Double Counting of Emission Reductions Undermines the Credibility of Corporate Mitigation Claims.

Companies are increasingly relying on emission reductions attributable to their adoption of renewable electricity to achieve net-zero emission targets. However, there is a risk of double counting of emission reductions threatening the credibility of corporate climate actions due to defective accounting rules of GHG emissions related to electricity consumption and the overlap between different market-based instruments, including carbon credit markets, renewable power purchase agreements, and renewable energy certificates. Using data of 63 major Chinese companies in seven sectors, we quantitatively assess the risks of double counting related to corporate sourcing of renewables and their consequent influences on the alignment of corporate emission trajectories with the 1.5 °C goal of the Paris Agreement. Results show that 7.1% of the electricity consumed by sample companies in 2021 was from renewable energy procurement and deployment, with which they reported 8.27 Mt of CO2e emission reductions compared to the scenario with no renewable electricity consumption. However, emission reductions that could be double counted are predicted to be 0.9-1.3 times as many as emission reductions that companies will report during 2021-2030. After adjustment of the reported emissions that might be underestimated due to double counting, the overall emission trajectories of sample companies are no longer aligned with the 1.5 °C goal. Our findings suggest that it is urgently needed to improve the corporate carbon accounting rules and increase the transparency of corporate carbon disclosures.

Climate Impacts of Hydrogen and Methane Emissions Can Considerably Reduce the Climate Benefits across Key Hydrogen Use Cases and Time Scales.

Recent investments in "clean" hydrogen as an alternative to fossil fuels are driven by anticipated climate benefits. However, most climate benefit calculations do not adequately account for all climate warming emissions and impacts over time. This study reanalyzes a previously published life cycle assessment as an illustrative example to show how the climate impacts of hydrogen deployment can be far greater than expected when including the warming effects of hydrogen emissions, observed methane emission intensities, and near-term time scales; this reduces the perceived climate benefits upon replacement of fossil fuel technologies. For example, for blue (natural gas with carbon capture) hydrogen pathways, the inclusion of upper-end hydrogen and methane emissions can yield an increase in warming in the near term by up to 50%, whereas lower-end emissions decrease warming impacts by at least 70%. For green (renewable-based electrolysis) hydrogen pathways, upper-end hydrogen emissions can reduce climate benefits in the near term by up to 25%. We also consider renewable electricity availability for green hydrogen and show that if it is not additional to what is needed to decarbonize the electric grid, there may be more warming than that seen with fossil fuel alternatives over all time scales. Assessments of hydrogen's climate impacts should include the aforementioned factors if hydrogen is to be an effective decarbonization tool.

Achieving Decentralized, Electrified, and Decarbonized Ammonia Production.

The rapid reduction in the cost of renewable energy has motivated the transition from carbon-intensive chemical manufacturing to renewable, electrified, and decarbonized technologies. Although electrified chemical manufacturing technologies differ greatly, the feasibility of each electrified approach is largely related to the energy efficiency and capital cost of the system. Here, we examine the feasibility of ammonia production systems driven by wind and photovoltaic energy. We identify the optimal regions where wind and photovoltaic electricity production may be able to meet the local demand for ammonia-based fertilizers and set technology targets for electrified ammonia production. To compete with the methane-fed Haber-Bosch process, electrified ammonia production must reach energy efficiencies of above 20% for high natural gas prices and 70% for low natural gas prices. To account for growing concerns regarding access to water, geospatial optimization considers water stress caused by new ammonia facilities, and recommendations ensure that the identified regions do not experience an increase in water stress. Reducing water stress by 99% increases costs by only 1.4%. Furthermore, a movement toward a more decentralized ammonia supply chain driven by wind and photovoltaic electricity can reduce the transportation distance for ammonia by up to 76% while increasing production costs by 18%.

Feed-in tariffs and the carbon emission trading scheme under China's peak emission target: A dynamic CGE analysis for the development of renewable electricity.

