Decoupling between Economic Growth and Carbon Emissions: Based on Four Major Regions in China

Tao Shen, Runpu Hu, Peilin Hu and Zhang Tao ()
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Tao Shen: The Institute for Sustainable Development, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macao 999078, China
Runpu Hu: School of International, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450000, China
Peilin Hu: School of International, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450000, China
Zhang Tao: School of Business, Shenzhen Institute of Technology, Shenzhen 518116, China

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 2, 1-18

Abstract: This paper constructs a decoupling model for four major economic regions of China, based on the Tapio decoupling index method and VAR model for carbon emissions to compare and measure the impact of decoupling between carbon emissions and economic growth in China during 1997 to 2019. The results show that the degree of decoupling between economic growth and carbon emissions varies among different economic regions, and the decoupling status is better in all regions at the beginning of the 21st century. In general, the decoupling status in the eastern and western regions is more ideal than that in the central and northeastern regions. The impulse response and variance decomposition results show that renewable energy consumption could always reduce the growth of carbon emission intensity, and its effects are most significant in the western region. The above findings help to reveal the link between economic growth, renewable energy consumption and carbon emissions in China in recent years, and how to ensure a stable economic growth in China while increasing the share of clean energy consumption in each region to achieve carbon neutrality.

Keywords: carbon emissions; economic growth; impulse response function; Tapio decoupling; VAR model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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