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In 2017, a carbon emissions trading market will be launched nationwide by the China government. Calculating the enterprise carbon emissions is an important prerequisite and basis for trading. This paper discussed types of greenhouse gases, calculation boundaries and methods, energy consumption, carbon emissions, and intensity of a representative integrated pulp and paper mill in China based on China Guidance and Greenhouse Gas Protocol Tools. The results showed that there were 435,000 tonnes (t) of CO2 emissions from that mill in 2014 that did not contain emissions of biomass energy, which was 8 times higher than that of fossil energy. The pulp carbon intensity based on the mill was 0.230 t CO2/Adt, which accounted for 7.50% to 57.4% in other pulps' based on the product. Intensity based on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 1.090 t CO2e/1000 USD and accounted for 56.8% intensity in the China paper industry. The intensity based on sales accounted for 52.6% in the firstclass enterprise in the developed country. It also showed that intensity was influenced by the species of raw material, energy, and products, which provided the mill with measures for energy saving and emissions reduction to obtain the redundant carbon emissions in the trading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's carbon emissions trading (CET) policy aims to force relevant enterprises to implement low‐carbon technology innovation and address environmental challenges through marketization means. However, how China's CET policy may affect enterprise technology innovation and whether this effect may differ in industries remain to be further investigated. Therefore, based on the panel data of listed enterprises covered by the CET policy in China during 2009–2017, this paper employs the difference‐in‐difference (DID) and DID‐based propensity score matching models to evaluate the effect of CET on technology innovation. The empirical results indicate that the effect of China's CET on the technology innovation of related enterprises is generally not significant during the sample period, but this effect presents evident industrial heterogeneity. Specifically, among the eight CET‐covered industries, the CET policy helps to improve technology innovation for power and aviation enterprises but not in the other six industries (i.e., steel, chemical, building material, petrochemical, nonferrous metals, and paper), which implies that China's CET policy still has great potential for promoting the technology innovation of related enterprises. In addition, the central findings remain robust when the system generalized method of moment and DID‐based coarsened exact matching models are applied to consider the influence of omitted variables, unobservable confounders, and different matching methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is one of the largest challenges facing mankind, and the question of how to reduce carbon emissions has raised extensive concern all over the world. However, due to the lack of mechanisms to explain the impact of political factors on environmental regulatory tools, the evaluation of carbon emissions reduction is insufficient in the majority of previous studies. How to better explore the path of carbon emissions reduction has become the key for China to achieve carbon neutralization as soon as possible. Based on a quasi-natural experiment regarding China's carbon emission trading policy, this paper adopts a difference-in-differences model to address the impact of political mobility on China's carbon emissions trading policy, and the selected pilot and non-pilot provinces of this policy in China enabled the model to be matched. Using a panel database with 30 provincial administrative units as the observation objects, the results show that China's carbon emissions trading policy and the horizontal mobility experience of the provincial governors exert a significant positive effect on carbon emission reduction. Additionally, this study identifies a latent factor previously ignored by the existing literature: the correlation between political factors and carbon emissions. This verifies our theoretical hypothesis that officials transferred from the provincial level tend to have higher performance regarding carbon emission reduction. This paper also provides suggestions for the central government to further plan and implement carbon emission reduction policies and mobilize the incentives of local officials in environmental governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon emission trading is not only a market-based instrument but also one of the government's macro-policies, which is extremely crucial to fulfilling both carbon peak attainment and carbon neutrality goals. For this purpose, this paper adopts a 30-region dataset for the period from 2008 to 2020 in China and employs the difference-in-difference (DID) method to quantify the effect of the carbon emission trading pilot policy (CETP) on carbon emissions on the basis of introducing industrial structure upgrading and green technology innovation as moderating variables. The results show that (1) CETP has a statistically significant dampening effect on carbon emissions, while its carbon emission reduction effect follows a significant strengthening trend as the policy year of CETP implementation is delayed. (2) CETP has a significant carbon emission reduction effect. However, its effect demonstrates a gradual decrease from the eastern to the central and finally to the western regions. (3) CETP can inhibit carbon emissions depending on industrial structure upgrading to a certain extent, and this dependence is significant in the national and eastern regions but not in the central and western regions. (4) CETP's carbon emission reduction