Guangxin Liu

The textile industry is under increasing global pressure to move away from linear production systems, prompting an urgent shift toward a circular economy (CE). The CE framework for CO₂ mitigation and the abatement cost curve for China's textile industry was constructed (2023-2030), aiming to evaluate the CO₂ mitigation potential and abatement costs of the CE measures. The results show that the CO₂ mitigation potential of CE measures in China's textile industry is 57.70 Mt CO₂/year, accounting for 18.79% of the total emissions of the textile industry in 2023. Under the assumption that emission reductions can realize their economic value within the carbon emissions trading system, low-cost and high-potential measures represented by second-hand textile trade and mechanical recycle offer a CO₂ mitigation potential of 35.09 Mt CO₂/year, with an average abatement cost of -44.06 USD/tCO₂, representing the most promising direction for promotion in the short term. In contrast, high-cost and low-potential measures are not suitable for large-scale deployment at the current stage. Achieving CO₂ reductions in the textile industry through CE requires multidimensional cooperation among policy effectiveness, technological progress, consumer markets, and energy structures.

Photovoltaic (PV) technology is the core pathway for addressing global climate change and advancing energy system decarbonization, yet the rapid expansion of PV manufacturing capacity has triggered a surge in life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions, sparking mounting concerns. We integrated multisource heterogeneous data from China’s PV industry (2005–2024) to develop a life-cycle accounting framework, which quantifies industrial carbon emissions and their evolutionary patterns across production stages and multiscale spatiotemporal dimensions. We also deconstructed the emission impacts of scale, technology, and structural factors, and predicted future trends. Over two decades, China’s PV industry-wide carbon emissions soared from 0.24 to 205 million tonnes, while product-level emission intensity plummeted from 1,300 to 380 kg CO₂eq/kWp. The contribution of technological progress to emission reduction rose from about 3% of the observed increase in emissions in 2005–2007 to nearly 100% in 2020–2024. Spatially, raw material and monocrystalline cell production have shifted inland for cost advantages, while module assembly remains concentrated in coastal hubs like the Yangtze River Delta. Capacity utilization, grid decarbonization, and technical learning will dictate future emissions. Against surging global PV demand, coordinated capacity planning, accelerated tech progress, optimized spatial distribution, and established incentive policies are pivotal to steering China’s PV manufacturing onto a sustainable low-carbon path.

Hydrogen is widely recognized as a crucial element in the future energy transition to address climate change. However, the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with different hydrogen production routes vary, and there are still doubts about the GHG reduction potential of many routes. This study conducts a meta-analysis of 1283 assessment scenarios, reporting life cycle GHG emissions for 101 hydrogen production routes. Routes with notably low emissions are identified, such as biomass and biofuel utilization with carbon capture and storage (CCS), natural gas reforming with CCS, waste-derived hydrogen, and renewable energy-driven electrolysis. In contrast, biological routes show high variability, with some among the highest emitters. Background energy sources and feedstock composition are identified as key influencing factors. Additionally, 53 routes with emissions lower than steam methane reforming (SMR) are analyzed for substitution factors and levelized costs of GHG mitigation, with 17 routes emerging as promising options for GHG reduction, particularly those utilizing waste or biomass with CCS. Our findings highlight the need for localized strategies that optimize renewable resources and energy use to achieve cost-effective GHG reductions in hydrogen production.

In light of global climate crisis, it is imperative to implement measures aimed at reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions in the iron and steel industry. This study focuses on the development of innovative methodologies for minimizing energy consumption and carbon emissions during steel production, with particular emphasis on the synergistic optimization of both long‐ and short‐flow steelmaking processes. A carbon flow model has been constructed to analyze the material and energy flows associated with long‐process (BF–BOF) and short‐process (electric arc furnace (EAF)) steelmaking, as well as to assess the potential for carbon reduction through industrial symbiotic technologies. The findings illustrate that in the S2 scenario, where the proportion of EAF steel is increased to 50%, carbon emissions are reduced to 1,464.12 kg tcs, representing an 18.9% decrease. This reduction is lower than that achieved by traditional long‐process steelmaking; and the industrial symbiosis technologies, such as chemical production and coke oven gas hydrogen production, can facilitate an additional reduction in carbon emissions of 41.33 kg tcs. This study offers a new pathway and reference for the green transformation of the iron and steel industry.

Climate change is seriously threatening ecological environments essential for human survival. Achieving the carbon neutrality goals of industrial parks (IPs), the gathering places of industrial activity, plays a crucial role in climate change mitigation and in promoting sustainable industrial development. In this study, we use an AI-facilitated literature review and empirical research to analyze and classify the 12 pathways for carbon neutrality for IPs based on the development nature and carbon flow framework. In addition, the carbon emission reduction potentials of various pathways are quantified using a case study. The results of the literature analysis show that, in terms of IP carbon emission reductions, most research has focused on the energy infrastructure related to energy management and utilization, as well as the service infrastructure related to the carbon footprint and industrial symbiosis. Among the 148 studies, “industrial symbiosis” and “carbon footprint” appeared with frequencies of 1278 and 474, respectively. Additionally, 102 of these studies mentioned decarbonization of energy infrastructure. In total, 11 of the carbon neutrality pathways existed in the empirical research, with the exception of carbon storage, and among them, 7 pathways are applied across all 104 IPs. Case studies indicate that the pathways with greater reduction potentials were the energy infrastructure, carbon capture, and the product and waste infrastructure, with potential reductions of 250,000 tons, 200,000 tons, and 145,080 tons of CO₂ emissions, respectively. This study provides valuable references for IPs to achieve their carbon neutrality goals.