Measurement and Spatial–Temporal Characteristics of Agricultural Carbon Emission in China: An Internal Structural Perspective

Shibin Wen, Yuxiang Hu and Hongman Liu ()
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Shibin Wen: College of Economics and Management, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China
Yuxiang Hu: College of Economics and Management, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China
Hongman Liu: College of Economics and Management, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China

Agriculture, 2022, vol. 12, issue 11, 1-16

Abstract: The focus of world governance on climate change has been on the industrial and transport sectors, yet the agricultural sector produces a lot of greenhouse gases, and this has always been ignored. This paper focuses on China, one of the world’s largest agricultural countries, and it investigates its agriculture carbon emission from a new perspective of the internal structure of it, which is relatively under-researched. Carbon metrology, the emission factor method and kernel density estimations are used to analyze China’s agricultural carbon emissions structure and its regional differences and its dynamic evolution characteristics. We find that: (1) China’s total amount of agricultural carbon emissions showed a ladder-like upward trend, but the growth rate of it has gradually slowed down; the inter-provincial heterogeneity of the agricultural carbon emissions was obvious. (2) From the standpoint of the grain functional areas, the annual total amount of agricultural carbon emissions and the amount of carbon emissions of each carbon source in the major grain producing areas were significantly higher than those in the major grain sales areas and the production–sales balance areas, and the carbon emission intensity in the major grain producing areas was the lowest overall. (3) In regard to the internal structure, China’s agricultural carbon emissions mainly came from the livestock and poultry, rice planting and agricultural energy sectors; the proportion of carbon emissions that were caused by the agricultural materials, agricultural energy and soil increased in general, and the inter-provincial differences between them expanded, while the inter-provincial differences between livestock and poultry gradually decreased. The proportion of carbon emissions from the six major agricultural carbon sources showed a convergence trend, and their kernel density had a right tail phenomenon. Our research deepens the understanding of China’s agricultural carbon emission structure, contributes to the rational optimization of the agricultural structure, and helps the agriculture sector and the rural areas to reach the carbon peak.

Keywords: agricultural carbon emissions; dynamic evolution; internal structure; kernel density; spatial–temporal characteristics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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