Quantity and quality of China's water from demand perspectives

China is confronted with an unprecedented water crisis regarding its quantity and quality. In this study, we quantified the dynamics of China's embodied water use and chemical oxygen demand (COD) discharge from 2010 to 2015. The analysis was conducted with the latest available water use data across sectors in primary, secondary and tertiary industries and input-output models. The results showed that (1) China's water crisis was alleviated under urbanisation. Urban consumption occupied the largest percentages (over 30%) of embodied water use and COD discharge, but embodied water intensities in urban consumption were far lower than those in rural consumption. (2) The 'new normal' phase witnessed the optimisation of China's water use structures. Embodied water use in light-manufacturing and tertiary sectors increased while those in heavy-manufacturing sectors (except chemicals and transport equipment) dropped. (3) Transformation of China's international market brought positive effects on its domestic water use. China's water use (116-80 billion tonnes (Bts))9 and COD discharge (3.95-2.22 million tonnes (Mts)) embodied in export tremendously decreased while its total export values (11-25 trillion CNY) soared. Furthermore, embodied water use and COD discharge in relatively low-end sectors, such as textile, started to transfer from international to domestic markets when a part of China's production activities had been relocated to other developing countries

China Emissions Accounts and Low-Carbon Development in Cities

China, the world’s second-largest economy, has witnessed a miracle in its economic growth. With lifestyle changes and rapid economic growth in China, China’s CO2 emissions have tripled during the past decades. China is now the world leading energy consumer and CO2 emitter. China is playing an increasingly important role in global emissions reduction and climate change mitigation. The accurate account of CO2 emissions is the foundation of any emission analysis and further reduction actions. However, there are no official published emission inventories in China. All the previous studies calculated China’s emissions by themselves, making the emissions inconsistent and incomparable with each other. The first part of this PhD thesis compiles the time-series Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) territorial CO2 emission inventories for China and its provinces from 1997 to 2015. The multi-scale emissions inventories are constructed in a uniform format (by 46 socioeconomic sectors and 17 fossil fuels). An open-access database “ceads.net” is built based on this PhD study. CEADs is the first open-access emission database providing self-consistent and transparent data for China. Chapter 4 finds that the total CO2 emissions of China increased rapidly during the past 16 years with an average increase of 7.8% per year. The emissions peaked in 2013, at 9,534 million tonnes (Mt). The detailed analysis of the CO2 emissions by sectors and fossil fuel sources finds that coal-related fuels and the manufacturing sectors, especially the “power and heat”, are the primary contributor to the national emissions. Chapter 4 also examines the per capita CO2 emissions and the emission intensity of China. The results show that the per capita emissions increased quickly from 2.4 (2000) to 6.7 (2015) tonnes, while the emission intensity keeps decreasing during the period. Both comparison and Monte Carlo uncertainty analyses are conducted to China’s emissions. The result shows that the uncertainties of the national CO2 emissions are roughly (-15%, 25%) at a 97.5% confidential level. Similar analyses are conducted at the provincial level in Chapter 4 as well. The results show that Shandong emitted the most CO2 cumulatively among the 30 provinces, followed by Hebei, Jiangsu, Guangdong, and Henan. The fossil fuel and sector-specific analysis of the provincial CO2 emissions describe detailed emissions of each province. The per capita emissions and emission intensities of each province are also presented in this study. In order to have a better understanding of China’s CO2 emissions, Chapter 5 provides further analysis of emission characteristics of the lime industry and petroleum coke for the first time. The lime industry is the second largest process-related emission contributor followed by the cement. The results show that, in 2012, the process-related CO2 emissions in China’s lime production accounted for 141.72 Mt, while the electricity and fossil fuel-related emissions accounted for 55.95 and 4.42 (Mt) respectively. Further discussions of the reduction policy recommendations of China’s lime industry are presented in this study based on the economic and environmental assessment of different lime kilns. As for the petroleum coke consumption, its combustion produced 26.2 Mt CO2, 807 tonnes CH4, and 137 tonnes N2O in 2014. The petroleum coke-related emissions are increasing fast. During the past five years, its emissions increased by 87%, which is remarkably high compared to the 19.4% growth rate of total CO2 emissions in China. Considering the petroleum coke is a dirty and un-environmental friendly fossil fuel type, the quick growth of petroleum coke consumption should be of serious concern to the government. Further to the national and provincial emission inventories, Chapter 7 examines the CO2 emissions from Tibet and its cities. This is the first study to quantify Tibet’s emissions. The results show that Tibet emitted a total of 5.52 Mt of CO2 related to fossil fuel combustion and cement production in 2014. The per capita and emission intensity of Tibet are much lower than the national average level. The city-level analysis shows that over half of Tibet’s CO2 emissions are induced in Lhasa city. The second part of this PhD thesis examines the CO2 emissions from Chinese cities and discusses the possible low-carbon development pathways of cities at different industrialisation and development stages. Being the basic units for human activities and major contributors to emissions, cities are major components in the implementation of climate change mitigation and CO2 emission reduction policies. Increasing attention is now being paid to city-level emission reduction and climate change mitigation in China. Chapter 3 firstly develops a series of methods to compile CO2 emission inventories for Chinese cities with different data availabilities. The emission inventories of cities are constructed with the consistent scope and uniform with the national and provincial emission inventories calculated above. Chapter 6 then applies the methods to examine emissions characteristics in 182 cities. The results show that the top-emitting cities represent a disproportionately large fraction of the total emissions from the 182 cities. The top five emitting cities (Tangshan, Shanghai, Suzhou, Nanyang, and Chongqing) accounts for 11% of the total emissions. More high-emitting cities can be found in northern and eastern China compared with other regions. Chapter 6 further applies the cluster analysis to cluster the 182 case cities into five groups with distinct pillar industries describing their different industrialisation stages and development pathways. The results find that there is labour division among Chinese cities, the most developed cities (service-based and high-tech industry cities) are supported by nearby manufacturing cities. In turn, the manufacturing cities are supported by nearby energy production centres. In this way, different cities should have different low-carbon roadmaps designed based on their current industrialisation stages and development pathways. Chapter 6 also finds that efficiency gains could be a practical and effective way to reduce CO2 emissions. The sectoral-based calculation of the cities’ emission reduction capacities via technical improvements show that up 31% of the 182 cities’ emissions can be reduced if the strongest reduction strategies been applied. The results suggest that China’s near-term goals of reducing its emissions intensity may be feasibly accomplished by targeted technological improvements, buying time for the longer-term strategies of shifting to non-fossil energy and a more service-based economy. Moreover, improving and optimizing the energy and carbon efficiency of industrial production processes and operations could help lower the costs of advanced technologies and thus facilitate their deployment in less-developed cities and countries beyond China. This PhD study has great real-world significance and has filled in several research gaps in China’s emission accounts and cities’ low-carbon development. The research also provides solid and robust data support for future academic research on China’s emission topics and emission reductions policy-making in China. First of all, this PhD study provides the first open-access China emission database providing the multi-scale CO2 emission inventories. Secondly, this PhD study analyses the detailed emission characteristics of China, its provinces, and cities, as well selected key industries. Specific and efficient emission control policies targeting the major emission sources are discussed based on the analysis. Also, based on the city-level emission accounts, this PhD study analyses the low-carbon roadmaps for cities at different industrialisation stages and development pathways. Furthermore, considering the wide ranges of Chinese cities’ industrialisation maturity, the cross-section analysis of China’s cities may disclose the emissions characteristics of the whole industrialisation process. The emission reduction roadmaps designed in this study for cities at different industrialisation stages also provide references for other developing countries at similar stages of industrialisation