Thermal power industry is one of China's leading sources of carbon emissions. China has launched a national carbon emissions trading scheme (ETS) and renewable energy incentive programs to achieve its peak emission target by 2030. However, since 2021, China no longer provides a central feed-in tariff (FIT) for new centrally located solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants, commercial and industrially distributed PV projects, and newly approved onshore wind power projects. This change in policy may threaten China's carbon reduction targets and economic development. Using a dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, we assess the combined effects of carbon ETS and FIT on China's electricity sector, carbon emission peak target, renewable energy and economic development. In terms of policy overlap and integration, we analyze the impact of these policies and estimate how to coordinate FIT and carbon ETS policies to ensure their effectiveness. Results show that the overall effects of FIT subsidies are superior to phasing-out FIT scenarios. The fiscal pressure caused by FIT is lower than its actual expenditure because it stimulates economic activity and boosts government revenue. However, considering the multiplier effect of the FIT on promoting government revenue growth and GDP growth, the most effective FIT should be terminated in 2025, followed by subsidies ending in 2030 and 2035.

Greenhouse gas reduction and economic cost of technologies using green hydrogen in the steel industry.

Reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the steel industry is one of the top priorities for mitigating climate change. Although hydrogen has been considered as a key element to accomplish this task, the effects of various hydrogen-using technologies in steel mills have not been analysed and compared to each other. This paper quantitatively analysed the greenhouse gas reduction in steel mills by the use of hydrogen produced from electrolysis with renewable electricity. The four following methods of using green hydrogen were proposed and analysed: 1) use of hydrogen directly in the hydrogen steelmaking process, 2) use of hydrogen to convert byproduct gases produced from steel mills into methanol, 3) use hydrogen to convert the byproduct gases into methane, and 4) sell hydrogen to the hydrogen station and use of oxygen, another product of electrolysis, to reduce the use of air separating unit in steel mills. Not only the greenhouse gas reduction benefits but also the economic cost of these four methods were evaluated. As those results can vary according to country, the economic cost and GHG reduction benefits were determined for the representative steel-producing countries of China, India, Japan, the United States, Russia, South Korea, and Germany. The economic cost was evaluated not only for the present (2020) but also for the future (∼2040) because these methods are more likely to be implemented in the future. Currently, in the representative steel-producing countries, Method 1 was analysed to have the largest GHG reduction among the four methods; but it also showed the largest cost because of its large capital expenditures and electricity cost. Method 2, which converts the byproduct gases into methanol, was shown to offer larger GHG reduction and smaller economic cost than Method 3, which converts the byproduct gases into methane. Comparing Methods 1 and 2, Method 2 offered smaller GHG reduction but a much smaller economic cost than Method 1. Although the cost of Method 4 is currently the smallest, the economic cost of Method 2 is predicted to become lower than that of Method 4 in the future, near 2030, because the future prices of hydrogen and the CO2 allowance are expected to decrease and increase, respectively. These results can be utilized when steelmaking country or steelmaking company make their decision on how to decrease the GHG emissions by using green hydrogen.

When Bigger Is Not Greener: Ensuring the Sustainability of Power-to-Gas Hydrogen on a National Scale.

As the prices of photovoltaics and wind turbines continue to decrease, more renewable electricity-generating capacity is installed globally. While this is considered an integral part of a sustainable energy future by many nations, it also poses a significant strain on current electricity grids due to the inherent output variability of renewable electricity. This work addresses the challenge of renewable electricity surplus (RES) utilization with target-scaling of centralized power-to-gas (PtG) hydrogen production. Using the Republic of Korea as a case study, due to its ambitious plan of 2030 green hydrogen production capacity of 0.97 million tons year-1, we combine predictions of future, season-averaged RES with a detailed conceptual process simulation for green H2 production via polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolysis combined with a desalination plant in six distinct scale cases (0.5-8.5 GW). It is demonstrated that at scales of 0.5 to 1.75 GW the RES is optimally utilized, and PtG hydrogen can therefore outperform conventional hydrogen production both environmentally (650-2210 Mton CO2 not emitted per year) and economically (16-30% levelized cost reduction). Beyond these scales, the PtG benefits sharply drop, and thus it is answered how much of the planned green hydrogen target can realistically be "green" if produced domestically on an industrial scale.

