Research on the Impact of Enterprise ESG Ratings on Carbon Emissions from a Spatial Perspective

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The authors' article is devoted to an important and topical issue related to assessing the impact of enterprise ratings on carbon dioxide emissions.

At the moment, the issue of combating climate change and its negative consequences is becoming increasingly urgent in the world community. A key element in the near future will be integrated carbon capture, utilization and storage technology. It can serve two purposes: preventing new carbon dioxide emissions from entering the atmosphere and removing existing emissions. Sustainable development issues are directly related to the widespread use of clean energy and the modernization of the mining and fracking industry. The question of the ecology of production and the content of greenhouse gases during mining is increasingly being raised.

One of the key aspects of sustainable development is the assessment of the impact of mining enterprises on the environment, namely the assessment of the carbon footprint - an indicator that becomes an integral part of the economic model associated with the issuance of “green” certificates for the production of goods, as well as with the payment of a “carbon tax”. In the near future, in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a carbon tax will be introduced, which will greatly affect the activities of large mining and processing enterprises. At the moment, companies are actively pursuing environmental policies, the methods of which include the introduction of technologies based on renewable energy sources, the removal of old equipment, the use of more innovative ones, etc. The development of such projects allows us to gradually reduce damage to the environment. The key point in mastering technology is the disposal and use of carbon dioxide. Long-term storage of large volumes of carbon dioxide in slurry storage facilities or in closed containers like natural gas is impractical due to the low chemical activity of the gas and high parameters for liquefying carbon dioxide. Therefore, at the moment it is necessary to develop the concept of geological repositories. The use of carbon dioxide involves industrial applications in various industries. But the required volumes are not comparable with the volumes of emissions.

The results obtained in this work will be useful for the analysis of specialists in this field. 

However, there are the following issues that should be clarified: 

1. The introduction should provide a more complete introduction to the carbon footprint analysis of the mining industry, which is a comprehensive approach to measuring and estimating the amount of greenhouse gases released during the extraction and processing of minerals. This type of analysis covers not only direct emissions, but also indirect emissions associated with the production of electricity, heat, as well as raw materials and components used at various stages of the technological chain. This differentiated approach allows us to gain a complete understanding of the impact of the mining industry on the environment, so we could additionally consider articles from scientists from different regions of the world (not only from China) involved in analyzing the carbon footprint of the mining industry.

2. In the introductory part of the article, it would be possible to present a diagram of carbon dioxide emissions in different regions of the world in recent years and present projected values for the future period of time. 

3. The article should include sections: “Materials and methods” and “Discussion”. 

4. Was the method of expert assessments and cluster analysis used to determine the main indicators characterizing carbon dioxide emissions (section “2.2.1. Variable Declaration”) or was

only a literature review carried out when determining the indicators? Perhaps not all important factors have been taken into account.

5. It should be explained how the linear interpolation method was used (section “2.2.2. Data Ource”). In recent years, machine learning methods, based, in particular, on the use of neural networks, are increasingly used to solve similar problems.

6. It is necessary to explain what software was used to process the experimental data.

7. Based on the results of the correlation and regression analysis, specific mathematical models should be presented that allow for calculation and forecasting of the amount of carbon dioxide emissions depending on the factors under consideration. 

8. It is interesting to check the data obtained (Table 10) with similar results obtained in other countries. This will significantly increase the practical significance of the research and obtain a corresponding patent for the developed method.

9. The list of references should include links to articles by scientists from different regions of the world, emphasizing the geography of similar research.

10. The conclusions should focus on the prospects for further research on the presented topics.

Author Response

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Reviewer 2 Report

The paper requires deep correction before publishing.

1. The abstract should be enhanced with more results and Numbers.

2. The introduction section requires improvements. What is the research gap? What are the research questions and hypothesis. We can not see the value added of the paper. The literature review section is missing. After carrefour reading and presenting literature review and research gap the aim and questions must be presented. The reader. Is not presented the context of the research. Finał the description How the paper is organised must be presented.

2. The research design is presented well. However we do not see the description of variables in data section.

3. The paper has not the discussion section. After presenting results the Authors of the paper should present discussion of own results with other Authors and literature. Only by discussion the added value to existing findings can be presented.

4. Finally the number of literature is too short and important positions are missing.

English is good but some correction is needed.

Author Response

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Reviewer 3 Report

‘Research on’ – remove from the manuscript title. ESG, SDM, etc. must be written first in full. "twenty" – why in quotes? The paper does not follow the journal’s in-text citation style by using superscripts. Yang Lisha, Wu Jiannan, Ren Yayun, etc. – remove first name. ‘Scholars have conducted a relatively comprehensive study on carbon emissions, mostly starting from urban data to build indicators for research, and relatively lacking the perspective of combining enterprise data and urban data’ – what specific scholars? ‘The ESG Development Report of China's Listed Companies, compiled by China Association of Listed Companies and China Securities Index Co., Ltd. in 2022, points out that the asset management scale of global ESG funds has increased from 128 million US dollars in 2019 to 2.74 trillion yuan by the end of 2021’ – missing source. ‘At the same time, it studies’ – what does ‘it’ stand for? ‘tion, Green financing and green economic’ – why initial capitalization? ‘. In this environment, investors will preferentially choose companies that perform well in the ESG field for investment, and this pressure forces companies to focus more on reducing carbon emissions to meet the expectations of investors and the market’ – needs substantiation. More comparisons with other sources in terms of research results are needed. The reference list is not properly edited.

Author Response

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Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The authors responded to my comments. However, in your work you mainly refer to the work of Chinese scientists. The use of works by scientists from other regions of the world should be increased. But overall this is not a significant remark and the article is well-edited

Author Response

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Reviewer 2 Report

The authors mage efforts and improved the paper. However, the numbers of cited literature is not seen in the paper.

Small English language correction is needed.

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Reviewer 3 Report

'4. Conclusion and Discussion' should be distinct sections, with Discussion first.

Author Response

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