effect is dependent on green technology innovation, which is only revealed in the western region and performs as a dampening effect in the national, eastern, and central regions, but not significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the Web of Science database, this paper uses the bibliometric method to analyze the characteristics of the most relevant studies of carbon price in emissions trading scheme. Researchers have shed light on this research field since 1994. The USA and China occupy the leading research position in this field. The most productive journal is Energy Policy and the most productive author is Chevallier J. Chinese Academy of Sciences is the institution with the most publications related to carbon price. Cooperation analysis shows that the cooperation between authors, institutions and countries is constantly growing. We find out that carbon price fluctuation, influencing factors of carbon price, price mechanism of the carbon market, theory analysis of carbon pricing policy and carbon price effects are the main areas of research focus. Also, we detect that different policies, emissions level and energy prices are the main influencing factors on carbon price. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Establishing an efficient carbon emissions trading market is a priority to achieve the goal of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. In the context of income inequality and emissions inequality, this study examined the efficiency of carbon trading in China from the perspective of resident income. First, this paper used the Cobb–Douglas (C-D) production function to incorporate carbon intensity into the production network model and obtained the expression of household income by solving the Walras equilibrium. Secondly, this study put forward a theory that Carbon trading affects the income level of individuals. Finally, in order to test the theory, the study used the differences-in-differences (DID) method, provincial panel data from 2005 to 2019, and the quasi-natural experiment of China's carbon emissions trading pilot. The results indicated that this policy could reduce the per capita disposable income level. Further heterogeneity research showed that although the emission reduction effect was significant, the pilot policy failed to save emission reduction costs and improve residents' welfare. The low efficiency of the carbon market was mainly attributed to the insufficient liquidity of the pilot carbon market. Therefore, it not only failed to achieve efficiency but also increased unnecessary costs, which had a negative impact on income. In addition, the consumption patterns of residents and the industrial-oriented economic structure exacerbated the decline in income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electricity market-oriented reform and carbon emissions trading, as the main policies implemented in China's power sector, have a profound impact on China's green and low-carbon transition by promoting resource allocation efficiency and internalizing external environmental costs, respectively. Therefore, this paper constructed a dynamic recursive CGE model to measure the energy, economic, and environmental impacts of carbon emissions trading and electricity market-oriented reform from electricity market structure and pricing mechanism. The results show that the two policies have a synergistic effect on industrial structure optimization, energy consumption structure optimization, and carbon emission reduction. Specifically, the share of value-added of the tertiary sector, the growth rate of coal consumption, the share of thermal power consumption, and carbon emissions in 2030 are reduced by 5.70 %, 18.29 %, 2.55 %, and 2.838 trillion tons, respectively, compared with the scenario without carbon emissions trading and electricity market-oriented reform. However, imperfectly competitive market structures outperform perfectly competitive market structures in energy consumption structure and carbon emission reduction. Electricity price regulation is also more beneficial to GDP growth and increase in residential disposable income compared to price liberalization. To this end, returning emission trading scheme revenues to residents can effectively mitigate the adverse impacts caused by market-oriented reforms. • EMR is involved in market structure, pricing mechanisms, and market regulation. • EMR and CET have a synergistic effect on carbon reduction. • Energy consumption structure is better in imperfectly competitive market. • Electricity price regulation is more beneficial to GDP growth. • Returning ETS revenue to residents increases per capita disposable income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In November 2015, China government announced that the national carbon emissions trading market is expected to start in 2017. Carbon emission trading system is a raising concern from day to day, in which the allocation of carbon quotas has the closest relationship with trading units directly determining the cost of carbon trading. Initial allowance allocation is fundamental, but it proposes difficulty in terms of the trading mechanism design. This paper is based on the total control principle of national layout, in which the government sets up the cap of emissions in the carbon emissions trading system and focuses on the historical emission allocation concept from the perspective of fairness and history responsibility meaning that the allocation of quota in the future is based on the historical emissions. Firstly, we carry out comparative analysis based on the economy development and the emissions of 31 provinces and cities in China and select the sign-post province, Hebei. Secondly, we take the sign-post province as benchmarking and compare the benchmarking with the other provinces on