IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v283y2023ics0360544223024532.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Pathways to net-zero emissions from China's transportation industry: Considering alternative fuels

Author

Listed:
  • Li, Wei
  • Wang, Ting
  • Lu, Can

Abstract

In the context of the national ‘dual carbon’ strategy, expediting the green and low-carbon transformation has become a focal point across various industries. The challenge of reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the transportation sector is exceptionally formidable, given its heavy reliance on energy. Swift progress within this industry unavoidably entails heightened energy consumption, consequently exacerbating CO2 emissions within the sector. This article aims to identify an attainable, comprehensive pathway towards achieving net-zero emissions within the industry. The study reveals that strict control over the growth rate of the transportation industry's total output value and significant promotion of energy intensity decline can lead to a substantial 44% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050, equivalent to approximately 2.17 Gt and 2.15 Gt of CO2eq. Successfully achieving net-zero emissions necessitates the replacement of fossil fuels with alternative transportation fuels in the range of 3.34 EJ to 15.22 EJ, accompanied by technological advancements to drive cost reductions. Additionally, considering non-CO2 radiation forcing, each scenario requires carbon dioxide removal (CDR) ranging from 0.17 Gt to 2.67 Gt for achieving net-zero emissions. This article comprehensively examines key factors including economy, energy, and technology, conducting an in-depth investigation into the viable pathway to achieve net-zero emissions within the industry. The findings presented herein offer valuable insights into facilitating the industry's low-carbon development and supporting the attainment of the national ‘dual carbon’ goal.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Wei & Wang, Ting & Lu, Can, 2023. "Pathways to net-zero emissions from China's transportation industry: Considering alternative fuels," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:283:y:2023:i:c:s0360544223024532
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2023.129059
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544223024532
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2023.129059?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Liu, Huacai & Huang, Yanqin & Yuan, Hongyou & Yin, Xiuli & Wu, Chuangzhi, 2018. "Life cycle assessment of biofuels in China: Status and challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 301-322.
    2. Liang, Hanwei & Ren, Jingzheng & Lin, Ruojue & Liu, Yue, 2019. "Alternative-fuel based vehicles for sustainable transportation: A fuzzy group decision supporting framework for sustainability prioritization," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 33-43.
    3. Zha, Jianping & Tan, Ting & Fan, Rong & Xu, Han & Ma, Siqi, 2020. "How to reduce energy intensity to achieve sustainable development of China's transport sector? A cross-regional comparison analysis," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    4. Doctor, Faiyaz & Budd, Thomas & Williams, Paul. D. & Prescott, Matt & Iqbal, Rahat, 2022. "Modelling the effect of electric aircraft on airport operations and infrastructure," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    5. Huo, Tengfei & Du, Qianxi & Xu, Linbo & Shi, Qingwei & Cong, Xiaobo & Cai, Weiguang, 2023. "Timetable and roadmap for achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality of China's building sector," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 274(C).
    6. Xu, Jie & Yuan, Zhenhong & Chang, Shiyan, 2018. "Long-term cost trajectories for biofuels in China projected to 2050," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 452-465.
    7. Chen, Qingjuan & Wang, Qunwei & Zhou, Dequn & Wang, Honggang, 2023. "Drivers and evolution of low-carbon development in China's transportation industry: An integrated analytical approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(PB).
    8. An, Keju & Farooqui, Azharuddin & McCoy, Sean T., 2022. "The impact of climate on solvent-based direct air capture systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 325(C).
    9. Candelaria Bergero & Greer Gosnell & Dolf Gielen & Seungwoo Kang & Morgan Bazilian & Steven J. Davis, 2023. "Pathways to net-zero emissions from aviation," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 6(4), pages 404-414, April.
    10. Chen, Ruijun & Tsay, Yaw-Shyan & Zhang, Ting, 2023. "A multi-objective optimization strategy for building carbon emission from the whole life cycle perspective," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(PA).