Impacts of renewable electricity standard and Renewable Energy Certificates on renewable energy investments and carbon emissions.

Accelerating the development of renewable energy is seen as an effective way for achieving the goals of carbon peak and carbon neutrality. The polices of Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) and Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) play increasing and important roles in developing renewable energy. In this paper, we develop an analytical model to analyze the impacts of the interaction of RES and REC polices on the renewable energy investment levels of an electricity generation firm and the carbon emissions. Our analysis reveals several interesting insights. First, we find that the green tags price under REC policy has a non-monotonic effect on the renewable energy investment, which highly depends on the quota (i.e., the required percentage of renewable electricity consumption on total electricity consumption) under the RES policy. Specifically, when the quota in RES policy is set too high, an increase in the green tags price will increase renewable energy investment; otherwise it will reduce the electricity generation firm's incentive to invest in renewable energy. Second, we show that the green tags price also has a non-monotonic effect on the carbon emissions. Specifically, when the quota in RES policy is set small enough, an increase in the green tags price will decrease the carbon emission. However, when the quota in RES policy is high enough, an increase in the green tags price will increase the carbon emission.

Role of trade openness, export diversification, and renewable electricity output in realizing carbon neutrality dream of China.

Since climate change mitigation is the central debate of modern literature, the realization of carbon neutrality in response to diversified macroeconomic variables is the most crucial concern of international economies. However, the critical role of trade and renewable electricity output in export diversification-environmental nexus is missing. Therefore, this study investigates the combined influence of trade openness, exports diversification, and renewable electricity output on carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) in China from 1989 through 2019. Applying novel time series econometric techniques robust to structural breaks, following new outcomes are obtained. Firstly, long-run equilibrium cointegration existed among the under-analysis variables. Secondly, export diversification and renewable electricity output are predicted to decelerate CO2, supporting carbon neutrality in the long run. Thirdly, trade openness and gross domestic product accelerated the CO2, delaying carbon neutrality accomplishment. Most importantly, significant structural break dummy interacting with trade openness implicated that during the post-2001 era, China's trade openness extensively deteriorated the environmental quality in the face of trade liberalization obtained after joining the World Trade Organization (WTO). Based on empirical results, export diversification and renewable electricity production policies should be mutually non-exclusive and closely coordinated. Further, to counter the carbon emission acceleration impact of trade openness, increasing the share of green tradable products is suggested. Finally, bilateral trade restructuring is recommended to realize the long-term dream of economic sustainability and carbon neutrality.

BRICS carbon neutrality target: Measuring the impact of electricity production from renewable energy sources and globalization.

Globally, the issues of climate change and global warming rapidly rises due to extensive CO2 emission. In this regard, countries across the globe initiate policies to combat CO2 emissions and attain a carbon neutrality target. As an emerging research area, the current study investigated carbon neutrality targets for BRICS economies (excluding Russia) covering the period from 1980 to 2018. This study covers important variables that influence both the economy and energy. Considering the role of electricity production from renewable energy and globalization, this study also checked for the role of income and renewable energy consumption. Various second-generation unit root and cointegration tests are used for the panel data to observe the stationarity and long-run relationship among these variables. Also, the DOLS and FMOLS are employed for the long-run estimation. Additionally, the article utilizes fixed effect and random effect models. This study also utilizes the augmented mean group (AMG) to confirm the prior findings. The empirical findings present evidence of the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in the region. Moreover, the findings suggest that income and globalization play a positive role in carbon dioxide emission, which negatively influences the carbon neutrality target. However, electricity production from renewable energy and renewable energy consumption is efficient for achieving carbon neutrality targets. Specifically, the AMG estimates reveal that a percent increase in GDP and globalization increases 1.087 and 0.0342 % CO2 emissions while a unit increase in renewable electricity production and renewable energy consumption declines CO2 emissions by 0.0205 and 0.0143 %, respectively. The results are found robust and significant. Based on the empirical findings, policy implications are provided that would lead the BRICS region to attain the carbon neutrality target by revising the policies concerning globalization and economic growth. Also, proper attention should be paid to renewable energy electricity adaptation.