the economy to set three quota situations of different initial years. Finally, we conduct quota calculation of residual carbon dioxide of various provinces by the end of 2020 and provide the specific quota calculation plans under different situations. The result of quota indicates: Most provinces still have more or less surplus to reallocate by the end of 2020; some provinces and cities have developing economy at expense of large emission and old industrial area with high energy consumption and high coal demand are in the shortage of future emission space; for the developed areas, the earlier emissions accounting is not good for their owning surplus; the earlier the years we select as the starting to account the quota, the greater the reductions space we will have. Meanwhile, we carry out testing of the feasibility of self-providing quota plans. These results may provide corresponding policy advice for China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the tightening regulation of carbon emissions, China has launched the pilot carbon emission trading scheme (CETS) since 2013. There is growing empirical evidence of the actual effect of CETS to promote enterprises' productivity which is characterized by total factor productivity (TFP). However, most studies ignored the further analysis of influence mechanisms. This paper aims to explore the impact of CETS on the TFP of enterprises and discuss the mediating role of government participation and carbon trading market efficiency. Using data from A-share listed enterprises from CETS-covered enterprises, this paper employed a combination of the propensity score matching (PSM) and difference-in-differences (DID) strategies and found that the CETS has a statistically significant positive impact on the TFP of enterprises, and the positive effect has been maintained for six years since its inception. The moderation analysis indicated that: (1) two dimensions of government participation in terms of the market incentive and government supervision significantly moderate the positive impact of CETS on TFP of enterprises; (2) two dimensions of carbon trading market efficiency in terms of the market scale and liquidity significantly moderates the positive impact of CETS on TFP of enterprises. In light of Chinese pilots CETS policy, the study highlights the important moderating roles of government participation and high carbon trading market efficiency on enterprise's TFP. [Display omitted] • Chinese pilots CETS significantly improved the TFP of enterprises by 9.48%. • The government participation moderates the positive impact of CETS on enterprises' TFP. • The higher carbon trading market efficiency is, the greater the moderating effect of CETS on TFP is. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese government has committed to reduce its carbon intensity by 40–45% over the period 2005–2020 at the 2009 Copenhagen Summit. To achieve the target in a cost-effective way, China is signaling strong intentions to establish emissions trading scheme, and presently seven pilots have been established. This paper focuses on the cost-saving effects of carbon emissions trading in China for the 2020 target. First, an interprovincial emissions trading model is constructed. Then, three kinds of policy scenarios, including no carbon emissions trading among provinces (NETS), the carbon emissions trading only covering the pilots (PETS), and the unified carbon emissions trading market (CETS), have been designed. The results show that China needs to reduce its emissions by 819 MtCO 2 for achieving the 42.5% reduction in carbon intensity over the period 2005–2020. The PETS and the CETS, which may result in a carbon price of 99 yuan/tCO 2 and 53 yuan/tCO 2 , could reduce the total abatement costs by 4.50% and 23.67%, respectively. This paper also finds that the carbon emissions trading could yield different impacts on different provinces, and the cost-saving effects of the eastern and western provinces are more pronounced than the central provinces. Necessary sensitivity analysis is also provided at the end of the research. These findings may be useful for promoting the development of carbon emissions trading in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has formulated the carbon emissions trading (CET) system and renewable portfolio standards (RPS) to address climate change. Meanwhile, the development of provincial and coupled provincial-interprovincial electricity markets is underway in China. This paper establishes the operation frameworks and optimization models of the above electricity markets. The research results show that: CET or RPS can both increase the penetration of renewable energy and reduce carbon emissions. The effect of different CET parameters in the provincial electricity market is apparent. However, the effects of different RPS parameter changes on the two markets are fixed. • The optimization models of Chinese provincial and coupled electricity markets under CET and RPS are established. • The implementation of CET and RPS can both increase the penetration rate of renewable energy, reduce carbon emissions. • The effect of different CET parameters in the provincial power market is more obvious than the coupled electricity market. • The effects of different RPS parameter changes on the provincial and coupled electricity markets are fixed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Carbon emissions trading is one of the important economic means to solve the environmental externality. Based on the data of CO 2 emissions from the thermal power plants over the period from 2005 to 2010 in China, this paper uses no-parametric optimization models to estimate the potential economic gains and potential carbon emissions reduction under three allocation strategies of carbon emissions trading allowance. Results