Green Finance, Chemical Fertilizer Use and Carbon Emissions from Agricultural Production

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The article entitled “Structural change in population and land circulation in China: An evaluation of policy impact on land production” has been written very well and according to the scope of the journal. I would recommend Major Revision based on the quality of research.

Main concerns are:

1. The abstract should start from the main objectives of the paper and then maybe can write the methods used and data collection.
2. I suggest to do not using too long sentences in the abstract. You have to break it down into short sentences while keeping the same meaning.
3. Write down the core policy related to this topic at the end of the abstract.
4. It is better to write the section of data and index within the methodology section.
5. I recommend modifying add a sentence after the first line of the third paragraph in the introduction, as:

Reducing carbon emissions from agricultural production is an effective path and aspect to reduce total carbon emissions in the future, and has an important impact on mitigating climate change (Veelen, 2021). The adoption of energy-saving and renewable technology is one of the solutions to mitigate environmental emissions of agriculture [1-2]. The production and planting of green agriculture….

[1] Understanding farmers’ intention and willingness to install renewable energy technology: A solution to reduce the environmental emissions of agriculture. Volume 309, 1 March 2022, 118459. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2021.118459. Applied Energy.

[2] Application of an artificial neural network to optimise energy inputs: An energy- and cost-saving strategy for commercial poultry farms, Energy (2022), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2022.123169.

6. With the increase of measures taken by countries to cope with global climate change, green finance has gradually attracted attention and become a new research focus of scholars. This statement has been written without justification. Therefore, I would recommend modifying as: “With the increase of measures taken by countries to cope with global climate change, green finance has gradually attracted attention and become a new research focus of scholars [3].

[3] Does the green credit policy affect the scale of corporate debt financing? Evidence from listed companies in heavy pollution industries in China. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15587-7

7. There is no need to write the structure of the article at the end of the introduction, as the article is already lengthy.

8. In table 2, particularly in the first column, the words should start with a capital letter.

9. kg/kg ? that is not logical. According to a rule of mathematics, the effects of both kgs should cancel out. You have to explain it or you may change it in a better way.

10. Line 375, you may modify the sentence as “Where ?? is the independent identically distributed (iid) error term with zero mean 375 and covariance….

11. Authors should have to write the limitations of the study and recommendations for future study at the end of the conclusion section.

Author Response

First of all, we would like to thank Reviewer 1 for reading our article and for your valuable comments. Below is our response to all comments made.

Point 1: The abstract should start from the main objectives of the paper and then maybe can write the methods used and data collection.

Response 1: The abstract of the paper is a short statement without comments and comments on the content of the paper, mainly explaining the purpose of the research work, research methods and final conclusions, etc. The goal of the paper is the starting point and research direction of a research, which is very important, so it is entirely reasonable for the reviewer to ask that the abstract of this paper begin with the main objective, which is indeed missing from the original abstract. Therefore, we add a sentence at the beginning of the paragraph:“ This study aimed to understand green finance’s impact on fertilizer use and agricultural carbon emissions.”

Point 2: I suggest to do not using too long sentences in the abstract. You have to break it down into short sentences while keeping the same meaning.

Response 2: The use of short sentences can make the structure of the abstract simple, the meaning of the sentence is clear, concise and concise, therefore, we accept the reviewer's suggestion to break down the long sentences of the abstract as much as possible without changing the meaning for sentence break. Modify the overall language expression of the abstract as follows:

This study aimed to understand green finance’s impact on fertilizer use and agricultural carbon emissions. We selected the macro panel data of 30 provinces (cities) in China from 2000 to 2019. The main research methods are standardized test framework (cross-sectional dependence, unit root and cointegration test), the latest causal test, impulse response and variance decomposition analysis. Examined the long-term equilibrium relationship between green finance, fertilizer use, and agricultural carbon emissions. The results show: fertilizer consumption and agricultural carbon emissions have positive correlation. however, green finance can significantly reduce agricultural carbon emissions. The causal test confirmed the bidirectional causal relationship between agricultural carbon emissions and fertilizer use. At the same time, verified one-way causality from green finance to both of them. Interpret the results of impulse response and variance decomposition analysis: among the changes in agricultural carbon emissions, chemical fertilizers contributed 2.45%, green finance contributed 4.34%. In addition, the contribution rate of green finance to chemical fertilizer changes reached 11.37%. Green finance will make a huge contribution to reducing fertilizer use and agricultural carbon emissions within a decade. The research conclusions provide an important scientific basis for my country's provinces (cities) to formulate carbon emission reduction policies.

