Research agenda for low-carbon mobility: Issues for New World cities

ABSTRACT

Low-carbon mobility (LCM) features strongly in debates about the sustainability of cities and their resilience in the face of demographic, economic, and climate change. Transport is a major source of carbon emissions and there are indications that these continue to increase, despite the considerable recent advances in vehicle, engine, and fuel technologies. Reducing carbon emissions from transport may become more difficult, not easier. A particular issue relates to the New World cities, typified by those of North America and Australasia, which largely developed from the latter half of the nineteenth century onward and whose transportation systems were largely based around private vehicle ownership and usage. These cities are typically composed of low-density, dispersed suburbs, which are highly car dependent and resource and carbon emission intensive. This article develops a research agenda directed at determining and testing policy and planning measures relevant to the quest for low carbon mobility in New World cities. It suggests a rich agenda for essential research on LCM. Much of this agenda falls within the realm of the integration of transport and land use, with attention to urban design details to enhance the perceptions of and opportunities to use low carbon transport alternatives. Research topics identified for LCM research include (1) urban design and land use–transport integration (LUTI), (2) low carbon mobility policies directed at achieving widespread behavior change, (3) opportunities for new technology and its application, including requirements for systems and infrastructure, and (4) analysis and tools for informed decision making, including modeling, measurement, visualization, and especially assessment.     

城市土地利用碳排放系统动力学仿真研究——以武汉市为例

研究目的:从系统角度分析土地、人口、社会、经济、能源对碳排放的影响作用,并对武汉市2017—2030年不同政策情景下的土地利用碳排放进行模拟,为其低碳发展战略和低碳土地利用规划提供决策依据。研究方法:系统动力学方法。研究结果:(1)建立的城市土地利用碳排放系统动力学模型是有效的;(2)按照目前的发展趋势,武汉市的碳排放总量将保持逐年攀升的趋势;(3)经济的快速发展对武汉市土地利用碳排放量的增加具有显著的影响作用;(4)调整土地利用结构、调整产业结构以及提高能源利用效率都能够有效的减少武汉市土地利用碳排放量,其中调整土地利用结构和调整产业结构的作用效果相对来说更加明显。研究结论:转变经济增长方式、升级产业结构、调整土地利用结构和积极研发先进的低碳科学技术是武汉市低碳发展的重要途径。     

Revisiting carbon disclosure and performance: Legitimacy and management views

With corporate disclosure of carbon emissions rapidly increasing, the long-standing question remains whether carbon disclosure has any influence on the improvement of carbon performance. Previous studies of environmental disclosure and performance have predominantly focused on whether disclosure is a substitute for poor performance. Little attention has been devoted to the more important question about how changes in disclosure may lead to subsequent changes in performance over time. Following the rationales taken by the legitimacy and management perspectives, we revisit the relationship between carbon disclosure and performance, with a focus on changes that disclosure may (or may not) create. Using a change analysis of Global 500 companies and their carbon emission and disclosure data released between 2008 and 2012, this study finds that the change in carbon disclosure levels is positively associated with a subsequent change in carbon performance (examined through direct and indirect carbon emission intensities). Thus, regardless of whether disclosure has been used as a legitimising tool for prior poor performance, this study confirms that carbon disclosure motivates companies and creates an ‘outside-in’ driven effect for subsequent change and improvement in carbon performance. However, the association between changes in carbon disclosure and performance is relatively weaker in high energy-intensive firms.     

Carbon Cap-and-Trade in China: A Comprehensive Framework

This article proposes a comprehensive framework to explore a possible carbon cap-and-trade scheme in China. By applying the case of China, our empirical results present the demand side and supply side of carbon-emission permits in the market and several other significant findings: (i) carbon dioxide (CO₂) marginal abatement cost varies a lot among different regions; (ii) in total, CO₂ emissions could have been reduced by 5.14 billion tons if all the provinces had achieved their anticipated environmental performance during 1997–2014; (iii) the equilibrium price of CO₂ trading is 241 RMB/ton, irrelevant to the original allocation of allowances.     

