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Spatio-temporal interaction heterogeneity and driving factors of carbon emissions from the construction industry in China

  • Low Emission Development Strategies and Sustainable Development Goals
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Abstract

Global warming caused by carbon emissions has become a major issue that countries need to address. As the largest carbon emitter globally, the construction industry is one of the major contributors to carbon emissions in China. It is of significance for carbon reduction to study carbon emission from construction industry. Based on various methods, this study explored the spatio-temporal characteristics of carbon emissions and the driving factors of construction industry. This study found, in 2007, 2010, and 2012, carbon emissions from the construction industry exhibited an increasing trend, and the indirect carbon emissions accounted for approximately 77% of the total carbon emissions overall; in addition, the regional gaps in carbon emissions are widening. The space centers of gravity of direct, indirect, and total carbon emissions showed similar rotations in the counterclockwise direction and gradually shifted to the northeast direction. Carbon emissions from the construction industry were predominantly influenced by the total population, number of employees in construction industry, labor productivity in construction industry, added value of the construction industry, energy consumption in construction industry in 2007, evolution to the mutual influence of the total population, labor productivity in construction industry, and energy consumption in construction industry in 2012. The finds can make references for the regional sustainable development.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express sincere gratitude to anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments to improve the quality of the manuscript.

Funding

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China’s Innovative Research Group Project (42121001) and the Major Projects of National Natural Science Foundation of China (41590840).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Xiaomin Guo & Chuanglin Fang

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Xiaomin Guo & Chuanglin Fang

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  1. Xiaomin Guo
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  2. Chuanglin Fang
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CF: project administration and funding acquisition; CF: review and editing; XG: writing—original draft and methodology. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Chuanglin Fang.

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Guo, X., Fang, C. Spatio-temporal interaction heterogeneity and driving factors of carbon emissions from the construction industry in China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 81966–81983 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-24200-4

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