Point 3: Write down the core policy related to this topic at the end of the abstract.

Response 3: The ultimate goal of this study is to provide inspiration and basis for the carbon reduction policies of various provinces and cities in the country. At present, the core policies related to this topic should be mentioned. We add the statement of relevant policies at the end of the abstract: My country has initially formed a policy system and market environment to support the development of green finance, in 2020, the "dual carbon" goal was formally proposed. In 2021, the national "14th Five-Year Plan" and the 2035 Vision Goals emphasized the importance of green finance. It plays an important supporting role in carbon emission reduction goals, and green fi-nance has become an important pillar of national strategic goals.

Point 4: It is better to write the section of data and index within the methodology section.

Response 4: We followed the reviewer's suggestion to place the Data and Index section into the Methods section as one of the categories.

Point 5: I recommend modifying add a sentence after the first line of the third paragraph in the introduction, as:

Reducing carbon emissions from agricultural production is an effective path and aspect to reduce total carbon emissions in the future, and has an important impact on mitigating climate change (Veelen, 2021). The adoption of energy-saving and renewable technology is one of the solutions to mitigate environmental emissions of agriculture [1-2]. The production and planting of green agriculture….

[1] Understanding farmers’ intention and willingness to install renewable energy technology: A solution to reduce the environmental emissions of agriculture. Volume 309, 1 March 2022, 118459. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2021.118459. Applied Energy.

[2] Application of an artificial neural network to optimise energy inputs: An energy- and cost-saving strategy for commercial poultry farms, Energy (2022), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2022.123169.

Response 5: add “The adoption of energy-saving and renewable technology is one of the solutions to mitigate environmental emissions of agriculture (Elahi et al., 2022).”the sentence after the first line of the third paragraph in the introduction, makes the logic is smoother and the transition between the front and back is tighter, and we added it according to the suggestion in the original text.

[1] Understanding farmers’ intention and willingness to install renewable energy technology: A solution to reduce the environmental emissions of agriculture. Volume 309, 1 March 2022, 118459. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2021.118459. Applied Energy.

[2] Application of an artificial neural network to optimise energy inputs: An energy- and cost-saving strategy for commercial poultry farms, Energy (2022), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2022.123169.

Point 6: With the increase of measures taken by countries to cope with global climate change, green finance has gradually attracted attention and become a new research focus of scholars. This statement has been written without justification. Therefore, I would recommend modifying as: “With the increase of measures taken by countries to cope with global climate change, green finance has gradually attracted attention and become a new research focus of scholars [3].

[3] Does the green credit policy affect the scale of corporate debt financing? Evidence from listed companies in heavy pollution industries in China. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15587-7

Response 6: The expression in the original text “With the increase of measures taken by countries to cope with global climate change, green finance has gradually attracted attention and become a new research focus of scholars.” lacks literature support. We have added it to the article. Supported by literature, revised to: “With the increase of measures taken by countries to cope with global climate change, green finance has gradually attracted attention and become a new research focus of scholars (Peng et al., 2021).”

[1] Peng B, Yan W, Elahi E, et al. Does the green credit policy affect the scale of corporate debt financing? Evidence from listed companies in heavy pollution industries in China[J]. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2021:1-13.

Point 7: There is no need to write the structure of the article at the end of the introduction, as the article is already lengthy.

Response 7: In view of the clarity of the subsequent structure of the article and the length of the article, delete the introduction to the structure of the article in the last paragraph of the introduction.

Point 8: In table 2, particularly in the first column, the words should start with a capital letter.

