The Consumption-Based Carbon Emissions in the Jing-Jin-Ji Urban Agglomeration Over China's Economic Transition

Abstract Since the 2008 financial crisis, China has been undergoing an economic transition consisting of prioritizing green economic and sustainable development instead of rapid growth driven by large‐scale investment. However, there is still a lack of fine print on how subregional effort can contribute to national or full supply chain mitigation plans, especially downscaling to the city level. To bridge this knowledge gap, we selected Jing‐Jin‐Ji urban agglomeration, one of the economic centers but also featured by intensive emission for decades, to analyze the emission variance and driving forces from 2012 to 2015 as a case study. Based on the consumption accounting framework, the carbon emissions of Jing‐Jin‐Ji have decreased by 11.7 Mt CO2 in total over the study period, and most cities showed the similar descending trend. The driving forces show that the emission intensity and production structure have largely reduced Jing‐Jin‐Ji's total due to measurements of economic transition. For instance, Beijing has decreased by 28.7 Mt of emission reduction which led by declined emission intensity. By contrast, per capita demands and growth of its population were the primary forces to increase emissions. To conclude, although the mitigation achievement is undeniable, we should also note that the economic transition has not changed the uneven pattern of selected urban agglomeration so far

The evolution of carbon footprint in the yangtze river delta city cluster during economic transition 2012-2015

China has been undergoing an industrial transformation, shifting from an energy-intensive growth pattern. As the most developed region in China, the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) city cluster is leading the industrial trans- formation. However, the impact of the industrial transformation on carbon footprints in the YRD cities is unclear. By a city-level environmentally extended input-output model, we quantify the carbon footprint of 41 cities in the YRD city cluster for 2012 and 2015 and capture the socioeconomic driving forces of the change by structural decomposition analysis (SDA). The results show that the carbon footprint in 41 YRD cities increased from 1179.4 Mt (14.8% of China’s total) to 1329.6 Mt (16.6%) over the period. More than 60% of the footprint concentrated on the 10 largest cities, and the construction sector made the largest contribution, especially in service-based megacities. The change of production structure drove down carbon footprints in YRD cities, except light in- dustry cities and service-based cities. The industrial transfers from the coastal to inland regions result in carbon leakage, where one-third of the carbon footprint is embodied in the trade. We also find the economic recession during the transition period decreased carbon emissions by 154.2 Mt in the YRD city cluster, where the value- added rate in the YRD cities declined over the transition period, especially in service-based cities. The study highlights the positive effects of industrial transformation on low carbon transition, despite being highly heterogenous for cities

Structural patterns of city-level CO2 emissions in Northwest China

In Northwest China, quantifying city-level CO2 emissions is fundamental to CO2 alleviation but encounters difficulties in data availability and quality. Further, structuring city-level emissions could be conductive to CO2 reduction. This study applies a practical methodology to 16 northwestern Chinese cities to grasp their historical trajectories of CO2 emissions. Then, structuring CO2 emissions is explored in terms of industrial structure, energy mix and urban-rural disparities for 8 northwestern Chinese cities. Results show that: (1) for 16 cities (2010–2015), capital and industrial cities generated most emissions. Meanwhile, CO2 emissions were mostly incompatible with CO2 intensity, but consistent with CO2 per capita; (2) for 8 cities (2006–2015), energy producing sectors, heavy manufacturing sectors, and coal remained major drivers of emissions. Then, the interconnection between industrial structure and energy mix exerted temporally varying impacts on emissions from energy producing sectors and heavy manufacturing sectors. Besides, urban gas consumption and rural coal use continued affecting most of household consumption emissions and household consumption emissions per capita. Moreover, the interplay between emissions and population was changed when emissions by energy type were decomposed among urban and rural households; and (3) uncertainty results averagely fall in the range of −39% to 6%. Finally, implications for CO2 reduction and future work are proposed

Large inter-city inequality in consumption-based CO₂ emissions for China's pearl river basin cities

