Decomposition Analysis of Energy-Related CO2 Emissions and Decoupling Status in China’s Logistics Industry

Jianwei Wang,Shiqing Zhang,Wenlong Zheng

doi:10.3390/su10051340

Jianwei Wang, Shiqing Zhang + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su10051340

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Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: Apr 25, 2018
Citations: 42	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Chang'an University

Abstract

The logistics industry is one of the major fossil energy consumers and CO2 emitters in China, which plays an important role in achieving sustainable development as well as China’s emission reduction targets. To identify the key influencing factors regarding the logistics of CO2 reductions and ensure that the development of China’s logistics industry becomes less dependent on CO2 emissions, this paper built an extended log-mean Divisia index model (LMDI) to decompose the logistics of CO2 changes between 1985 and 2015. Then, we introduced a decoupling model that combined the decomposition results to analyze the decoupling state and identify the main factors that influenced the decoupling relationship. The results show the following. (1) The urbanization effect was the decisive factor in CO2 emissions increases, followed by structural adjustment effects, while technological progress effects played a major role in inhibiting CO2 emissions. Particularly, the energy structure showed great potential for CO2 emissions reduction in China. (2) Highways appeared to have dominant promoting roles in increasing CO2 emissions regarding transportation structure effects; highways and aviation proved to have the largest impact on CO2 emission reduction. (3) There has been an increase in the number of expansive negative decoupling states between 2005 and 2015, which implies that the development of the logistics industry has become more dependent on CO2 emissions. Finally, this paper puts forward some policy implications for CO2 emission reductions in China’s logistics industry.

Highlights

Climate change has posed a severe threat to the sustainable development of human society, the economy, and the environment [1]
In order to cope with the challenges posed by the rising greenhouse gas emissions, the Chinese government promised a target to the world in 2015 at the Paris Climate Change Conference that by 2030, China’s CO2 emission per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) would drop by 60–65% compared with 2005, and that total CO2 emissions have reached their peak
The results showed that the economic growth and production activities of the secondary industry are the main driving factors for the growth of carbon emissions

Summary

Introduction

Climate change has posed a severe threat to the sustainable development of human society, the economy, and the environment [1]. Energy-related CO2 emissions, which are an essential environmental pollutant, has greatly contributed to global climate change [3]. Since its reform and opening up, China’s economy has experienced spectacular growth, which has been accompanied by a substantial increase in energy consumption as well as CO2 emissions. In order to cope with the challenges posed by the rising greenhouse gas emissions, the Chinese government promised a target to the world in 2015 at the Paris Climate Change Conference that by 2030, China’s CO2 emission per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) would drop by 60–65% compared with 2005, and that total CO2 emissions have reached their peak

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Results

Conclusion