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In recent years, concurrent climate extreme conditions (i.e., hot‐dry, cold‐dry, hot‐wet, and cold‐wet) have led to various unprecedented natural disasters (e.g., floods, landslide, wildfire, droughts, etc.), causing significant damages to human societies and ecosystems. This is especially true for China where many unprecedented natural disasters have been reported due to the recent warming in local climate. In this paper, we focus on the issue of ultra‐extreme events (1‰ threshold) and address how future global warming would affect the climate extreme conditions in China. Specifically, to reduce the uncertainties from models, we use a downscaled and bias‐corrected CMIP6 ensemble under two continuously‐warming scenarios to evaluate the impact of global warming on ultra‐extreme events over China. The results show that, under both SSP245 and SSP585 scenarios, extreme hot conditions would become dominant in most regions of China and some regions are likely to experience over 50 extreme hot days at future warming levels. The frequency of extreme cold events is projected to be small. More frequent extreme hot‐wet events with concurrence in the same month and year would be expected for China under the continuously‐warming scenarios. This is particularly obvious for the west where more than 6 hot‐wet months are likely to take place under future warming scenarios. This may imply that more extreme heat waves and flooding events would coincide in the same month or year for China in the future. For univariate ultra‐extreme events, both extreme hot events and extreme wet events would drop by above 25% from 2.0°C to 1.5°C global warming level, particularly under the SSP245 scenario. When the global mean temperature is limited to 1.5°C rather than 2°C, the avoided impacts of hot‐wet and cold‐wet extremes concurring in the same month will be larger than those of dry‐related compound extremes. Overall, the results suggest that slowing down global warming can reduce the frequency of concurrent climate extreme conditions in China, highlighting the importance of immediate action toward carbon emission reduction. Plain Language Summary: In recent years, concurrent climate extreme conditions (e.g., hot‐dry, cold‐dry, hot‐wet, and cold‐wet) have led to various unprecedented natural disasters (e.g., floods, landslide, wildfire, droughts, etc.), causing significant damages to human societies and ecosystems. This is especially true for China where many unprecedented natural disasters have been reported due to the recent warming in local climate. In this paper, we focus on the issue of ultra‐extreme events (1‰ threshold) and address how future global warming would affect the climate extreme conditions in China. Here, we use a downscaled and bias‐corrected CMIP6 ensemble under two continuously‐warming scenarios to address this question. The results show that, under both SSP245 and SSP585 scenarios, extreme hot conditions would become dominant in most regions of China and some regions are likely to experience over 50 extreme hot days at future warming levels. Both extreme hot events and extreme wet events would drop by above 25% from 2.0°C to 1.5°C global warming level, particularly under the SSP245 scenario. Overall, the results suggest that slowing down the global warming can reduce the frequency of concurrent climate extreme conditions in China, highlighting the importance of immediate action toward carbon emission reduction. Key Points: A downscaled and bias‐corrected CMIP6 ensemble is used to evaluate the impact of global warming on ultra extreme events over ChinaMore frequent extreme hot‐wet events with concurrence in the same month and year would be expected for ChinaBoth extreme hot events and extreme wet events would drop by above 25% from 2.0°C to 1.5°C global warming level [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The cement manufacturing sector is the second largest source of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions in the world. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is one of the most important technologies to decarbonise the cement manufacturing process. China has accounted for more than half of global cement production since 2008. This study suggests criteria to assess the potential to retrofit cement plants and analyses the economics of retrofitting cement plants for CCS with a case study of a modern dry process cement plant locating in Guangdong province, China. The study assumes the extra heat and power for CO2 capture and compression is provided by a new 200MW combined heat and power unit (CHP) (US$17.5/MWh thermal for the cost of coal). The estimated cost of CO2 avoidance by retrofitting a cement plant for carbon capture in 2012 is US$70/tonne at a 14% discount rate with 25years remaining lifetime. Through a stochastic cash flow analysis with a real option model and Monte Carlo simulation, the study found the value of an option to retrofit to be US$1.2million with a 7.3% probability of economic viability. The estimate is very sensitive to the assumptions in the carbon price model (i.e. base carbon price is US$12.00/tCO2e in 2012 and the mean growth rate is 8%). The option value and the probability can reach US$20 million and 67% respectively, if a 10% mean carbon price growth is assumed. Compared with post-combustion carbon capture retrofitting prospect in existing coal-fired power plants, the economics of retrofitting cement plants to carbon capture is less attractive. However, given the uncertainties in climate policy, regulation and carbon market, new-build cement plants in China, with long lifetime, should consider an essential level of “CCS Ready” to reduce the cost of retrofit and keep the retrofitting option open. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: China is building more than 1GW of advanced coal-fired power plants every week. This interdisciplinary study investigates the technical and economic performance of retrofitting a 1000MW ultra supercritical pulverised coal-fired (USCPC) power plant locating at Shandong province in China. An ASPEN simulation model is designed to estimate the energy output penalty at different levels of capture. The retrofitted system consists of the conventional power generation unit, the additional post-combustion unit and other associated extra equipments. The ASPEN simulation results show that the efficiency penalty is approximately 8.6% for a 90% capture rate and 6% for a 50% capture rate in this retrofitting study. In addition, the simulation result of the process model is applied to analyse the value of retrofitting flexibility and the economic-viable chance of retrofitting the underlying project through a real option analysis model. The economic model reveals that the value of retrofitting option in the 1GW USCPC power plant reaches US$76 million and that a 40% economic viable possibility of retrofitting to capture CO2 in its remaining 26years lifetime under the hypothetical baseline scenario. The significant economic benefits of retrofitting an existing USCPC plant to CO2 capture implies the urgency to conduct a detail survey on the retrofitting prospect of Chinese coal-fired power plants and develop a guideline to maintain their retrofitting options open. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A qualitative assessment of the early opportunities for capturing carbon dioxide from advanced gasification plants, and of design guidelines for carbon capture ready gasification plants in China, is conducted to investigate current development in coal gasification. The assessment first illustrates the development of different types of gasification technology in China. Capturing carbon dioxide from high concentration stationary emission points could be seen as an early opportunity for carbon capture demonstration. The large scale CTL plants and chemical plants installed with advanced entrained flow gasifier should be considered as early opportunity for CCS in China. However, given that the total amount of emissions and the scale of emission sources are relatively small at those plants compared with conventional coal fired plant, the potential emission reduction is very limited. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: China has been building approximately 1 GW of new coal-fired power plant per week since 2005. Power plants now in construction may continue to operate until 2040. “CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) Ready” enables and eases the subsequent retrofitting of a plant to be able to capture carbon dioxide later in that plant’s lifetime. Building on the definitions of the IEA GHG (IEA Greenhouse Gas Programme) and GCCSI (Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute), this study suggests a novel concept ‘CCS Ready Hub’ for implementing CCS Ready. A CCS Ready Hub not only includes a number of new coal-fired power plants but also integrates other existing stationary carbon dioxide emissions sources into the planning for potential infrastructure. We conducted a case study of Guangdong province in China with a detailed engineering and economic assessment in Shenzhen City. The study first reviewed the potential storage sites and analysed the existing stationary emissions sources in Guangdong using a GIS (Geographic Information System) approach. Thereafter, we focused on investigating the economic benefits of a ‘CCS Ready Hub’ at a potential 4 GW new USCPC (ultra-supercritical pulverised coal-fired) power plant in Shenzhen. Using the cost of carbon dioxide avoidance in 2020 as a criterion, we found that the concept of a CCS Ready Hub to finance CCS Ready at a regional planning level rather than at an individual plant is preferred since it significantly reduces the overall cost of building an integrated CCS system to reduce carbon emissions in the future. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We present results of a major survey of Chinese opinion leaders conducted from March to April 2009, supported by EU–UK–China near zero emissions coal (NZEC) initiative. Respondents were drawn from 27 provinces and regions using an online survey with follow-up face-to-face interviews. A total of 131 experts and decision-makers from 68 key institutions were consulted through online survey. This survey is the first to focus on demonstration projects in particular and is the most geographically diverse. We aim to understand perceptions of applying CCS technologies in the first large-scale CCS demonstration project in China. Though enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and enhanced coal bed methane recovery (ECBM) may not be long-term solutions for CO2 storage, they were viewed as the most attractive storage technologies for the first CCS demonstration project. With regard to CO2 capture technology, on the whole, post-combustion (which would be most applicable to the vast majority of existing power plants which are pulverised-coal) received slightly higher support than pre-combustion. More surprising, respondents from both the power and oil industries favoured pre-combustion. There was no consensus regarding the appropriate scale for the first demonstration. A large number of respondents were concerned about the energy penalty associated with CCS and its impact on the long-term sustainability of coal supply in China, although such concerns were much reduced compared with surveys in 2006 and 2008. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We evaluate the benefits of a ‘CCS Ready Hub’ approach, a regional ‘CCS Ready’ strategy, which not only includes a number of new coal-fired power plants but also integrates other existing stationary CO2 emissions sources, potential storage sites and potential transportation opportunities into an overarching simulation model. A dynamic top-down simulation model was built based on economic decision criteria and option pricing theory. The model inputs and assumptions build on spatial sampling and analysis using a geographic information system (GIS) approach, engineering assessment of local projects and outputs of a CCS retrofitting investment evaluation through cost cash flow modelling. A case study of Shenzhen city in the Pearl River Delta area in Guangdong in southern China is presented, based on engineering and cost assessment studies and stakeholder consultations and building on existing geological surveys and infrastructure plans. The simulation results show that financing ‘CCS Ready’ at regional planning level rather than only at the design stage of the individual plant (or project) is preferred since it reduces the overall cost of building integrated CCS systems. On the other hand, we found the value of considering existing stationary CO2 emissions sources in CCS ready design. Therefore, we recommended that making new plants CCS ready or planning a CCS ready hub should consider existing large emissions sources when possible. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Takayasu’s arteritis (TA) is a chronic inflammation that frequently involves the aorta and its major branches. The clinical features of TA vary in different ethnic populations. The objective of this study is to characterize the clinical features, angiographic findings, and response to treatment of patients with TA in Changhai Hospital, Shanghai, China. The hospital records of 125 patients diagnosed with TA were retrospectively evaluated. Eighty patients were followed for a median duration of 36 months. Females (86.4%) were most frequently affected. The mean age at onset was 26.9 years. Constitutional symptoms were present in only 38.4% of patients. The most common clinical finding was pulse deficit. Histological findings from 12 clinically inactive patients showed active lesions in 58.3%. Angiographic classification showed that type I was the most common, followed by type V and IV. Type I was more common in adult patients than in pediatric patients. Although immunosuppressive treatment induced remission in most patients, over 90% of those who achieved later remission relapsed. Both bypass procedures and angioplasty showed high rates of initial success, but restenosis occurred in 34.7% of bypass procedures and 77.3% of angioplasty procedures. Eight patients died during the follow-up period with the main cause of death being congestive heart failure. Constitutional symptoms were not frequent in our study. Correlation between the clinical assessment of disease activity and histologic findings is often poor in TA. Angiographic findings showed that type I was the most common in our study. Over the longer term, the outcomes of revascularization were superior to angioplasty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Making new plants CO2 capture ready (CCR) would enable them to retrofit to capture CO2 at a later date at lower cost when the appropriate policy and/or economic drivers are in place. In order to understand the economic value and investment characteristics of making new plants CCR in China, a typical 600MW pulverised coal-fired ultra-supercritical power plant, locating in Guangdong province, was examined. Combined with an engineering assessment, costs were estimated for different CCR scenarios. To analyze CCR investment opportunities, the paper applies a cash flow model for valuing capture options and CCR investment. Results were obtained by Monte-Carlo simulation, based on engineering surveys and an IEA GHG CCR study, as well as plant performance information and expert projections on carbon prices, coal prices and electricity prices. CCR investments are justified by factors such as higher retrofitting probabilities, lower early closure probabilities and fair economic return. However, the economic case for CCR largely depends on two factors: (a) whether the original plant is retrofittable without CCR; and (b) the type of investments made, for example, investments essential to CCR tend to be more economic than additional non-essential CCR features such as clutched low pressure turbines. The carbon price and discount rate were found to have significant impacts on the economics of CCR. Overall, it appears that the value of the ‘capture options’ that CCR generates for retrofitting CCS is significant, and so could justify a modest CCR investment, even assuming the original plant is retrofittable without CCR. It was also found the value of CCR might be significantly understated if the range of potential retrofitting dates is artificially constrained. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In collaboration with several Chinese institutions, we interviewed over 100 stakeholders in mid -2008 to improve our understanding of the drivers and the barriers to deploying CCS in China. We investigated a range of stak eholders’ perceptions with regard to the socio -economic impacts, environmental concerns, energy security and international cooperation and investment. In addition to general questions applicable to all stakeholders, we asked tailored qu estions appropriate to specific sectors such as finance, electricity generation and national and local government for more detailed responses. We explored the factors that may create an enabling environment for CCS including international and domestic incentives, financing me chanisms, the legal and regulatory framework, technology and IPR, baseline determination, and social acceptance. The overall results are compared with similar studies conducted in China in 2006 and internationally. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: China has built at least 70 GW of new coal- fired power installed capacity annually since 2005 and the growth is expected to continue (CEC, 2008). Chinese government, industry and academic stakeholders perceive that China will not mandate new plants to be built with carbon dioxide capture and storage systems in the short term and there is little incentive even to contemplate the first steps needed to fit plants with capture equipment [Reiner, D., Liang, X., Sun, X., Zhu, Y., Li, D., 2007. Stakeholder attitudes towards carbon dioxide capture and storage technologies in China, International Climate Change Conference, Hong Kong, May 29–31 2007]. We investigate the value of making new plants CO2 Capture Ready (CCR), which would enable them to retrofit to capture CO2 without unnecessary additional costs when the appropriate policy and /or economic drivers are in place (IEA, 2007). In order to understand the value and investment characteristics of CCR in China, a typical 600 MW pulverized-coal -fired ultra-supercritical power plant, locating at Guangdong province, was examined. Combined with a detailed engineering assessment, we obtained the costs for different CCR scenarios. To analyze CCR investment opportunities, we apply a cash flow model for valuing Capture Options, as developed in [Liang, X., Reiner, D., Gibbins J., Li J., 2007. Fianncing CCR coal-fired power plants in China by issuing capture options, EPRG Working Paper Series, EPRG0728, Cambridge, December. Available at: www.electricitypolicy.org.uk/pubs/wp/eprg0728.pdf]. Results are obtained by Monte-Carlo simulation, based on engineering surveys and the IEA (2007) CCR study, as well as plant performance information and expert projections on carbon prices, coal prices and electricity prices. CCR investments are justified by factors such as higher retrofitting probabilities, lower early-closure probabilities and fair economic return. However, the economic case for CCR largely depends on the type of investments made, for example, CCR-essential investments tend to be more economic than additional non-essential CCR features such as CCR Essential with clutched low-pressure turbines. Carbon price, coal price and discount rate also were found to have significant impacts on the economics of CCR. Overall, it appears that the value of capture options are significant, and therefore clear retrofitting strategies would be valuable for any CCR investment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Vigorous development of solar photovoltaic energy (PV) is one of the key components to achieve China's "30•60 Dual-Carbon Target". In this study, by utilizing the outputs generated by CMIP6 models under different shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs) and a physical PV model (GSEE), future changes in PV power generation across China are provided for the outlined carbon neutralization period (2051–2070). The results reveal distinct spatiotemporal characteristics in the changes in PV output across China. Overall, compared to the historical period, annual PV power generation is projected to decrease in northern regions and Tibet Plateau with a maximum decrease of ∼4 % under the high emission scenario (SSP585), while southern and central regions exhibit significant increases. Remarkably, under the green development pathway (SSP126), PV power generation is expected to rise by over 10 % in these regions. The magnitude of decrease in the north and increase in the south is