Driving factors and key paths of metal consumption in China: Evidence from structural decomposition and structural path analysis

Xuesong Dong, Jianbai Huang and Jinyu Chen ()
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Xuesong Dong: Hunan Agricultural University
Jianbai Huang: Central South University
Jinyu Chen: Central South University

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, 2025, vol. 27, issue 4, No 43, 9357-9377

Abstract: Abstract The dependence of economic development on the metal resource is one of the challenges for developing countries. Given the enormous pressure of resource shortage in China, exploring the flow of metals between sectors is critical to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Based on the Chinese environmentally extended input–output (CEEIO) database from 1997 to 2017, the structural decomposition analysis (SDA) and the structural path analysis (SPA) models were combined to analyze the main driving factors and key paths of metal consumption in China. The results show that from 1997 to 2017, China’s economic development and metal consumption presented states of weak decoupling and expansion coupling. Capital formation, consumption expansion, and export expansion were main drivers of metal consumption. Sectors such as metal smelting, construction, and other manufacturing products consumed a large amount of metal directly or provide intermediate products for other sectors. In the future, the upstream and downstream links of the industrial chain should be managed according to the key path, so as to optimize the structure of intermediate products and final demand and realize metal resources conservation from production to consumption.

Keywords: Metal consumption; Input–output analysis; Structural path analysis; Structural decomposition analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1007/s10668-023-04285-8

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