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Since General Secretary Xi Jinping pledged the "30·60" targets to the world, the importance of pollution reduction and carbon reduction has become increasingly prominent. The previous focus on the pollution reduction effects of emission trading systems, while overlooking their carbon reduction impacts, as well as the limitations of research methods and scope, is no longer suitable for the needs of the new era. Therefore, this paper constructs a CGE model to study the synergistic effects, simulating the synergistic emission reduction effects of sulfur dioxide emission trading policies, and comes to the following conclusions: After the implementation of the sulfur dioxide emission trading mechanism, under different sulfur price scenarios, the synergistic reduction amounts of SO 2 and CO 2 vary greatly. As the sulfur price increases, the reduction amount becomes larger. In the five sulfur price scenarios set in this paper, the maximum reduction of SO 2 can reach about 111,400 tons, and the maximum for CO 2 is about 399 million tons. The CO 2 reduction rate is approximately 1.0767 times that of SO 2. This indicates that the sulfur dioxide emission trading policy is a very effective path for synergistic pollution and carbon reduction, with good reduction effects. In addition, sulfur dioxide emission trading will reduce the consumption of fossil energy, decrease industry output, raise product prices, cause GDP loss, and lead to reduced social welfare to varying degrees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploiting the target-based pollutant emissions abatement policy imposed on the Two Control Zones in the post-2000 period as an exogenous shock to the strengthening of environmental regulation, we empirically investigate its causal effect on the green transformation of Chinese manufacturing enterprises with the difference-in-differences identification strategy. The empirical results show that the target-based pollutant emissions abatement policy for the Two Control Zones in the post-2000 period effectively binds regulated enterprises' sulfur dioxide emissions behavior and lowers their sulfur dioxide emissions intensity, indicating that strict environmental regulation contributes to the green transition of enterprises. To avoid the self-selection bias, we re-evaluate the green transition effect of the target-based pollutant emissions abatement policy by employing the propensity score matching with the difference-in-differences technique. Our finding that strict environmental regulation facilitates the green transition of enterprises still holds. Our heterogeneity analyses reveal that enterprises exposed to greater environmental regulation intensity experience a larger reduction in their pollution emissions intensity. State-owned enterprises and those with higher production efficiency are more inclined to achieve green transition under environmental protection pressure. Further mechanism checks confirm that enterprises reduce pollution emissions intensity by upgrading pro-environmental technology rather than increasing expenditure on pollution abatement facilities. • Environment regulation lowers enterprises' sulfur dioxide emission intensity. • Stronger environment regulation favors the fall in pollution emission intensity. • Enterprises reduce pollution emission intensity by pro-environmental technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Toxic and hazardous sulfur dioxide (SO 2) residue reduction is not only one of the core issues in the preservation process with SO 2 solid antistaling agents in actual table grapes cold chain, but also one of the important ways to improve the cleaner production efficiency of the table grapes. The aim of this paper is to propose an improved preservation process for the table grapes in cold chain by combining the fumigation treatment with the slow-release SO 2 solid antistaling agent. The process was performed to reduce the toxic and hazardous SO 2 residue of the table grapes, improve the cleaner production efficiency of the cold chain, guarantee the quality and safety of the table grapes, and finally enhance the human health. The slow-release SO 2 solid antistaling agent was developed with no pricking holes and relatively stable release rate of the SO 2. According to the comprehensive analysis of the fumigation treatment condition determination, the slow-release SO 2 solid antistaling agent performance, the table grapes quality performance, the SO 2 residue performance and the evaluation on improved preservation process, the proposed improved preservation process with SO 2 residue reduction could effectively reduce the bleaching injury, the decay rate, the threshing rate and the toxic and hazardous SO 2 residue of the table grapes. There was no bleaching injury after the fumigation treatment at the optimal fumigation treatment conditions with 5000 ppm fumigation concentration and 20 min fumigation time. The maximization reduction range of the average decay rate and the average threshing rate of the table grapes was about 91.3% and 44.8%, while the maximization reduction range of the average SO 2 residue in table grapes peels was about 44.7%. The proposed improved preservation process could be extended for other cold chain applications to reduce their SO 2 residue and improve their cleaner production efficiency. Highlights • Proposing an improved preservation process for table grapes cleaner production in cold chain. • Reducing the toxic and hazardous SO 2 residue of table grapes. • Reducing the bleaching injury, decay rate, threshing rate of table grapes. • Improving the efficiency of the cleaner production to guarantee the quality of table grapes. • Enhancing the human health caused by the toxic and hazardous SO 2 residue of table grapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological innovation is an important solution that can help improve environmental efficiency. However, the role of technological renovation in enhancing environmental efficiency has been ignored. This study provided initial evidence of the effects of cleaner production audits in China on manufacturing firms' environmental efficiency, which was measured by the emissions of sulfur dioxide and chemical oxygen demand per total output. Cleaner production audits were used as exogenous shocks. Their impact was estimated using the staggered difference-in-difference method combined with samples of ever-treated or never-treated firms using propensity score matching. The findings showed that firms that conducted cleaner production audits (vs. those that did not) experienced 4.7% and 11.9% reductions in the emission intensities of sulfur dioxide and chemical oxygen demand, respectively. Cleaner production audit implementation significantly improved firms' environmental efficiency. Additionally, a heterogeneous analysis showed that non-heavy polluters, small and medium-sized firms, and non-state-owned firms demonstrated the most improvement in environmental efficiency. Finally, the mechanism analysis results showed that firms' technological renovation in the production process is the main solution for improving environmental efficiency. This is a feasible and cost-effective way of reducing resource consumption and pollutant emissions. Accordingly, a cleaner production audit plan for different countries should be formulated with a focus on technological renovation in the production process. It should entail clean-cut incentives to stimulate firms to perform technological innovation, thereby continuously improving firms' environmental efficiency. This study sheds light on the environmental impact of cleaner production audits and regulated firms' choices between technological renovation and innovation. [Display omitted] • Effects of cleaner production audits on firms in China are investigated. • Cleaner production audits significantly improve firms' environmental efficiency. • Technological renovation in production processes improves environmental efficiency. • It is a cost-effective way to reduce resource consumption and pollutant emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Feasibility of sulfur dioxide (SO 2) reduction from a coal fired power plant using fly ash and bottom ash as solid sorbents is evaluated. The study integrates inventory data from experiments, process simulation, published studies, and real plant operation for comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA). The experimental results exhibit the capability of free lime contained fly ash and bottom ash to react with SO 2 under the least efficient conditions. The scenario-based LCA results show that fly ash/bottom ash utilization can lower the SO 2 load of untreated flue gas by 3.7–4.7% before an existing wet limestone flue gas desulfurization (WFGD) system. The combined desulfurization process with SO 2 reduction saves the annual energy consumption by 4.0–5.0%, the environmental impacts by 3.0–5.0%, and the annual operating cost by 3.1–4.5%, compared to the existing WFGD process. The uncertainty analysis evaluates the probability of scenarios, and the sensitivity analysis recommends the parameter variations to further improve the combined desulfurization process and possible applications of the post SO 2 capture fly ash. The approach can also be applied in other coal fired power plants for more environmentally-benign WFGD operation and cleaner electricity production. Highlights • Coal fly ash and bottom ash utilization for SO 2 reduction from coal power plants. • Comprehensive LCA integrates experiments, process simulation, and real plant data. • Case of an existing WFGD system for a scenario-based feasibility assessment. • Reduction of energy consumption by 4.0–5.0% and environmental impacts by 3.0–5.0%. • Possible applications for post SO 2 capture fly ash based on the SO 3 content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acid rain in China is mainly caused by man-made SO 2 emission. In order to reduce SO 2 emission, "Environmental Protection Tax Law of People's Republic of China" has been implemented on January 1, 2018. This study, based on environmental CGE model, analyses the impact of different ratio of environmental tax revenue refunded to consumption tax on China's economy and further decomposes sectors' SO 2 emissions reduction into output scale effect, process emission effect, intermediate input substitution effect, energy substitution effect and imported-domestic energy substitution effect. Results show that environmental tax can effectively reduce SO 2 emission, and not always hurt the economy. With the tax refund ratio rising, GDP appears an upward trend in varying degrees (−0.25%–0.21%), and SO 2 emission reduction shows a downward trend (−3.81%∼-3.28%). A