    11. Yan, Dan & Liu, Litao & Li, Jinkai & Wu, Jiaqian & Qin, Wei & Werners, Saskia E., 2021. "Are the planning targets of liquid biofuel development achievable in China under climate change?," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    12. Zhang, Jianjun & Chen, Yang & Rao, Yongheng & Fu, Meichen & Prishchepov, Alexander V., 2017. "Alternative spatial allocation of suitable land for biofuel production in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 631-643.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Okeleye, Samuel Adeola & Thiruvengadam, Arvind & Perhinschi, Mario G. & Carder, Daniel, 2024. "Data-driven machine learning model of a Selective Catalytic Reduction on Filter (SCRF) in a heavy-duty diesel engine: A comparison of Artificial Neural Network with Tree-based algorithms," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhao, Yuanhao & Wang, Changbo & Zhang, Lixiao & Chang, Yuan & Hao, Yan, 2021. "Converting waste cooking oil to biodiesel in China: Environmental impacts and economic feasibility," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    2. Nabavi-Pelesaraei, Ashkan & Azadi, Hossein & Van Passel, Steven & Saber, Zahra & Hosseini-Fashami, Fatemeh & Mostashari-Rad, Fatemeh & Ghasemi-Mobtaker, Hassan, 2021. "Prospects of solar systems in production chain of sunflower oil using cold press method with concentrating energy and life cycle assessment," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    3. Meng, Zhiyi & Li, Eldon Y. & Qiu, Rui, 2020. "Environmental sustainability with free-floating carsharing services: An on-demand refueling recommendation system for Car2go in Seattle," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    4. Suiuay, Chokchai & Laloon, Kittipong & Katekaew, Somporn & Senawong, Kritsadang & Noisuwan, Phakamat & Sudajan, Somposh, 2020. "Effect of gasoline-like fuel obtained from hard-resin of Yang (Dipterocarpus alatus) on single cylinder gasoline engine performance and exhaust emissions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 634-645.
    5. Zhang, Ping & Zhuo, La & Li, Meng & Liu, Yilin & Wu, Pute, 2023. "Assessment of advanced bioethanol potential under water and land resource constraints in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 359-371.
    6. Chistyakov, A.V. & Nikolaev, S.A. & Zharova, P.A. & Tsodikov, M.V. & Manenti, F., 2019. "Linear α-alcohols production from supercritical ethanol over Cu/Al2O3 catalyst," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 569-576.
    7. Cui, Shaohua & Gao, Kun & Yu, Bin & Ma, Zhenliang & Najafi, Arsalan, 2023. "Joint optimal vehicle and recharging scheduling for mixed bus fleets under limited chargers," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    8. Andrea A. Eras-Almeida & Miguel A. Egido-Aguilera & Philipp Blechinger & Sarah Berendes & Estefanía Caamaño & Enrique García-Alcalde, 2020. "Decarbonizing the Galapagos Islands: Techno-Economic Perspectives for the Hybrid Renewable Mini-Grid Baltra–Santa Cruz," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-47, March.
    9. Zhao, Anjun & Jiao, Yang & Quan, Wei & Chen, Yiren, 2024. "Net zero carbon rural integrated energy system design optimization based on the energy demand in temporal and spatial dimensions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    10. Kang, Yating & Yang, Qing & Bartocci, Pietro & Wei, Hongjian & Liu, Sylvia Shuhan & Wu, Zhujuan & Zhou, Hewen & Yang, Haiping & Fantozzi, Francesco & Chen, Hanping, 2020. "Bioenergy in China: Evaluation of domestic biomass resources and the associated greenhouse gas mitigation potentials," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    11. Zhan, Jin & He, Wenjing & Huang, Jianxiang, 2024. "Comfort, carbon emissions, and cost of building envelope and photovoltaic arrangement optimization through a two-stage model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 356(C).
    12. Li, Mingyang & Tang, Jinjun, 2023. "Simulation-based optimization considering energy consumption for assisted station locations to enhance flex-route transit," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    13. Onat, Nuri Cihat & Kucukvar, Murat, 2020. "Carbon footprint of construction industry: A global review and supply chain analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    14. Alam Md Moshiul & Roslina Mohammad & Fariha Anjum Hira & Nurazean Maarop, 2022. "Alternative Marine Fuel Research Advances and Future Trends: A Bibliometric Knowledge Mapping Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-27, April.
    15. Zhao, Jinyang & Yu, Yadong & Ren, Hongtao & Makowski, Marek & Granat, Janusz & Nahorski, Zbigniew & Ma, Tieju, 2022. "How the power-to-liquid technology can contribute to reaching carbon neutrality of the China's transportation sector?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PA).
    16. Li, Junjie & Cheng, Wanjing, 2020. "Comparison of life-cycle energy consumption, carbon emissions and economic costs of coal to ethanol and bioethanol," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    17. Zhao, Congyu & Jia, Rongwen & Dong, Kangyin, 2023. "How does smart transportation technology promote green total factor productivity? The case of China," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    18. Xuemei Jia & Qing Liu & Jiahao Feng & Yuru Li & Lijun Zhang, 2023. "The Induced Effects of Carbon Emissions for China’s Industry Digital Transformation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-20, August.
    19. Xinru Han & Yongfu Chen & Xiudong Wang, 2022. "Impacts of China’s bioethanol policy on the global maize market: a partial equilibrium analysis to 2030," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 14(1), pages 147-163, February.
    20. Xuan, Li, 2022. "Big data-driven fuzzy large-scale group decision making (LSGDM) in circular economy environment," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:283:y:2023:i:c:s0360544223024532. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.