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Research on China’s embodied carbon transfer network in 2012 from the perspective of provinces and sectors

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Abstract

Resource endowment and economic development of different provinces in China vary greatly, resulting in large amount of CO2 transfers. We need further exploration to help decision makers allocate emission responsibilities reasonably. We construct China’s embodied CO2 transfer network (CTN) in 2012 from the perspective of provinces and sectors based on multi-regional input-output (MRIO) model and complex network analysis. The key CO2 transfer nodes and paths, final demand decomposition, topological structure, clustering characteristics, and influencing factors are analyzed. The results show that the average CO2 transfer length from one province (sector) to another is only 1.323 (1.584). The top three net CO2 importers (45.39% of the total), located in developed eastern coastal area, mainly import CO2 from energy-rich but underdeveloped provinces such as Heilongjiang. It presents a CO2 transfer pattern from north to south and from west to east. CO2 transfer in energy industry is mainly driven by urban household consumption. Non-adjacent provinces with distance greater than 750 km have no significant spillover effect and difference in technology level has the greatest impact on CTN. This work is important for differentiating the roles of provinces and sectors in CTN, guiding the allocation of carbon credits and controlling total CO2 emissions.

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Funding

This work was supported by the financial support from the National Social Science Foundation of China (No. 14ZDB135), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 71373173), and the Major Research Plan of Social Science Found of Tianjin Municipal Education Commission (No. 2019JWZD39).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Management and Economics, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China

    Weidong Chen & Yue Meng

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  1. Weidong Chen
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  2. Yue Meng
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Correspondence to Yue Meng.

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Chen, W., Meng, Y. Research on China’s embodied carbon transfer network in 2012 from the perspective of provinces and sectors. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 38701–38714 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09528-z

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