Resources, Climate and Sustainable Development – serie

This book examines the transformation of climate innovation from policy-driven environmental necessity into a vibrant, multi-trillion-dollar global economic opportunity. At the time when world is intensifying its commitment to net-zero targets, this book reveals how emerging technologies ranging from carbon capture and storage (CCS) and green fintech to digital carbon markets and AI-powered sustainability solutions are reshaping the climate agenda into a new surge of entrepreneurial and investment opportunity. In the context of rapid climate change, this book offers in-depth analysis of how digital disruption is intersecting with environmental innovation to redefine the worldwide green economy. Our central argument is that the challenge of decarbonisation is now deeply embedded in the architecture of markets, business models and digital technologies. What was prior seen as an ecological burden is swiftly being redefined as an economic engine reshaping investment strategies, industrial policies and international competitiveness. The book draws on a diverse body of evidence, such as market reports, venture capital investments, sartup ecosystems, industry case studies, regulatory structures and global development indicators. It underscores the growth of climate-tech investors, the emergence of sustainable financial markets and the integration of AI, blockchain and fintech in formulating scalable and economically feasible climate solutions. Our finding highlights how these transformative technologies are establishing new value chains in sectors like energy, mobility, agriculture and finance, while providing emerging economies new pathways for sustainable development. This publication is especially pressing and significant at present. Although growing awareness of climate change is increasing, a significant gap remains between sustainability objectives and the financial instruments and technologies required to meet them. This book aims to fill that gap. It outlines the mechanisms by which green innovations can be expanded, financed, and brought to market, providing actionable guidance for policymakers, investors, scholars, and business owners.

This book offers actionable, evidence-based insights into advancing low-carbon transitions in China, focusing on the Yangtze River Delta (YRD)—a core economic engine and national pilot for carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. It applies an integrated framework of status assessment, mechanism analysis, trend forecasting, and policy design, combining empirical data with quantitative approaches such as the Environmental Kuznets Curve, STIRPAT models, and machine learning methods.Distinct from broad national studies, the book develops a detailed greenhouse gas emission inventory for the YRD, revealing sectoral and spatiotemporal emission patterns and forecasting future trajectories under multiple scenarios. Its region-specific focus ensures that findings reflect the YRD’s unique economic structure, energy dependence, and governance context, while maintaining strong methodological rigor.The content spans four pillars: regional economic and energy characteristics; carbon accounting and driver decomposition; emission trend and peak forecasting across three provinces and one municipality; and policy design, including interregional carbon trading, sink-based compensation, and pollution–carbon reduction synergies.Written for policymakers, researchers, and advanced students in climate governance and environmental economics, this book provides a data-driven, policy-oriented framework with strong relevance for regional low-carbon development worldwide.

This book reviews China's progress in non-fossil fuel power generation, focusing on hydropower, solar, wind, nuclear, and biomass energy. It covers technological innovations, policy directions, and challenges. It is divided into two parts: the first part discusses the policy environment and energy sustainability, while the second part details various non-fossil fuel technologies and case studies. It provides valuable insights for practitioners, researchers, and readers interested in sustainable development.

This book provides a comprehensive framework for analyzing efficiency and productivity with a focus on sustainability applications. It uniquely integrates theoretical foundations, empirical methodologies, and practical programming implementations in Stata. The innovative approach bridges the gap between abstract concepts and applied research by offering step-by-step guidance on implementing advanced analytical techniques.The book covers both parametric and non-parametric methods, spanning from basic efficiency concepts to sophisticated models including Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA), Parametric Linear Programming (PLP), and econometric methods. Special attention is given to environmental efficiency measurement, green total factor productivity, and sustainability metrics that are increasingly relevant in policy and research contexts.This book serves as a comprehensive monograph for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in economics, management, and environmental economics and management, as well as an essential reference for researchers in efficiency and productivity analysis. Readers will gain both theoretical understanding and practical skills to conduct rigorous efficiency and productivity analysis for sustainability applications in their own research and professional work.

