Regional differences in the CO2 emissions of China's iron and steel industry: Regional heterogeneity

Identifying the key influencing factors of CO₂ emissions in China's iron and steel industry is vital for mitigating its emissions and formulating effective environmental protection measures. Most of the existing researches utilized time series data to investigate the driving factors of the industry's CO₂ emission at the national level, but regional differences have not been given appropriate attention. This paper adopts provincial panel data from 2000 to 2013 and panel data models to examine the key driving forces of CO₂ emissions at the regional levels in China. The results show that industrialization dominates the industry's CO₂ emissions, but its effect varies across regions. The impact of energy efficiency on CO₂ emissions in the eastern region is greater than in the central and western regions because of a huge difference in R&D investment. The influence of urbanization has significant regional differences due to the heterogeneity in human capital accumulation and real estate development. Energy structure has large potential to mitigate CO₂ emissions on account of increased R&D investment in energy-saving technology and expanded clean energy use. Hence, in order to effectively achieve emission reduction, local governments should consider all these factors as well as regional heterogeneity in formulating appropriate mitigation policies.     

Driving factors of CO2 emissions and inequality characteristics in China: A combined decomposition approach

Decomposition analysis has become a popular tool to study CO₂ emissions and, in this study, we developed a combined decomposition approach to emissions analysis by integrating the logarithmic mean Divisia index and production-theoretical decomposition analysis. Based on this novel approach, we investigated the driving factors of CO₂ emissions in China over the latest Five-Year Plan period (2011–2015) and analyzed the inequality characteristics of such emissions. The results showed that 1) the peak value of CO₂ emissions in China declined over the period; 2) the overall inequality presented a decreasing trend, whereas intragroup inequality presented a slightly increasing trend over the period; and 3) generally, the potential energy intensity effect contributed to the decrease in CO₂ emissions in developed provinces, whereas the potential carbon factor effect accounted for the decrease in CO₂ emissions in less-developed provinces. Based on our empirical results, we recommend that policy-makers consider several factors when implementing CO₂ policies.     

CO2 emissions embodied in China–US trade: Input–output analysis based on the emergy/dollar ratio

To gain insight into changes in CO₂ emissions embodied in China–US trade, an input–output analysis based on the emergy/dollar ratio (EDR) is used to estimate embodied CO₂ emissions; a structural decomposition analysis (SDA) is employed to analyze the driving factors for changes in CO₂ emissions embodied in China's exports to the US during 2002–2007. The results of the input–output analysis show that net export of CO₂ emissions increased quickly from 2002 to 2005 but decreased from 2005 to 2007. These trends are due to a reduction in total CO₂ emission intensity, a decrease in the exchange rate, and small imports of embodied CO₂ emissions. The results of the SDA demonstrate that total export volume was the largest driving factor for the increase in embodied CO₂ emissions during 2002–2007, followed by intermediate input structure. Direct CO₂ emissions intensity had a negative effect on changes in embodied CO₂ emissions. The results suggest that China should establish a framework for allocating emission responsibilities, enhance energy efficiency, and improve intermediate input structure.     

Analysis and decomposition of energy consumption in the Chilean industry

With rising energy costs and climate change concerns, energy efficiency will be important in maintaining competitiveness and reducing the environmental impact of industrial activities. In this paper we study the Chilean industrial sector, which is the largest consumer of energy within the country. Energy demand and CO₂ emissions in Chile have grown rapidly in recent years while energy supply is mostly imported and subject to disruption. Therefore, it is important to understand energy consumption in this sector and determine which sub-sectors have the greatest potential to reduce energy consumption. We used the Index Decomposition Analysis (IDA), applying the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index method I (LMDI-I), to quantify the impact of diverse driving factors on energy consumption. Furthermore, a panel data analysis was used to determine whether there are differences in energy intensity across firms with different characteristics. Our results show that energy intensity has risen over time although energy consumption remains stable. This fact supports the idea that energy efficiency policies could play an important role for the industrial sector. Additionally, energy consumption and energy intensity follow different patterns in each sub-sector; therefore we conclude that the application of differentiated sectoral policies is preferable over a single global policy.     