show that the maximum potential gains can be obtained by the spatial allocation scenario for the combination of CO 2 -SO 2 emissions trading, and the output growth ratio among power plants varies huge. The establishment of jointed CO 2 -SO 2 emissions trading is usually highly beneficial to achieve the three targets, including the optimal allocation of resources, the increase of potential gains and the reduction of pollutant emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is now in the process of building its national carbon emissions trading scheme (ETS). Data are the foundation for the design and operation of an ETS. This paper presents a comparative analysis of the data requirements for China's national ETS construction and the existing ETS-related data for enterprises in China. In doing so, it identifies the underlying data gap in building China's national ETS in terms of data availability and data quality. Based on the experiences of international ETSs, and experiences at national and pilot levels in China, we propose two short-term strategies and four long-term solutions to meet the challenges from technical and management perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluates the economic impact of achieving China's Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) through emissions trading scheme (ETS) and renewable energy policy, using a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model. We explored the behavior of different sectors in the carbon market, carbon trade amount, carbon price and the economic impact of an emissions cap and trade on the employment and GDP. The results demonstrate that the electricity and aviation sectors have relatively higher mitigation costs and tend to be the main buyers of the carbon credits, whereas chemicals, nonmetal production, iron and steel, paper and other manufacturing sectors have relatively lower mitigation costs and tend to be the main sellers. Carbon trading price and market scale are closely related to various factors such as the emissions quota allocation scheme among sectors, coverage of participating sectors and the level of renewable energy development. Emission trading is also confirmed to be an economically efficient approach that contributes to the achievement of emission reduction targets with less economic cost. In order to make full use of this approach, policy maker should assign an appropriate emissions quota allocation scheme, extend coverage of various sectors and promote the expansion of low-carbon technologies such as renewable energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes the allocation of CO 2 emissions increment quotas and carbon intensity reduction burdens based on information entropy method. Allocating emissions increment quotas and cutting emissions intensity target should consider each province’s objective weights of some valuable factors, such as carbon emissions reduction capacity, responsibility, potential and energy efficiency under interprovincial emissions trading system in China. Those provinces with better economic level, heavier cumulative CO 2 emissions, stronger industrial carbon intensity and greater energy consumers may undertake greater shares of carbon intensity reduction targets during 2014–2020. All provinces in China may achieve a surprising reduction of CO 2 emissions increment quotas during 2014–2020 with an increase of national emissions intensity reduction targets, and then have to increase greater burdens of emissions intensity reduction compared with the 2013 level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Carbon emissions trading inhibits green technology innovation in the short run. • Carbon emissions trading will reduce the carbon emissions and carbon intensity greatly at this stage. • Carbon emissions trading has a crowding-out effect on R&D investment and increases the carbon trading price, which inhibited green technology innovation. • It is necessary to control the scale of carbon emission quota and diversify the subjects of carbon trading. Carbon emissions trading is an important measure to promote high-quality economic development. Based on the panel data of 30 provincial administrative regions in China from 2008 to 2017, this paper uses the difference-in-differences method to analyze the impact of carbon emissions trading on green technology innovation. The results show that: (1) Carbon emissions trading inhibits green technology innovation in the current stage, but greatly reduces carbon emissions and carbon intensity; (2) Carbon price and R&D investment are the mainly working channels, carbon emissions trading has a crowding-out effect on corporates' R&D investment and increases the carbon trading price, which in turn inhibits green technology innovation; (3) Carbon emissions trading has a stronger inhibitory effect on green technology innovation in eastern regions and regions with low emission intensity. Local government competition positively moderates the green technology innovation effect of carbon emissions trading. However, the command-controlled environmental regulations and the scale of the carbon emission quota have opposite effects, with the compatibility of environmental regulation tools remaining to be resolved. Therefore, it is necessary to control the scale of carbon emission quota to diversify the subjects of carbon trading and strengthen the impact of market-incentive environmental regulation tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the practical experiences of Guangdong carbon emissions trading pilot, the key issues such as cap setting, allowance allocation, system defects, regulatory integration and MRV mechanisms were analyzed in this paper from the localization perspective. A number of solutions and policy recommendations were also proposed in this study in order