Regional variations in the health, environmental, and climate benefits of wind and solar generation.

When wind or solar energy displace conventional generation, the reduction in emissions varies dramatically across the United States. Although the Southwest has the greatest solar resource, a solar panel in New Jersey displaces significantly more sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter than a panel in Arizona, resulting in 15 times more health and environmental benefits. A wind turbine in West Virginia displaces twice as much carbon dioxide as the same turbine in California. Depending on location, we estimate that the combined health, environmental, and climate benefits from wind or solar range from $10/MWh to $100/MWh, and the sites with the highest energy output do not yield the greatest social benefits in many cases. We estimate that the social benefits from existing wind farms are roughly 60% higher than the cost of the Production Tax Credit, an important federal subsidy for wind energy. However, that same investment could achieve greater health, environmental, and climate benefits if it were differentiated by region.

Enhanced astaxanthin production in Haematococcus lacustris by electrochemical stimulation of cyst germination.

This study investigated the technical feasibility of using electrogermination to activate dormant cysts as an inoculum for subsequent 14-d photosynthetic astaxanthin production in Haematococcus lacustris. Electrotreatment affected the cell viability, surface charge, and morphology of H. lacustris cysts. At an optimal voltage of 2 V for 60 min, the cyst germination rate peaked at 44.6 % after 1 d, representing a 2.2-fold increase compared with that of the untreated control. Notably, electrogermination significantly enhanced both the astaxanthin content (44.9 mg/g cell) and productivity (13.2 mg/L/d) after 14 d of photobioreactor cultivation, corresponding to 1.7- and 1.5-fold increases compared with those in control, respectively. However, excessive electrotreatment, particularly at voltages exceeding 2 V or for durations beyond 60 min, did not enhance the astaxanthin production capability of H. lacustris. Proper optimization of renewable electrogermination can enable sustainable algal biorefinery to produce multiple bioactive products without compromising cell viability and astaxanthin productivity.

Effects of foreign aid and energy aid inflows on renewable and non-renewable electricity production in BRICS countries.

We empirically examine the effects of overseas aggregate aid and energy aid inflows on renewable and non-renewable electricity production in selected BRICS countries (i.e., Brazil, India, China, and South Africa) from 1995 to 2015. Economic growth, foreign direct investment inflows, and trade openness are control variables in electricity production functions. The results from employing fully modified ordinary least square and dynamic OLS techniques indicate that economic growth, inflows of aggregate aid, energy aid, and foreign direct investment promote renewable electricity production, while trade openness reduces it. We also find that aggregate aid and energy aid inflows reduce the non-renewable electricity production, while economic growth, foreign direct investment inflows, and trade openness promote it. Moreover, our study is unique and adopts different panel estimators, ensuring the robustness of the research findings. Our findings suggest that the BRICS economies' march towards a sustainable environment becomes possible if policymakers, in their climate mitigation policy, encourage greater investments of overseas aggregate aid and energy aid inflows toward renewable electricity production.

Environmental technology, economic complexity, renewable electricity, environmental taxes and CO2 emissions: Implications for low-carbon future in G-10 bloc.

This study investigates the impact of environmental technological innovation, economic complexity, energy productivity, the use of renewable electricity generation, and environmental taxes on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the G-10 countries for the timeframe from 1995 to 2020. The purpose of the study is to examine the need for a clear plan or strategy to achieve environmental objectives in G-10 countries. In both short-term and long-term projections, the increased use of environment-based technology, economic complexity, and renewable electricity generation has a major positive impact on carbon emission reduction. Moreover, the results demonstrate both unidirectional and bidirectional causality from carbon emissions to renewable energy, electrical generation, and environment-based technologies, respectively. Based on the results, the study proposes a number of concrete policies, such as updating modernized tax systems, increasing tax collection, providing individuals with the means to finance the Sustainable Development Goals through incentive regulations, and making grants from international organizations and the private sector available to finance investments toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and carbon neutrality environment targets. This is the study's most significant contribution in order to attain a sustainable and low-carbon future in the G-10 countries, which has policy implications for governments and policymakers.

