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The transportation industry (TRAI) is an important source of carbon emissions for China to achieve its peak carbon and carbon neutrality targets. This study analyzes the coupled integration of TRAI economic growth and carbon emissions in 30 Chinese provinces from 2005 to 2020 using a Tapio decoupling elasticity model and an environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) model. Then, a long-term energy alternative planning (LEAP) system model was constructed to predict and simulate the development of TRAI in China. The results of the study are as follows. (1) TRAI shows an inverted U-shaped decoupling in most provinces across the country, and most of the decoupling is usually more volatile in provinces with higher levels of economic development. In addition, COVID-19 positively contributes to the development of TRAI nationwide and in three regions. (2) The Tapio-EKC coupling curves of TRAI and eastern TRAI (ETRAI) nationwide have an inverted N-shape, and central TRAI (CTRAI) and western TRAI (WTRAI) have an inverted U-shape. Twenty-seven provinces crossed the decoupling elasticity inflection point nationwide, all provinces of ETRAI crossed the EKC inflection point, while all provinces of CTRAI and WTRAI did not cross the EKC inflection point; (3) The carbon reduction rates after scenario simulation ranged from 5.07 to 54.94%, with aircraft, ships, private vehicles, and their fuels (aviation kerosene, diesel, and gasoline) being the focus of energy saving and emission reduction. The coupled Tapio-EKC analysis model of this study is universal and can be extended to other provinces, cities, or industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy is essential for boosting economic expansion and lowering carbon dioxide emission (CO2) to achieve carbon neutrality. This study's objective is to investigate the relationship between the use of renewable energy, economic growth, and CO2 for South Caucasus Countries. For analysis purposes, time series methods were applied on the panel data. Second-generation unit root and cointegration tests were used to test the cross-sectional dependence. Afterward, panel causality and panel VAR techniques were performed to examine the relationship between the variables. Based on feedback hypothesis, results of our causality analysis revealed a bidirectional causality relationship between growth and renewable energy consumption. Moreover, we revealed unidirectional causality from CO2 to renewable energy and from growth to CO2 emission. We also found that the effect of a shock in renewable energy on growth is increasing, and on CO2, it is decreasing implying that renewable energy consumption will trigger growth and have a reducing effect on CO2 emissions. We portrayed significant workable implications for policymakers, regulation bodies, companies, stakeholders, and managers. Results from this study should be extrapolated with caution since their applicability is limited to the South Caucasus Countries. In addition, the research heavily depends on summaries, which may obscure regional differences. In the future, researchers may want to dig deeper into the data and examine the subtle effect of renewable energy policy nationally. Moreover, including socio-economic aspects and technical improvements in the research might give a more thorough picture of the dynamics at play. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon emissions have risen in line with China's economic expansion. The key to sustainable development is finding a way to strike a balance between economic expansion and environmental protection, so improving carbon emission efficiency is vital. This paper uses provincial data from 2010 to 2020 to account for total carbon emissions using the emission factor method and obtains carbon emission efficiency data on this basis. A dynamic spatial Durbin model is then used to empirically test the possible influencing factors. The results show that, firstly, the growth rate of total carbon emissions is generally in line with the growth rate of GDP, indicating that there is no 'decoupling' in the economic system. Second, regional carbon emissions and carbon emission efficiency are not necessarily related. Thirdly, there is a clear spatial effect on carbon emission efficiency. The eastern region has the highest carbon emission efficiency, the western region has the lowest, and the northeastern and central regions have little difference in carbon emission efficiency. Further spatial and temporal migration analysis reveals that five provinces have made the migration between 2010 and 2020. Fourthly, in the short term, the direct and indirect effects of the factors affecting carbon emission efficiency are insignificant, but in the long term, most of the factors have significant direct and indirect effects on carbon emission efficiency. Finally, based on the above research findings, this paper makes policy recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excessive carbon emissions are the major challenge to global sustainable development. In the context of the coronavirus pandemic, pressure on global economic growth is gradually rising, threatening established carbon reduction targets. However, the relationship between economic growth pressures and carbon emission intensity has yet to be clearly discussed. Thus, this study quantitatively discusses the impacts of economic growth pressures from central (EGPN) and provincial (EGPP) governments on city carbon intensity. The study is based on data from