Carbon Emission Allocation in a Chinese Province-Level Region Based on Two-Stage Network Structures

Abstract

With the increasingly severe global environment and climate change, the growing social attention toward the environmental problems has prompted local governments to make policy adjustments. The formulation of the carbon emission right allocation scheme is important for policy-makers. Many researchers have studied the problem of carbon emission right allocation by using data envelopment analysis (DEA) models. However, the existing literature using traditional models consider each Decision-Making Unit (DMU) as a “black box” without taking the internal structure into account, but in fact, it is more accurate for formulating the scheme when considering the inner operation of DMUs. This paper investigates the allocation plan of carbon emission right among each province in China from 2007–2016 based on a two-stage DEA model. The results indicate that, first, there is no space for carbon emission in the north, northeast, and northwest from 2007–2016, while in the southern regions, it always exists. In addition, the carbon emission permits of the southern and eastern regions are increasing, but in the southwestern regions, the carbon emission space barely fluctuated during this decade. Second, the potential of carbon emission reduction of each region tends to be stable after 2014, and in the north and northwest, it fluctuated greatly from 2007–2016. Besides, the northwest region has had the potential of emission reduction since 2010, while it also exists in the northern region after 2014.

Vehicle Environmental Efficiency Evaluation in Different Regions in China: A Combination of the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and Two-Stage Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) Methods

“…The two-stage DEA model uses simple or more complex DEA models to consider the efficiency of the total system and two subsystems at the same time. This more logical model more accurately reflects the evaluation relationship and logical connection between the two processes and the whole process [49,50]. When the LCA system contains many subsystems, it is more scientific to use the multi-stage DEA model, which contains the same number of subsystem stages.…”

Strategic Allocation of Building Carbon Emission Rights Within Urban Frameworks: A Case Study of Henan Province Under China’s Dual Carbon Objectives

“…This paper identifies four indicators, namely construction workers, construction stock, construction industry added value, and historical carbon emissions. In the carbon emission rights allocation system, the employees in the construction industry are changed from the indicators of population size [24]. The higher the indicator value, the more quotas need to be given to ensure fair distribution, which is a positive indicator.…”

“…The research on carbon emission right allocation mainly focuses on the public field, primarily in the iron and steel [18], chemical industry [19], transportation [20], and other industries [21,22]. It also focuses on aspects of the allocation index system [23], allocation method [24], and allocation scale [25]. The construction of the allocation index system mainly includes allocation principles and allocation indexes; scholars mainly focus on the principles of fairness and efficiency, as well as the dynamic coupling between the two.…”

Scenario Analysis of CO2 Reduction Potentials from a Carbon Neutral Perspective

“…The total factor efficiency of CO 2 emission is based on the total factor productivity theory, which comprehensively evaluates the efficiency by considering the production process of carbon dioxide and the substitution relationship between diverse input variables simultaneously [22,23]. Jin, et al [24] and Zhang, et al [25] also used different DEA models to measure the carbon emission efficiency and then further studied the emission reduction potential. This paper uses the DEA method to obtain the reduction potential by calculating the total factor production technology frontier.…”