Cities are leading carbon mitigation but are heterogeneous in their mitigation policies due to different socioeconomic backgrounds. Given that cities are increasingly inextricably linked, formulating mitigation policies of different cities cannot be easily achieved without comprehensive carbon inventories, who taking the inter-city supply chains into account. The Pearl River Basin is one of the important economic zones in China, with huge disparity in its cities, but very limited information is available on their consumption-based CO2 emissions. To fill this gap, we compiled a consumption-based inventory of 47 cities in the Basin for 2012. We found that the total consumption-based emissions of 47 cities was 933.8 Mt, accounting for 13.1% of China's emissions. There were huge differences in the consumption-based emissions, ranging from 3.6 Mt (Heyuan City) to 153.1 Mt (Shenzhen City). The consumption-based emissions were highly concentrated in the largest seven cities, which accounted for 52.8% of the total emissions of the Basin. The consumption-based emissions per capita also varied greatly, from 1.2 to 14.5 tons per capita. Large scale infrastructure was the biggest driving force for most cities, resulting in 42.1% to 75.6% of the emissions. At sector-level, construction, heavy industry and services were leading in emissions, contributing more than 80% of emissions. The major inter-city carbon transfers occurred within upstream cities in the developing regions and downstream cities in the Pearl River Delta respectively, instead of the transfers between upstream and downstream cities. The findings highlight that the regional mitigation strategies could mainly focus on cities in intra-province boundary, rather than inter-province boundary, and also the city-level mitigation strategies should pay attention to the key emission sectors and drivers in respect of the heterogeneity of cities

4-Acetyl-2,3,4,5-tetra­hydro-1H-1,4-benzodiazepine

The title compound, C11H14N2O·H2O, crystallizes with one formula unit in the asymmetric unit. The seven-membered ring has a chair conformation with the C=O group turned away from the benzene ring. N—H⋯O and O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds are present in the crystal structure

Adaptive CO2 emissions mitigation strategies of global oil refineries in all age groups

Continuous expansion of fossil fuel-based energy infrastructure can be one of the key obstacles in delivering the Paris Agreement goals. The oil refinery is the world's third-largest stationary emitter of greenhouse gases (GHGs), but the historical mapping of the regional-specific refining industry, their CO2 emission patterns, and mitigation potentials remain understudied. This study develops a plant-level, technical-specific, and time-series global refinery CO2 emission inventory, covering 1,056 refineries from 2000 to 2018. The CO2 emissions of the refinery industry were about 1.3 gigatonnes (Gt) in 2018, representing 4% of the total. If current technical specifications continue, the global refineries will cumulatively emit 16.5 Gt of CO2 during 2020–2030. The refineries vary in operation age, refining configuration structure, and geographical location, leading to the demand for specific mitigation strategies, such as improving refinery efficiency and upgrading heavy oil processing technologies, which could potentially reduce global cumulative emissions by 10% during 2020–2030

Virtual carbon and water flows embodied in global fashion trade - a case study of denim products

The environmental impacts of the fashion industry have been aroused wide concerns. The globalization and fragmentation of the textile and fashion system have led to the uneven distribution of environmental consequences. As denim is the fabric of jeans that is representative of fashion, this study assessed virtual carbon and water flows embodied in the global denim-product trade, and footprints of denim production were quantified by life-cycle assessment and water footprint assessment. Results indicated that virtual carbon embodied in the global denim trade increased obviously from 14.8 Mt CO2e in 2001 to 16.0 Mt CO2e in 2018, and the virtual water consumption dropped from 5.6 billion m3 to 4.7 billion m3 from 2001 to 2018. The denim fabric production and cotton fibre production respectively contribute the most of the carbon emissions and water consumption. Polyester blended denim has 5% larger carbon footprint and 72% lower water footprint than cotton denim, and contributes to increasing embodied carbon emissions (from 4% in 2001 to 43% in 2018). Increasing the utilization of polyester blended denim would save water but face more pressures on carbon emission reduction. In the past two decades, virtual carbon and water flows embodied in the global denim trade are relocating, main jean consumers (i.e., the USA, EU-15, and Japan) withdraw the denim manufacturing supply chain and developing countries (i.e., China, India, and Pakistan) with higher carbon and water footprint undertake main global denim production, facing increasing climate-related risks and water crisis. The South-South cooperation helps share successful experiences, save production cost, and lessen resource consumption and environmental emissions. The production and consumption of denim should be shifted to circular and sustainable ways and new business models are required. The analysis framework can provide the basis for exploring environmental flows of product-level trade, and results can offer a basis for environmental policies and control strategies of the fashion industry, and as well as the sustainable production and consumption of garment