critical point of tax refund ratio is found to locate at 59.5%, which represents the maximum amount of SO 2 emission reduction without sacrificing economy. For the SO 2 emission reduction, sectors' combustion emission reduction of oilgas and coal play a leading role. After specific decomposition, the energy substitution effect dominates the SO 2 emission reduction. Further, emission reductions of SO 2 mainly focus on high pollution sectors such as power, building materials manufacturing and paper. Factors driving emission changes in sectors may differ substantially. Therefore, the environmental tax does not necessarily hurt the economy, and can effectively curb high pollution sectors' SO 2 emission, stimulating the demand for clean energy like gas and upgrading energy structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copper smelters represent a major anthropogenic source of SO 2 and sulphide-related elements into particulate matter, affecting the air quality of the surrounding areas. The implementation of measures to reduce the emission of gaseous contaminants and particles in industrial processes is a major issue, which aims to establish technological progress for cleaner production. In this sense, a long-range study covering the period 2001–2015 has been performed in the SW Spain, where one of the largest Cu-smelters in Europe is located. Trends of PM 10 and PM 2.5 levels and geochemical patterns were studied considering the following periods: prior (2001–2008), during (2009–2013) and after (2014–2015) the implementation of emission abatement technology (wet electrofilters, bag filters and lime injection) by this large industrial facility. The results evidenced relatively high concentrations of sulphide-related elements (annual mean of 6.1, 1.7, 0.7, 2.2, 2.0, 21.0 and 1.0 ng m −3 for As, Se, Cd, Sn, Sb, Pb and Bi, respectively) during 2001–2008. A reduction of 50% was observed for the last period (2.8, 0.5, 0.2, 1.6, 1.1, 6.7 an d 0.3 ng m −3 for the same elements, respectively) in PM 10 . A similar trend was observed for PM 2.5 samples. However, the number of episodes of SO 2 has not changed along the studied period (average 8 days/month), although the SO 2 concentration during the pollution episodes has markedly diminished from maximum peak concentrations of 350 μg m −3 to 170 μg m −3 . A high arsenic concentration is the main geochemical anomaly found in PM, reaching annual mean concentrations up to 10.4 ng m −3 in 2005 above the annual EU target value (6 ng m −3 ) in PM 10 , decreasing down to 2.7 and 2.9 ng m −3 in 2014 and 2015, respectively. However, sporadically high episodic levels are still recorded (e.g. 26.8 ng m −3 in 2014 and 14.9 ng m −3 in 2015). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Performance-based contracting (PBC) is applied to Chinese industry for cleaner production, which is characterized by the payment made on measurable environmental outcome. Policy, technology, market, and capital are four elements that co-shape PBC where the synthesized effects are hard for intuition to tell. This study introduced an original interdisciplinary assessment model of PBC for SO 2 emission control in Chinese coal power plants that involves key environmental policies including command-and-control regulations, market-based approaches, and administrative measures, as well as technology, market, and capital variables. The evaluation showed that in key regions, both pollution levy programs 8 and 10 CNY/kg SO 2 (with the only penalty of concentration) could drive total emission amount close to regulatory targets. Interest expenses seem less relevant to SO 2 abatement cost in terms of the whole contract period; however, it can raise the SO 2 abatement cost similar to the service premium in the first few years. Fluctuation of power market is a business risk to PBC. As unitization hours of generator sets decrease from 4760 to 4115 h/y, the proportion of profits in the income decreased from 12.12 to 4.16%. Since payment is made on the basis of emission verification, economic benefits can represent both environmental and economic benefits. Profits and financial chain of the contractor depending on the synthesized effects of technology, capital, market, and tax policy. Sensitivity analysis quantitatively indicates technical factor as crucial; however, the buyer's business fluctuation is the real key to operational sustainability. The method was proved useful to integrated policy assessment at project level and PBC managerial decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both air pollutant and carbon emissions are serious problems in China, particularly the economic and pollution intensive urban agglomerations. Therefore, this paper selected the most severely polluted Jing-Jin-Ji region (Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei urban clusters) to study the potential of mitigating both carbon and air pollutant emission. The Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model was applied and six scenarios were constructed by considering policies of environmental tax and renewable energy. Business-as-usual (BaU) scenario assumed no tax and fixed renewable energy to 2002 level, whereas other scenarios assumed that intensified renewable energy (RE) and tax on sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) (TAX1 and TAX2) were implemented either alone or combined. The