Global low-carbon energy transition in the post-COVID-19 era

The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant challenges for energy transition. Concerns about the overwhelming emphasis on economic recovery at the cost of energy transition progress have been raised worldwide. More voices are calling for “green” recovery scheme, which recovers the economy while not compromising on the environment. However, limited academic attention has been paid to comprehensively investigating the implications of COVID-19 for global energy transition. This study thus provides a comprehensive analysis of the dynamics between energy transition and COVID-19 around the world and proposes a low-carbon energy transition roadmap in the post-pandemic era. Using energy data from the International Energy Agency (IEA), we first summarized and reviewed the progress of energy transition prior to COVID-19. Building on prior progress, we identified the challenges for energy transition during the pandemic from the perspectives of government support, fossil fuel divestment, renewable energy production capacity, global supply chain, and energy poverty. However, the pandemic also generates opportunities for global energy transition. We hence also identified potential opportunities for energy transition presented by the pandemic from the perspectives of price competitiveness, policy implementation efficiency, and renewable energy strengths. We further provided an in-depth discussion on the impact of current worldwide economic recovery stimulus on energy transition. Based on the identified challenges and opportunities, we proposed the post-pandemic energy transition roadmap in terms of broadening green financing instruments, strengthening international cooperation, and enhancing green recovery plans. Our study sheds light on a global low-carbon energy transition framework and has practical implications for green recovery schemes in post-pandemic times

Implications of COVID-19 lockdowns on surface passenger mobility and related CO₂ emission changes in Europe

The coronavirus pandemic has severely affected our daily lives, with direct consequences on passenger transport. This in turn has strongly impacted the energy demand of the transport sector and associated CO(2) emissions. We analyse near real-time passenger mobility and related emission trends in Europe between 21 January and 21 September 2020. We compiled a dataset of country-, sector- and lockdown- specific values, representing daily activity changes in private, public, and active passenger transport. In the aggregate, surface passenger transport emissions fell by 11.2% corresponding to 40.3 MtCO(2) in Europe. This decline was predominantly due to the reduction of private passenger transport in five European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK). During the first lockdown in April 2020, CO(2) emissions from surface passenger transport declined by 50% in Europe, resulting in a 7.1% reduction in total CO(2) emissions. After April 2020, private passenger travel recovered rapidly, while public passenger flows remained low. Solely prompted by the private sector, a rebound in total emissions and surface passenger transport emissions of 1.5% and 10.7%, respectively, was estimated at the end of the study period. The resulting situation of increased private and decreased public passenger transport is in contradiction to major climate goals, and without reversing these trends, emission reductions, as stated in the European Green Deal are unlikely to be achieved. Our study provides an analysis based on a detailed and timely set of data of surface passenger transport and points to options to grasp the momentum for innovative changes in passenger mobility

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on surface passenger transport and related CO2 emissions during different waves

The coronavirus pandemic has severely impacted our day-to-day activities and brought about significant change in all major sectors, especially surface passenger transport. Lockdowns and stay-at-home restrictions have significantly reduced energy demand and consequently CO2 emissions of surface passenger transport. The change in CO2 emissions is calculated from near-real-time activity change data as a function of 3 confinement levels. The activity change and related emission trends reflect changes in mode of transport during different waves, this can be used to understand mobility trend and patterns when stringent measures are imposed. Consequently, constructive use of this data can help prepare and develop the transport sector in case of another epidemic outbreak or other unprecedented calamities and to build a resilient transport infrastructure post- COVID-19 This study estimates and analyzes the changes in CO2 emissions associated with the public (bus and rail) and private surface passenger transport from March 1st, 2020 to Jan 31st, 2021 in 21 countries. The research period covers the 1st and the 2nd waves of COVID-19 in these countries. A higher activity reduction and consequently CO2 emission reduction is displayed during the 1st wave compared to the 2nd for most countries despite implementing stringent measures during both waves. This is in line with countries adapting to the "new normal" and restarting socio-economic activities. Similarly, public transport recovery is slower than private transport recovery, making it essential to focus on reinforcement and adaptation of public transport infrastructure for the future. The results show that a cumulative 510 Mt CO2 has been reduced over 11 months in 21 countries, compared to pre-pandemic levels. This reduction brings about a 6% drop in transport CO2 emissions and a 1.5% drop in global CO2 emissions. This analysis sheds light on mobility trends and travel behavior of surface passenger transport modes and related CO2 emissions in different countries which can be used to exemplify the path to recovery based on near-real-tim

Inter-regional spillover of China's sulfur dioxide (SO2) pollution across the supply chains

Inter-regional spillover of air pollution can be regarded as a mixture of economic externalities and long-distance transport. To comprehensively reveal this problem, a new consumption-based sulfur dioxide (SO 2) emission inventory in 2010 for 30 provincial regions of China was compiled by introducing source-receptor relationship (SRR) model to integrate the spillover impacts of physical transport from the emitter (producer) region to the receptor region and virtual transfer from the driver (consumer) region to the emitter region. Compared the emissions induced by final regional demand with the emissions received in seven regions of China, Southern (0.59 Mt), Northern (0.25 Mt), Northwestern (0.18 Mt), and Eastern (0.14 Mt) areas outsourced SO 2 pollution in the mass, whereas Central (−0.66 Mt), Northeastern (−0.42 Mt), and Southwestern (−0.08 Mt) areas took excessive environmental burdens in 2010. The four municipalities, Chongqing, Shanghai, Beijing, and Tianjin as well as the most affluent province Guangdong showed significant pollution transfer after an overall assessment of their roles in drivers, emitters and receptors. Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Guizhou, Henan, and Shandong showed the largest co-benefits of SO 2 emissions control for climate change mitigation. Japan was found to receive more portions of transboundary SO 2 deposition than its market shares in China's export instead of other major trade partners of China. As a mega-city, Beijing induced significant SO 2 emissions for power requirement, food consumption, miscellaneous services, and her vibrant research activities through the sectors of the power industry, coal mining, chemical manufacturing, food-related industries, petroleum processing and coking, but 86% of those emissions were outsourced by Beijing. In total, the spillover of SO 2 emissions induced by Beijing was estimated at 0.20 Mt, 76 times more than its own share as a receptor across the supply chains. This study is competent for an analytic framework of strategic planning for joint prevention and control of air pollution in China and other countries. The results can help reduce pollution transfer, properly tax on drivers, effectively control the emitters, and reasonably compensate the receptors

Emissions and low-carbon development in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area cities and their surroundings

