Tracking greenhouse gas emissions in Chinese value chains with an interprovincial input–output model

Alun Gu; Xiaoyu Zhou; Qiaowen Chen; Yahong Dong

doi:10.26599/ECM.2024.9400001

Energy and Climate Management https://doi.org/10.26599/ECM.2024.9400001

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Open Access | Online first | Published: 18 April 2024

Tracking greenhouse gas emissions in Chinese value chains with an interprovincial input–output model

Show Author's Information Hide Author's Information Alun Gu^¹(

), Xiaoyu Zhou^¹, Qiaowen Chen^², Yahong Dong^³

1Institute of Energy, Environment and Economy, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

2School of Management, China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China

3Macau Environmental Research Institute, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macao 999078, China

Keywords:

greenhouse gas emissions, Value chain, value-added emission, interprovincial input–output model

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Gu A, Zhou X, Chen Q, et al. Tracking greenhouse gas emissions in Chinese value chains with an interprovincial input–output model. Energy and Climate Management, 2024, https://doi.org/10.26599/ECM.2024.9400001

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Abstract

China’s carbon emission growth patterns exhibit marked regional differences, mainly caused by heterogeneities in initial resource endowment, economic scale, industrial structure, development stage, and international connections. To better characterize embodied greenhouse gas (GHG) emission patterns and their importance for interprovincial and industrial value chains in China, we analyzed the temporal and regional-scale spatial relationships between value-added and production-based GHG emissions in domestic value chains in 2012, 2015, and 2017 using an interprovincial input–output framework and accounting for interprovincial economic development correlations. The results demonstrate a gradually increasing flow of value-added GHG emissions within interprovincial value chains in the current interprovincial economic context. Within Chinese national value chains, the value-added emissions increased in Beijing–Tianjin and coastal areas, concurrently with decreasing local production-based emissions. Additionally, temporal evolution of provincial statuses and roles occurred within the value chains. Specifically, the roles of Shandong and Guangdong Provinces gradually evolved from suppliers to consumers of value-added emissions, indicating upgraded industries. Finally, the analysis of value-added industrial emissions showed partial decoupling between provinces, induced by the transformation and development of specific industries, emphasizing the need for close monitoring of industrially produced value-added GHG emissions in some provinces.

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Tracking greenhouse gas emissions in Chinese value chains with an interprovincial input–output model

Show Author's information Hide Author's Information Alun Gu^¹(

), Xiaoyu Zhou^¹, Qiaowen Chen^², Yahong Dong^³

1Institute of Energy, Environment and Economy, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

2School of Management, China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China

3Macau Environmental Research Institute, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macao 999078, China

Abstract

Keywords: greenhouse gas emissions, Value chain, value-added emission, interprovincial input–output model

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Publication history

Received: 04 September 2023

Revised: 19 December 2023

Accepted: 19 February 2024

Published: 18 April 2024

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 72140003). We thank Eric Dupuy, Ph.D., from Liwen Bianji (Edanz) (www.liwenbianji.cn), for editing the English text of a draft of this manuscript.

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This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).