Regional differences in the coupling relationship between Chinese economic growth and carbon emissions based on decoupling index and LMDI

doi:10.7523/j.issn.2095-6134.2020.03.002

Abstract

Abstract: To investigate regional differences in the coupling relationship between Chinese economic growth and carbon emissions, we selected 29 provinces and regions in China as the research units and developed the decoupling index to study the dynamic coupling relationship. Further, we analyzed the changes in carbon emissions in different regions from the economic scale growth, structural transformation, and technological upgrading aspects using the method of LMDI (logarithmic mean Divisia index). The results of the study for the period from 1990 to 2014 are given as follows. 1) With the ever increasing of Chinese economy as well as carbon emissions, the carbon emission intensity reduced, showing a trend of "green transition" as a whole. 2) The 29 provinces in China were mainly in the absolute decoupling, relative decoupling, and expansive negative decoupling states, and the coupling relationship between economic development and carbon emissions evolved with time passing. 3) In the course of Chinese economic development, the growth of economic scale drove the growth of carbon emissions, and the effects of technology progress and industrial structure varied from region to region. In different periods, the dominant effects of carbon emissions in various regions of China were also different. Economic scale effect and technical effect were the dominant effect, while the structure effect had the least impact.

Key words: economic growth, carbon emissions, regional difference, decoupling index, LMDI

CLC Number:

ZHOU Yannan, YANG Yu, CHENG Bo, HUANG Jixia. Regional differences in the coupling relationship between Chinese economic growth and carbon emissions based on decoupling index and LMDI[J]. , 2020, 37(3): 295-307.

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