China’s steel industry is an energy-intensive sector. Synergistic reduction of emissions of CO₂ and air pollutants (SO₂, NOx, and PM2.5) in the steel industry has an important practical significance for climate change and air pollution control. According to the CO₂ emission reduction intensity targets (CERO) and air pollutant emission targets (PERO) for 2020 and 2030, 28 types of energy-saving and emission reduction technologies (20 types of carbon reduction technology and eight types of air pollution end-of-pipe technology) were selected for examination, and a two-stage dynamic optimization model with collaborative implementation of PERO and CERO was built to assess the near future (2015–2020) and long-term (2020–2030) implementation plans for synergistic emissions reduction of CO₂ and air pollutants. The results show that in the near future, the implementation of PERO will have a greater synergistic effect on CO₂ emission reduction. CO₂ emission reduction under PERO in 2020 will be 97 million tons (Mt) higher than that of CERO, an increase of nearly 26%. However, the effects of implementing CERO are better in the long run. Under CERO, the emission reductions of SO₂, NOx, and PM2.5 in 2030 are 2.44 Mt, 1.47 Mt, and 0.86 Mt, respectively, and 7%, 4%, and 5% higher than the implementation of PERO. As far as marginal abatement cost is concerned, in the near future, the marginal abatement costs of CO₂ and air pollutant equivalents are 1.06 yuan/kgCO₂ and 133 yuan/kg pollution equivalent (pe) under PERO, which are 23% and 11% lower than that of CERO, while in the long run, the marginal abatement costs of CO₂ and pollutant equivalents under CERO are 0.025 yuan/kgCO₂ and 2.73 yuan/kgpe, about 96% and 95% lower than that of PERO.

Climate change has become a global concern, and the development of a green economy has attracted wide attention. Understanding the driving factors and growth potential of provincial-level carbon productivity is crucial for China’s green economic development in the new normal phase. In this study, the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) is adopted to systematically investigate the driving factors of provincial carbon productivity and explore the growth potential of provinces’ carbon productivity based on the clustering analysis. The results show that: (1) China’s provincial carbon productivity presents an increasing trend in 2001–2017, but the differences in carbon productivity among provinces are widening. (2) Economic activity and industrial structure are key to push up regional carbon productivity in China, while energy intensity is the main factor pulling it down. (3) The potential for carbon productivity improvement varies greatly among provinces in the four groups. Specifically, in groups 1 and 2, the developed provinces have little potential for improving carbon productivity, while the developing provinces in group 4 are just the opposite. These findings can enlighten policymakers that the development of a green economy should focus on optimizing and upgrading industrial structure and reducing energy intensity, and provincial heterogeneity must be considered when formulating green economic development policies.

A technology‐resolved bottom‐up model is used to quantify the current state of global anthropogenic methane emissions and the scope for limiting them in a 2030 to 2050 timeframe. Findings show that with current legislation and “middle‐of‐the‐road” developments in global energy and agricultural systems, anthropogenic methane emissions continue on an upward trend in the next decades. With full implementation of current national plans for methane mitigation, emissions will decline between 2020 and 2030, but not enough to meet the Global Methane Pledge target of a joint global reduction by 30%. The pledge target can be met through full implementation of existing technology, with 70% of mitigation potential in the energy sector. Maintaining low methane emissions beyond 2030 also requires investments into improved waste and wastewater systems and measures to control emissions from livestock and rice cultivation, combined with demand‐side measures to phase‐down fossil fuels and shifts to more sustainable consumption patterns.