Multi-regional input–output model for regional energy requirements and CO2 emissions in China

In this study, China is divided into eight economic regions. A multi-regional input–output model for energy requirements and CO₂ emissions in China was established, and employed to perform scenario and sensitivity analysis for each economic region in year 2010 and 2020. Results show that up to year 2020, improvement in energy end-use efficiency for each region could generate intra-regional energy savings. Therefore, continuing efforts should be taken to advance improvements of energy end-use efficiency for each region. At the national level, the effectiveness of inter-regional energy transfers, and efficiency improvements in Central and Northwest regions should be accelerated as much as possible. However, population growth will be an obvious driving force for additional energy requirements and cause greater CO₂ emissions across all regions. This demand will increase with the growth of the economy and improvement in household incomes. Population growth in one region will not only significantly affect energy requirements of the region itself, but also drive up energy requirements of the other regions. During this important period in time when China is making efforts to build a well-rounded society, the basic state policy of family planning should be enforced for each region. Model results indicate that there exists relative error between emissions caused by a region and emissions emitted by that region. Different identification of responsibility will have understandable different impacts on most regions in environmental policy reform.     

Structural decomposition analysis of energy-related CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> emissions in China from 1997 to 2010

The energy-related CO₂ emissions in China have increased dramatically from 3384 to 8333?×?10⁶ t during the last decade. To interpret these drastic changes, we undertake a structural decomposition analysis to decompose the changes in CO₂ emissions from 1997 to 2010 into the following six driving forces: emission coefficient, energy intensity, Leontief, sectoral structure, demand allocation (the shares of consumption, investments, and exports in final demand), and final demand effects. The results show that declines in energy intensity had a decrease impact on CO₂ emissions during the studied period. Changes in the relative importance of intermediate production in total output (the Leontief effect) contributed to decrease CO₂ emissions in the 2000–2002 period and to increase emissions in the other periods. The most important driver behind the steady increase in CO₂ emissions is the large increase in final demand. A further analysis at the sectoral level revealed differences and fluctuations between sectors. Energy intensity fell most strongly in the electric power sector and the coking, gas, and petroleum production sector (two energy-intensive sectors). The shift toward exports and investment increased CO₂ emissions (demand allocation effect). Part of the increases in CO₂ emissions thus stem from production activities for consumption activities elsewhere.     

Identifying the driving forces of national and regional CO2 emissions in China: Based on temporal and spatial decomposition analysis models

This study explores the driving forces of the changes of national and regional CO₂ emissions using temporal decomposition analysis model, and investigates the driving forces of the differences of CO₂ emissions between China's 30 regions and the national average using spatial decomposition analysis model. The changes or the differences in national and regional CO₂ emissions during 2000–2014 are decomposed into nine underlying determinants. Temporal decomposition results show that economic scale effect is the dominant driving force leading to the increases in both national and regional CO₂ emissions, while energy intensity effect is the main contributor to the reduction of CO₂ emissions. Contribution of various variables to CO₂ emissions between eastern region and central region are roughly same. Spatial decomposition results demonstrate that the differences of CO₂ emissions among China's 30 regions are expanding increasingly. Economic scale effect is main driving force responsible for the difference in CO₂ emissions among regions, and energy intensity effect, energy structure effect and industrial structure effect are also important factors which result in the increasing differences in regional CO₂ emissions. In addition, resource-based and less developed regions have greater potential in the reduction of CO₂ emissions. Understanding CO₂ emissions and the driving forces of various regions is critical for developing regional mitigation strategies in China.     

Driving forces behind the stagnancy of China’s energy-related CO2 emissions from 1996 to 1999: the relative importance of structural change,intensity change and scale change

It is noteworthy that income elasticity of energy consumption in China shifted from positive to negative after 1996, accompanied by an unprecedented decline in energy-related CO₂ emissions. This paper therefore investigate the evolution of energy-related CO₂ emissions in China from 1985 to 1999 and the underlying driving forces, using the newly proposed three-level “perfect decomposition” method and provincially aggregated data. The province-based estimates and analyses reveal a “sudden stagnancy” of energy consumption, supply and energy-related CO₂ emissions in China from 1996 to 1999. The speed of a decrease in energy intensity and a slowdown in the growth of average labor productivity of industrial enterprises may have been the dominant contributors to this “stagnancy.” The findings of this paper point to the highest rate of deterioration of state-owned enterprises in early 1996, the industrial restructuring caused by changes in ownership, the shutdown of small-scale power plants, and the introduction of policies to improve energy efficiency as probable factors. Taking into account the characteristics of those key driving forces, we characterize China's decline of energy-related CO₂ emissions as a short-term fluctuation and incline to the likelihood that China will resume an increasing trend from a lower starting point in the near future.     