to solve these barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In Copenhagen climate conference China government promised that China would cut down carbon intensity 40–45% from 2005 by 2020. CET (carbon emissions trading) is an effective tool to reduce emissions. But because CET is not fully implemented in China up to now, how to design it and its potential impact are unknown to us. This paper studies the potential impact of introduction of CET on China’s power sector and discusses the impact of different allocation options of allowances. Agent-based modeling is one appealing new methodology that has the potential to overcome some shortcomings of traditional methods. We establish an agent-based model, CETICEM (CET Introduced China Electricity Market), of introduction of CET to China. In CETICEM, six types of agents and two markets are modeled. We find that: (1) CET internalizes environment cost; increases the average electricity price by 12%; and transfers carbon price volatility to the electricity market, increasing electricity price volatility by 4%. (2) CET influences the relative cost of different power generation technologies through the carbon price, significantly increasing the proportion of environmentally friendly technologies; expensive solar power generation in particular develops significantly, with final proportion increasing by 14%. (3) Emission-based allocation brings about both higher electricity and carbon prices than by output-based allocation which encourages producers to be environmentally friendly. Therefore, output-based allocation would be more conducive to reducing emissions in the Chinese power sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• It evaluates the effect of China's ETS on non-fossil energy development. • It analyzes ETS's effects from energy type, pilot, and pilot-energy type aspects. • The ETS has the most significant promoting effect on hydropower and photovoltaics. • Carbon price plays a positive role in moderating the effect of China's ETS. Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) can internalize the environmental costs of fossil energy consumption and encourage enterprises to consume non-fossil energy, which is crucial for People's Republic of China (PRC) to achieve the contribution target of the Paris Agreement cost-effectively. However, whether the ETS in PRC can promote non-fossil energy development remains to be answered. This paper uses a difference-in-differences model to evaluate the effect of the ETS on non-fossil energy development in PRC. Using provincial monthly panel data from January 2004 to December 2019, we find that (1) the ETS has significantly promoted non-fossil energy development in PRC, increasing the monthly average share of non-fossil energy power generation in total power generation by 2.326 percentage points, which has been verified by a series of robustness tests. (2) The effect of the ETS on non-fossil energy development is heterogeneous by energy type, pilot region, and pilot-energy type. The ETS has significantly increased the share of hydropower and photovoltaic power generation, and has significantly promoted non-fossil energy development in Guangdong; meanwhile, the ETS has significantly increased the share of hydropower and nuclear power in Guangdong, and the share of wind power and photovoltaic power in Hubei. (3) The higher the carbon price, the greater the role of the ETS in promoting non fossil energy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposed a model-based framework to optimize the energy-water-emissions nexus (EWEN) for regional electric power system (EPS) planning. The framework integrated the superiority of bi-level programming (BLP), two-stage stochastic programming (TSP), mix-integer programming (MIP), interval parameter programming (IPP) models and carbon emission trading (CET) mechanism, which could effectively deal with the planning problems in the EWEN optimization process. BLP helped decision makers make leader-follower choices when they have conflicting preferences. TSP with IPP could validly address the uncertain information expressed as interval values with unknown distribution. MIP was introduced as an efficacious tool to evaluate the capacity expansion potential in EPS. CET mechanism was applied to reinforce the CO 2 mitigation effect during the EWEN optimization process. Then the proposed framework was applied into a case study in Shanxi Province, a main thermal power base in China to optimize the EWEN. Results indicated that the power supply structure was inclined to show a low-carbon transition trend in the planning periods. Meanwhile, coupled with the strict water conservation policy, every 5% reduction in carbon emission density would lead to an average decreasing rate of 8% for SO 2 , 3% for NOx and 12% for PM. This study may help provide an effective way to deal with planning problems with conflicting and sequential goals under uncertainty and make better tradeoff strategies in EWEN optimization in EPS. • Propose a stochastic leader-follower framework for energy-water-emission nexus. • Control uncertainty by the combination of TSP and with IPP. • Interactions of CO 2 emissions and air pollution emissions are revealed. • Introduce CET mechanism to help improve the CO 2 mitigation effect. • The empirical results demonstrate the excellent performance of the framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important new tool for ecological poverty alleviation, carbon trading compensation is combining ecological protection with rural poverty alleviation. This paper evaluates the poverty alleviation impact of China's pilot carbon emissions trading schemes (ETS) at the provincial level before and after the program, which was implemented from 2007 to 2017. Specifically, we measure poverty alleviation in terms of