Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Initial allocation of SO2 emission rights based on the combination weighting method: evidence from China’s thermal power plants

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Environmental Science and Pollution Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Emission trading system is an effective market-oriented means to control pollutant emission, and reasonable initial allocation of emission rights is the premise of its smooth implementation. However, at present, the initial allocation of emission rights depends largely on the amount of emissions, which leads to weak positive guidance effect for enterprises. To explore the optimal initial allocation method of SO2 emission rights, this paper takes 8 thermal power plants in Dalian, China, as the research objects to calculate the initial allocation of SO2 emission rights, because SO2 is the main cause of acid rain, which is one of the most serious air pollution in China, and thermal power plants are among the main SO2 emitters. Firstly, an indicator system is established considering enterprise size, pollutant discharge, and social contributions, as well as pollution control capacity. Then, the combination weighting method is developed through integrating the subjective methods G1 and G2 with the objective ones, entropy and maximum deviation. The empirical results show that the enterprises with more desulfurization equipment or large heating supply are supposed to get more emission rights; the actual emission value of SO2 in half of the enterprises exceeds the theoretical ones; SO2 removal rate, desulfurization equipment quantity, and heating supply exert the most positive effects on the initial allocation of emission rights. The constructed model can be used as a reference for future research of initial allocation of other pollutants’ emission rights. Also, the implications have been proposed for the government, industry, and enterprises.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bai Y, Hua CC, Jiao JL et al (2018) Green efficiency and environmental subsidy: evidence from thermal power firms in China. J Clean Prod 188:49–61

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen Y, Wang JG, Zhang J, Liu CY, Huang SS (2013) The regional initial allocation model of carbon emissions permits in power industry. Adv Mater Res 869-870:399–403

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen D, Zhou K, Tan X, Zhou Z, Shi L, Ma Z (2019) Desulfurization electricity price and emission trading: comparative analysis of thermal power industry in China and the United States. Energy Procedia 158:3513–3518

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dales JH (2002) Pollution, property & prices: an essay in policy-making and economics. Edward Elgar Publishing.

  • Duan FM, Wang Y, Wang Y et al (2018) Estimation of marginal abatement costs of CO2 in Chinese provinces under 2020 carbon emission rights allocation: 2005–2020. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25:24445–24468

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Feng ZY, Tang WH, Niu ZW et al (2018) Bi-level allocation of carbon emission permits based on clustering analysis and weighted voting: a case study in China. Appl Energy 228:1122–1135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guo YJ (2002) New theory and method of dynamic comprehensive evaluation. J Manag Sci China 02:49–54 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Guo TX, Zhao Y, Yang Q, Feng HB, du DG (2012) An improved allocation method with environmental constraints of regional SO2 emission right. Adv Mater Res 518-523:2336–2339

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gurianov P (2015) Formation of pollutant emissions trading optimum model at the international market. Metallurgical and Mining Industry 7(8):94–99

    Google Scholar 

  • Hahn RW (1984) Market power and transferable property rights. Q J Econ 99(4):753–765

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Han YM, Long C, Geng ZQ et al (2018) Carbon emission analysis and evaluation of industrial departments in China: an improved environmental DEA cross model based on information entropy. J Environ Manag 205:298–307

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hang Y, Wang QW, Wang YZ et al (2019) Industrial SO2 emissions treatment in China: a temporal-spatial whole process decomposition analysis. J Environ Manag 243:419–434

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • He SB, Yan T, Zhou HR (2016) Decomposition and spatial clustering analysis of China’s SO2 emissions. Procedia Com Sci 91:1064–1072

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hou BQ, Wang B, Du MZ et al (2020) Does the SO2 emissions trading scheme encourage green total factor productivity? An empirical assessment on China’s cities. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27:6375–6388

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Huang JT (2018) Sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions and government spending on environmental protection in China-Evidence from spatial econometric analysis. J Clean Prod 175:431–441

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ji X, Sun JS, Wang YY et al (2017a) Allocation of emission permits in large data sets: a robust multi-criteria approach. J Clean Prod 142:894–906

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ji J, Zhang Z, Yang L (2017b) Comparisons of initial carbon allowance allocation rules in an O2O retail supply chain with the cap-and-trade regulation. Int J Prod Econ 187:68–84

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jiao J, Han X, Li F, Bai Y, Yu Y (2017) Contribution of demand shifts to industrial SO2 emissions in a transition economy: evidence from China. J Clean Prod 164:1455–1466

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lee CY (2019) Decentralized allocation of emission permits by Nash data envelopment analysis in the coal-fired power market. J Environ Manag 241:353–362

