Towards a decoupling between regional economic growth and CO2 emissions in China's mining industry: A comprehensive decomposition framework

Abstract

As the underlying industry for energy production, the mining industry contributes to economic growth while consuming large amounts of energy and generating CO2 emissions. This paper adopts the Tapio model to investigate the decoupling process of China's mining industry at the national, regional, and provincial levels. A comprehensive decomposition framework is constructed to identify the drivers of decoupling. The results reveal that: (1) The mining industry has performed relatively well in decoupling, with weak decoupling being the dominant state and a strong decoupling achieved. The main contributors are the output scale effect (YS) and the potential energy intensity effect (PEI). There are fluctuations in technology and efficiency-related effects. (2) There is a disparity in decoupling status and driving mechanisms between regions. The eastern region shows the best decoupling performance, benefiting from PEI. The decoupling status in the central region fluctuates considerably, with YS being the primary influence. The western region mainly presents a weak decoupling state, with the boosting effect of output technology increasing year by year. (3) Weak decoupling is a common inter-provincial state. Spatial heterogeneity exists in the driving effects across provinces. Policy recommendations for decoupling progress and low carbon development in the mining industry are presented.