Distribution of CO2 emissions in China's supply chains: A sub-national MRIO analysis

Abstract

With the development of economy and the improvement of resident consumption level, the carbon emission generated by resident consumption is increasing and becoming a new growth point. However, there is significant heterogeneity between different regions of China, the consumption-based carbon dioxide emission status by region is still unclear. In this study, using the multi-region input-output (MRIO) method, we decomposed the per capita carbon emissions of Chinese residents at the consumer end based on the population consumption expenditure data and finally displayed the spatial and temporal distribution map of carbon emissions in the kilometer grid on Arc GIS. The results indicate that: (1) In 2012, 2015, and 2017, China's consumer end carbon emissions were 3463.83 Mt, 3700.21 Mt, 3763.29 Mt, with an annual growth rate of about 1.76%. (2) There were huge differences in the consumption-based emissions among different regions in China, which was a decreasing distribution from southeast to northwest on the whole. And the difference between Inner Mongolia (313 Mt) and Tibet (2.5 Mt) was more than 120 times. (3) Housing and transportation were the major contributors to carbon emissions, accounting for 83.0% and 10.9% on average, respectively. The distribution of carbon emissions in different regions has significant heterogeneity. The contribution of various industries to carbon emissions is also different. Therefore, each region should formulate emission reduction policies according to its own characteristics.