略论低碳经济的发展向度与意义

低碳经济作为一种新的经济形式,无论是理论研究还是实践探索都呼唤发展哲学的观照。低碳经济作为一种新的发展模式,具有鲜明的低代价发展向度、普世的公正发展向度及强烈的创新发展向度,这对于人类社会的持续发展和文明跃迁具有重大而深远的意义。     

碳排放约束视角下产业智能化对区域经济差距的影响研究

本文利用2003~2019年中国省级面板数据,从碳排放约束视角出发,实证考察了产业智能化对区域经济差距影响的差异性和产业智能化影响区域经济差距的机制。研究表明,产业智能化对缩小全国、东、中和西部地区省域间经济差距具有显著的正向效应;进一步考虑碳排放约束,发现碳排放约束正向调节了产业智能化对区域经济差距的正向效应,西部地区由于自身产业结构和区位因素,抑制了产业智能化对区域经济差距的正向效应;最后,对产业结构升级的两个子维度在产业智能化和区域经济差距间的中介效应检验,发现产业结构升级的中介效应存在,且主要是通过产业结构高级化实现,产业结构合理化发挥的作用较小。     

电力市场效率评估与碳市场价格设计——基于电碳市场关联视角下的传导率估计

厘清并量化电力市场与碳市场间的关联关系,是深化电力市场改革与实现"双碳"目标的重要抓手。本文基于2006—2018年中国100个地级及以上城市的面板数据,使用似不相关回归模型评估了电力市场效率,在此基础上研究了电、碳市场关联条件下碳价对电价的传导率,并对不同场景下全国碳市场的碳价进行了优化设计。研究发现:(1)与非试点地区相比,碳市场试点地区中电力市场的无谓损失率更低,并且市场效率的提高具有更高的碳减排作用。(2)电、碳市场关联条件下,碳价对电力市场中居民电价的传导率高于对工业电价的传导率,但均远低于完全竞争条件下的传导率水平。(3)传导率的提升能够缓解"降电价"与"碳减排"之间的矛盾。当前传导率下电力市场效率目标与碳减排目标的协同实现需要碳价的大幅提升,而在完全传导的理想情况下最优碳价约为40元/吨。(4)长期而言,当前传导率下碳排放总量下降场景、经济增速放缓场景对应的最优碳价分别为255.05元/吨、173.63元/吨,而人口老龄化场景并未对最优碳价的设置形成约束。本文的研究不仅为电力市场与碳市场之间的关联奠定了理论基础,也为全国碳市场价格机制的优化设计提供了政策参考。     

不同碳排放达峰情景对产业结构的影响——基于动态CGE模型的分析

依据2017年投入产出表数据,运用可计算一般均衡理论,构建包括13个中间产业部门和5个能源产业部门的动态CGE模型,考量不同碳排放达峰情景对于产业结构的影响。结果显示：碳减排政策能促进产业结构优化,包括农业、轻工业和服务业等在内的低碳产业部门在总产出中占比增加,高耗能产业部门如非金属矿物加工业、金属加工业等在总产出中占比下降;对能源产出结构影响显著,高碳能源如煤炭、石油在能源产出比例下降,低碳能源如天然气在能源产出比例增加,其中可再生能源比例上升幅度最大。鉴此,应完善碳交易市场运行配套政策和环境,加大技术创新力度,促进产业结构和能源结构优化升级。     

碳排放权交易、损益偏离与绿色经济效率关系研究

"双碳"目标展现了中国作为负责任的大国,对建设人类命运共同体的担当,碳排放权交易是实现这一目标的重要途径,但其对地区经济与环境的双重影响依然有待检验。结合1997—2017年中国省级数据,采用包含非期望产出的SBM-DEA模型测度地区绿色经济效率,以碳排放权交易试点为准自然实验,运用合成控制法评估试点政策对地区绿色经济效率的影响,并采用空间计量模型从损益偏离视角展开机制检验。研究发现:碳排放权交易试点政策能够显著提升地区经济效率,运用双重差分模型和PSM-DID进行稳健性检验后,基本结论依然可靠。缓解"收益在外,污染在内"的损益偏离现象,是碳排放权交易试点机制提升绿色经济效率的有效途径。随后提出通过进一步完善碳排放权交易市场机制,进而推动我国绿色发展的相关政策启示。     

International Experience,China’s Development and Prospect of Carbon Market Construction

Carbon market, which is capable of scientific quantifying and marked-based pricing of carbon emission, is an important way for countries to achieve the target of carbon emission reduction. The global carbon market, after more than ten years of development, has developed a mature mechanism. China started the trial of carbon market in 2011. After ten years of exploration, the national carbon trading market was officially launched in mid-July 2021. Against the backdrop of carbon neutrality, the national carbon market will shoulder a greater mission of carbon emission reduction and speed up its financialization and internationalization. However, it should take a dialectical attitude toward the opportunities and risks of carbon market financialization. In the future, China can promote the development of carbon market through efforts to develop market participants, clarify the attributes of carbon finance, prevent potential risks of carbon finance, improve the connection mechanism with the international carbon market, and innovate carbon finance services.