Contributions of cleaner production and end-of-pipe treatment to NOx emissions and intensity reductions in China, 1997–2018

Abstract

The Chinese experience of economic development and environmental protection provides an important reference for developing countries. Although changes in aggregate NOx emissions have been widely studied, there is a relative lack of studies analysing NOx intensity changes and their related development strategies in China. This study attempts to identify the socioeconomic drivers and change patterns for both NOx emissions and intensity considering the cleaner production and end-of-pipe treatments. Both structural decomposition analysis and structural path analysis were used to analyse the NOx emissions/intensity changes at different levels and transmission layers in China in the last two decades (1997–2018). The results indicate that construction contributes the most to NOx emissions/intensity, followed by transportation. The emission intensity effect is the primary driver of NOx emissions/intensity reduction, which mainly benefits from end-of-pipe treatment and energy efficiency improvement. Especially, during 2012–2018, they decreased 11,916 Kt-NOx and 8,103 Kt-NOx emissions and aggregate embodied intensity by 43.2% and 29.8%, respectively. The final demand effect is the primary deterrent, which is attributed to investment and consumption effects. The critical sectors for future NOx reduction are the construction and building materials industry, transportation and other services industry. The policy implications and recommendations for the future developments are discussed based on the study findings.