Identifying the Determinants of CO2 Emission Change in China’s Power Sector

Caiqing Zhang,Mi Zhang,Nan Zhang

doi:10.1155/2016/2626418

Caiqing Zhang, Mi Zhang + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/2626418

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Abstract

Power sector is significantly important for China to achieve the CO2 emission reduction targets. In this study, we analyze the features of CO2 emissions and environment effect in China’s power sector, investigate the driving factors of CO2 emission change based on the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) method, and evaluate the mitigation potential of CO2 emissions in China’s power sector. Results show that CO2 emissions in China’s power sector increased rapidly from 492.00 Mt in 1990 to 3049.88 Mt in 2014 while CO2 emission intensity experienced an unsteady downward trend during the study period. Industrial scale effect is the key contributor to CO2 emission growth in China’s power sector, and its contribution degree reaches 123.97%. Energy intensity effect contributes most to the decrease in CO2 emissions, with a contribution degree of −20.01%. Capital productivity effect is another important factor leading to CO2 emissions increase. The aggregate CO2 emission reduction would reach 17973.86 million tons (Mt) during 2015–2030 in the ideal emission reduction scenario. Finally, policy recommendations are made for future energy-saving and CO2 emission reduction in China’s power sector.

Highlights

Climate change has aroused growing concern worldwide due to its contribution to environmental pollution and being an obstacle to sustainable socioeconomic development [1]
As world’s largest emitter of CO2 emissions [2], China has attached great importance to transition to a low-carbon economy and taken effective measures to support it through industrial restructuring, renewable energy consumption promotion, and carbon market establishment [3]
The IPAT index increased by 5.70 times during 1990–2014, denoting that power sector development leads to significant change of environmental condition due to energy consumption and CO2 emissions

Summary

Introduction

Climate change has aroused growing concern worldwide due to its contribution to environmental pollution and being an obstacle to sustainable socioeconomic development [1]. The ongoing emission of greenhouse gas (GHG) which gives priority to carbon dioxide is responsible for the climate change. In the context of limited energy resources availability and increasingly serious environmental problems, the development of low-carbon economy with lower power consumption and CO2 emissions is becoming a common choice for the world economic development to mitigate climate change and achieve sustainable development. As world’s largest emitter of CO2 emissions [2], China has attached great importance to transition to a low-carbon economy and taken effective measures to support it through industrial restructuring, renewable energy consumption promotion, and carbon market establishment [3]. China’s power sector plays a leading role in CO2 emissions of China. The lowcarbon development of China’s power sector drives the lowcarbon development of energy-economic-society in China

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