This book presents a comprehensive evaluation of green and low-carbon development in Anhui Province, China, through the construction of the Green and Low-Carbon Development Index (GLCDI). By integrating five sub-dimensions—green ecology, green industry, green lifestyle, environmental governance, and policy protection—with 29 secondary indicators, it offers a scientific framework to assess ecological capacity and development potential at both provincial and municipal levels.What distinguishes this approach is its combination of quantitative analysis (using the entropy method and coupling coordination models) and in-depth case studies of key industries such as manufacturing, construction, and tourism, which reveal spatial-temporal disparities and driving factors of green development. The content spans policy background, index construction, empirical analysis, and policy recommendations, with a focus on balancing economic growth and ecological sustainability.Intended for researchers, policymakers, and students in environmental science, regional development, and sustainable economics, the book provides actionable insights for green industrial transformation, ecological protection, and policy optimization. Its key strengths lie in the GLCDI’s scalability for national application, detailed industry-specific analyses, and targeted strategies to address regional imbalances, making it a valuable resource for advancing low-carbon development in China and beyond.

This book approaches the subject matter of China’s transportation enterprises’ green development through a systematic, cross-industry framework that integrates policy analysis, market dynamics, technological innovation, and international comparisons. It transcends siloed sectoral studies by examining multiple transportation domains—including road, rail, water, civil aviation, pipeline, and urban rail transit—through unified lenses of eco-economic transformation. The methodology begins with a comprehensive mapping of each sector’s policy ecosystem, dissecting how national strategies like the “Double Carbon” goals and sector-specific regulations shape green transitions. It quantifies market scales and growth trajectories in empirical data. For each industry, this book assesses technological advancements—from new energy vehicle adoption in road transport to electrified rail networks—and their impact on operational efficiency and environmental sustainability. A distinctive approach is its cross-sectoral comparative analysis, which identifies synergies and transferable practices. For instance, it examines how electrification strategies in high-speed rail and smart automation in ports both drive energy efficiency, highlighting commonalities in green innovation across modes.

This book offers a comprehensive framework for comparing Northeast Asia’s market-based climate and energy policies, integrating carbon market theories, empirical data from China, South Korea, Japan, and practical policy cases. It bridges theory and regional practice, analyzing how the three nations—at distinct development stages—design tools to balance emission cuts, energy security, and economic growth.It covers core mechanisms: China’s national ETS (the world’s largest, covering 8 billion tons of emissions) and energy use rights trading; South Korea’s K-ETS (Asia’s first mandatory carbon market) with “auction + free allocation” and price stabilization tools (floor price, market reserve); Japan’s GX-ETS featuring central-local dual-track and voluntary-to-mandatory transition. Applying a four-dimensional framework (policy design, economic efficiency, innovation incentives, environmental effectiveness), it quantifies differences in quota allocation, carbon price volatility, green innovation, and emission reduction effects. Special focus is on heavy industries (steel, cement, aluminum), comparing technological routes (China’s electric arc furnace steel, South Korea’s hydrogen metallurgy, Japan’s CCUS) and carbon cost pass-through.This book is a key resource for advanced students in environmental economics/climate policy, and researchers, policymakers, and industry leaders in Northeast Asia’s climate governance. Its empirical data (quota tables, carbon price trends, industrial metrics) and policy roadmaps add value, especially for new analysts.Key features:- Links global climate theories to Northeast Asia’s policy innovations.- Specialized chapters on heavy industry decarbonization.- Actionable roadmap for regional carbon market linkage (China-South Korea allowance mutual recognition, China-Japan offset alignment).- Data from official sources (China’s MEE, South Korea’s MOE, Japan’s METI).Readers gain theoretical insights into regional policy differences and practical tools for policy design, industrial decarbonization, and regional climate cooperation.

