A Calculation and Decomposition Method Embedding Sectoral Energy Structure for Embodied Carbon: A Case Study of China’s 28 Sectors

Yunlong Zhao, Linwei Ma, Zheng Li and Weidou Ni
Additional contact information
Yunlong Zhao: Tsinghua-BP Clean Energy Research and Education Centre, State Key Laboratory of Power Systems, Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Linwei Ma: Tsinghua-BP Clean Energy Research and Education Centre, State Key Laboratory of Power Systems, Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Zheng Li: Tsinghua-BP Clean Energy Research and Education Centre, State Key Laboratory of Power Systems, Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Weidou Ni: Tsinghua-BP Clean Energy Research and Education Centre, State Key Laboratory of Power Systems, Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 5, 1-29

Abstract: The measurement and allocation of carbon emission responsibilities is a fundamental issue in China’s low-carbon development. However, existing studies of embodied carbon do not sufficiently consider the sectoral energy structure. In this work, we developed a high-resolution calculation method for embodied carbon that embeds the sectoral energy structure into traditional input–output methods, thus expanding the driving factors of SDA decomposition. Based on this method, we calculated the quantity, final consumption structure, and energy structure of embodied carbon in China’s 28 sectors from 2002 to 2018, drew a carbon emissions allocation Sankey diagram of China in 2018, and calculated the SDA decomposition results for 2002–2010 and 2010–2018. The results indicate that fixed capital formation was still the top contributor of embodied carbon, and it caused more coal consumption. “Construction for fixed capital formation” and “other services for domestic consumption” were the two most important drivers of carbon emissions. The final consumption quantity and energy intensity were the main factors that promoted and inhibited the growth of embodied carbon, respectively, while the effects of the input–output structure, sectoral energy structure, and carbon emission coefficient on reducing carbon emissions were obvious after 2010. This also revealed that policymakers should formulate differentiated emission reduction strategies according to the carbon emission characteristics of key sectors.

Keywords: carbon emissions; SDA decomposition; Sankey diagram; sectoral energy structure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/5/2593/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/5/2593/ (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:14:y:2022:i:5:p:2593-:d:756821

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 ().