Abstract
The copper industry is a basic raw material
industry, and it is also the metals with high energy consumption in production.
Exploring the pathway of energy saving and emission reduction in the copper
industry will help China to achieve its emission reduction commitments under
the Paris Agreement. The Grey Verhulst model was used to predict copper
industry production and the NSGA-II algorithm and TOPSIS method were used to
determine the optimal penetration rate of low-carbon technologies under
different scenarios. The abatement potential and cost of eight low-carbon
technologies from 2020 to 2035 were measured for different decision
preferences. The results of the study indicate that: 1) China's copper industry
production shows S-shaped trend and is close to peak production by 2035; 2) by
2035, the abatement potential and costs of the spin-floating copper smelting
and energy-saving technology (B3) and the crude copper auto-redox refining
technology (B2) are both highly advantageous and should be promoted; 3) by
2035, eight low carbon technologies are able to achieve a total emission
reduction of 9.134 million tons at a total abatement cost of 900 million CNY
under the systematic decision making scenario, resulting in a 23% reduction in
emissions.
JEL classification numbers: O30, O31, O32, O33.
Keywords: Low carbon technology, Abatement potential, Abatement cost,
NSGA-II algorithm.