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Using the extended science citation index database (SCI) and social science citation index (SSCI) databases, this paper analyzed the characteristics of publications, research foundations, research hotspots, and the evolutionary tracks of studies in the field of energy, environment, and climate change from 1990 to 2019 using a bibliometric method. This method is useful because it involves the quantitative analysis of large amounts of literature, using mathematical and statistical method. The results showed that the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK), and China were the countries with the most published papers in the field. The US plays a key role in the cooperation between international institutions. An assessment conducted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) created the standard scientific reference for the research on climate change and its consequences. From 2006 to 2016, a large number of co-cited papers laid a solid foundation for research in the field. During this period, the research focused on the impact of climate change on the ecological environment, began to propose different countermeasures, and formed a set of mature research methods. From 2017 to 2019, there was an acceleration in the growth rate of the number of published articles. Strategies to address climate change, including renewable energy and energy transition, were the focus during this phase. Future studies are expected to focus on climate change mitigation strategies and energy policies. The findings provide a reference for researchers and can help policy makers balance economic development with environmental protection., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

There has been a growing focus on uncertainty as a distinct concept in the risk literature. This paper is concerned with how those involved in the design and implementation of climate change policy conceptualize risk and uncertainty. Based on interviews with policy and industry elites in Australia, China and the UK, it finds that participants did not distinguish between "risk" and "uncertainty" in their conceptualization of climate threats. For the majority of them, politics was the most significant source of risk and uncertainty in climate policy, but delegation of otherwise political decisions to the market was seen as the best solution. The conclusion suggests that the conceptual distinction between risk and uncertainty is less important, for policy and industry elites, than the need to develop mechanisms that account for both persistent scientific uncertainties as well as interpretive and moral ambiguities in climate policy design and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Paris Agreement on climate change has calls for urgent, radical, and transformative actions in mitigation and adaptation, particularly in terms of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emission. There are many terms used to describe the process of reducing GHGs, including decarbonization, low carbon development (LCD) or low carbon transition (LCT). The conceptualization of these terms remains puzzling and there has not been any consensus to explain the meaning and their interrelationship. Clearer definition and conceptual boundaries are necessary to improve the coherence of overarching practices to cut CO 2 emission. The paper aims to review key concepts related to climate change mitigation related to the reduction of CO 2 and efforts toward net-zero emission in the academic literature, by (1) examining progress of the literature over time, (2) identifying geographical locus and sectoral focus of the literature, (3) determining the interrelationships between the key concepts. We use a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) method for data collection by selecting peer-reviewed literature from Scopus and analyzing the data with content analysis and bibliometric analysis. The findings are, firstly, the publications of the literature are influenced by global and national climate change policies and the interest of scholars affiliated to institutions from major emitter countries. Therefore, the literature is mostly originating from countries that emit the most CO 2 while also implement mitigations to reduce CO 2 emission. Secondly, China is the country where studies are mostly focused and also where the authors are affiliated/located. However, publications from the United Kingdom are cited the most. Thirdly, there are three clusters of literature found, namely that LCD and LCT are the terms used to identify visions for climate mitigation, while decarbonization is the actions and processes to achieve either LCD or LCT (as the visions). • The dynamic of climate change policies influence the literature trend. • The literature is mostly originating from major CO 2 emitter. • Low carbon development and low carbon transition are visional terms. • Decarbonization indicates the processes of decoupling CO 2 to achieve the visions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]