Zhou Bo, Zhang Cheng, Song Haiying, Wang Qunwei
College of Economics and Management, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 211106, China.
School of Economics, Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, Nanjing 210023, China.
Sci Total Environ. 2019 Aug 1;676:514-523. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.04.303. Epub 2019 Apr 23.
Emission trading is a market-driven method to more quickly reduce carbon intensity, and has been widely used in countries with significant carbon emissions. In 2013, the Chinese government established pilot carbon emission trading programs in seven provinces. However, there is incomplete research on the effect and influencing channels of emission trading on carbon intensity reduction. To explore these problems, this study conducted an empirical analysis, using a decomposition and difference-in-differences approach. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) Overall, China's emission trading pilots have driven a significant decline in the carbon intensity, resulting in an average annual decline of approximately 0.026 tons/10,000 yuan in the pilot provinces. (2) In the sample period, emission trading pilots had a sustained and stable effect on carbon intensity with no time lag. (3) Emission trading pilots reduce the carbon intensity by adjusting the industrial structure. In contrast, energy structure and energy intensity channels have not yet been realized.
碳排放交易是一种由市场驱动的方法，能更快地降低碳强度，并且已在碳排放量大的国家中广泛使用。2013年，中国政府在七个省份设立了碳排放交易试点项目。然而，关于碳排放交易对碳强度降低的影响及影响渠道的研究并不完整。为探究这些问题，本研究采用分解法和双重差分法进行了实证分析。主要结论如下：（1）总体而言，中国的碳排放交易试点推动了碳强度的显著下降，试点省份的碳强度平均每年下降约0.026吨/万元。（2）在样本期内，碳排放交易试点对碳强度具有持续稳定的影响，且不存在时间滞后。（3）碳排放交易试点通过调整产业结构降低了碳强度。相比之下，能源结构和能源强度渠道尚未发挥作用。
