Energy consumption, carbon emissions and economic growth: An empirical analysis of China

Abstract

This paper analyzes the effect of energy consumption and carbon emissions in China during the period of 1978–2005. We examine the Granger causality relationships between economic growth, energy consumption and carbon emissions. We find that there only has unidirectional Granger causality between economic growth, energy consumption and carbon emissions in China. It means that energy consumption and carbon emissions are not the Granger causality of economic growth, but economic growth is the Granger causality of energy consumption and carbon emissions. In the end, we provide some advices about energy saving and emission reduction.