Driving forces of rapid CO2 emissions growth: A case of Korea

This study aims to investigate Korea's final demand structure and its impacts on CO₂ emissions in order to reduce CO₂ emissions and develop environmental policy directions. Based on the environmentally extended input–output model, this study adopts a two-step approach: (1) to estimate the embodied emissions and their intensities for 393 sectors induced by final demand; and (2) to calculate the driving factors of emission growth between 2003 and 2011 and then evaluate the result by using Structural Decomposition Analysis (SDA). The findings of this study demonstrate that the impact of composition change in export with less embodied emission intensities tends to offset the increase in CO₂ emission by the export scale growth. The relatively low residential electricity price has resulted in the rapid growth of household electricity consumption and significantly contributed to emissions growth. The result of SDA indicates that Korea's final demand behavior yielded high carbonization over the same period. The findings suggest that Korean government should promote exports in industries with less embedded CO₂ in order to protect environments. In addition, emission information of each product and service should be provided for consumers to change their purchase patterns towards contributing to low carbon emissions as active players.     

Evaluating carbon dioxide emissions in international trade of China

China is the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide (CO₂). As exports account for about one-third of China's GDP, the CO₂ emissions are related to not only China's own consumption but also external demand. Using the input–output analysis (IOA), we analyze the embodied CO₂ emissions of China's import and export. Our results show that about 3357 million tons CO₂ emissions were embodied in the exports and the emissions avoided by imports (EAI) were 2333 million tons in 2005. The average contribution to embodied emission factors by electricity generation was over 35%. And that by cement production was about 20%. It implies that the production-based emissions of China are more than the consumption-based emissions, which is evidence that carbon leakage occurs under the current climate policies and international trade rules. In addition to the call for a new global framework to allocate emission responsibilities, China should make great efforts to improve its energy efficiency, carry out electricity pricing reforms and increase renewable energy. In particular, to use advanced technology in cement production will be helpful to China's CO₂ abatement.     

Quantitative analysis of CO2 emissions reductions through introduction of stationary-type PEM-FC systems in Japan

While fuel-cell technology is expected to contribute to mitigating CO₂ emissions in Japan, no quantitative analyses of energy consumption and accompanying CO₂ emissions have been performed. This study analyzes quantitatively the changes in them effected by the penetration of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEM-FC) cogeneration systems in Japan by taking account of the dynamic changes in the power-generation mix. The optimal generation mix model, developed by the Japanese Central Research Institute of the Electric Power Industry, is used for the calculations. The results show decreased and increased cases of CO₂ emissions across the overall energy system, as compared with the reference cases. Key factors influencing these changes are the development of nuclear power, and technical progress in the efficiencies of PEM-FC systems and their operating patterns in the future.     

Factors influencing CO2 emissions in China based on grey relational analysis

The increase of greenhouse gas emissions, especially CO₂ emissions, have caused the global temperature to rise. As a developing country, China has become the largest CO₂ emitter in the world. It is very important and urgent to cut the CO₂ emissions down. In this article, the driving forces that influenced China’s CO₂ emissions from 1995 to 2010 based on grey relational analysis is investigated. It is found that GDP per capita (G), population (P), coal consumption (C), oil consumption (O), natural gas consumption (N), industrial structure (IS), and urbanization (U) play crucial roles in the increase of CO₂ emissions, though they have different impacts on CO₂ emissions. The sequence of the size of the factors’ influence on China’s CO₂ emissions is C > G > O > N > U > P > IS. Some effective recommendations for improving energy efficiency and reducing the CO₂ emissions intensity are proposed.     

CO2 emissions,energy usage,and output in Central America

This study extends the recent work of Ang (2007) [Ang, J.B., 2007. CO₂ emissions, energy consumption, and output in France. Energy Policy 35, 4772–4778] in examining the causal relationship between carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption, and output within a panel vector error correction model for six Central American countries over the period 1971–2004. In long-run equilibrium energy consumption has a positive and statistically significant impact on emissions while real output exhibits the inverted U-shape pattern associated with the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. The short-run dynamics indicate unidirectional causality from energy consumption and real output, respectively, to emissions along with bidirectional causality between energy consumption and real output. In the long-run there appears to be bidirectional causality between energy consumption and emissions.     

CO2 emissions,GDP and energy intensity: A multivariate cointegration and causality analysis for Greece, 1977–2007

This paper deals with the causal relationship analysis between Gross Domestic Product, Energy Intensity and CO₂ emissions in Greece from 1977 to 2007, by means of Johansen cointegration tests and Granger-causality tests based on a multivariate Vector Error Correction Modeling. Results indicate that there is a set of uni-directional and bi-directional causalities among the selected time series. We performed a model Variance Decomposition Analysis using Choleski technique and we provided a comparison with other studies. The findings of the study have significant policy implications for countries like Greece as the decoupling of CO₂ emissions and economic growth seems quite unlikely.     