China's city panels from 2005 to 2019. This study finds that (1) there is a U-shaped correlation between economic growth pressure and a city's carbon emission intensity, whether the economic growth pressure comes from the central government or the provincial government; (2) carbon emission intensity is more sensitive to economic growth pressure from the provincial government than it is to economic growth pressure from the central government. The findings of this study will help enhance the understanding of the relationship between economic growth pressure and carbon emission intensity, and can also provide a reference for global sustainable development that balances economic growth and environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a noteworthy initiative of financial supply-side reform to precisely support the green development system, can green finance (GF) help achieve the dual goals of "carbon peaking" and "carbon neutrality"? Using data from China's provincial panel between 2007 and 2019, this paper measured the green finance index by the entropy method and the carbon emission efficiency (CEE) with carbon emission as the non-desired output by the Super-SBM model. Then, the influence of GF on CEE was empirically investigated by the dynamic panel model and the spatial Durbin model. The findings show that GF can significantly improve CEE and has a positive spillover impact on CEE in provinces with close economic ties; the upgrading of the industrial structure is a key mediator in the transmission of GF to CEE; and regional heterogeneity analysis finds that GF notably improves CEE in eastern, high development levels of economic and GF regions. The research can offer some theoretical and empirical references for green finance to contribute to low-carbon economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China seems ambitious to achieve a "carbon emissions peak" before 2030 and "carbon neutrality" before 2060. To deal with this emissions mitigation plan, technology innovations are regarded as a crucial factor. However, considering its rebound effect (CO2 emissions driving effect) through economic growth, technology innovations might not prove a promising contributor to CO2 reduction. Therefore, there is a need to investigate further the nexus between technology innovations and CO2 emissions for conclusive debate. Based on the data of 215 cities in China, this paper uses mediating effects model to investigate the direct and indirect impacts (through economic growth and industrial structure transformation) of technology innovations on CO2 emissions from a microeconomic perspective. The main results suggest that technology innovations generally increase CO2 emissions in China both directly and indirectly. The impact of technology innovations and economic growth on CO2 emissions indicated the EKC characteristics. Furthermore, the contributions of technology innovations to CO2 emissions are distinguished in different regions. Thus, there is an urgent need for China to promote innovations in "clean technology" and to transform industrial structure to the tertiary industry to achieve the targets of carbon neutrality and emissions peaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has recently declared its vision of turning carbon neutral by 2060. This declaration has motivated policymakers in this Arab nation to design policies that can green economic activities in Saudi Arabia so that environmentally sustainable growth can be ensured. Against this backdrop, this study models the independent and joint effects of financial development, globalization, and energy efficiency rates on green growth of the Saudi Arabian economy. In this regard, green growth in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is proxied by the difference between the nation's annual per capita growth rates of gross domestic product and carbon dioxide emission. Utilizing data from 1972 to 2018 and controlling for structural break-induced problems found in the data, the findings from the regression and causality analyses confirm the green growth–inhibiting impacts of financial development and trade globalization. In contrast, greater financial globalization is evidenced to drive green growth in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, more efficient uses of energy resources are found to not only directly boost green growth but also partially neutralize the long-run green growth–dampening impacts associated with the development of the financial sector. In addition, financial development and trade globalization are observed to jointly inhibit green growth attainment both in the short and long run. In line with these important findings, it is recommended that the government of Saudi Arabia conceptualizes new green growth policies so that the nation's annual per capita economic growth rate outpaces its annual per capita growth rate of carbon dioxide emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With less than ten years left to meet its pledge to peak carbon dioxide emissions (peak emissions hereafter) by 2030, China has entered a critical emissions reduction stage. How to meet this commitment in a context in which GDP per capita will double from 2020 by 2035 is a major decision-making issue for the Chinese government and people and one which warrants further study. To reveal the relationships between the GDP growth rate, the rate of decrease of carbon intensity and the time to reach peak emissions, this study translates the question as to "when China's carbon emissions peak will occur" into "how