Energy carbon emission structure and reduction potential focused on the supply-side and demand-side.

Jijun Kang,Yanjun Yang,Bing Xue

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0239634

Abstract

In recent years, the environmental problems caused by excessive carbon emissions from energy sources have become increasingly serious, which not only aggravates the climate change caused by the greenhouse effect but also seriously restricts the sustainable development of Chinese economy. An attempt is made in this paper to use energy consumption method and input-output method to study the carbon emission structure of China's energy system and industry in 2015 from two perspectives, namely China's energy supply side and energy demand side, by taking into account the two factors of energy invest in gross capital formation and export. The results show that neglecting these two factors will lead to underestimation of intermediate use carbon emissions and overestimation of final use carbon emissions. On energy supply side, the carbon emission structure of China's energy system is still dominated by high-carbon energy (raw coal, coke, diesel, and fuel oil, etc.), accounting for more than 70% of total energy carbon emissions; on the contrary, the natural gas such as clean energy accounts for only 3.45% of total energy carbon emissions, indicating that the energy consumption structure optimization and emission reduction gap of China's energy supply side are still substantial. On energy demand side, the final use (direct consumption by residents and government) produces less carbon emissions, while the intermediate use (production by enterprises) produces more than 90% of the total energy carbon emissions. Fossil energy, power sector, heavy industry, chemical industry, and transportation belong to industries with larger carbon emissions and lower carbon emission efficiency, while agriculture, construction, light industry, and service belong to industries with fewer carbon emissions and higher carbon emission efficiency. This means that the optimization of industrial structure is conducive to slowing down the growth of energy carbon emissions on the demand side.

Highlights

The growth of the world economy has resulted in the sharp increase in energy consumption, and has aggravated environmental pollution and global warming
Energy carbon emission structure and reduction potential focused on the supply-side and demand-side since the 21st century, the global warming caused by excessive emissions of carbon and other greenhouse gases has become increasingly prominent
Energy carbon emission structure and reduction potential focused on the supply-side and demand-side invest in gross capital formation and export, this paper uses the energy consumption method and input-output method to analyze the carbon emissions of the energy supply side and the demand side, so as to provide a more accurate policy basis for the Chinese government to achieve energy conservation and emission reduction

Summary

Introduction

The growth of the world economy has resulted in the sharp increase in energy consumption, and has aggravated environmental pollution and global warming. Energy carbon emission structure and reduction potential focused on the supply-side and demand-side since the 21st century, the global warming caused by excessive emissions of carbon and other greenhouse gases has become increasingly prominent. For China, the dilemma between economic development and environmental pollution has become prominent. Whether it is the pressure of international public opinion or the need for internal sustainable development, China is required to take the responsibility of carbon emission reduction actively

Methods

Results

Conclusion