results indicated that both RE and SO 2 tax could contribute to regional low-carbon development and air pollutant reduction, and the reduction is about 10–40% depending on scenarios. However, Renewable energy is always more effective in reducing CO 2 and air pollutant emissions than TAX1 but less effective than TAX2 for Hebei. From the sectoral perspective, power sector would exhibit both the largest emissions and reduction potentials in all three Cities, accounting for about 21%, 31% and 28% of total CO 2 emissions respectively for Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, in 2020. Considering different policies, it is more effective for Hebei to apply renewable energy to reduce its power sector emissions in the long term, and tax policy is more effective for emission reduction from other sectors in Tianjin. Further analysis on the economic impact of mitigation policy revealed that Tianjin and Beijing would suffer relatively greater negative impacts than Hebei in terms of loss in total GDP, while developing renewable energy could help to reduce such negative impacts. It is suggested that the policymakers need to take into accounts the regional economic situation and natural resource potential when they formulate low-carbon policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the spatial impacts of foreign direct investment (FDI) on sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) emissions in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region located in northern China. To avoid making coefficient estimation errors, we use spatial panel data on 10 cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region for 2000 to 2013. We first analyze the effects of FDI on air pollution levels in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region from ordinary least squares (OLS). Then, the existence of a spatial correlation is examined via a Lagrange Multiplier (LM) test, and the Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) is adopted to investigate the influence of FDI on SO 2 emissions in this region. The results show that FDI has a significantly positive impact on SO 2 emissions, suggesting that an increase in FDI inflows would increase air pollution levels in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Furthermore, the air quality of local cities is also influenced by FDI inflows in surrounding areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China, industry is responsible for 88.15% of the sulfur dioxide emissions, of which coal-fired power plants account for around 35.62%. Moreover, over 90% of power plant had installed FGD implementers. On the road to an optimal economic emission control, this article develops an ILP algorithm to optimize the sorting SO 2 emission control technology costs, based on a detailed database that contains large amounts of information for 1,966 thermal power plants, such as unit installed capacity and annual generating capacity, coal consumption, sulfur content, emission control technologies, operation duration and geographical location. The results demonstrate that the total operating costs will increase along with emission abatement. When the average desulfurization efficiency reaches 95%, 98% and 99%, the total operating cost in China is 54.4 billion CNY, 64.8 billion CNY and 78.6 billion CNY, respectively. Under the scenario that every power plant reaches the SO 2 emission limitation, the total operating cost of following the least-cost retrofitting laws could reduce by 5.05% to 15.31% nationwide. Finally, the study suggests that desulfurization equipment with high removal efficiency should be installed primarily in larger units, and policymakers could develop cost-effectiveness control strategies for coal-fired power plants using the results of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the past 20 years, sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) emissions control has been a goal in China whose economy has been characterized as fast growing and in enormous transition. As a prerequisite for effective future SO 2 emissions control, a detailed investigation is needed to uncover and assess the contributions to changes in SO 2 emissions of key underlying drivers associated with China’s evolving demand structure. Using structural decomposition analysis (SDA), considering industrial characteristics and sector interactions, this study identifies the underlying drivers behind China’s demand structure shifts as well as their contributions to changes in industrial SO 2 emissions. The results show that the change in total final demand was the largest driver of the increase in SO 2 emissions, resulting in an increase of 36.64 million tons (Mt) SO 2 emissions during the time period 1997 to 2012. From the final demand perspective, the change in capital formation was the largest contributor, resulting in an increase of 16.78 Mt SO 2 emissions, and accounting for 45% of the increase due to final demand shifts. The construction industry was the primary trigger of industrial SO 2 emissions growth caused by shifts in final demand, with an induced amount (impact on other industries) of SO 2 emissions of 10.14 Mt. The key drivers capturing shifts in final demand were mainly capital formation in the construction industry, capital formation and exports in technology-intensive industries, and consumption in the services