can one control the rate of carbon intensity decrease at a given GDP growth rate". In the light of the results of a random forest algorithm used to identify and project the key drivers of carbon intensity in China, a mathematical model was developed to simulate different scenarios relating to decreases in carbon intensity. The date at which Chinese carbon emissions will peak is predicted by comparing the rate of decrease of carbon intensity with the GDP growth rate. The results show that the time to peak emissions depends on the relationship between the rate of decrease of carbon intensity and the GDP growth rate, where the former depends mainly on the energy structure and policy. If China's annual GDP growth rate were 5.0% during the 15th Five-Year Plan, and if the share of non-fossil energy in total energy consumption were 23.0% or above, China's carbon emissions will peak before 2030. If the share of non-fossil fuels were 20.0% or less, China might not be able to reach its 2030 target. In this latter case an acceleration in the pace of energy restructuring would be required to reach peak emissions before 2030. The projected peak emissions scenarios suggest that the carbon peak will occur between 2025 to 2029, with average peak emissions of 11.2 billion tons and a distribution ranging from a minimum of 10.5 billion and a maximum of 11.9 billion tons. If the GDP growth rate were 4.5%, 5.5% or 6.0% during the 15th Five-year Plan, the share of non-fossil energy must reach 23.0%, 25.0% or 27.0%, respectively, to ensure that emissions peak by 2030. The results of this study provide a series of reference points for China's pursuit of feasible pathways to peak carbon emissions by 2030. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic expansion gives rise to modern and energy-efficient technologies and, thus, contributes to a decline in energy usage. Developing countries, including Pakistan, require tremendous efforts to sustain economic growth. However, to attain economic growth, these countries have to cope with greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other environmental problems. This research focuses primarily on the asymmetric impacts of energy consumption and economic growth on Pakistan's environmental quality. Accordingly, secondary data spanning from 1971 to 2018 was used, and carbon dioxide emission (CO2) was considered a target variable (a proxy for environmental quality), whereas energy consumption (E) and gross domestic product (GDP) as a proxy for economic growth, and trade accessibility (TR) and foreign direct investment (FDI) as control variables. The nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) approach is used to verify the asymmetric co-integration between the variables selected. Moreover, to examine data stationarity and nonlinearity, we used the Zivot–Andrews structural break unit root and BDS tests, respectively. The findings confirmed the asymmetric and symmetric co-integrations among the considered variables. In addition, the causality analysis reveals that only negative shocks to TR have an effect on CO2 emissions. Similarly, negative shocks to FDI asymmetrically cause CO2 emissions. Meanwhile, GDP symmetrically affects CO2 emissions. Finally, a neutral causal response was observed between E and CO2 emissions. These findings have policy implications in terms of environmental management and carbon neutrality, and they serve as a baseline for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reaching the peak of carbon dioxide emissions is the basis and premise of carbon neutrality. In this paper, the factor decomposition model was used to analyze the influencing factors and effects of carbon dioxide emissions. Causal chain model of elastic decoupling was established. The historical decoupling state between carbon dioxide emissions and economic growth and the decoupling effect of its influencing factors were analyzed. The prediction model of carbon dioxide emissions was used to explore the change trend of China's carbon dioxide emissions and its peak in the short and medium term in the future. The elastic decoupling trend between carbon dioxide emissions and economic growth was predicted. The results show that economic growth is the main force driving carbon dioxide emissions. Both energy intensity and energy consumption structure have a strong inhibiting effect on carbon dioxide emissions except for a few years, but the former has a more significant inhibiting effect than the latter. In general, the elastic decoupling between carbon dioxide emissions and economic growth has experienced a state from weak decoupling to growth linkage and then to weak decoupling. And this weak decoupling trend will continue to increase in the short and medium term. During the 14th Five-year and 15th Five-year period, if the average annual economic growth rate will be maintained at 4.61 to 5.85%, energy intensity will be reduced by 16.14 to 18.37%, and the proportion of non-fossil energy in the energy consumption structure at the end of the 14th, 15th, and 16th Five-Year Plan period will be around 19.9%, 23.2%, and 26.1%, respectively, and then the intensity of carbon dioxide emissions will continue to decline. It is expected to reach the peak of carbon dioxide emissions between 10,453 and 10,690 billion tons from 2025 to 2027. And the earlier the peak time is, the smaller the peak is, which would provide valuable time for carbon neutrality and room to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the medium and long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]