Modelling natural gas, renewables-sourced electricity, and ICT trade on economic growth and environment: evidence from top natural gas producers in Africa.

Addressing extensive global goals including growing energy-sourced electricity and advancing sustainable development plans strongly depends on natural gas as a transition fuel to renewable forms of energy. Therefore, by using pooled, random, and fixed-effects models, the current study investigates the effects of electricity sourced from natural gas (ENG), renewable energy (RE), and trade in information and communication technologies (ICTs) on economic growth and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in Africa's top three natural gas producers, Algeria, Egypt, and Nigeria, from 1990 to 2020. The findings indicate that CO2, ENG, ICT trade, and urbanization (UP) are all strongly and positively correlated to economic progress, with the exception of RE, which has an insignificant influence. For the environment, data indicate that RE and GDP degrade the environment while ENG and ICT trade boost it. The causality results that ENG and RE cause both economic growth and CO2 emissions. Based on these empirical results, it is recommended that policymakers should step up their efforts to usage natural gas as a transition fuel to renewable energy sources and acknowledge the advantages of the significant contribution that green ICT trade can make to economic advancement and a clean environment.

Environmental regulation, renewable electricity, industrialization, economic complexity, technological innovation, and sustainable environment: testing the N-shaped EKC hypothesis for the G-10 economies.

This study examines the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis and the role of environmental regulation, renewable electricity, industrialization, economic complexity, and technological innovation in sustainable environment for the G-10 economies, namely, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the USA, from 1994 to 2020. We employed CS-ARDL (cross-sectional augmented distributed lag (CS-ARDL), FMOLS (fully modified ordinary least squares), and DOLS (dynamic ordinary least squares) for the analysis of the data. The estimates confirm the N-shaped EKC hypothesis between the GDP and CO2 emission. Moreover, the long-run estimates exhibit that environmental tax, renewable electricity, economic complexity, and technological innovation have negative effect on CO2 emission, while GDP, industrialization and arable land have positive effect on CO2 emission. Based on these findings, we propose that governments must implement large-scale government plans and initiatives to encourage the development of environmentally friendly technologies and ideas based on renewable energy. Moreover, further growing renewable energy, environmental policies like a carbon tax, investments in green technologies, subsidies, and rewards for renewable energy infrastructure investment should be taken into account.

Demand-driven biogas production from Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) reactors to balance the power grid.

Future energy systems necessitate dispatchable renewable energy to balance electrical grids with high shares of intermittent renewables. Biogas from anaerobic digestion (AD) can generate electricity on-demand. High-rate methanogenic reactors, such as the Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB), can react quicker to variations in feeding as compared to traditional AD systems. In this study, experimental trials validated the feasibility of operating the UASB in a demand-driven manner. The UASB was operated with leachate produced from a hydrolysis reactor treating grass silage. The UASB demonstrated a high degree of flexibility in responding to variable feeding regimes. The intra-day biogas production rate could be increased by up to 123% under 4 hours in demand-driven operation, without significant deterioration in performance. A model based on kinetic analysis was developed to help align demand-driven operation with the grid. The findings suggest significant opportunities for UASBs to provide positive and negative balance to the power grid.

Effects of globalization, foreign direct investment and economic growth on renewable electricity consumption.

Renewable energy has been seen as a viable solution to the problems of environmental degradation and the energy crisis. This study examines the long - and short-run linkages between economic globalization, foreign direct investment (FDI), economic growth, and renewable electricity consumption in China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries. Therefore, this study uses the Pooled Mean Group (PMG) autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) technique to measure the relationship between constructs based on data collected from 2000 to 2020. The overall results show the collaborative integration of Belt and Road (BRI) countries in terms of globalization, economic growth, and renewable electricity utilization. The results show that there is a long-term positive relationship between FDI and renewable electricity consumption, but a negative relationship in the short term. Furthermore, economic growth is positively correlated with renewable electricity consumption in the long run and negatively correlated in the short run. This study suggests that the governments of BRI countries should encourage globalization by improving technology and knowledge related to renewable electricity consumption in all areas.