Kazakhstan’s CO2 emissions in the post-Kyoto Protocol era:Production- and consumption-based analysis

The first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol came to an end in 2012 and more developing countries began to participate in the new phase of world carbon emission reduction. Kazakhstan is an important energy export country and a pivot of the “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI). Despite its emissions are relatively small compared with huge emitters such as China and the US, Kazakhstan also faces great pressure in terms of CO2 emission reduction and green development. Accurately accounting CO2 emissions in Kazakhstan from both production and consumption perspectives is the first step for further emissions control actions. This paper constructs production-based CO2 emission inventories for Kazakhstan from 2012 to 2016, and then further analyses the demand-driven emissions within the domestic market and international trade (exports and imports) using environmentally extended input-output analysis. The production-based inventory includes 43 energy products and 30 sectors to provide detailed data for CO2 emissions in Kazakhstan. The consumption-based accounting results showed that certain sectors like construction drive more emissions and that the fuel consumption in different sectors varies. Furthermore, Russia and China are major consumers of Kazakhstan's energy and associated emissions, with the construction sector playing the most important role in it. The results suggested that both technology and policy actions should be taken into account to reduce CO2 emissions and that the BRI is also a good chance for Kazakhstan to develop a “Green Economy”

Energy consumption and CO2 emissions in Tibet and its cities in 2014

Because of its low level of energy consumption and the small scale of its industrial development, the Tibet Autonomous Region has historically been excluded from China's reported energy statistics, including those regarding CO2 emissions. In this paper, we estimate Tibet's energy consumption using limited online documents, and we calculate the 2014 energy-related and process-related CO2 emissions of Tibet and its seven prefecture-level administrative divisions for the first time. Our results show that 5.52 million tons of CO2 were emitted in Tibet in 2014; 33% of these emissions are associated with cement production. Tibet's emissions per capita amounted to 1.74 tons in 2014, which is substantially lower than the national average, although Tibet's emission intensity is relatively high at 0.60 tons per thousand yuan in 2014. Among Tibet's seven prefecture-level administrative divisions, Lhasa City and Shannan Region are the two largest CO2 contributors and have the highest per capita emissions and emission intensities. The Nagqu and Nyingchi regions emit little CO2 due to their farming/pasturing-dominated economies. This quantitative measure of Tibet's regional CO2 emissions provides solid data support for Tibet's actions on climate change and emission reductions

Bubble in the Whale: Identifying the Optical Counterparts and Extended Nebula for the Ultraluminous X-ray Sources in NGC 4631

We present a deep optical imaging campaign on the starburst galaxy NGC 4631 with CFHT/MegaCam. By supplementing the HST/ACS and Chandra/ACIS archival data, we search for the optical counterpart candidates of the five brightest X-ray sources in this galaxy, four of which are identified as ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs). The stellar environments of the X-ray sources are analyzed using the extinction-corrected color-magnitude diagrams and the isochrone models. We discover a highly asymmetric bubble nebula around X4 which exhibits different morphology in the H$\alpha$ and [O III] images. The [O III]/H$\alpha$ ratio map shows that the H$\alpha$-bright bubble may be formed mainly via the shock ionization by the one-sided jet/outflow, while the more compact [O III] structure is photoionized by the ULX. We constrain the bubble expansion velocity and interstellar medium density with the MAPPINGS V code, and hence estimate the mechanical power injected to the bubble as $P_w \sim 5\times10^{40}$ erg s$^{-1}$ and the corresponding bubble age of $\sim7\times 10^{5}$ yr. Relativistic jets are needed to provide such level of mechanical power with a mass-loss rate of $\sim10^{-7}\ M_{\odot}\ \rm yr^{-1}$. Besides the accretion, the black hole spin is likely an additional energy source for the super-Eddington jet power.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures, accepted by Ap