Dynamic Evolution and Regional Disparity in Carbon Emission Intensity in China

Meng Yang, Yisheng Liu, Jinzhao Tian, Feiyu Cheng and Pengbo Song
Additional contact information
Meng Yang: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, No. 3 Shangyuancun, Haidian District, Beijing 100044, China
Yisheng Liu: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, No. 3 Shangyuancun, Haidian District, Beijing 100044, China
Jinzhao Tian: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, No. 3 Shangyuancun, Haidian District, Beijing 100044, China
Feiyu Cheng: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, No. 3 Shangyuancun, Haidian District, Beijing 100044, China
Pengbo Song: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, No. 3 Shangyuancun, Haidian District, Beijing 100044, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 7, 1-15

Abstract: China’s carbon reductions are of great significance to the realization of global temperature control targets. Carbon emission intensity (CEI) represents the degree of coordination between emissions and economic development to some extent. Nevertheless, there is a paucity of research on its spatial–temporal evolution and regional differences. To fill the gap, this study exploits the Theil index to shed light on the characteristics of its spatial–temporal distribution and regional disparities in China during the period of 2000–2019, and constructs a multi-regional spatial index decomposition model to analyze the differences in its drivers. The results indicate that the decreasing CEI during the period of 2000–2019 shows a distinctive imbalance in spatial–temporal distribution. The gap between north and south is greater than that between east and west. The expansion of the Theil index based on CEI reveals a widening tendency of the mismatch between emissions and economic development among provinces. CEI disparity is mainly due to growing intraregional differences. For most provinces, the energy intensity effect is the essential driver of spatial differences regarding CEI, with the energy structure and the industrial structure effects gradually changing from promoting to inhibiting effects. The carbon emission factor effect has no significant fluctuation, but regional differences are distinct.

Keywords: carbon emission intensity; disparity; Theil index; spatial IDA; driving factors (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 (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/7/4052/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/7/4052/ (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:7:p:4052-:d:782323

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 ().