projected to become more pronounced with the continuous increase of future carbon emissions. It is anticipated that the three northern regions of China will experience greater decreases in PV power generation in winter compared to other seasons, especially under SSP585. Additionally, the southeast region shows the smallest increase in summer PV generation out of all seasons. Moreover, under SSP126 trajectory, most regions in China exhibit reduced inter-annual and intra-annual variability in PV generation compared to the historical levels. This suggests that pursuing a sustainable path could substantially mitigate potential risks associated with PV generation fluctuations in China. [Display omitted] • A weighted CMIP6 ensemble was used to estimate the PV generation changes over China. • The northern and Tibet regions are projected to decrease in annual PV generation. • Annual PV output will increase in southern and central regions. • China's PV generation shows smaller inter- and intra-annual variability under SSP126. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's steel sector, contributing 40% of world steel production, are moving the plants out of highly-populated areas in China. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is an important technology to achieve a deep reduction of emissions in steel plants. Given by high cost and lack of policy incentive in deploying the CCS process, there has been a lack of progress in CCS within the steel sector in China. Capture readiness is a design concept to ease future CCS retrofit and avoid the carbon lock-in effect in steel plants. Capture Readiness design requires moderate upfront investment, i.e. less than 0.5% additional capital expenditure, but could easily enable the plant to be retrofitted with CCS technologies in their lifetime. The paper develops a novel linear programming model to assess the economic cost of Capture Readiness design in a generic steel plant in China. The Baowu Steel Zhanjiang project was used as a reference plant to develop the generic steel plant for the model. Through a Monte Carlo simulation, the results show that the economic cost of making new steel plants in capture readiness for 0.5 million tonnes capture is CNY 65 million (USD 9.5 million) in a conservative 5% carbon price growth rate scenario. The paper found the value of flexibility brought by capture readiness design is significant and is equal to approximately 15% of initial capital investment. The economically viable chance of retrofitting steel plants with CCS technologies in the lifetime is 49%. In an uncertainty analysis, for a 6% growth rate of carbon price, the option value could be increased to CNY 145 million while the probability of retrofit increases to 79%. China's CCS policy should consider a requirement for newly built steel plants to adopt capture readiness design to capture the significant economic value and ease emissions reduction in the iron and steel sector in the long term. • This is the first study investigating CCS readiness in the iron and steel sector. • Capture readiness steel plant can ease retrofit processes with carbon capture and storage in a plant's lifetime. • The paper proposes the key criteria for designing a CCS readiness steel plant. • A novel model is developed in assessing the value of capture readiness. • The retrofit option value of a steel plant is higher than the estimated additional cost for making CCS readiness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), has been deemed an essential component for climate change mitigation and is conducive to enabling a low-carbon and sustainable future. Since the 12th Five-year Plan, China has included this technology as part of its future national carbon mitigation strategies. China's policy framework in relation to CCUS has had a strong influencing role in the technology's progress to date. This paper employs the "policy cycle" to analyze China's existing CCUS regulatory framework at the national and provincial level, evaluate its performance and clarify its shortcomings in light of the comparisons of policy movements undertaken in other countries. The results indicate that China's CCUS policy is insufficient for further development of the technology and many issues remain to be solved. This includes the lack of an enforceable legal framework, insufficient information for the operationalization of projects, weak market stimulus, and a lack of financial subsidies. These factors may be the reason we have seen low participation rates of Chinese companies in CCUS and little public understanding of what the technology offers. To overcome these challenges, suggestions are provided for improving China's CCUS legal and policy framework. • The development of China's CCUS policy framework is reviewed. • China's national Five-year Plans referring to CCUS affect provincial policies as they share similar objectives since 2011. • China's national policies influence China's research and engineering practices related to CCUS. • China's CCUS fails to meet the proposed targets in technology roadmap issued during the period of the 12th Five-year Plan. • Recommendations to amend the regulatory framework for CCUS in China are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]