Carbon footprint of the households' consumption in China

Abstract

This paper studies the direct and embodied carbon footprint of households’ consumption in China. The study results show that the embodied carbon footprint of Chinese households is far higher than direct carbon footprint. The direct carbon footprint of urban households is resulted from consumption of power, heat and petroleum products, while the rural households are mostly due to consumption of power and coal. The embodied carbon footprint of households’ consumption stems mostly from raw material and energy sectors with high intensities of carbon emissions, and with considerable intermediate input and demand in the production process. The per capita carbon footprint of urban households is far higher than that of rural households. The emissions reductions emphases on carbon footprint of households’ consumption are urban households, embodied carbon footprint, and the direct carbon footprint of energy consumption of rural households in China.