Response 8: We have changed all the words in the first column of Table 2 to start with capital letters in the original text.

Point 9: kg/kg? that is not logical. According to a rule of mathematics, the effects of both kgs should cancel out. You have to explain it or you may change it in a better way.

Response 9: Add a note on kg/kg below Table 2: kg/kg means that for each additional kilogram of carbon source used, the increase in carbon emission is the value corresponding to the carbon emission coefficient, and the unit is kg. Taking fertilizer as an example, For every additional kilogram of fertilizer use, carbon emissions increase by 0.8956.

Point 10: Line 375, you may modify the sentence as “Where ?? is the independent identically distributed (iid) error term with zero mean 375 and covariance….

Response 10: Change "Where ?? is the independent identically distributed (iid) error term with zero mean and covariance matrix" on line 375 to "Where ?? is the independent identically distributed (iid) error term with 0 mean and 0 covariance matrix"

Point 11: Authors should have to write the limitations of the study and recommendations for future study at the end of the conclusion section.

Response 11: Added limitations of this study and suggestions for future research at the end of the article. details as follows:

The research of this paper has made innovations on the basis of predecessors, focusing on the important problem existing in agricultural production - carbon emission, but there are also some limitations: the transmission of "green finance - reducing fertilizer use - agricultural carbon emission reduction" process research is not systematic enough; in addition, The economic development levels of different provinces and cities in my country are different, and there are differences in agricultural production. The impact of green finance on different regions is also different. The differences in the impact of green finance on agricultural carbon emissions in different regions have not been fully studied in the article. It is suggested that future research can focus on the multi-level, wide-coverage and sustainable green carbon reduction road, refine the policy requirements for energy conservation and emission reduction, and implement differentiated management according to local conditions.                                                               

Reviewer 2 Report

The topic of the paper refers to a very important issue, as the GHG emissions from agriculture have already high share in global GHG emission, which is expected,  regarding the relatively high cost of its mitigation comparing other sectors, and the necessity of food production, to increase in the future.
A small drawback of the paper is that it is overwhelmed by quantitative analysis and rich statistical methodology documentation, while the merit is explained very synthetically. Thus it could be questioned if the title, especially "carbon neutrality in China" is adequate, as the authors did not analyze the mitigation path towards climate neutrality. Actually, the absolute GHG emission is not presented, so the "carbon neutrality" seems to be a slight exaggeration.
In the data and index, part authors discussed neither selection of observed variables (Table 1) nor levels of index determinants. It seems that it might have an impact on the results. Assumption of fixed "carbon emission" factors (whatever it is - usually the co2 equivalent is used as a unit of emission, but here there is no information on what is actually measured/analyzed as a carbon emission) for estimating carbon emission, might influence model results. 
In this context, the conclusion that fertilizers do influence the emissions seems to be quite obvious as the authors assumed the fixed emission ratio from 1 kg of used fertilizers.
Indexes presented in table 2 raise some doubts, e.g. is the calculating (using different sources, thus different methods) separately emission from diesel fuel and emission from the cultivation of the land double counting (tractors do use diesel fuel while cultivating land).
In case the carbon emission (Table 1) coefficients are given no CO2e/kg it seems that the value of diesel oil seems to be doubtful. The emission factor for diesel fuel is around 3kg Co2e/kg fuel (CO2 Emission Factors for Fossil Fuels (umweltbundesamt.de) page 34). 
What is even of greatest importance it is not mentioned which GHG emission is considered production of the inputs, using them, or their disposal.
Besides the composition of fertilizers is not given. Nitrogen fertilizers cause much greater emissions both at the production and use on the field than e.g. potassium fertilizers.

IT is worth noticing that authors describe and use a number of statistical tools. A large part of the text is devoted to presenting detailed descriptions of different statistical measures while basic doubts regarding data used (which might strongly influence the results ) are a bit neglected.

Author Response

First of all, we would like to thank Reviewer 2 for reading our article and for your valuable comments. Below is our response to all comments made.

