Carbon Emissions in China's Construction Industry: Calculations, Factors and Regions.

Xinran Lu,Yi Li,Libiao Bai,Qiang Du,Min Wu,Ming Yu

doi:10.3390/ijerph15061220

Abstract

The production of construction projects is carbon-intensive and interrelated to multiple other industries that provide related materials and services. Thus, the calculations of carbon emissions are relatively complex, and the consideration of other factors becomes necessary, especially in China, which has a massive land area and regions with greatly uneven development. To improve the accuracy of the calculations and illustrate the impacts of the various factors at the provincial level in the construction industry, this study separated carbon emissions into two categories, the direct category and the indirect category. The features of carbon emissions in this industry across 30 provinces in China were analysed, and the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) model was employed to decompose the major factors, including direct energy proportion, unit value energy consumption, value creation effect, indirect carbon intensity, and scale effect of output. It was concluded that carbon emissions increased, whereas carbon intensity decreased dramatically, and indirect emissions accounted for 90% to 95% of the total emissions from the majority of the provinces between 2005 and 2014. The carbon intensities were high in the underdeveloped western and central regions, especially in Shanxi, Inner-Mongolia and Qinghai, whereas they were low in the well-developed eastern and southern regions, represented by Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang and Guangdong. The value creation effect and indirect carbon intensity had significant negative effects on carbon emissions, whereas the scale effect of output was the primary factor creating emissions. The factors of direct energy proportion and unit value energy consumption had relatively limited, albeit varying, effects. Accordingly, this study reveals that the evolving trends of these factors vary in different provinces; therefore, overall, our research results and insights support government policy and decision maker’s decisions to minimize the carbon emissions in the construction industry.

Highlights

The issue of global climate change has attracted increasing attention in recent years, largely because of its serious consequences with respect to the natural and human environment [1]
The construction industry carbon emissions are divided into two categories
Corresponding strategies to achieve emissions reduction advice are proposed for the different provinces based on their specific characteristics and underlying driving forces of construction industry carbon emissions

Summary

Introduction

The issue of global climate change has attracted increasing attention in recent years, largely because of its serious consequences with respect to the natural and human environment [1]. China, which became the world’s largest carbon emitter in 2006, was responsible for 64.8% of the increase in global carbon emissions between 2007 and 2012 [2]. 10.2 million kilo tons (kt) carbon emissions, which made up 28.6% of the world’s total carbon emissions and was nearly double that of the United States (5.2 million kt) [3]. As China is facing great pressure from the international community on the issue of carbon emissions, the government is making effect to control the carbon emissions. Public Health 2018, 15, 1220; doi:10.3390/ijerph15061220 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph

Methods

Results

Conclusion