This book estimates terrestrial vegetation carbon sequestration data based on remote sensing satellite data, collects the temporal and spatial characteristics of carbon sequestration by vegetation at county level and grid scale in China, and predicts the future change of carbon sequestration by vegetation in China. Based on the major strategic development goals and specific practices of China's carbon neutrality, this book shifts the research perspective from the side of carbon reduction to the weaker side of carbon sequestration. It not only broadens and enriches the research boundaries and theoretical connotation in the field of carbon neutrality, but also provides a perspective reference for further research on carbon sequestration by vegetation, which has pioneering academic value for future research on carbon dioxide. The satellite data is collected to calculate China's long time series and multi-type district and county vegetation carbon sequestration data set, which can meet different research needs and application scenarios. The practical value lies in providing basic data for the research of carbon neutrality, the establishment of carbon trading market and the calculation of vegetation carbon sink, and providing an important reference index for evaluating the ecological and environmental effects of land change. This book combines remote sensing technology, Geographic Information Science (GIS), spatial visualization technology and index decomposition technology to measure vegetation carbon sequestration in counties and districts of China, reveals the spatial-temporal dynamic change process of vegetation carbon sequestration, and explores the driving influence of social factors.

This book estimates terrestrial vegetation carbon sequestration data based on remote sensing satellite data, collects the temporal and spatial characteristics of carbon sequestration by vegetation at county level and grid scale in China, and predicts the future change of carbon sequestration by vegetation in China. Based on the major strategic development goals and specific practices of China's carbon neutrality, this book shifts the research perspective from the side of carbon reduction to the weaker side of carbon sequestration. It not only broadens and enriches the research boundaries and theoretical connotation in the field of carbon neutrality, but also provides a perspective reference for further research on carbon sequestration by vegetation, which has pioneering academic value for future research on carbon dioxide. The satellite data is collected to calculate China's long time series and multi-type district and county vegetation carbon sequestration data set, which can meet different research needs and application scenarios. The practical value lies in providing basic data for the research of carbon neutrality, the establishment of carbon trading market and the calculation of vegetation carbon sink, and providing an important reference index for evaluating the ecological and environmental effects of land change. This book combines remote sensing technology, Geographic Information Science (GIS), spatial visualization technology and index decomposition technology to measure vegetation carbon sequestration in counties and districts of China, reveals the spatial-temporal dynamic change process of vegetation carbon sequestration, and explores the driving influence of social factors.

This book delves deeply into the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) management systems of Chinese enterprises. It systematically analyzes the origins and evolution of ESG, taking into account China’s unique policy environment and market demands, and presents a localized ESG management framework tailored to Chinese companies. The book provides numerous case studies that illustrate how to effectively implement these frameworks in business operations, offering concrete guidance for achieving sustainable development.This book covers all aspects of ESG management, including comparisons of international standards, analysis of policy and legal frameworks, investment decisions, and corporate risk management. It is suitable for a diverse audience, including scholars, government officials, and corporate managers. By integrating theory with practice, the book provides forward-looking recommendations, offering strong practical guidance through case studies and empirical research to help companies improve their ESG management systems.

This book delves deeply into the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) management systems of Chinese enterprises. It systematically analyzes the origins and evolution of ESG, taking into account China’s unique policy environment and market demands, and presents a localized ESG management framework tailored to Chinese companies. The book provides numerous case studies that illustrate how to effectively implement these frameworks in business operations, offering concrete guidance for achieving sustainable development.This book covers all aspects of ESG management, including comparisons of international standards, analysis of policy and legal frameworks, investment decisions, and corporate risk management. It is suitable for a diverse audience, including scholars, government officials, and corporate managers. By integrating theory with practice, the book provides forward-looking recommendations, offering strong practical guidance through case studies and empirical research to help companies improve their ESG management systems.

This book employs a systematic and multi-faceted approach to explore China's coal consumption, emissions, and its development model. The book first provides an overview of the global and Chinese energy consumption trends and mix, with a particular focus on the position and role of coal. Through comparative analysis, it clarifies the importance of coal in global and Chinese energy security. It details the environmental problems arising from coal consumption, especially carbon dioxide and other harmful gas emissions, and their impacts on global climate change and human health. By collecting and analyzing extensive data, such as coal consumption volumes and carbon dioxide emission levels, the book presents the historical trends and current status of China's coal consumption and emissions. The book conducts comparative study on China and global policies related to coal consumption control and clean energy development, providing insights and lessons for China. It explores the development model of technologies such as clean and efficient coal utilization, renewable energy, and carbon capture and storage (CCS), assessing their potential to reduce coal consumption and emissions.