Characterizing the Embodied Carbon Emissions Flows and Ecological Relationships among Four Chinese Megacities and Other Provinces

Xuecheng Wang, Xu Tang, Zhenhua Feng and Yi Zhang
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Xuecheng Wang: China Academy of Transportation Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
Xu Tang: School of Business Administration, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China
Zhenhua Feng: China Academy of Transportation Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
Yi Zhang: China Academy of Transportation Sciences, Beijing 100029, China

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 9, 1-19

Abstract: China has been undergoing a rapid process of urbanization. The urbanization rate, increased from 35% in 2000 to 59.58% in 2018, and is expected to increase to 70% by 2030. As Chinese cities consumed approximately 77% of China’s total energy and emitted about 81% of all carbon emissions in 2017, it has become increasingly necessary to quantitatively analyze city-level carbon emissions and related issues. The present study adopted single regional and multi-regional input-output (MRIO) models to analyze the features of four Chinese municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing) and calculate their embodied carbon emissions (ECE). In addition, we used ecological relationship concepts to analyze the relationships between those municipalities and other regions based on ECE flows through an ecological network analysis (ENA) model. The results show that all four megacities were net importers of ECE, and their imported ECE typically flowed from nearby geographic regions. In addition, exploitation was the main ecological relationship between these four megacities and China’s other regions. Knowing the detailed data related to ECE, ECE flows and the ecological relationships among these megacities could help policymakers establish more comprehensive environment-related policies, which are crucial for achieving sustainable development targets.

Keywords: city-level embodied carbon emission; embodied carbon emissions flows; ecological network analysis; ecological relationship (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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