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Green finance is an effective policy instrument in mitigating climate change, but to date little is known about its impact on carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions. This study extends the literature on the relationship between green finance and CO 2 emissions while taking trade openness and economic development into consideration to comprehensively explore the conservation/feedback hypothesis using the Autoregressive-Distributed Lag–Error Correction Model (ARDL–ECM) on data collected from 2000 to 2019. By constructing a green finance index comprising green credit, green securities, green insurance, and green investment, results include the following. (1) Support was found for the conservation hypothesis running from green finance, trade openness, and economic development to emissions per capita; the conservation hypothesis also was supported for the unidirectional relationship running from trade openness and economic development to green finance. (2) Green finance is found to be significantly and negatively related to emissions per capita in both the short and long term. (3) Trade openness shows a positive effect on emissions per capita. Robustness tests are provided. This study deepens policy implications of green finance in the post-pandemic era and highlights the moderating role of renewable energy in the green finance impact on carbon mitigation. • This study constructs a green finance index for China. • The autoregressive distributed lag–error correction model is employed. • Green finance contributes to carbon mitigation in both the short and long run. • CO 2 emissions are Granger result of green finance, trade openness and economic growth. • Trade openness and economic growth are Granger causes of each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing concern on climate change has supported technologies that reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The emission factor of the Brazilian grid electricity is low due to hydropower dominance. However, new hydropower plants have migrated to the Amazon region, with likely social and environmental consequences and rainfall shortage has demanded costly fossil fueled power plants. The grid's emission factor is increasing and new renewable energy alternatives such photovoltaic (PV) are one option to diversify the electricity mix. However, PV systems' efficiency in Brazil varies depending on the climatic region of its installation. This work evaluated the variance in CO 2 emissions reduction of grid connected PV systems for low-income housing in different Brazilian climatic regions. The analysis was based on the PV system, installed in low-income housing projects. Electricity generation was determined through RETScreen and CO 2 emission reductions were determined considering the emission factor of the national grid electricity. Variation of CO 2 emission reductions among bioclimatic regions reached up to 12%. Therefore, PV systems should be adopted in all low-income housing projects in Brazil, regardless of their region, to reduce household's expenditures, CO 2 emissions, and democratize the technology. • PV systems' efficiency varies depending on the climatic region of its installation. • Variance in CO 2 emissions reduction of grid connected PV systems is evaluated. • CO 2 emission reductions vary by up to 11.5% according to the bioclimatic region. • PV systems should be adopted in all low-income housing projects in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The motivation of this study stems from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals on clean and responsible energy consumption, climate change mitigation and sustainable economic growth (UN-SDGs-7, 11, 12 and 13). The present study examines the impact of institutional quality on CO 2 emissions in the presence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) framework using data on CO 2 emissions and the six dimensions of institutional quality from the World Governance Indicators (WGI). The current study focuses on selected 30 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries over the annual period from 2000 to 2021. The EKC hypothesis revealed CO 2 emissions are substantially reduced by corruption control, regulatory quality, and the rule of law. Findings from the Dumitrescu and Hurlin causality test showed a one-way causality running from CO 2 emissions to industrialization. Similar uni-directional causality is observed between economic growth, and energy consumption. On the other hand, we observed a two-way causality flow from CO 2 emissions to population growth and all indices of institutional quality over the investigated period. These findings indicate that government agencies should efficiently implement acceptable strategies for pollution control and enact public benefit environmental regulations in the form of a healthier climate for the entire population. • We examined the impact of institutional quality on CO 2 emissions in the presence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) framework. • 30 Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries are selected for empirical investigation. • We reveal that CO 2 emissions are substantially reduced by corruption control, regulatory quality, and the rule of law. • Meanwhile, one-way causality runs from CO 2 emissions to industrialization. • A two-way