Improved forest management (IFM) offset programs reward landowners for the additional carbon sequestered by adjusting forest management practices, but the credibility of the credits issued hinges on how the counterfactual baseline is set. Static baselines fixed at project initiation cannot reflect ex-post changes in regional forest dynamics, making it difficult to distinguish project-driven sequestration from broader trends. This study develops a dynamic ex-post baseline framework that updates regional reference conditions over time using a difference-in-differences design and applies it to IFM projects in California’s Compliance Offset Program. The results show that static baselines tend to systematically over-credit projects, whereas the dynamic baseline approach better aligns issued credits with the actual additional sequestration generated, offering a practical pathway to enhance the environmental integrity of forest-based offset programs and informing the design of similar mechanisms in other jurisdictions, including China.

Compliance-linked carbon offset programs play an important role in expanding the scope of mitigation under emissions trading systems while engaging non-covered sectors. This study provides a comparative review of two such programs—the renewed China Certified Emission Reduction (CCER) scheme and California’s Compliance Offset Program—covering institutional design, methodology development, project eligibility, quantification approaches, integrity safeguards, and linkages with their parent emissions trading systems. Drawing on documentary analysis and program data, the study identifies areas of convergence and divergence and discusses the implications for credibility, additionality, and policy effectiveness. The comparison offers lessons for the further development of compliance-linked offsets in China and similar jurisdictions.

The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence and data-center workloads is driving an unprecedented surge in electricity demand. This study explores the potential of large-scale desert solar power systems to supply clean, reliable, and affordable electricity to support the AI era. Combining renewable-resource assessment, transmission feasibility analysis, and a scenario-based modeling framework, we examine the techno-economic and environmental performance of integrating desert-based generation with high-voltage transmission corridors to power AI infrastructure. The analysis highlights both the strategic value and the operational and equity-related challenges of this pathway, and outlines policy and planning considerations for governments and industry.

Achieving net-zero emissions across global power systems requires an integrated planning framework that jointly considers generation, transmission, storage, and demand-side flexibility under deep decarbonization constraints. This study develops such an integrated planning model and applies it across major regions to identify least-cost pathways toward fully decarbonized power systems. The results highlight the central role of renewable expansion combined with cross-regional transmission, long-duration storage, and flexible demand. The analysis offers actionable insights for policymakers designing power-sector decarbonization strategies that are technically feasible, economically efficient, and equitable.

China launched its national emissions trading system (ETS) in 2021, establishing the world’s largest carbon market by covered emissions. This overview traces the development of China’s national carbon market from pilot programs to the national scheme, summarizing key design choices including its rate-based cap, sectoral coverage, allowance allocation, monitoring, reporting and verification, and offset linkage. It also documents recent progress on auctioning, market stability mechanisms, sectoral expansion, and the renewed China Certified Emission Reduction (CCER) scheme. Drawing on policy documents and market data, the paper discusses the program’s contribution to China’s dual-carbon goals and the challenges and opportunities for its further development.