Energy carbon emission reduction of China’s transportation sector: An input–output approach

Abstract

It is worthwhile to carry out carbon emission reduction of transportation, which is an important sector of energy consumption. Thus, we used the expanded structural decomposition analysis model and input–output analysis to investigate the structural emission reduction of transportation in China. The results reveal that within the research interval, (1) the energy intensity effect (EIE) was a major factor for reducing carbon emissions from China’s transportation sector, which is caused by the improvement of energy efficiency. However, the input structure effect (ISE) on emission reduction is not apparent. Therefore, the utilization efficiency of transportation in various industries has not been significantly optimized. (2) The final demand effect (FDE) is the main determinant of carbon emission growth in transportation sector due to the steady growth of demand for transportation across all industries. Simultaneously, secondary industries play a major role in the FDE, followed by tertiary and primary industries. However, the direct consumption coefficient of primary and tertiary industries to the transportation sector demand is lower than that of the secondary industries (e.g., heavy industry). Therefore, the dynamic optimization of industrial structure is conducive to reducing carbon emissions caused by FDE. (3) The energy structure effect (ESE) is shown to restrain the growth of carbon emissions with an increasing trend, caused by the increase and decrease in the proportion of low-carbon and high-carbon energy consumption structure, respectively, in the energy supply side of transportation sector. Diesel oil, gasoline, kerosene, and liquefied natural gas were the main contributors to carbon emission reduction in ESE, while raw and cleaned coal did not play a role in reducing carbon emissions in ESE. This study can provide practical guidance for China’s transportation sector to implement emission reduction more accurately based on the energy type and industry level.