Skip to main content
Log in

China’s CO2 emissions embodied in fixed capital formation and its spatial distribution

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Environmental Science and Pollution Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study aims to measure China’s CO2 emissions embodied in fixed capital formation (FCF) from 2007 to 2017 by using both a multi-regional input-output (MRIO) model and a single-region input-output model (SRIO). Then decoupling analysis was performed for uncovering the relationship between embodied CO2 emissions and added values at provincial level. Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) method was further conducted to identify driving factors underlying the growth of embodied CO2 emissions. Results show that CO2 emission from FCF doubled from 2436 million tons (Mt) in 2007 to 4820 Mt in 2012, and increased slightly to 5089 Mt in 2017. Electric power, gas, and water production and supply sector (EGW) and manufacturing industry (MFI) sector were two dominant emitters from supply-side perspective, while construction (CON) was the largest demanding sector driving the embodied emissions from upstream sectors. From geographical point of view, northern provinces were the major inter-regional net exporters of embodied CO2 emissions, while eastern and southern provinces were net importers of embodied CO2 emissions. Based on such results, policy recommendations are proposed considering the relation between supply and demand sector, inter-provincial CO2 emission transfer, and local economic development to mitigate CO2 emissions from China’s FCF.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Here and throughout the paper, the bold and uppercase letters denote matrices for regions while normal and lowercase letters in matrix denote numerical values for sectors in each region.

References

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank the referees for their helpful comments.

Funding

This study is supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (71690241, 71810107001, 71704104, 71774100, 71804071), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities through Shanghai Jiao Tong University (16JCCS04), the Shanghai Municipal Government (17XD1401800), and the big data project funded by Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU-2019UGBD-03).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yong Geng or Rui Wu.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

ESM 1

(DOCX 222 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Gao, Z., Geng, Y., Wu, R. et al. China’s CO2 emissions embodied in fixed capital formation and its spatial distribution. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 19970–19990 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08491-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08491-z

Keywords

Navigation