Tracing CO2 emissions of China’s construction sector

Abstract

In the face of the increasingly severe situation of global climate change, the construction (CON) sector has attracted widespread attention as an important CO2 emitter. However, existing studies mainly focus on the calculation of indirect carbon emissions caused by the consumption of the CON sector, and a comprehensive and detailed analysis of the CON sector’s emission transmission paths is lacking. In this study, we use environmentally extended input-output analysis (EIOA) and structural path analysis (SPA) to evaluate the contribution of critical CO2 transmission paths on the demand side and supply side with the help of a path multiplier (Mp) and analyse the change in these paths over time. The results show that the impact of the CON sector on other sectors from the demand side and supply side is transmitted through different paths and that the impact transmitted through the demand-side paths is much greater than that transmitted through the supply-side paths. Sectors including the production and supply of electric power, steam and hot water (ESH), the non-metal mineral products (NMP), and the smelting and pressing of metals (SPM) are not only significantly affected by the demand of the CON sector and generate many carbon emissions but also participate in the paths of influence on other sectors as intermediate sectors. The composition of the critical paths is relatively stable, but the intensity of some paths varies over time.