The Spatiotemporal Pattern of Decoupling Transport CO 2 Emissions from Economic Growth across 30 Provinces in China

Ji Zheng, Yingjie Hu, Suocheng Dong and Yu Li
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Ji Zheng: Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Yingjie Hu: College of Land Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Suocheng Dong: Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Yu Li: Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 9, 1-18

Abstract: Since 2005, China has become the largest emitter of CO 2 . The transport sector is a major source of CO 2 emissions, and the most rapidly growing sector in terms of fuel consumption and CO 2 emissions in China. This paper estimated CO 2 emissions in the transport sector across 30 provinces through the IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) top-down method and identified the spatiotemporal pattern of the decoupling of transport CO 2 emissions from economic growth during 1995 to 2016 by the modified Tapio’s decoupling model. The CO 2 emissions in the transport sector increased from 103.10 million ton (Mt) in 1995 to 701.04 Mt in 2016. The year, 2005, was a turning point as the growth rate of transport CO 2 emissions and the intensity of transport CO 2 emissions declined. The spatial pattern of transport CO 2 emissions and its decoupling status both exhibited an east-west differentiation. Nearly 80% of the provinces recently achieved decoupling, and absolute decoupling is beginning to take place. The local practices of Tianjin should be the subject of special attention. National carbon reduction policies have played a significant role in achieving a transition to low-carbon emissions in the Chinese transport sector, and the integration of multi-scale transport CO 2 reduction policies will be promising for its decarbonisation.

Keywords: climate change; indicator of decoupling; negative environmental externalities of the transport sector; transition to low carbon economy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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