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The Chinese government has announced ambitious carbon reduction goals to address climate change, however, there has been limited scientific attention to the achievement of deep decarbonization in regions with insufficient economic development. Moreover, the complex impacts of climate change mitigation on energy system, environment and economic development remain unclear in Northwest China. Here we construct a comprehensive evaluation model system to evaluate the effects of different climate mitigation pathways in Qinghai, Ningxia, Gansu and Xinjiang provinces. Results show that the four provinces need to vigorously increase the share of electricity that consumed in final energy to 53.1–60.0% and 52.9–62.0% for 2 °C and 1.5 °C target, respectively, and reduce total energy demand to 11.6–44.4 Mtoe and 8.2–34.1 Mtoe in 2050. Meanwhile, the CO 2 emissions for their energy systems will reach peak by 2025 at lower values. Moreover, the synergies of CO 2 reduction are most conducive to abating SO 2 pollution and also contributing to decreasing PM 2.5 concentrations. Additionally, the GDP losses in 2050 fluctuate from 5.0 to 21.7 billion USD in the 2 °C scenario to 11.5–52.7 billion USD in the 1.5 °C scenario. Our study provides practical guidance on achieving carbon reductions in less developed regions of China and lays foundations to promote decarbonization of energy systems in other provinces. • Realizing climate goals requires low-carbon energy systems led by electricity. • Energy-related carbon emissions in Northwest China will peak by 2025. • More ambitious climate and clean air policies are needed for air quality improvement. • Economic loss shows an upward trend in the future under climate targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Petroleum coke, a non-environmentally friendly energy source, is gradually replacing other power fuels in China’s industrial enterprises because of its price advantage. Petroleum coke has high emission factors and thus emits more greenhouse gases (GHGs) and air pollutants than even raw coal. This study first examines the rapid growth of petroleum coke consumption in China since 2010 by industry sector and region and then estimates the petroleum coke-related emissions. We conclude that the total consumption of petroleum coke increased by 18.9% from 2010 to 2016 and that the industry final consumption for burning in boilers increased dramatically (by 158.2%). Petroleum coke-related CO 2 emissions reached 28 million tonnes in 2016, whereas CH 4 and N 2 O emissions totaled 870 and 143 tonnes, respectively. The increased use of petroleum coke will increase the urgency for the development of climate change mitigation and emissions reduction measures in China. We propose several possible policy suggestions for petroleum coke management and emissions control, such as strongly restricting the production and import of high-sulphur petroleum coke, as well as burning petroleum coke to provide power; more power plants and industrial kiln stoves/boilers should be equipped with efficient decontamination systems; the development of advanced industrial processes and the clean utilization of petroleum coke should be encouraged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change and increased electrification of space and water heating in buildings can significantly affect future electricity demand and hourly demand profiles, which has implications for electric grid greenhouse gas emissions and capacity requirements. We use EnergyPlus to quantify building energy demand under historical and under several climate change projections of 32 kinds of building prototypes in 16 different climate zones of California and imposed these impacts on a year 2050 electric grid configuration by simulation in the Holistic Grid Resource Integration and Deployment (HIGRID) model. We find that climate change only prompted modest increases in grid resource capacity and negligible difference in greenhouse gas emissions since the additional electric load generally occurred during times with available renewable generation. Heating electrification, however, prompted a 30–40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions but required significant grid resource capacity increases, due to the higher magnitude of load increases and lack of readily available renewable generation during the times when electrified heating loads occurred. Overall, this study translates climate change and electrification impacts to system-wide endpoint impacts on future electric grid configurations and highlights the complexities associated with translating building-level impacts to electric system-wide impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The input–output price model considering incomplete cost transmission through the ECM model is obtained. • The impact of carbon tariffs on price competitiveness in the era of GVC is analyzed. • The effective rate of protection of carbon tariffs with full consideration of upstream effects is estimated. • The welfare effect of carbon tariffs is estimated. More and more countries are joining the discussion on climate mitigation through a range of emissions reduction policies such as carbon pricing. However, differences in carbon prices and policy intensity have led countries to worry about issues such as unilateral competitiveness loss and carbon leakage, and carbon border adjustment mechanisms have emerged. This paper analyzes the impact of carbon border adjustment on price competitiveness with the carbon tariff system to be implemented by the EU and the US. First, we obtain the cost pass-through rates of 14 regions-3 sectors through the panel regression of error correction model, and corrects the input–output price model for incomplete cost transmission. Combined with global inter-industry linkages, the impact of carbon tariff levy on the real effective exchange rate, the main indicator of price competitiveness of each region and industry, is examined for the EU CBAM and the US Clean Competition Act. On this basis, we use the effective rate of protection which is adjusted with global value chain, to analyze the positive effect of carbon tariff policy on domestic producers. Finally, the welfare effects of residential households are estimated, after quantity adjustment using the real effective exchange rate. The results show that when only direct carbon tariffs are analyzed, the impact of the US Clean Competition Act is greater than that of the EU CBAM for Australia and Canada, and for Japan and other regions, the sanctioning effect of the EU CBAM is more significant. When considering the impact of cumulative tariffs in the upstream, the output prices of countries further increase, and the cumulative carbon tariffs of the US under the two scenarios are as high as 0.61 % and 0.81 %. According to the results of the real effective exchange rate, the price competitiveness of the US and Russia decreases. The effective rate of carbon tariff protection is negative in all countries except for the implementers of carbon tariffs - the US and the EU, which means that the producers lose value added due to carbon tariffs. Finally, the welfare effects analysis shows that the two largest causes of welfare losses are the increase in domestic prices and the prices of imported goods from the US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To ensure the use of water today does not damage the prospects for its use by future generations, there is need to understand long-term water demand and supply through energy production, conversion, and use. This study aims to develop an integrated framework to assess the long-term impacts of climate change scenarios on water requirements and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The framework includes the integration of the Water Evaluation And Planning model (WEAP) and the Long-range Energy Alternative Planning Systems model (LEAP). As many countries are planning to move towards a cleaner electricity grid to mitigate climate change, this work attempts to present the impact of various scenarios on water demand, GHG emissions, and cost effectiveness. This is done by conducting a case study of the western Canadian province of Alberta where more than 85% of electricity is generated by fossil fuels. