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Multiscale levels CO2 decouple reinforcement in China

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Abstract

Decoupling economic growth from CO2 emissions is imperative for China. Meanwhile, establishing a consistent and comprehensive decoupling inventory that includes national (N), regional and provincial (RP), and city and county (CC) levels is essential for further policy formulation. This research aims to investigate the decoupling status using the “N-RP-CC” approach while considering changes in decoupling trends at the different levels. A combination of the Tapio decoupling model and cluster analysis is employed to study the decoupling’s spatiotemporal characteristics and trends. The study first calculates the decoupling value for “national, 7; regions, 30; provinces, 1501 CCs” in China, 2006–2017. The results show that there continues to be an improvement in the decoupling trend at the national level. Conversely, the regional scale exhibits a more vulnerable decoupling trend compared to the national level, with weak and extended negative decoupling observed in northeastern and northern China. Moreover, provincial heterogeneities are increasingly evident, with poor decoupling statuses appearing in Jilin, Heilongjiang, Liaoning, and Xinjiang, as well as many central provinces. Additionally, although more than half of CCs exhibit weak decoupling during most years, seven different states of decoupling were also identified during the time frame. These findings further indicate that spatiotemporal heterogeneities extend beyond RP scales within CCs. Taking the Yangtze River as a boundary line reveals a severe situation in northern areas along with rapid development trends observed in southern regions. Finally, we clustered 1414 CCs based on their industrial proportions for 2017 which further highlights increasingly prominent heterogeneities that should be carefully considered. Based on these findings, policy recommendations such as spatial organization and optimization and technique investment are proposed to achieve CO2 emission decoupling under the N-RP-CC levels.

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Funding

This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 52360011, 22065036, and 72064025). This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Ministry of Education Planning Fund Project of China, Xingdian Talent Support Program, Yunnan Provincial Department of Science and Technology (202201BF070001-013), Research Center of Lake Restoration Technology Engineering for Universities of Yunnan Province (Yunjiaofa [2019]-57), and Workstation of Academician Chen Jing of Yunnan Province (No. 202105AF150012).

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Author notes

  1. Lei Li and Huiying Li are co-first Authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical Science and Technology, Yunnan University, University City East Outer Ring South Road, Kunming, 650500, China

    Lei Li, Chuanhua Yang, Yue Tang, Fengzhi Jiang & Siping Ji

  2. Research Center of Lake Restoration Technology Engineering for Universities of Yunnan Province (Yunnan University), School of Chemical Science and Technology, Yunnan University, University City East Outer Ring South Road, Kunming, 650500, China

    Lei Li, Huiying Li, Chuanhua Yang, Yue Tang, Fengzhi Jiang & Siping Ji

  3. Institute of International Rivers and Eco-Security, Yunnan University, University City East Outer Ring South Road, Kunming, 650500, China

    Huiying Li

  4. School of Chemical Science and Technology, Yunnan Minzu University, 2929 Yuehua Street, Kunming, 650500, China

    Yujian Wang

  5. Faculty of Management and Economics, Kunming University of Science and Technology, No. 727 Jingming South Road, Kunming, 650500, China

    HongJuan Yang

  6. School of Geographic and Environmental Sciences, Tianjin Normal University, No.393, Extension of Bin Shui West Road, Xi Qing District, Tianjin, 300387, China

    Weishi Zhang

  7. Workstation of Academician Chen Jing of Yunnan Province, University City East Outer Ring South Road, Kunming, 650500, China

    Fengzhi Jiang

  8. School of Chemistry Science and Engineering, Yunnan University, University City East Outer Ring South Road, Kunming, 650500, Yunnan Province, China

    Siping Ji

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  1. Lei Li
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Data collection and analysis were performed by LL, HY L, CH Y, YT, YJ W, HJ Y, and WS Z. The first draft of the manuscript was written by LL, and the authors FZ J and SP J commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Siping Ji.

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Li, L., Li, H., Yang, C. et al. Multiscale levels CO2 decouple reinforcement in China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 121569–121583 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-30931-9

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