A study on the contribution of industrial restructuring to reduction of carbon emissions in China during the five Five-Year Plan periods

Abstract

In China, environmental problems associated with excessive energy consumption are escalating with rapid economic development, and the greenhouse effect caused by increased carbon dioxide emissions has risen into the focus of domestic and even international attention. Based on the reduction target China committed in 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, the study proposes a dynamic factorization model to decompose and compare the effect of industrial structure on the reduction of carbon emissions during the five Five-Year Plan (FYP) Periods from 2006 to 2030 at the dimensions of industries and sectors. Results show that China's industrial restructuring exerts a positive impact on reduction of carbon emissions and the impact varies with the ratio of sectors within the economic structure, in the later five years, carbon reductions emissions causing by restructuring in the three major industries and in the secondary industrial sectors account for 28.22% and 4.26% of the national total carbon reductions emissions respectively; in industrial sectors to mitigation was less than in the three major industries in the past two FYP Periods, but will increase in the next three FYP Periods. These findings are significant for the government in formulating environment and economy policy and planning.