The Consumption-Based Carbon Emissions in the Jing-Jin-Ji Urban Agglomeration Over China's Economic Transition

Abstract

Since the 2008 financial crisis, China has been undergoing an economic transition consisting of prioritizing green economic and sustainable development instead of rapid growth driven by large-scale investment. However, there is still a lack of fine print on how subregional effort can contribute to national or full supply chain mitigation plans, especially downscaling to the city level. To bridge this knowledge gap, we selected Jing-Jin-Ji urban agglomeration, one of the economic centers but also featured by intensive emission for decades, to analyze the emission variance and driving forces from 2012 to 2015 as a case study. Based on the consumption accounting framework, the carbon emissions of Jing-Jin-Ji have decreased by 11.7 Mt CO2 in total over the study period, and most cities showed the similar descending trend. The driving forces show that the emission intensity and production structure have largely reduced Jing-Jin-Ji's total due to measurements of economic transition. For instance, Beijing has decreased by 28.7 Mt of emission reduction which led by declined emission intensity. By contrast, per capita demands and growth of its population were the primary forces to increase emissions. To conclude, although the mitigation achievement is undeniable, we should also note that the economic transition has not changed the uneven pattern of selected urban agglomeration so far.