267 research outputs found

    The evolution of Chinese industrial CO2 emissions 2000–2050: A review and meta-analysis of historical drivers, projections and policy goals

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    The emissions of the Chinese industrial sector alone comprise 24.1% of global emissions (7.8 GtCyr−1 in 2015). This makes Chinese industrial emissions of unique national and international relevance in climate policy. This study reports a literature survey that quantitatively describes the evolution of these emissions from 2000 to 2050 in the context of policy goals. The survey reveals that: (1) The major historical factor contributing to the decrease in industrial CO2 emissions has been the reduction in energy intensities. However, that decrease has been more than compensated for by increases in industrial activity. (2) An ensemble of projections shows that China's industrial emissions will likely peak in 2030, in alignment with China's commitment to the Paris Agreement. The timing of the peak varies across industrial sub-sectors, with ferrous metals and non-metallic products sectors peaking first, and the electricity sector later. (3) The assumptions underlying optimistic scenarios broadly match the drivers of recent decreases in historical emissions (energy intensity, industrial structure and energy mix). Furthermore, these factors feature prominently in China's policy portfolio to both develop and decarbonize the Chinese industrial sector. The industrial carbon intensity targets of 2020 and 2025 are close to the median predictions in the medium scenarios from studies.Industrial Ecolog

    Global distribution of material inflows to in-use stocks in 2011 and its implications for a circularity transition

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    Around 40% of global raw materials that are extracted every year accumulate as in-use stocks in the form of buildings, infrastructure, transport equipment, and other durable goods. Material inflows to in-use stocks are a key component in the circularity transition, since the reintegration of those materials back into the economy, at the end of the stock's life cycle, means that less extraction of raw materials is required. Thus, understanding the geographical, material, and sectoral distribution of material inflows to in-use stocks globally is crucial for circular economy policies. Here we quantify the geographical, material, and sectoral distributions of material inflows to in-use stocks of 43 countries and 5 rest-of-the-world regions in 2011, using the global, multiregional hybrid units input-output database EXIOBASE v3.3. Among all regions considered, China shows the largest amount of material added to in-use stocks in 2011 (around 46% of global material inflows to in-use stocks), with a per capita value that is comparable to high income regions such as Europe and North America. In these latter regions, more than 90% of in-use stock additions are comprised of non-metallic minerals (e.g., concrete, brick/stone, asphalt, and aggregates) and steel. We discuss the importance of understanding the distribution and composition of materials accumulated in society for a circularity transition. We also argue that future research should integrate the geographical and material resolution of our results into dynamic stock-flow models to determine when these materials will be available for recovery and recycling. This article met the requirements for a Gold-Gold JIE data openness badge described in http://jie.click/badgesIndustrial Ecolog

    Environmental responsibility for sulfur dioxide emissions and associated biodiversity loss across Chinese provinces

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    Recent years have witnessed a growing volume in Chinese interregional trade, along with the increasing disparities in environmental pressures. This has prompted an increased attention on where the responsibilities for environmental impacts should be placed. In this paper, we quantify the environmental responsibility of SO2 emissions and biodiversity impacts due to terrestrial acidification at the provincial level for the first time. We examine the environmental responsibility from the perspectives of production, consumption, and income generation by employing a Multi-Regional Input-Output (MRIO) model for 2007, 2010, and 2012. The results indicate that ~40% of SO2 emissions were driven by the consumption in provinces other than where the emissions discharged. In particular, those developed provinces were net importers of SO2 emissions and mainly outsourced their emissions to nearby developing provinces. Over the period of analysis, environmental inequality among 30 provinces was larger than GDP inequality. Furthermore, environmental inequality continued to increase while GDP inequality decreased over the time period. The results of a shared income- and consumption-based responsibility approach suggest that the environmental responsibility of SO2 emissions and biodiversity impacts for developed provinces can reach up to ~4- to 93-fold the environmental pressure occurred within those provinces. This indicates that under these accounting principles the developed northern provinces in China would bear a much larger share of the environmental responsibility.Global Challenges (FGGA)Industrial Ecolog

    Modeling the circular economy in environmentally extended input-output tables: Methods, software and case study

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    A circular economy is an industrial system that is restorative or regenerative by intention or design. During the last decade, the circular economy became an attractive paradigm to increase global welfare while minimizing the environmental impacts of economic activities. Although several studies concerning the potential benefits and drawbacks of policies that implement the new paradigm have been performed, there is currently no standardized theoretical model or software to execute such assessment. In order to fill this gap, in the present paper we show how to perform these analyses using Environmentally Extended Input-Output Analysis. We also describe a python package (pycirk) for modeling Circular Economy scenarios in the context of the Environmentally Extended Multi-Regional Input-Output database EXIOBASE V3.3, for the year 2011. We exemplify the methods and software through a what-if zero-cost case study on two circular economy strategies (Resource Efficiency and Product Lifetime Extension), four environmental pressures and two socio-economic factors.Industrial Ecolog

    Explaining the Higgs Decays at the LHC with an Extended Electroweak Model

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    We show that the recent discovery of a new boson at the LHC, which we assume to be a Higgs boson, and the observed enhancement in its diphoton decays compared to the SM prediction, can be explained by a new doublet of charged vector bosons from an extended electroweak gauge sector model with SU(3)_C\otimesSU(3)_L\otimesU(1)_X symmetry. Our results show a good agreement between our theoretical expected sensitivity to a 126--125 GeV Higgs boson and the experimental significance observed in the diphoton channel at the 8 TeV LHC. Effects of an invisible decay channel for the Higgs boson are also taken into account, in order to anticipate a possible confirmation of deficits in the branching ratios into ZZ∗ZZ^*, WW∗WW^*, bottom quarks, and tau leptons.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure
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