Structural decline in China's CO2 emissions through transitions in industry and energy systems

Guan, Dabo, Meng, Jing, Reiner, David M., Zhang, Ning, Shan, Yuli, Mi, Zhifu, Shao, Shuai, Liu, Zhu, Zhang, Qiang and Davis, Steven J. (2018) Structural decline in China's CO2 emissions through transitions in industry and energy systems. Nature Geoscience, 11. 551–555. ISSN 1752-0894

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Abstract

As part of the Paris Agreement, China pledged to peak its CO2 emissions by 2030. In retrospect, the commitment may have been fulfilled as it was being made—China’s emissions peaked in 2013 at a level of 9.53 gigatons of CO2, and have declined in each year from 2014 to 2016. However, the prospect of maintaining the continuance of these reductions depends on the relative contributions of different changes in China. Here, we quantitatively evaluate the drivers of the peak and decline of China’s CO2 emissions between 2007 and 2016 using the latest available energy, economic and industry data. We find that slowing economic growth in China has made it easier to reduce emissions. Nevertheless, the decline is largely associated with changes in industrial structure and a decline in the share of coal used for energy. Decreasing energy intensity (energy per unit gross domestic product) and emissions intensity (emissions per unit energy) also contributed to the decline. Based on an econometric (cumulative sum) test, we confirm that there is a clear structural break in China’s emission pattern around 2015. We conclude that the decline of Chinese emissions is structural and is likely to be sustained if the nascent industrial and energy system transitions continue.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	sdg 8 - decent work and economic growth ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/decent_work_and_economic_growth
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Global Development (formerly School of International Development) Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Water Security Research Centre
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	23 Jul 2018 11:30
Last Modified:	24 Oct 2022 06:40
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/67794
DOI:	10.1038/s41561-018-0161-1

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