Structural carbon emissions from industry and energy systems in China: An input-output analysis

Abstract

Abstract Excessive CO2 emissions from energy consumption has become a key factor that results in environmental degradation and restriction on sustainable development of Chinese industries. In view of this, using the deposit and loan of energy capital, and energy exportation into consideration, we employed an energy consumption model and input-output analysis to study the structural carbon emissions from energy systems on the energy supply-side and from Chinese industries on the energy demand-side during 2002–2015. The results showed that on the supply-side, the China's majorization in energy consumption structure would result in a decline of proportion of carbon emissions from high-carbon energy (raw coal, diesel oil, combustion oil, etc.) and a rise in proportion of carbon emissions from low-carbon energy (natural gas, other gas, etc.) in energy systems. Moreover, the structure optimization of low-carbon energy was generally more robust than that of high-carbon energy, and 2012–2015 was the optimal period for energy consumption structure in the study interval. On the demand-side, intermediate use (enterprises) was still the driving factor for energy carbon emissions, although end-users (residents and government) had a limited driving effect on energy carbon emissions. Specifically, for industries with intermediate use of energy, the contributions of light industry, agriculture, construction, transportation, the service industry, and the power sector to carbon emissions exhibited a downward, fluctuating trend; The use of energy by heavy industry barely changed, and the use of energy by the chemical industry and fossil energy sector showed a rising, fluctuating trend. These data suggested that the change in industrial structure was closely related to carbon emissions from use of energy. Finally, this paper provides theoretical analysis and practical guidance for promoting the green and clean development of energy systems and for realizing the transformation and upgrading of low-carbon industry systems in China.