The Scope 4 Emission: Neutralized Carbon Emissions

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new framework for quantifying carbon-negative and neutral actions, calculates global Scope 4 emissions from renewable energy, and highlights China's significant contribution to global climate mitigation.

Contribution

It presents the first calculation of global Scope 4 emissions from renewable energy and emphasizes China's leading role in carbon neutrality efforts.

Findings

China's Scope 4 emissions are 2.15 Mt C/day, surpassing US and EU27 & UK combined.

China accounts for over 36% of global neutralized CO2 emissions.

Scope 4 emissions are increasing globally, reflecting progress in renewable energy adoption.

Abstract

Assessing carbon negative and carbon neutrality is critical for mitigating and adapting global climate change. Here we proposed a new framework to account for carbon-negative and carbon-neutral actions by introducing the definition of Carbon Negative (C0),Carbon Neutrality Stock (C1), Carbon Supply (C2) and carbon-neutral emissions or Scope 4 emissions, which refers to the avoided emission due to use of non-fossil energy or C1 products. For the first time, we calculated the global neutralized carbon emissions or Scope 4 emission by renewable electricity generation, and the results indicating the significant contributions by China, with total neutralized carbon emissions (2.15 Mt C/day ) much higher than the U.S. (0.85 Mt C/day)and EU27 & UK (1.25 Mt C/day) together. We show that China contributed to more than 36% of global neutralized CO2 emissions, and such contributions are still increasing. This new framework reflects remarkable contributions for China to the global climate mitigation through the development of carbon neutrality energy system.