Climate and biodiversity impacts of low-density polyethylene production from CO2 and electricity in comparison to bio-based polyethylene.

Plastics are essential materials for modern societies, but their production contributes to significant environmental issues. Power-to-X processes could produce plastics from captured CO2 and hydrogen with renewable electricity, but these technologies may also face challenges from environmental perspective. This paper focuses on environmental sustainability assessment of CO2-based low-density polyethylene (LDPE) compared to bio-based LDPE. Life cycle assessment has been applied to study climate impacts and land use related biodiversity impacts of different plastic production scenarios. According to the climate impact results, the carbon footprint of the produced plastic can be negative if the energy used is from wind, solar, or bioenergy and the carbon captured within the plastic is considered. In terms of biodiversity, land-use related biodiversity impacts seem to be lower from CO2-based polyethylene compared to sugarcane-based polyethylene. Forest biomass use for heat production in CO2-based polyethylene poses a risk to significantly increase biodiversity impacts. Taken together, these results suggest that CO2-based LDPE produced with renewable electricity could reduce biodiversity impacts over 96 % while carbon footprint seems to be 6.5 % higher when compared to sugarcane-based polyethylene.

Green finance, renewable energy investments, natural resources, and sustainable economic advancements in China: evidence from pre-post COVID-pandemic.

Since the start of twenty-first century, the globe has bumped into several crises, such as the sudden rise of oil prices in 2003 and the large-scale global financial crisis in 2007-2008. However, the most recent COVID-19 outbreak has slowed fiscal progress and initiated instability in the prices of commodities-based natural resources. The instability of prices of natural resources attracted the focus of academicians and policymakers. Moreover, the recent pandemic also pushed up the need of green finance and renewable energy investment for renewable energy development. The current study, thus, explores sustainable economic advancements via natural resource rents, green financing, renewable electricity energy, and investment in renewable energy projects in China over the period of 2000 to 2023 including years of pre-post COVID-pandemic. The current paper used CCR (canonical cointegrating regression), DOLS (dynamic ordinary least squares), and FMOLS (fully modified ordinary least squares), for its empirical investigation. The results demonstrate the cointegration of first-differenced stationary variables in the longer run. The parameter of natural resource rents shows that the volatility of natural resource prices adversely influences the sustainable economic advancement of China. Findings also demonstrate that green finance strategy can simultaneously control the high-emission situation and increase economic development of country. Additionally, the findings reveal the positive effects of renewable electricity energy output, and investment in renewable energy projects for sustainable economic advancements.

An integrated anaerobic digestion and microbial electrolysis system for the enhancement of methane production from organic waste: Fundamentals, innovative design and scale-up deliberation.

In the foreseeable future, renewable energy generation from electromethanogenesis to be more cost-effective energy. Electromethanogenesis system is a recent and efficient CO2 to methane technology to upgrade biogas to 100% methane for power generation. And this can be attained through by integrating anaerobic digestion with microbial electrolysis system. Microbial electrolysis system can able to support carbon reduction on cathode and oxidation on anode by CO2 capture thereby provides more CH4 production from an integrated anaerobic digestion system. Scale-up the recent advance technique of microbial electrolysis system in the anaerobic digestion process for 100% methane production for power generation is need of the hour. The overall objective of this review is to facilitate the recent technology of microbial electrolysis system in the anaerobic digestion process. At first, the function of electromethanogenesis system and innovative integrated design method are outlined. Secondly, different external parameters such as applied voltage, operating temperature, pH etc are examined for the significance on process optimization. Eventually, electrode selections, electrode spacing, surface chemistry and surface area are critically reviewed for the scale-up considerations of integration process.