Analysis of Energy-Related Carbon Emissions in Inner Mongolia, China

Decoupling economic growth from carbon dioxide emissions in China: A sectoral factor decomposition analysis

This study aims to determine the forces and factors driving the change in CO2 emissions in Algeria in 2000-2019. The analytical decomposition methodology used is the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI), which enables us to know the role and magnitude of the impact of economic activity, structural changes, energy intensity, energy mix, and emission factors on the change in CO2 emissions. The results revealed that the total emissions are rising during the period 2000-2019 and that economic activity is the primary driving force for the increase in CO2 emissions in Algeria. Furthermore, the deterioration of energy efficiency and the trans- formation of the Algerian economy into an energy-intensive sector (the service sector at the expense of the industrial and agricultural sector), the energy intensity factor, and the economic structure factor did not help reduce the levels of CO2 emissions. Additionally, the energy mix factor contributed to a slight increase in emissions. In the context of following up on the im- plementation of the National Program for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency and its role in reducing the levels of CO2 emissions, it was found that the program failed to achieve its objectives during the first half of its implementation 2011-2020. These results indicate that public policymakers in Algeria should be strict in implementing the National Energy Program by 2030 by dissolving the conflict between economic growth and climate change policy

This paper addresses the conditions behind energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in Poland following its accession to the European Union. The study analyzed some energy, fossil fuel, economic, and environmental indicators, such as energy use, CO2 emissions, driving factors, decoupling elasticity status, and decoupling effort status. It relied on the Kaya identity and Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) in determining the drivers of CO2 emissions. As shown by the results, between 2004 and 2020, energy consumption in Poland grew at an average annual rate of 0.8%, while fossil fuel carbon emissions declined at 0.7% per year. Energy intensity was found to be the key force behind the reduction in CO2 emissions, whereas rapid economic growth was the main driver of CO2 emissions. While other factors, i.e., carbon intensity, energy mix, and population, also contributed to reducing the emissions, they had a much smaller—if not marginal—effect. In turn, the decoupling elasticity analysis showed that Poland mostly witnessed strong decoupling states, which means a strong decoupling of CO2 emissions from economic growth. Furthermore, it follows from the decoupling effort analysis that strong decoupling effort statuses prevailed throughout the study period, suggesting that the changes in the considered factors significantly contributed to reducing CO2 emissions. However, both the decoupling elasticity indices and the decoupling effort indices revealed the presence of an adverse trend. The above means that Poland witnessed a decline both in the strength of decoupling CO2 emissions from economic growth and in the efficiency of policies and measures designed to reduce CO2 emissions.

Analysis of South Korea’s economic growth, carbon dioxide emission, and energy consumption using the Markov switching model

Summary Cities, contributing more than 75% of global carbon emissions, are at the heart of climate change mitigation. Given cities' heterogeneity, they need specific low-carbon roadmaps instead of one-size-fits-all approaches. Here, we present the most detailed and up-to-date accounts of CO2 emissions for 294 cities in China and examine the extent to which their economic growth was decoupled from emissions. Results show that from 2005 to 2015, only 11% of cities exhibited strong decoupling, whereas 65.6% showed weak decoupling, and 23.4% showed no decoupling. We attribute the economic-emission decoupling in cities to several socioeconomic factors (i.e., structure and size of the economy, emission intensity, and population size) and find that the decline in emission intensity via improvement in production and carbon efficiency (e.g., decarbonizing the energy mix via building a renewable energy system) is the most important one. The experience and status quo of carbon emissions and emission-GDP (gross domestic product) decoupling in Chinese cities may have implications for other developing economies to design low-carbon development pathways.

Studies on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions at provincial level can provide a scientific basis for the optimal use of energy and the formulation of CO2 reduction policies. We studied the variation of CO2 emissions of primary energy consumption and its influencing factors based on data in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region from 1952 to 2008, which were calculated according to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. Xinjiang’ CO2 emission process from 1952 to 2008 could be divided into five stages according to the growth rates of total amount of CO2 emissions and CO2 emission intensity. The impact factors were quantitatively analyzed using Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) method in each stage. Various factors, including government policies and technological progress related to the role of CO2 emissions, were comprehensively analyzed, and the internal relationships among various factors were clarified. The results show that the contribution rates of various impact factors are different in each stage. Overall, economic growth and energy consumption intensity were the main driving factors for CO2 emissions. Since the implementation of the birth control policy, the driving force of population growth on the increase in CO2 emissions has slowly weakened. The energy consumption intensity was further affected by the industrial structure and energy consumption intensity of primary, secondary and tertiary industries, with the energy consumption intensity of the secondary industries and the proportion of secondary industries being the most important factors affecting the energy consumption intensity. Governmental policies and technological progress were also important factors that affected CO2 emissions.

An analysis of the driving forces of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions in China’s industrial sector

The transportation sector has a dominant contribution to the fast-growing economy of the developing country Bangladesh. However, the nature of operating the transportation sector in the country requires an excessive amount of fossil energy which causes the rise of CO2 emissions. Ascertaining the impending factors and technologically to conserve energy, as well as governing CO2 emissions from this sector, are essential to attain sustainable development. The paper endeavors to determine the decomposition of driving factors that affect the relationship between Bangladesh's transport sector development and CO2 emissions due to energy consumption from the year 1990 to 2017 using the Logarithmic-Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) model. The decomposition factors are fragmented into five elements through consideration of five fossil energies which are used in Bangladesh's transportation sector. The result reveals a 106.94% growth of aggregate CO2 emissions in the transportation sector of Bangladesh. The results also show that aggregate influence of economic activity factor, population factor, economic structure factor, and energy intensity factor liable in increase CO2 emissions to 66.03%, 23.56%, 7.64%, and 6.25% respectively. On the contrary, the energy structure factor is accountable for the decrease in CO2 emissions to - 0.80%. Thus, the Bangladesh Government should proliferate mass responsiveness programs and cope with economic development through emphasizing quality of development rather than quantity which will ensure sustainable transport sector development.

