The pressure of coal consumption on China's carbon dioxide emissions: A spatial and temporal perspective

Abstract

As the world's largest coal consumer, China is facing the dual challenge of implementing strict coal reduction policies while heavily relying on coal. It is crucial to comprehend the pressures exerted on carbon dioxide emissions from coal consumption as China strives to transition towards a carbon-neutral era. This study defines and classifies the pressure of carbon dioxide emissions resulting from coal consumption, referred to as “carbon-coal pressure”, in 30 provinces (including municipalities and autonomous regions) from 1997 to 2019. This classification enriches the study of the pressure on carbon dioxide emissions by specific energy types. By calculating the centre of gravity of the carbon-coal pressure and its evolution trends, the spatial pattern of the carbon-coal pressure and the evolution characteristics of the centre of gravity of the pressure are revealed. The results demonstrate that, despite the continuous growth in total coal consumption and carbon dioxide emissions in China, the carbon-coal pressure index exhibits a decreasing trend in certain regions, with significant inter-regional differences. Most provinces fall into the high-pressure and higher-pressure categories. The number of high-pressure provinces has decreased by 33% from 18 to 8, while the number of low-pressure provinces has risen from 0 to 1, and both higher and medium pressure types have increased. The overall stress index decreases from 0.79 to 0.7. The pressure centre displays a similar spatial trend to the overall changes in coal consumption and carbon dioxide emissions centre, albeit with a smaller magnitude of change. Beijing stands out as the only province with low pressure.