Identification of Key Carbon Emission Industries and Emission Reduction Control Based on Complex Network of Embodied Carbon Emission Transfers: The Case of Hei-Ji-Liao, China

Similar to the problems surrounding carbon transfers that exist in international trade, there are severe carbon emission headaches in regional industrial systems within countries. It is essential for emission reduction control and regional industrial restructuring to clarify the relationship of carbon emissions flows between industrial sectors and identify key carbon-emitting industrial sectors. Supported by the input–output model (I-O model) and social network analysis (SNA), this research adopts input–output tables (2017), energy balance sheets (2021) and the energy statistics yearbooks (2021) of the three Chinese provinces of Hei-Ji-Liao to construct an Embodied carbon emission transfer network (ECETN) and determine key carbon-emitting industrial sectors with a series of complex network measurement indicators and analysis methods. The key abatement control pathways are obtained based on the flow relationships between the chains in the industrial system. The results demonstrate that the ECETNs in all three provinces of Hei-Ji-Liao are small-world in nature with scale-free characteristics (varying according to the power function). The key carbon emission industry sectors in the three provinces are identified through centrality, influence, aggregation and diffusion, comprising coal mining, the chemical industry, metal products industry, machinery manufacturing and transportation in Liaoning Province; coal mining, non-metal mining, non-metal products, metal processing and the electricity industry in Jilin Province; and agriculture, metal processing and machinery manufacturing in Heilongjiang. Additionally, key emission reduction control pathways in the three provinces are also identified based on embodied carbon emission flow relationships between industry sectors. Following the above findings, corresponding policy recommendations are proposed to tackle the responsibility of carbon reduction among industrial sectors in the province. Moreover, these findings provide some theoretical support and policy considerations for policymakers.