causality flow from CO 2 emissions to population growth and all indices of institutional quality are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Planning power system (PS) towards renewable energy is crucial for reducing carbon dioxide (CO 2) emission as well as mitigating climate change. However, the inherent uncertainty and hierarchical structure of PS pose intractable challenges to the planning process. This study develops a multi-GCM-based interval bi-level programming (MIBP) method that can balance two-level decision-making conflict between CO 2 -emisison reduction and system cost minimization. MIBP can also deal with uncertainties expressed as interval values in objective functions and constraints. Then, a MIBP-PS model is formulated to plan PS for China (2021–2050), where the upper-level objective is to minimize CO 2 emission and the lower-level objective is to minimize the system cost. The major findings are: (i) the CO 2 emission for PS would reach peak value before 2030 and then reduce by [10.2, 20.4]% in 2050, which is mainly owing to the curtailment of fossil fuel; (ii) compared with the conventional model, CO 2 emission from MIBP-PS model could decrease by [3.1, 4.8]%, which shows the superiority of the developed model; (iii) the fossil-fuel power would be gradually replaced by renewable energy, and the proportion of coal-fired power would decrease by 38.8% by 2050, especially small coal-fired facilities (i.e., below 0.3 GW) should be gradually phased down. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable fuels and technologies are expected to significantly contribute towards climate change mitigation considering that the transportation sector provides a 23% share out of the total CO 2 emissions. Biodiesel is a green fuel produced by transesterification of triglycerides with an alcohol in the presence of a catalyst. The current study entails modelling and simulation of biodiesel production, through an acid transesterification process, using both classic and intensified methods, coupled with an environmental impact analysis performed following the Life Cycle Assessment methodology. The traditional biodiesel production consists in the synthesis and separation sections, while the intensified method is based on reactive distillation. ChemCAD software was used to simulate and evaluate the processes from a technical point of view. Methanol is generated using CO 2 and H 2 , this method being considered as a new approach for CO 2 utilization. Water electrolysis is employed for H 2 generation, with either biomass or natural gas as power source. A cradle-to-gate environmental analysis is performed within the current research by means of GaBi software, considering the following system boundaries: i) upstream processes: catalyst supply chain, sunflower oil supply chain, natural gas supply chain, limestone extraction and decomposition, ii) main-processes: methanol and biodiesel production, iii) downstream processes: disposal of wastes. ReCiPe method was chosen as the impact assessment method. High purities for the main product and by-product are obtained (i.e., purities higher than 99%). The outcome of the process simulation points to the conclusion that the intensified path gives better performances from technical point of view. The environmental results show that the classic approach performs better when CO 2 and H 2 are used as raw materials, while reactive distillation displays a higher efficiency when natural gas is used as feedstock. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) partners agreed with a landmark decision on environmental concerns at the COP26 in Glasgow, outlining future attempts and measures to ensure a secure environment. In this regard, several prior studies have looked at environmental issues using carbon dioxide emissions, or ecological footprint. However, considering these variables may cause the supply side of environmental quality to be overlooked. To make up for this shortcoming, this study examines the effect of energy mix (fossil fuels, nuclear, and renewables), economic growth, and eco-innovation on the load capacity factor, which emphasizes both the demand and supply side of the ecosystem since it takes biocapacity and ecological footprint into account. Hence, this study differs from previous research in that it takes a broader view of environmental sustainability. In this milieu, the current research employs a recently developed dynamic autoregressive distributed lag (DARDL) simulation model for the United States of America (USA), harnessing data from 1990 to 2018. The findings unveil that nuclear and renewable energy consumption and eco-innovation all positively impress the load capacity factor, meaning that these variables help the USA maintain its environmental sustainability. On the other side, fossil fuel usage and economic expansion curbs environmental sustainability. Furthermore, since the short-run income elasticity is larger than the long-run elasticity, the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis is legitimate for the USA. These findings also validated by the frequency domain causality test. Based on the findings, specific policy proposals are given to assist the USA in improving its environmental quality and achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 7 (clean energy) and 13 (climate change mitigation). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]