Effects of Primary Energy Consumption and Alternative Energy Patents on CO2 Emissions in China

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China’s significant carbon emissions have attracted global attention, and the country has committed to reaching a peak in carbon emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060. It is crucial to achieve this goal by effectively controlling the combustion of primary fuels and developing alternative energy technologies. The existing literature has studied the effects of primary energy consumption on CO2 emissions, alternative energy technology on CO2 emissions, and energy patents on CO2 emissions. However, there are few studies on the effects of the relationship between primary energy consumption and alternative energy technology patents. This study analyzes the effects of primary energy consumption and alternative energy patents on CO2 emission intensity and CO2 emissions per capita, and their relationship using canonical correlation analysis. Our results are as follows. First, CO2 emissions from natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas have positive effects (correlation coefficients of 0.102 and 0.275, respectively), while CO2 emissions from gasoline, fuel oil, diesel, and kerosene have negative effects on CO2 emission intensity (correlation coefficients of −0.767, −0.420, −0.138, and −0.035, respectively). Second, patents for devices for producing mechanical power from muscle energy have large positive effects on total CO2 emissions (correlation coefficient of 0.533). Finally, the more the patents utilize waste heat, geothermal energy, hydro energy, and wind energy, the higher the CO2 emissions from liquefied petroleum gas, gasoline, and crude oil, and the lower the CO2 emissions from diesel, which are conducive to controlling CO2 emissions. Therefore, energy policies will be more effective, improve the living environment, and promote sustainable development based on the CO2 emissions level from primary energy consumption and the control degree of CO2 emissions by alternative energy.