 2012–2030 under the BAU scenario and POL scenario. Some results are found in this research: (1) During 2005–2011, the energy consumption kept increasing, while the total CO2 emissions fluctuated obviously in 2008 and 2011. The energy structure and the industrial structure have been optimized to a certain extent. (2) If the policies are completely implemented, the POL scenario is projected to save 21.36 and 35.37 % of the total energy consumption and CO2 emissions than the BAU scenario during 2012 and 2030. (3) The POL scenario presents a more optimized energy structure compared with the BAU scenario, with the decrease of coal consumption and the increase of natural gas consumption. (4) The commerce and service sector and the energy conversion sector will become the largest contributor to energy consumption and CO2 emissions, respectively. The transport sector and the industrial sector are the two most potential sectors in energy savings and carbon reduction. In terms of subscenarios, the energy conservation in transport (TEC) is the most effective one. (5) The macroparameters, such as the GDP growth rate and the industrial structure, have great influence on the urban energy consumption and carbon emissions

A roadmap for China to peak carbon dioxide emissions and achieve a 20% share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy by 2030

As part of its Paris Agreement commitment, China pledged to peak carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions around 2030, striving to peak earlier, and to increase the non-fossil share of primary energy to 20% by 2030. Yet by the end of 2017, China emitted 28% of the world's energy-related CO2 emissions, 76% of which were from coal use. How China can reinvent its energy economy cost-effectively while still achieving its commitments was the focus of a three-year joint research project completed in September 2016. Overall, this analysis found that if China follows a pathway in which it aggressively adopts all cost-effective energy efficiency and CO2 emission reduction technologies while also aggressively moving away from fossil fuels to renewable and other non-fossil resources, it is possible to not only meet its Paris Agreement Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) commitments, but also to reduce its 2050 CO2 emissions to a level that is 42% below the country's 2010 CO2 emissions. While numerous barriers exist that will need to be addressed through effective policies and programs in order to realize these potential energy use and emissions reductions, there are also significant local environmental (e.g., air quality), national and global environmental (e.g., mitigation of climate change), human health, and other unquantified benefits that will be realized if this pathway is pursued in China