Search Results (6)

Studies have shown that household consumption accounts for more than 60% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Reducing household CO₂ emissions (HCEs) can help combat climate change globally and can provide a wide range of environmental, financial and public health benefits. Here, we present data from a large survey on 14,928 households in eighty-eight Chinese cities to investigate the spatial patterns in HCEs per person (PHCEs) and the drivers behind these patterns based on a multi-scale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) model. We found that higher PHCEs were mainly in northern cities with a severe and cold climate. Our findings suggest that PHCEs could be modeled as a function of household size, education level, income level, consumption tendency and HCEs intensity. HCEs intensity was identified as the most important determinant, and its effect increased from eastern cities to central and western cities in China. The quantification of city-level PHCEs and their drivers help policy makers to make fair and equitable GHG mitigation polices, and they help achieve many of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including affordable and clean energy, sustainable cities and communities, and climate action. Full article

Currently, household carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions (HCEs) as one of the leading sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) have drawn notable scholarly concern. Thus, here, taking six provinces in the period of 2000–2017 of Central China as a case, we analyzed the characteristics and the driving factors of HCEs from direct energy consumption and three perspectives: Central China as a whole, urban-rural differences, and inter-provincial comparison. The drivers of direct HCEs were analyzed by the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI). The σ convergence was adopted for analyzing the trend of inter-provincial differences on the HCEs. The key findings are as follows. First, all the direct HCEs from three perspectives had an obvious growth trend. The total direct HCEs grew from 9596.20 × 10⁴ tonnes in 2000 to 30,318.35 × 10⁴ tonnes in 2017, with an increase of 2.16 times. Electricity and coal use were the primary sources. The urban and rural increases of direct HCEs were up 2.57 times and 1.77 times, respectively. The urban-rural gap of direct HCEs narrowed first and then widened. The direct HCEs in the six provinces varied significantly, but the gap was narrowing. Second, as a whole the per capita consumption expenditure and energy demand were the main drivers to the increment of HCEs, with cumulative contribution rates of 118.19% and 59.90%. The energy price effect was mainly responsible for the mitigation of HCEs. Third, the similar drivers’ trend can also be seen from the perspective of inter-provincial comparison. However, from the perspective of urban and rural difference, the population urban-rural structure effect played a reverse influence on both urban and rural areas. Thus, raising the energy prices appropriately, upgrading the residents’ consumption to a sustainable pattern, controlling the growth of population size reasonably, and optimizing the household energy structure might effectively mitigate the growth of HCEs in Central China. Full article

The household sector, which plays a critical role in emission reduction, is a main source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Although numerous academic journals have published papers on household CO₂ emissions (HCEs), great challenges remain in research on assessments, determinants, and further research prospects. This work reviews and projects HCEs using a bibliometric analysis and a systematic review based on the data from the Web of Science (WOS) platform from 1991 to 2020. Over the last 30 years, there has been a rapid and active trend of research on HCEs. We find that (1) the scale of the bibliometric analysis shows that research on HCEs is interdisciplinary and must consider overall cognition of the environment, the economy, society, and technology. It also needs to strengthen cooperation between different countries/territories to emphasize the quality and influence of papers on HCEs. (2) A review of previous literature shows that research on HCEs mainly focuses on the research object, mainstream assessments, and influencing factors. The following six main aspects impact HCEs: demographic, income, social, technological, policy, and natural factors. (3) The research discussion suggests that more micro-level research needs to be conducted, such as research on the city level and the individual level, which is important for sustainable development and low consumption. A comparative analysis of the differences in HCEs is a future research direction. Additionally, localized carbon emission reduction measures need to be implemented. Full article

CO₂ emissions caused by household consumption have become one of the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Studying household CO₂ emissions (HCEs) is of great significance to energy conservation and emissions reduction. In this study, we quantitatively analyzed the direct and indirect CO₂ emissions by urban and rural households in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing. The results show that urban total HCEs are larger than rural total HCEs for the four megacities. Urban total per capita household CO₂ emissions (PHCEs) are larger than rural total PHCEs in Beijing, Tianjin, and Chongqing, while rural total PHCEs in Shanghai are larger than urban total PHCEs. Electricity and hot water production and supply was the largest contributor of indirect HCEs for both rural and urban households. Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing outsourced a large amount of indirect CO₂ emissions to their neighboring provinces. Full article

In China, household CO₂ emissions (HCEs) are increasing due to economic development and accelerated urbanization. This paper details the spatial variations of per capita household CO₂ emissions (PHCEs) in China and the factors impacting PHCEs using spatial statistical analysis and a spatial panel data model for the period from 1997 to 2014. Our results indicate that (1) there has been high provincial variation in rates of change across China, with some provinces’ PHCEs increasing by an order of magnitude from 1997 to 2014; (2) the Global Moran’s I of PHCEs are above 0, and the spatial differences between PHCEs are caused by the High-High cluster and Low-Low cluster in China; (3) a 1% increase of per capita income, education level, and urbanization will result in increases in PHCEs of 0.6990%, 0.0149%, and 0.0044%, respectively, whilst a 1% increase in household size will result in a 0.0496% decrease in PHCEs. There are a large number of factors impacting CO₂ emissions, while there is little specific guidance on the spatial variations and provincial characteristics of CO₂ emissions from the perspective of household consumption. Full article

The household sector consumes a large amount of goods and services and is therefore a major source of global carbon emissions. This study aims to analyze per person household carbon emission (HCEs) patterns of urban and rural China over the period from 1995 to 2011. Annual macroeconomic data for the study were obtained from authentic Chinese government sources. Direct HCE estimates for each fossil fuel were obtained using the IPCC’s reference approach, and indirect HCEs were calculated by input-output analysis. In 1995, per person HCEs from direct sources for urban and rural China were 0.50 tCO₂ and 0.22 tCO₂, respectively; by 2011, these values had increased to 0.60 tCO₂ and 0.61 tCO₂, an increase of 20% and 177.27%, respectively. Similarly, in 1995, per person HCEs from indirect sources for urban and rural China were 0.43 tCO₂ and 0.16 tCO₂, respectively; by 2011, these values had increased to 1.77 tCO₂ and 0.53 tCO₂, respectively, an increase of 306% and 235%. The reasons for these differences and the sets of policies required to rectify increasing emissions are discussed. If current trends and practices continue, with a RMB1000 increase in per capita income from 2011 levels, per person HCEs in urban and rural China will increase by 0.119 tCO₂ and 0.197 tCO₂, respectively. This result indicates that the sector of society which is most vulnerable will contribute most to China’s increasing HCEs. Therefore, while developing energy consumption and emissions reduction policies and programs, principles of fairness and equity need to be followed. Full article