Analysis of carbon emission performance and regional differences in China's eight economic regions: Based on the super-efficiency SBM model and the Theil index.

Yuan Zhang,Zhen Yu,Juan Zhang

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0250994

Abstract

China's carbon emission performance has significant regional heterogeneity. Identified the sources of carbon emission performance differences and the influence of various driving factors in China's eight economic regions accurately is the premise for realizing China's carbon emission reduction goals. Based on the provincial panel data from 2005 to 2017, the super-efficiency SBM model and Malmquist model are constructed in this paper to measure regional carbon emission performance's static and dynamic changes. After that, the Theil index is used to distinguish the impact of inter-regional and intra-regional differences on different regions' carbon emissions performance. Finally, by introducing the Tobit model, the effect of various driving factors on carbon emission performance differences is analyzed quantitatively. The results show that: (1) There are significant differences in different regions' carbon emission performance, but the overall carbon emission performance presents an upward fluctuation trend. Malmquist index decomposition results show substantial differences in technology progress index and technology efficiency index in different regions, leading to significant carbon emission performance differences. (2) Overall, inter-regional differences contribute the most to the overall carbon emission performance, up to more than 80%. Among them, the inter-regional and intra-regional differences in ERMRYR contributed significantly. (3) Through Tobit regression analysis, it is found that residents' living standards, urbanization level, ecological development degree, and industrial structure positively affect carbon emission performance. On the contrary, energy intensity presents an apparent negative correlation on carbon emission performance. Therefore, to improve the carbon emission performance, we should put forward targeted suggestions according to the characteristics of different regional development stages, regional carbon emission differences, and influencing driving factors.

Highlights

Climate change is one of the most severe environmental problems the world is facing today
The difference between the maximum and minimum regions is significant, which indicates that the carbon emission performance of different regions varies greatly
Based on the provincial panel data from 2005 to 2017, this paper makes an empirical analysis on the differences in carbon emission performance, the driving factors, and their influence

Summary

Introduction

Climate change is one of the most severe environmental problems the world is facing today. Both human activity and greenhouse gas emissions contribute to global climate change [1]. As one of the leading greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide is closely related to climate change. With the development of the economy, carbon dioxide emissions will continue to grow. The environmental problems caused by carbon dioxide emissions have attracted scholars worldwide. In the face of increasingly severe environmental issues, as the largest developing country, China’s responsibility and obligation are to reduce carbon emissions and improve the ecological environment [2]. The imbalance and disharmony of China’s regional development cause substantial differences in regional carbon emission levels. Whether China’s carbon emission reduction targets can be achieved successfully depends on the macro-control at the national level and the formulation of the "common but differentiated responsibilities" principle at the regional level [4]

Results

Discussion

Conclusion