Cities are the major contributors to energy consumption and CO2 emissions, as well as being leading innovators and implementers of policy measures in climate change mitigation. Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) is an agglomeration of cities put forward by China to strengthen international cooperation among “Belt and Road” countries and promote low-carbon, inclusive, coordinated and sustainable development. Few studies have discussed the emission characteristics of GBA cities. This study, for the first time, compiles emission inventories of 11 GBA cities and their surroundings based on IPCC territorial emission accounting approach, which are consistent and comparable with the national and provincial inventories. Results show that (a) total emissions increased from 426 Mt in 2000 to 610 Mt in 2016, while emissions of GBA cities increased rapidly by 6.9% over 2000–2011 and peaked in 2014 (334 Mt); (b) raw coal and diesel oil are the top two emitters by energy type, while energy production sector and tertiary industry are the top two largest sectors; (c) GBA cities take the lead in low-carbon development, emitted 4% of total national emissions and contributed 13% of national GDP with less than a third of national emission intensities and less than three-quarters of national per capita emissions; (d) Macao, Shenzhen and Hong Kong have the top three lowest emission intensity in the country; (e) most of GBA cities are experiencing the shift from an industrial economy to a service economy, while Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Foshan and Huizhou reached their peak emissions and Guangzhou, Dongguan and Jiangmen remained decreasing emission tendencies; (g) for those coal-dominate or energy-production cities (i.e. Zhuhai, Zhongshan, Zhaoqing, Maoming, Yangjiang, Shanwei, Shaoguan and Zhanjiang) in mid-term industrialization, total emissions experienced soaring increases. The emission inventories provide robust, self-consistent, transparent and comparable data support for identifying spatial–temporal emission characteristics, developing low-carbon policies, monitoring mitigation progress in GBA cities as well as further emissions-related studies at a city-level. The low-carbon roadmaps designed for GBA cities and their surroundings also provide a benchmark for other developing countries/cities to adapting changing climate and achieve sustainable development

Emission drivers of cities at different industrialization phases in China

As cities are the center of human activity and the basic unit of policy design, they have become the focus of carbon dioxide reduction, especially metropolitan areas that are high energy consumers and carbon dioxide emitters in countries such as China. The fact cities differ in their levels of development and stages of industrialization points to the need for tailor-made low-carbon policies. This study is the first to consider cities' different phases of industrialization when analyzing city-level emission patterns and drivers, as well as the decoupling statuses between economic growth and their emission levels in China. The results of 15 representative cities at different phases of industrialization show that various decoupling statuses, driving factors and decoupling efforts exist among cities, and that heterogeneity among these factors also exists among cities at the same industrialization phase. For further decomposition, energy intensity contributed the most to emissions reduction during the period 2005 to 2010, especially for cities with more heavy manufacturing industries, whereas industrial structure was a stronger negative emission driver during the period 2010 to 2015. Based on those findings, we suggest putting into practice a diversified carbon-mitigation policy portfolio according to each city's industrialization phase rather than a single policy that focuses on one specific driving factor. This paper sets an example on emissions-reduction experience for other cities undergoing different industrialization phases in China; it also sheds light on policy initiatives that could be applied to other cities around the world

Environmental Finance:An Interdisciplinary Review

Environmental finance has gained considerable attention globally as an emerging interdisciplinary research area. This study uses bibliometric analysis to systematically review major studies on environmental finance-related areas published since the 1970s. Through a bibliometric analysis of 892 environmental finance-related articles sourced from the Web of Science database, we identified the main research streams and illustrated the trending research themes of environmental finance. We find that publications related to environmental finance have increased exponentially over the past decade. Current research streams include corporate and social re- sponsibility (CSR), climate negotiations, natural gas price volatility, national policy, and cost comparisons. Further analysis of the recent five years of literature shows that emerging research topics include climate finance, sustainable finance, firm value, climate risk, and green bonds. Finally, we conclude with a future research agenda for environmental finance

City-level water withdrawal in China:Accounting methodology and applications

In the context of the freshwater crisis, accounting for water withdrawal could help planners better regulate water use in different sectors to combat water scarcity. However, the water withdrawal statistics in China are patchy, and the water data across all sectors at the city level appear to be relatively insufficient. Hence, we develop a general framework to, for the first time, estimate the water withdrawal of 58 economic–social–environmental sectors in cities in China. This methodology was applied because only inconsistent water statistics collected from different data sources at the city level are available. We applied it to 18 representative Chinese cities. Different from conventional perceptions that agriculture is usually the largest water user, industrial and household water withdrawal may also occupy the largest percentages in the water-use structure of some cities. The discrepancy among annual household water use per capita in the urban areas of different cities is relatively small (as is the case for rural areas), but that between urban and rural areas is large. As a result, increased attention should be paid to controlling industrial and urban household water use in particular cities. China should specifically prepare annual water accounts at the city level and establish a timetable to tackle water scarcity, which is a basic step toward efficient and sustainable water crisis mitigation