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of nine integrated LEAP-WEAP climate change scenarios for the years 2015–2050 by forecasting water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector. The economic aspects of the developed scenarios are discussed in the form of a cost curve that shows the GHG saving potential, water use, and GHG mitigation costs for each scenario. For the Business-As-Usual (BAU) scenario (coal power phase out by 2030), GHG emissions and water demand will fall by 44% and 34%, respectively, in 2030. The integrated results show that the scenarios will mitigate carbon emissions but will result in higher water consumption, which will directly affect water resources in the region. Because of the high investment cost to install the considered renewable power plants in the climate change scenarios, the cost of mitigating carbon emissions in the power sector is high. Early coal-to-gas power plant conversion is the only scenario that is expected to save water (67 million m 3 ) and reduce emissions (40 million tonnes of CO 2 eq.) and be cost effective ($68/tonne of CO 2 eq.). These LEAP-WEAP model results can help create awareness among policy makers to understand the water-energy demand and supply relationship in a quantifiable way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the financial costs of a rapid national transition to electric vehicles (EVs) in comparison to a baseline scenario that is characterised by continuing use of internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEs). The Australian car fleet, which is responsible for 8% of national greenhouse emissions, is used as a case study. To explore the potential range of costs associated with rapid climate mitigation via the transport sector, the transition is assumed to occur very rapidly (by 2025). The analysis focusses on urban areas, where extensive charging infrastructure is assumed to be made available, including rapid charging facilities. Due to uncertainty over input variables, two “boundary” scenarios were constructed. In the High Cost Scenario, a rapid shift to EVs was found to cost approximately 25% more than the continuing use of ICEs, assessed over the period 2015–2035. However, in the Low Cost Scenario, where costs of EVs (especially batteries) fall more rapidly, EV maintenance costs are at the lower end of projections, and liquid fuel costs at the higher end of projections, a rapid transition to EVs is found to cost approximately the same as the use of ICE vehicles. This suggests that a rapid transition towards EV technologies for urban car travel may offer a cost-effective second-best climate change mitigation strategy. More comprehensive transport sector transformation, including changes in transport and land use policy designed to facilitate mode shift, might further reduce the costs of such a transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Distribution effect of carbon-food nexus for Chinese cities were explored. • Several methods built using the spatial decoupling index were proposed. • Chinese cities exhibited varying degrees of the distribution effect over the period. • Driver pattern of carbon-food nexus has changed over the years. Climate change mitigation and food security are sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. Despite extensive studies focused on the nexus of different SDGs and corresponding mechanisms, the distribution effect of carbon-food nexus and its driver has received limited attention, hindering policy making for balancing pathways of regional emission reduction and food production improvement. The present study explored the distribution effect (i.e., spatial performance) of carbon-food nexus from multiple perspectives (namely, status quo, drivers, and trend) based on a unique city-level dataset from 2005 to 2017. To this end, we proposed the spatial decoupling index, the corresponding decomposition and nonparametric models for capturing the multi-perspective distribution effects. The results indicated that Chinese cities, categorized by population scale and economic structure, exhibited varying degrees of distributions of carbon-food nexus over the period. Moreover, the driver pattern of carbon-food nexus was noted to have changed, wherein investment efficiency and scale were positive drivers. Furthermore, we showed that a more developed city's economy was statistically significantly associated with higher carbon emission and lower food production. Therefore, related stakeholders should take more actions such as strengthening capital accumulation and joint management of carbon intensity, for improving the distribution effect of the overall city-level carbon-food nexus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This study learns energy systems for climate mitigation from a systematic review. • Heterogeneity of energy system research is summarized for the first time. • A novel hand-coding typology analysis for energy systems is proposed. The energy supply sector is the largest contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. A good understanding of energy systems from existing research will provide multidimensional insights for appropriate actions against global warming. This study conducts a systematic review of the literature covering 1,184 articles on energy issues dealing with climate change mitigation. Using a novel hand-coding typology analysis, we characterize the body of knowledge and identify possible research gaps according to the heterogeneity of the energy process, time scale, geographic location, energy technology, and concerned end-use sector. We find that research interest mainly focuses on the energy supply (496 papers) and the end-use process (359 papers). Energy storage and the energy–water–land nexus are two emerging areas. Biomass, solar, wind, and nuclear energy are the technologies that attract the most attention, while interest in hydrogen energy production and waste-to-energy has grown very recently. The cost-benefit and mitigation potential of renewable generation are the most studied topics, followed by the impacts of climate change on electricity production. In contrast, little attention is paid to research on traditional oil and gas exploration. Regarding the end-use sector, residents and transport are the most evident sectors studied. China, the United States, and Europe are the most featured regions while very few studies focus on Africa, South America, and Small Island Developing States. Current research topics concentrate on how to maximize the co-benefit of greenhouse gas mitigation and eco-environment protection via cost-benefit reinventions of energy systems. Discussions of technological innovation are grounded in optimal technology portfolio deployment and cost reduction potential, along with financial and political incentives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]