industries. The recommendation is that to control industrial SO 2 emissions, China should depend first on its economic transition that includes technology improvements and industry structure optimization for both final demand and production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the existing studies have paid much attention to the issue on the impacts of air pollution on public health, they fail to consider the spatial spillover effect and externality of air pollution as a significant influencing factor of public health, causing the biased results. This paper employs a spatial Durbin model (SDM) to investigate the impacts of both air pollution and its spatial spillover effect on public health in 116 cities of China over 2006–2012. We use the survey data of lung cancer mortality and respiratory diseases mortality from 161 sites of mortality censoring spots in China to measure public health and use the statistical data of industrial emissions of sulfur dioxide and soot from the corresponding cities to measure air pollution. Compared with the existing studies, from the perspective of the scale and scope of dataset, our dataset can be regarded as a big data sample in the fields of environmental and health economics. We estimate the direct and indirect effects of air pollution to distinguish the local and neighbors' impacts of air pollution on the mortalities caused by the two diseases. The empirical results provide the evidence for the adverse impacts of air pollution and its spatial spillover effect on public health. On average, an increase of ten thousand tonnes in industrial sulfur dioxide emissions in certain city will lead to an increase of 0.035 and 0.03 per ten thousand persons in local mortalities from lung cancer and respiratory diseases, respectively, and a total increase of 0.217 and 1.543 per ten thousand persons in the mortalities of all its neighbors from lung cancer and respiratory diseases, respectively. On an annual average, due to the air pollution, more than 200 billion RMB are spent on the medical treatment for curing health damages, and approximate hundred thousand lives were taken away. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electricity generation by conventional fossil fuel power plants have caused severe environmental problems worldwide. Besides greenhouse gas emissions which has global impacts on the climate, there are also pollutant emissions like sulfur dioxide which endanger the local environment. In particular, for developing countries who often highly rely on coal for power generation due to their resource endowment and the competitive costs of coal, the issue of environment pollution caused by coal-fired power plants is getting increasingly severe. Therefore, various solutions should be combined and implemented to address the issue, including environmental regulation, and economic and financial incentives. This study conducted an industry survey in 7 coal-fired power plants in China to collect detailed data in the field to examine the costs and benefits of flue gas desulfurization. Currently, coal-fired power plants in China which install and properly operate flue gas desulfurization equipment can receive 15 Yuan/MWh premium tariff on top of their on-grid tariffs. However, this study shows that this incentive is insufficient to cover the flue gas desulfurization costs of most of the sample plants. More solutions, both regulatory and market-based, should be considered to address this issue. Firstly, under China's current regulated power plants dispatch scheme, allocating generation hour based on the pollutant emission would provide strong incentive for sulfur dioxide mitigation. Secondly, it is suggested to provide more supportive financial environment for flue gas desulfurization industry by fiscal supports, diverse financing accesses, and innovation financial and business models. Thirdly, more environmental regulation tools such as emission cap and emission discharge fees should be set properly and examined carefully, to optimize their impacts on economy, society and environment. Finally, the analysis and results of this study can also be applied in other fields such as denitration and dedusting of coal-fired power plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The combined effort of reducing the emissions of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and greenhouse gases to comply with future regulations and reduce impact on climate change will require a significant change in ship propulsion. One alternative is to change fuels. In this study we compare the life cycle environmental performance of liquefied natural gas (LNG), liquefied biogas (LBG), methanol and bio-methanol. We also highlight a number of important aspects to consider when selecting marine fuels. A transition to use of LNG or methanol produced from natural gas would significantly improve the overall environmental performance. However, the impact on climate change is of the same order of magnitude as with use of heavy fuel oil. It is only the use of LBG and bio-methanol that has the potential to reduce the climate impact. The analysis did not show any significant differences in environmental performance between methane and methanol when produced from the same raw materials, but the performance of the methanol engines are yet to be validated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]