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Successful energy transitions, also referred to as leapfrog development, present enormous prospects for EU nations to become carbon neutral by shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. Along with climate change, EU countries must address energy security and dependency issues, exacerbated by factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic, rising energy costs, conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, and political instability. Diversifying energy sources, generating renewable energy, increasing energy efficiency, preventing energy waste, and educating the public about environmental issues are proposed as several strategies. The study draws the conclusion that central European countries may transition to a clean energy economy and become carbon neutral on economic and strategic levels by locating alternative clean energy supply sources, reducing energy use, and producing renewable energy. According to the study, the EU energy industry can be decarbonised and attain energy security using three basic strategies, such as supply diversification, energy savings, and quicker adoption of renewable energy to replace fossil fuels. The energy transformation industry still needs to improve energy efficiency, incorporate a circular and sustainable bioeconomy, and support renewable energies, including solar, wind, hydropower, nuclear, and hydrogen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With concerns about global warming and energy security, people are reducing fossil fuel use and turning to clean energy technologies. Mineral resources are used as materials for various energy technologies, and with the development of clean energy technologies, the demand for mineral resources will increase. China is a large country with various mineral resources, but its structural supply problem is severe. For China to reach the targets of carbon peaking before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060, they have set specific milestones for developing each clean energy industry; thus, the demand for mineral resources in clean energy will increase. We first summarise the mineral resources supply for China's development of clean energy technologies. We analyse the demand for various mineral resources in specific clean energy technology sectors under the stated policies scenario and sustainable development scenario through scenario setting. Finally, we combine current domestic mineral resource reserves and overseas import channels to analyse China's mineral resource supply and demand for developing the clean energy industry. Our results show that the surge in clean energy generation and electric vehicle ownership in China between 2020 and 2050 will lead to a significant increase in demand for mineral resources for these technologies and a shortage in the supply of some mineral resources. In particular, the supply of copper, nickel, cobalt, and lithium will be a severe constraint for clean energy development. We also find that secondary recycling of power battery materials in the electric vehicle sector could alleviate China's resource constraints. The findings of our study provide a better understanding of the kinds of mineral elements that are in short supply on the path of clean energy development in China under carbon peaking and carbon neutrality targets and the future channels that can be used to increase the supply of minerals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon neutrality is one of the most important goals for the Chinese government to mitigate climate change. Coal has long been China's dominant energy source and accounts for more than 70–80% of its carbon emissions. Reducing the share of coal power supply and increasing carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) in coal power plants are the two primary efforts to reduce carbon emissions in China. However, even as energy and water consumed in CCUS are offset by reduced energy consumption from green energy transitions, there may be tradeoffs from the carbon–energy–water (CEW) nexus perspective. This paper developed a metric and tool known as the "Assessment Tool for Portfolios of Coal power production under Carbon neutral goals" (ATPCC) to evaluate the tradeoffs in China's coal power industry from both the CEW nexus and financial profits perspectives. While most CEW nexus frameworks and practical tools focus on the CEW nexus perturbation from either an external factor or one sector from CEW, ATPCC considers the coupling effect from C(Carbon) and E(Energy) in the CEW nexus when integrating two main carbon mitigation policies. ATPCC also provides an essential systematic life cycle CEW nexus assessment tool for China's coal power industry under carbon-neutral constraints. By applying ATPCC across different Chinese coal industry development portfolios, we illustrated potential strategies to reach a zero-emission electricity industry fueled by coal. When considering the sustainability of China's coal industry in the future, we further demonstrate that reduced water and energy consumption results from the energy transition are not enough to offset the extra water and energy consumption in the rapid adoption of CCUS efforts. However, we acknowledge that the increased energy and water consumption is not a direct correlation to CCUS application growth nor a direct negative correlation to carbon emissions. The dual effort to implement CCUS and reduce electricity generation from coal needs a thorough understanding and concise strategy. We found that economic loss resulting from coal reduction can be compensated by the carbon market. Carbon trading has the potential to be the dominant profit-making source for China's coal power industry. Additionally, the financial profits in China's coal power industry are not negatively correlated to carbon emissions. Balance between the carbon market and the coal industry would lead to more economic revenues. The scenario with the most rapid reduction in coal power production combined with CCUS would be more sustainable from the CEW nexus perspective. However, when economic revenues are considered, the scenario with a moderately paced energy transition and CCUS effort would be more sustainable. Nevertheless, the ATPCC allows one to customize coal production scenarios according to the desired electricity production and emission reduction, thus making it appropriate not only for use in China but also in other coal-powered regions that face high-energy demands and carbon neutrality goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]