Analysis of the Characteristics and Driving Mechanisms of Carbon Emission Decoupling in the Hu-Bao-O-Yu City Cluster under the “Double Carbon” Target

Mengting Zhou, Jingran Yang, Xuanwei Ning, Chengliang Wu and Yang Zhang ()
Additional contact information
Mengting Zhou: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100107, China
Jingran Yang: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100107, China
Xuanwei Ning: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100107, China
Chengliang Wu: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100107, China
Yang Zhang: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100107, China

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 17, 1-18

Abstract: The Hu-Bao-O-Yu urban area is a major source of carbon emissions in China. It is also a major source of energy exports and high-end chemicals in China. Reaching peak carbon emissions early is especially important for meeting the national peak goal. For urban areas that rely on natural resources, we need to make it clearer how carbon emissions and economic growth affect each other and slowly break the strong link between the two. Therefore, in this paper, based on the data on carbon emissions, the decoupling state and the driving mechanism of carbon emissions in the Hu-Bao-O-Yu City group are researched by using the Tapio decoupling model and GDIM method. A new decoupling index model is constructed by combining GDIM and the traditional decoupling model. The main findings are as follows: (1) The Hu-Bao-O-Yu urban agglomeration, Ordos City, Baotou City and Yulin City have significant growth trends in annual carbon emissions, with Yulin City being the most important carbon source for the Hu-Bao-O-Yu urban agglomeration and its economic contribution to carbon emissions of the whole urban agglomeration is the most efficient. (2) The decoupling of Hu-Bao-O-Yu, Huhhot City, Baotou City, and Ordos City is dominated by expansionary negative decoupling, whereas Yulin City has strong negative decoupling. (3) The Hu-Bao-O-Yu urban cluster mainly affects the carbon intensity of fixed asset investments and output carbon intensity, which is a key part of the carbon separation process. The energy scale and structure also play a part in this process over time. (4) Changes in GDP per capita are a bigger part of changes in carbon emissions in the Hu-Bao-O-Yu urban agglomeration. These changes also determine the direction for changes in carbon emissions in the Hu-Bao-O-Yu urban agglomeration. In the future, the Hu-Bao-O-Yu urban agglomeration needs to coordinate its economic growth. Ordos and Yulin need to speed up the optimisation and transformation of their energy structures. Baotou needs to push for the low-carbon transformation of its industries. Huhhot needs to do more research on carbon sequestration technology and spend more on environmental protection. This will make the Hu-Bao-O-Yu urban agglomeration a resource-saving urban agglomeration and improve its ability to reduce emissions.

Keywords: carbon dioxide peak; urban agglomeration; GDIM method; Tapio decoupling model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/17/7290/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/17/7290/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:17:p:7290-:d:1463316

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().