Point 1: The topic of the paper refers to a very important issue, as the GHG emissions from agriculture have already high share in global GHG emission, which is expected,  regarding the relatively high cost of its mitigation comparing other sectors, and the necessity of food production, to increase in the future.
A small drawback of the paper is that it is overwhelmed by quantitative analysis and rich statistical methodology documentation, while the merit is explained very synthetically. Thus it could be questioned if the title, especially "carbon neutrality in China" is adequate, as the authors did not analyze the mitigation path towards climate neutrality. Actually, the absolute GHG emission is not presented, so the "carbon neutrality" seems to be a slight exaggeration.

Response 1: Nowadays, more and more attention has been paid to the issue of carbon emissions in agricultural production. China is a big agricultural country, and a large part of greenhouse gas emissions come from agricultural production. One of the focuses of this article is to study carbon emission reduction in agricultural production so as to provide mitigation ways for China's carbon neutralization. However, there are relatively few ways to mitigate carbon neutralization provided in the article, so it is really inappropriate to put carbon neutralization in the title. We strongly agree with the reviewers' opinions and make the following amendments: delete a way for carbon in the title.

Point 2: In the data and index, part authors discussed neither selection of observed variables (Table 1) nor levels of index determinants. It seems that it might have an impact on the results.

Response 2: In this study, the narrow sense of agricultural production and planting is the research object. When choosing carbon source variables, we consider the factors that may lead to carbon emissions in the process of agricultural production activities, such as chemical fertilizers, pesticides, agricultural plastic films, agricultural diesel oil, agricultural-cultural cultivation and agricultural reclamation. The above variables are all input factors in agricultural production, and their levels of index determinants are their involvement behavior and respective inputs. The reviewers' comments are very pertinent, and we added the following above Table 1: This study focuses on agricultural production and planting in a narrow sense. When considering the factors that may lead to carbon emissions in the process of agricultural production activities, we pay more attention to carbon emissions caused by input factors.

Point 3: Assumption of fixed "carbon emission" factors (whatever it is - usually the co2 equivalent is used as a unit of emission, but here there is no information on what is actually measured/analyzed as a carbon emission) for estimating carbon emission, might influence model results. In this context, the conclusion that fertilizers do influence the emissions seems to be quite obvious as the authors assumed the fixed emission ratio from 1 kg of used fertilizers.

Response 3: We accept the reviewer's suggestion that the sources of carbon sources and carbon emission coefficients in this paper are all the research conclusions of official research institutes, institutions and predecessors. The unit of carbon dioxide emission is kilogram, and the calculation method of carbon emission adopts the emission coefficient method, that is, carbon emission equals to carbon source consumption multiplied by the corresponding carbon emission coefficient. In the calculation of total carbon emissions, the emission data of each carbon source is obtained by multiplying the usage of land input elements measured by China Rural Statistical Yearbook with the carbon emission coefficient corresponding to each element. We added the following at the bottom of Table 1: The carbon emission calculation method adopts the emission coefficient method, that is, the carbon emission is equal to the carbon source consumption multiplied by the corresponding carbon emission coefficient.

Point 4: Indexes presented in table 2 raise some doubts, e.g. is the calculating (using different sources, thus different methods) separately emission from diesel fuel and emission from the cultivation of the land double counting (tractors do use diesel fuel while cultivating land).

Response 4: The reviewers' opinions are very detailed, and this question is also very valuable. In this paper, the sources of carbon emission coefficients of agricultural diesel oil and agricultural cultivation are authoritative. As for the statistical problem of the concept of tillage process, it may not involve the use of machinery or account for a very small proportion. Therefore, the double calculation between them accounts for a very small proportion, which we ignore here, and we have made the following supplements at the bottom of Table 2 in this paper: Among the above carbon sources, the statistical problem of the concept of agricultural ploughing process may not involve the use of machinery, or the proportion is extremely small, so the double calculation between agricultural diesel oil and agricultural cultivation is ignored here.

