Transfer patterns and driving factors of China’s energy use in trade: Evidence from multiregional input–output analysis and structural decomposition analysis

Abstract

China consumes a large amount of fossil fuels to support its economic development, making it the world’s largest carbon emitter. To provide a solid basis for relevant policies and measures for energy conservation and emissions reduction, the evolution patterns of China’s energy use in trade were detailed analyzed in this article. The results showed that the ratio of net embodied energy flows to total energy consumption declined during the investigated period. The highly developed areas (such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong) imported embodied energy, while the least developed provinces (e.g., Guizhou and Yunnan) and areas with heavy industries (Hebei, Inner Mongolia and Shanxi) exported embodied energy. In terms of decomposition results, energy coefficients and per capita demand played dominant roles in determining energy consumption changes. Only the changes in the production trade structure represented obvious and continued negative spillover effects on energy decreases. The highly and least developed regions showed a reverse changing process in determining embodied energy flows, which was mainly due to structural factor changes. Moreover, per capita demand continued to boost the net embodied energy outflows of the provinces, with the economic structure relying highly on heavy industries. Finally, we proposed some effective policy suggestions by considering regional heterogeneity. The novelty of this paper is integrating the multi-regional input–output analysis and additive structural decomposition analysis to investigate the trajectory and drivers of China’s energy consumption footprint, respectively. Furthermore, driving factors behind embodied energy transfers were also analyzed.

Keywords

• Embodied energy transfer
• Multiregional input–output analysis
• Structural decomposition analysis
• Regional heterogeneity