Modeling carbon emission performance under a new joint production technology with energy input

The nonparametric data envelopment analysis (DEA) methodology has gained much popularity in assessing carbon emission performance within a joint production framework with energy inputs and CO₂ emissions. The majority of existing studies, however, neglected the interlinkage between energy inputs and CO₂ emissions in their analytical frameworks, which may distort the modeling results. To address this issue, we invoked the weak disposability assumption for both (fossil) energy inputs and CO₂ emissions, and developed a new joint production technology that was found in line with the material balance principle and simultaneously allowed for the flexibility of emission abatement options. Built upon the production technology, we developed two indexes to measure carbon emission performance, and proposed a decomposition model to quantify the roles of different options in abating CO₂ emissions. We also applied the proposed models to study the carbon emission performance of the world's top 25 CO₂ emitters. It was found that carbon emission performance varied across different emitters and different abatement options. Energy efficiency improvement and energy structure adjustment were not of equal importance in pursuing the minimum CO₂ emissions.     

Using LMDI method to analyze transport sector CO2 emissions in China

China has been the second CO₂ emitter in the world, while the transportation sector accounts for a major share of CO₂ emissions. Analysis of transportation sector CO₂ emissions is help to decrease CO₂ emissions. Thus the purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential factors influencing the change of transport sector CO₂ emissions in China. First, the transport sector CO₂ emissions over the period 1985–2009 is calculated based on the presented method. Then the presented LMDI (logarithmic mean Divisia index) method is used to find the nature of the factors those influence the changes in transport sector CO₂ emissions. We find that: (1) Transport sector CO₂ emissions has increased from 79.67 Mt in 1985 to 887.34 Mt in 2009, following an annual growth rate of 10.56%. Highways transport is the biggest CO₂ emitter. (2) The per capita economic activity effect and transportation modal shifting effect are found to be primarily responsible for driving transport sector CO₂ emissions growth over the study period. (3) The transportation intensity effect and transportation services share effect are found to be the main drivers of the reduction of CO₂ emissions in China. However, the emission coefficient effect plays a very minor role over the study period.     

Integrating waste and renewable energy to reduce the carbon footprint of locally integrated energy sectors

Energy use continues to rise and with it the emissions of CO₂. Energy efficiency methods have been applied across sectors. Efficiency gains and energy use per manufactured unit have fallen, particularly in relation to the processing industry. Residential, work place, leisure, and service sectors still use large amounts of energy and produce large emissions of CO₂ despite efficiency gains. Successful strategies used in the processing industry for integrating energy systems, namely Total Site targeting, have been applied to locally integrated energy sectors. The method shows that it can be successfully applied to integrate renewables into the energy source mix and consequently reduce the carbon footprint of these locally integrated energy sectors.     

Transport sector CO2 emissions growth in Asia: Underlying factors and policy options

This study analyze the potential factors influencing the growth of transport sector carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in selected Asian countries during the 1980–2005 period by decomposing annual emissions growth into components representing changes in fuel mix, modal shift, per capita gross domestic product (GDP) and population, as well as changes in emission coefficients and transportation energy intensity. We find that changes in per capita GDP, population growth and transportation energy intensity are the main factors driving transport sector CO₂ emission growth in the countries considered. While growth in per capita income and population are responsible for the increasing trend of transport sector CO₂ emissions in China, India, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand; the decline of transportation energy intensity is driving CO₂ emissions down in Mongolia. Per capita GDP, population and transportation energy intensity effects are all found responsible for transport sector CO₂ emissions growth in Bangladesh, the Philippines and Vietnam. The study also reviews existing government policies to limit CO₂ emissions growth, such as fiscal instruments, fuel economy standards and policies to encourage switching to less emission intensive fuels and transportation modes.     

The effects of environmental regulation and technical progress on CO2 Kuznets curve: An evidence from China

Based on environmental Kuznets curve theory, a panel data model which takes environmental regulation and technical progress as its moderating factors was developed to analyse the institutional and technical factors that affect the path of low-carbon economic development. The results indicated that there was a CO₂ emission Kuznets curve seen in China. Environmental regulation had a significant moderating effect on the curve, and the inflection of CO₂ emissions could come substantially earlier under stricter environmental regulation. Meanwhile, the impact of technical progress on the low-carbon economic development path had a longer hysteresis effect but restrained CO₂ emission during its increasing stage and accelerated its downward trend during the decreasing stage which was conducive to emission reduction. Strict environmental regulation could force the high-carbon emitting industries to transfer from the eastern regions to the central or the western regions of China, which would make the CO₂ Kuznets curve higher in its increasing stage and lower in its decreasing stage than that under looser regulation. Furthermore, energy efficiency, energy structure, and industrial structure exerted a significant direct impact on CO₂ emissions; we should consider the above factors as essential in the quest for low-carbon economic development.