An empirical study on the CO2 emissions in the Chinese construction industry

Abstract

In assuming its commitments to the reduction of CO2 emissions, China is contributing great efforts to mitigate CO2 emissions across its all economic sectors including construction industry. The Chinese construction industry is one of the main contributors to CO2 emissions in China. This paper presents an empirical study on the CO2 emissions in the Chinese construction industry across the period of 1995–2011. The input-output analysis method is employed for conducting the study. The data used for analysis are mainly collected from the world input-output database. The analysis results demonstrate that the CO2 emissions in the Chinese construction industry increased by 388.7% from 1995 to 2011, reached to 3035.9 Mt in 2011. However, the carbon intensity in the construction industry decreased by 46.9% from 1995 to 2011, recorded as 0.00198 Mt/million dollars in 2011. The indirect CO2 emissions were the majority of the construction CO2 emissions, accounting for over 95% during 1995–2011. The process-based CO2 emissions contributed 8.7%–12.6% of the total construction CO2 emissions during 1995–2011. The electricity, gas and water supply industry, the other non-metallic mineral industry, and the basic metals and fabricated metal industry were the main contributors to the construction CO2 emissions during 1995–2009. This study presents a comprehensive picture on the CO2 emissions in the Chinese construction industry, which provides valuable references both to further study and to formulate more effective policies.