Abstract
Carbon footprint is emerging as an effective tool for carbon emission management, especially that from fossil energy consumption. In addition, decoupling analysis is important to keep a high pace of economic growth while reducing carbon emission and its carbon footprint. Taking the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) urban agglomeration in China as a case, this paper examined the changes in carbon footprint and carbon footprint pressure by incorporating land resource limits. On this basis, we further analyzed the decoupling relationships between carbon footprint, carbon footprint pressure and economic growth. The GeoDetector was also employed to detect the spatial heterogeneity of the carbon footprint pressure. The results showed that despite the decrease of carbon emissions from 2011 to 2019 in the YRD, carbon footprint pressure still revealed an increased trend in this period. As to the decoupling relationships between carbon footprint, carbon footprint pressure and economic growth, they were improved in most of the cities in the YRD, changing from expansive coupling to weak decoupling to strong decoupling. However, the descending trend of decoupling elasticity coefficient for carbon footprint pressure is smaller than that of the carbon footprint. This result could be explained by the fact that not only carbon emission but also carbon sequestration (by productive lands including forests and grasslands) pose large impacts on carbon footprint pressure. The findings indicate the necessity not only to reduce carbon emission, but also to protect productive lands to realize low carbon economy.
Highlights
Published: 1 September 2021The global land surface temperature increased rapidly, at a rate of 1.59 ◦ C between 1850 and 1900 and between 2011 and 2020 [1]
We found that 12 of 16 cities were in a weak decoupling stage over this period
This paper found that the decoupling relationships in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) were improved when incorporating the changes in productive lands in the past decades
Summary
Published: 1 September 2021The global land surface temperature increased rapidly, at a rate of 1.59 ◦ C between 1850 and 1900 and between 2011 and 2020 [1]. The warming is likely mainly due to a continuous increase in fossil energy consumption and its carbon emission [2,3]. The carbon emission from fossil energy consumption is of wide concern by scientific communities in recent years. Luderer et al (2018) explored the residual carbon dioxide (CO2 ) emissions from fossil fuels to hold global warming well below 2 ◦ C while pursuing efforts to limit it below 1.5 ◦ C to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement [4]. Christophe and Paul (2015) analyzed the emission limit from fossil fuel to limit global warming to 2 ◦ C in different regions [5]. Taking the U.S as an example, Deutch (2017) argued that it is misleading to avoid the risks of climate change by only reducing energy consumption and carbon intensity [6]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