Point 5: In case the carbon emission (Table 1) coefficients are given no CO2e/kg it seems that the value of diesel oil seems to be doubtful. The emission factor for diesel fuel is around 3kg Co2e/kg fuel (CO2 Emission Factors for Fossil Fuels (umweltbundesamt.de) page 34). 
What is even of greatest importance it is not mentioned which GHG emission is considered production of the inputs, using them, or their disposal.
Besides the composition of fertilizers is not given. Nitrogen fertilizers cause much greater emissions both at the production and use on the field than e.g. potassium fertilizers.

Response 5: In this paper, the unit of carbon dioxide emission is kilogram, and the carbon emission coefficient of diesel oil in this paper refers to the carbon emission coefficient of agricultural diesel oil, which comes from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC. All other greenhouse gases have been converted into carbon dioxide emissions in all reference carbon emission factors. In this article, all GHG emission is considered production of the inputs. The source of all the above agricultural input data is China Rural Statistical Yearbook.In addition, the composition of fertilizers is a compound fertilizer, which contains nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. We quite agree with the reviewers' opinions, and have made corresponding changes in the text. The following additions have been made at the bottom of Table 1: All GHG emission is considered production of the inputs. The unit in the second column, the former is the carbon dioxide emission unit kg, and the latter is the calculation unit of each carbon source. The following additions have been made above Table 1: The composition of fertilizers is a compound fertilizer, which contains nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

Point 6: IT is worth noticing that authors describe and use a number of statistical tools. A large part of the text is devoted to presenting detailed descriptions of different statistical measures while basic doubts regarding data used (which might strongly influence the results ) are a bit neglected.

Response 6: In this paper, we use the complete VAR modeling and its extended application, and use rich empirical methods to conduct multi-party tests. The data sources and references are all official authoritative data. Although the data only ends in 2019, the reliability of the conclusion can be guaranteed, and the opinions put forward by reviewers are very reasonable. We add the following after the conclusion of the article: Based on abundant empirical methods, the results are remarkable. Although the data only ends in 2019, the data in recent two years have not been reflected, but the research conclusion is reliable.

Reviewer 3 Report

Dear Editor, Dear Authors
The article submitted for review falls within the domain of the journal.
It concerns a very important issue that we encounter in agricultural production, i.e., the use of chemical fertilizers and CO2 emission. 
The authors have approached the problem very professionally and broadly (30 province, 2000-2019). The aim and scope of the work was formulated correctly, clearly and legibly.
Very good literature review, based on the latest scientific reports.
Methodology does not raise objections, as well as description of used statistical methods. It is evident that the authors are specialists in this field.
Presented research results and formulated conclusions are the answer to the aim of the work. I think that the work is very good and should be published in the existing format.

Author Response

Point: Dear Editor, Dear Authors
The article submitted for review falls within the domain of the journal.
It concerns a very important issue that we encounter in agricultural production, i.e., the use of chemical fertilizers and CO2 emission. 
The authors have approached the problem very professionally and broadly (30 province, 2000-2019). The aim and scope of the work was formulated correctly, clearly and legibly.
Very good literature review, based on the latest scientific reports.
Methodology does not raise objections, as well as description of used statistical methods. It is evident that the authors are specialists in this field.
Presented research results and formulated conclusions are the answer to the aim of the work. I think that the work is very good and should be published in the existing format.

Response: We are very grateful to Reviewer 3 for reading and accepting our article, and we will continue to work hard to do our best.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

This is the second time that I am reviewing the article entitled “The article entitled “Green finance, chemical fertilizer use and carbon emissions from agricultural production”.

The authors have done a great job by addressing all the previous comments; however, I cannot find a few references in the main text of the manuscript.

Particularly, these are the following studies that are provided in the Reference section but not provided in the main text of the manuscript.

2. Application of an artificial neural network to optimise energy inputs: An energy- and cost-saving strategy for commercial poul-570 try farms, Energy (2022), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2022.123169.
3. Understanding farmers’ intention and willingness to install renewable energy technology: A solution to reduce the environ-663 mental emissions of agriculture. Volume 309, 1 March 2022, 118459. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2021.118459. Applied 664 Energy.