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li Y, Li CC, Wen JY (2013) Flue gas denitrification programming model for coal-fired generating units based on total emission control policies of NOx in China. Appl Mech Mater 448-453:651–656

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li X, Wu XL, Zhang FQ (2015) A method for analyzing pollution control policies: application to SO2 emissions in China. Energy Econ 49:451–459

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li LX, Li YN, Ye F et al (2018) Carbon dioxide emissions quotas allocation in the Pearl River Delta region: evidence from the maximum deviation method. J Clean Prod 177:207–217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu XY, Wen ZG (2012) Best available techniques and pollution control: a case study on China’s thermal power industry. J Clean Prod 23(1):113–121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luo YJ, Li XY, Cai GT et al (2019) A study on atmospheric environmental resource accounting: a case of SO2 supply resources in Chinese provinces. J Environ Manag 249:109432

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lyon RM (1982) Auctions and alternative procedures for allocating pollution rights. Land Econ 58(1):16–32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mackenzie IA, Hanley N, Kornienko T (2009) Using contests to allocate pollution rights. Energy Policy 37(7):2798–2806

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Qian K, Luan YH (2017) Weighted measures based on maximizing deviation for alignment-free sequence comparison. Physica A: Statistical Mech Appl 481:235–242

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Qian CJ, Zhang MG, Chen YT et al (2014) A quantitative judgement method for safety admittance of facilities in chemical industrial parks based on G1-variation coefficient method. Procedia Eng 84:223–232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shi GM, Wang JN, Fu F, Xue WB (2017) A study on transboundary air pollution based on a game theory model: cases of SO2 emission reductions in the cities of Changsha, Zhuzhou and Xiangtan in China. Atmospheric Pollut Res 8(2):244–252

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shin S (2013) China’s failure of policy innovation: the case of sulphur dioxide emission trading. Environ Politics 22(6):918–934

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tang HL, Liu JM, Mao J, Wu JG (2020) The effects of emission trading system on corporate innovation and productivity-empirical evidence from China’s SO2 emission trading system. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27:21604–21620

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Van Egteren H, Weber M (1996) Marketable permits, market power, and cheating. J Environ Econ Manag 30(2):161–173

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Venmans FMJ (2016) The effect of allocation above emissions and price uncertainty on abatement investments under the EU ETS. J Clean Prod 126:595–606

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang YJ, Wang XJ (2016) Interdependent value multi-unit auctions for initial allocation of emission permits. Procedia Environ Sci 31:812–816

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woerdman E (2000) Organizing emissions trading: the barrier of domestic permit allocation. Energy Policy 28(9):613–623

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wong CWY, Wong CY, Boon-itt S (2020) Environmental management systems, practices and outcomes: differences in resource allocation between small and large firms. Int J Prod Econ 228:107734

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu XH, Tan L, Guo J et al (2015) A study of allocative efficiency of PM 2.5 emission rights based on a zero sum gains data envelopment model. J Clean Prod 113:1024–1031

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yi PT, Dong QK, Li WW (2019) Evaluation of city sustainability using the deviation maximization method. Sustain Cities Soc 50:101529

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zeng YY, Cao YF, Qiao X et al (2019) Air pollution reduction in China: recent success but great challenge for the future. Sci Total Environ 663:329–337

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang QS, Zhang ZQ, Jin X et al (2019) Entropy-based method for evaluating spatial distribution of form errors for precision assembly. Precis Eng 60:374–382

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao DF, Shang H, Wang YL et al (2018) Evaluation of green growth capacity in national new areas. Chinese Studies 07(03):197–209

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu Y, Zou YF, Zhang YH (2012) Initial allocation of emission rights difficulties and solution strategies. Adv Mater Res 550-553:3413–3419

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Funding

This work is supported by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71473029, 72004019), Natural Foundation of Liaoning Province (2019-ZD-0140), and Social Science Association Project of Liaoning Province (20201s1ktqn-017).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economics and Management, Dalian University of Technology, No.2 Ling Gong Road, Dalian City, 116024, China

    Ying Qu, Yingmin Yuan, Lingling Guo & Yusha Li

Authors
  1. Ying Qu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yingmin Yuan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Lingling Guo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Yusha Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Ying Qu contributed to the conception of the study; Yingmin Yuan performed the data analysis and wrote the manuscript; Lingling Guo helped perform the analysis with constructive discussion; Yusha Li helped collect the data.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Ying Qu or Lingling Guo.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Eyup Dogan

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Qu, Y., Yuan, Y., Guo, L. et al. Initial allocation of SO2 emission rights based on the combination weighting method: evidence from China’s thermal power plants. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 14743–14753 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15745-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15745-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation