Abstract
China has been the largest carbon emitter in the world since 2007 and is thus confronted with huge emission reduction pressures. The regional differences in socio-economic development lead to complex inter-provincial carbon transfer in China, which hinders the determination of the emission reduction responsibilities for the various provinces. Based on the latest multi-regional input-output data, this study analyzes the carbon footprint, inter-provincial carbon transfer, and the corresponding variations of 30 provinces in China from 2007 to 2010. The results show that the domestic carbon footprint increased from 4578 Mt in 2007 to 6252 Mt in 2010. Provinces with high carbon footprints were mainly found in central China, such as Shandong, Jiangsu, and Henan. Carbon footprints of the developed coastal provinces were greater than those of less developed provinces in Northwestern China. Per capita GDP (Gross Domestic Product) was positively correlated to the per capita carbon footprint, indicating a positive relationship between the economic development level and corresponding carbon emissions. Provincial carbon inflows were found to have increased steadily (ranging between 32% and 41%) from 2007 to 2010. The increases in direct carbon emissions varied largely among different provinces, ranging from below 30% in the developed provinces to more than 60% in the moderately developed provinces (e.g., Sichuan and Chongqing). The embodied carbon transferred from moderately developed or remote provinces to those developed ones. In other words, the carbon emission pressures of the developed provinces were shifted to the less developed provinces. The major paths of carbon flow include the transfers from Hebei to Jiangsu (32.07 Mt), Hebei to Beijing (26.78 Mt), Hebei to Zhejiang (25.60 Mt), and Liaoning to Jilin (27.60 Mt).
Highlights
Global warming due to CO2 emissions has already become one of the most important environmental issues currently faced by human society [1]
In addition to the direct carbon emissions, the inter-regional transfer of carbon emissions calls for more attention to the proper allocation of emission reduction responsibility
We focused mainly on the domestic carbon footprint and inter-regional carbon flows, lacking the analysis between domestic provinces and foreign countries/regions
Summary
Global warming due to CO2 emissions has already become one of the most important environmental issues currently faced by human society [1]. China became the largest carbon dioxide producer by 2007 [3,4] and contributed 75% to the global carbon emission growth from 2010 to 2012 [5]. As proposed at the Paris Climate Change Conference in 2015, by 2030, China will take actions to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions per unit GDP by 60–65% compared with those in 2005. To achieve this goal, emission reduction responsibilities must be assigned to various regions according to the local conditions [6]. In addition to the direct carbon emissions, the inter-regional transfer of carbon emissions calls for more attention to the proper allocation of emission reduction responsibility
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