rural residential income growth and rural job creation. By exploiting the quasi-experimental variation in whether provinces were affected by this pilot ETS policy, our analysis finds that the ETS policy resulted in increases in rural residential income and employment. We find the estimated effects correspond to an increase of approximately 752.6 yuan in annual rural residential income and 2.35% in the ratio of rural employed population to the total employed population, accounting for 9.5% of the rural residents' income and 7.11% of the rural employment, specifically. The results imply that the implementation of ETS is beneficial to income growth and job creation for rural areas of China, which mean the ETS policy may be conducive to poverty alleviation in affected provinces. • The effect of China's pilot carbon emissions trading schemes on poverty alleviation is tested. • Difference-in-Differences model is used. • The effect is an increase of approximately 752.6 yuan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China and the United States are the two largest emitters of greenhouse gases, making them pivotal players in global climate negotiations. Within the coming decade, however, India is set to become the most important counterpart to the United States, as it overtakes China as the country with the most at stake depending on the type of global burden-sharing agreements reached, thus becoming a member of the 'Climate G2'. We create a hypothetical global carbon market based on modelling emissions reduction commitments across countries and regions relative to their marginal abatement costs. We then analyse net financial flows across a wide range of burden-sharing agreements, from pure 'grandfathering' based on current emissions to equal-per-capita allocation. Among the four largest players – the United States, the EU-27, China, and India – it is China that would currently be the largest net seller of emissions allowances in all but the grandfathered scenario. The United States would be the largest net buyer. However, India is poised to take China's position by around 2030. That leaves the United States and India as the two major countries with most to gain and lose, depending on the type of climate deal reached. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is of great significance to reduce carbon emissions from electric power generation for green development. In addition to technical measures, two trading mechanisms are built to optimize China’s electric power generation: generation rights trading, and carbon emission rights trading. However, as the carbon emission rights trading are initiated, the issues of how to choose the right trading mechanism, and determining the appropriate strategy under the corresponding trading mechanism continue to confuse generation enterprises. In order to clarify these issues, the game theory was used to identify the proper trading strategies for generation enterprises under the two highly similar trade mechanisms. Results show that the two trading mechanisms are complementary to each other to some extent, and the generation enterprises should choose a proper trade strategy according to the endowment of generation prices, the technical abilities, the grid-loss price and the ratio of carbon-electricity conversion. The equilibrium solutions of trading scales and prices for the two trading mechanisms are mostly related to the endowments of generation prices. Generally, the buyers with higher endowments of generation prices should choose the carbon emission rights trading, and the buyers with lower endowments of generation prices can only benefit in generation rights trading. The bigger gaps between the endowments of generation prices of buyers and sellers are, the more likely the trade can be made and further result in a better environmental consequence. The conclusions provide suggestions to the government that, the grid-loss pricing and the ratio of carbon-electricity conversion could be used as key tools to regulate the market for both of the trade mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a decomposition and emissions matrix is developed to identify the roles (giver or taker) played by the sectors in the greenhouse gas emissions for the economy of Beijing in China. Our results indicate that services were the most important emitter if we consider the total (direct and indirect) emissions. In addition to Construction, Scientific studies and technical services and Finance sectors of services were the largest takers. They have a large role in boosting greenhouse gas emissions throughout the economy of Beijing. As the basis and supporter of production activities, the electricity production and the transportation sectors were the greatest givers. More emphasis should be placed on using clean energy and carbon capture and storage technologies to reduce emissions within these sectors. Based on the roles played by these sectors in greenhouse gas emissions, some policy implications were proposed for energy utilization and carbon emissions trading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese government launched its implementation plan for a carbon emissions trading mechanism in seven pilot regions in 2011. In this study, we simulate and compare the potential cost savings of emissions trading in the Chinese manufacturing industries of three selected pilot regions, namely Beijing, Chongqing and Guangdong, based on the estimates of industry-specific CO2shadow prices. The characteristics of production technology are also examined. The empirical results indicate that the cost-effectiveness of a 1-ton trade in Beijing, on average, is the largest, followed by Chongqing and Guangdong, but Guangdong would be the largest beneficiary in terms of total trade. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]