I highly recommend to the authors please cross-check the above studies. The included studies in the Reference section should also be cited in the main text of the manuscript.

You have not provided the names of authors with their studies (studies number 2 and 50). Please cross-check these studies (2 and 50) in the reference section.

You must have to modify the third paragraph of the introduction as

“Reducing carbon emissions from agricultural production is an effective path and aspect to reduce total carbon emissions in the future, and has an important impact on mitigating climate change (Veelen, 2021). Climate change has negative impact on crops (Elahi et al. 2021). Therefore, the adoption of energy-saving and renewable technology is one of the solutions to mitigate environmental emissions of agriculture (Elahi etal., 2022a; Elahi et al. 2022b)”

Ehsan Elahi, Zainab Khalid, Muhammad Zubair Tauni, Hongxia Zhang, Xing Lirong. 2021. Extreme weather events risk to crop-production and the adaptation of innovative management strategies to mitigate the risk: A retrospective survey of rural Punjab, Pakistan. Technovation. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2021.102255.

Author Response

First of all, we would like to thank Reviewer 1 for reading our article again and for your valuable comments. Below is our response to all comments made.

Point 1: I cannot find a few references in the main text of the manuscript.

Particularly, these are the following studies that are provided in the Reference section but not provided in the main text of the manuscript.

2. Application of an artificial neural network to optimize energy inputs: An energy- and cost-saving strategy for commercial poul-570 try farms, Energy (2022), doi: https://doi.org/10.101 6/j.energy.2022.123169.
3. Understanding farmers' intention and willingness to install renewable energy technology: A solution to reduce the environ-663 mental emissions of agriculture. Volume 309, 1 March 2022, 118459. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.apenergy.2021.118459. Applied 664 Energy.

I highly recommend to the authors please cross-check the above studies. The included studies in the Reference section should also be cited in the main text of the manuscript.

You have not provided the names of authors with their studies (studies number 2 and 50). Please cross-check these studies (2 and 50) in the reference section.

Response 1: We very much agree with the reviewer's suggestion. The two documents mentioned in the suggestion have been quoted in lines 72 and 73 of the article. The format of the previous reference part is wrong, and we have made the following amendments:

3.Elahi, E., Zhixin, Z., Khalid, Z., & Xu, H. (2022). Application of an artificial neural network to optimise energy inputs: An energy-and cost-saving strategy for commercial poultry farms. 

Energy, 123169.

4.Elahi, E., Khalid, Z., & Zhang, Z. (2022). Understanding farmers’ intention and willingness to install renewable energy 
technology: A solution to reduce the environmental emissions of agriculture. Applied Energy, 309, 118459.

Point 2: You must have to modify the third paragraph of the introduction as “Reducing carbon emissions from agricultural production is an effective path and aspect to reduce total carbon emissions in the future, and has an important impact on mitigating climate change (Veelen, 2021). Climate change has negative impact on crops (Elahi et al. 2021). Therefore, the adoption of energy-saving and renewable technology is one of the solutions to mitigate environmental emissions of agriculture (Elahi et al., 2022a; Elahi et al. 2022b)”

Ehsan Elahi, Zainab Khalid, Muhammad Zubair Tauni, Hongxia Zhang, Xing Lirong. 2021. Extreme weather events risk to crop-production and the adaptation of innovative management strategies to mitigate the risk: A retrospective survey of rural Punjab, Pakistan. Technovation. https://doi.org/10.101 6/j.technovation.2021.102255.

Response 2: We very much agree with the reviewer's suggestion. We added the following words after the first sentence of the third paragraph of the introduction: Climate change has negative impact on crops (Elahi et al. 2021). Therefore, And added the following reference:

2.Elahi, E., Khalid, Z., Tauni, M. Z., Zhang, H., & Lirong, X. (2021). Extreme weather events risk to crop-production and the adaptation of innovative management strategies to mitigate the risk: A retrospective survey of rural Punjab, Pakistan. Technovation, 102255.