This paper empirically verifies the validity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis in Nigeria by focusing on the relationship between key sectors of the Nigerian economy and environmental degradation. The study adopted the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model using time series data for the period 1981-2018. The bounds-testing approach proposed by Pesaran, Shin and Smith, (2001) was adopted to test for cointegration. The results show a long-run relationship between economic growth (disaggregated into key sectors) and environmental degradation measured by carbon dioxide emissions. In the short run, agriculture, industry and services sectors significantly explained the variation in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, while the construction sector does not have any significant effect on Carbon emissions both in the current and the future periods. Specifically, the industrial sector has a positive effect on CO2 emissions which confirms the short-run EKC hypothesis; while agriculture and services though were significant, have a negative effect on CO2 emissions, invalidating the short-run EKC hypothesis. In the long run, industry and services sectors were significant in explaining variation in CO2 emission. However, while the services sector shows a negative relationship with CO2 emission in line with the long-run EKC Hypothesis, the industrial sector invalidates the hypothesis with a positive effect. These results imply that the key sectors of the economy have varied effects on environmental degradation, hence the hypothesis is inconclusive. Nigeria is therefore advised to pursue economic growth via industrial and services sectors with an emphasis on environmental sustainability, which could be achieved through the use of renewable and cleaner technology in nation-building.

Rethinking wedges

Quantifying the dynamics of regional tourism in a low-carbon economy context is a pivotal issue to develop energy policies, and to decompose the national carbon abatement. Based on a case study approach for the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), China, the relationship between tourism, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and economic growth were examined. The bottom-up approach, decoupling analysis, and Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) decomposition were integrated and applied. The results from 2001 to 2015 indicated that tourism-induced energy consumption and CO2 emissions in YRD increased from 896.90 × 108 MJ to 3207.40 × 108 MJ, and 673.55 × 104 t to 2152.27 × 104 t, respectively. Tourism-related transport from Shanghai was the major contributor towards emissions. The decoupling relation between CO2 emissions and economic growth, in general, were desirable in YRD’s tourism, except in 2004. However, the situation in Shanghai was complicated. Additionally, industry size and expenditure size effect were principal factors to promote carbon emissions growth, whereas energy intensity, spatial structure, and sectorial structure had negative effects. Key issues for policymakers have been highlighted and discussed.

Taking advantage of the electrification strategy, Northwest China has made full use of its natural resources endowment, to develop renewable energy as the substitution of thermal power. To evaluate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from electric power sector, an extended Kaya identity equation and the Logarithmic mean Divisia index decomposition method are applied to Northwest China from 1998 to 2017. Six explaining factors are analyzed, including carbon intensity, energy mixes, generating efficiency, electrification, economy and population. The results show that driving forces of CO2 emissions from electricity system varied greatly among provinces. Generally, economic growth has mainly contributed to increase CO2 emission, while the improvement in the power‐generating efficiency has crucially decreased CO2 emission. In 2017, Promoting electrification directly increased CO2 emissions from electric system, but indirectly reduced CO2 emissions from the whole region by 5.10% through the estimation of a clean development mechanism method. Therefore, local governments are suggested continuing to promote electrification to guide future emission reduction, while enterprises and individuals need to make their own contributions to low‐carbon development.Recommendations for Resource Managers: Variations of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of all five provinces in Northwest China are analyzed. Logarithmic mean Divisia index analysis is used to study the main drivers of CO2 emission change. Improvements in the generating efficiency significantly reduced CO2 emissions. Due to electrification effects, CO2 emissions from electric power increased, but CO2 emissions from the region decreased. Economy effects were still the biggest drivers affecting CO2 emission.

Elucidating the complex mechanism between urbanization, economic growth, carbon dioxide emissions is fundamental necessary to inform effective strategies on energy saving and emission reduction in China. Based on a balanced panel data of 31 provinces in China over the period 1997-2010, this study empirically examines the relationships among urbanization, economic growth and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions at the national and regional levels using panel cointegration and vector error correction model and Granger causality tests. Results showed that urbanization, economic growth and CO2 emissions are integrated of order one. Urbanization contributes to economic growth, both of which increase CO2 emissions in China and its eastern, central and western regions. The impact of urbanization on CO2 emissions in the western region was larger than that in the eastern and central regions. But economic growth had a larger impact on CO2 emissions in the eastern region than that in the central and western regions. Panel causality analysis revealed a bidirectional long-run causal relationship among urbanization, economic growth and CO2 emissions, indicating that in the long run, urbanization does have a causal effect on economic growth in China, both of which have causal effect on CO2 emissions. At the regional level, we also found a bidirectional long-run causality between land urbanization and economic growth in eastern and central China. These results demonstrated that it might be difficult for China to pursue carbon emissions reduction policy and to control urban expansion without impeding economic growth in the long run. In the short-run, we observed a unidirectional causation running from land urbanization to CO2 emissions and from economic growth to CO2 emissions in the eastern and central regions. Further investigations revealed an inverted N-shaped relationship between CO2 emissions and economic growth in China, not supporting the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. Our empirical findings have an important reference value for policy-makers in formulating effective energy saving and emission reduction strategies for China.

Is China's economic growth decoupled from carbon emissions?

The impact of energy consumption, income and foreign direct investment on carbon dioxide emissions in Vietnam