A Research on the Factors Influencing Carbon Emission of Transportation Industry in “the Belt and Road Initiative” Countries Based on Panel Data

Abstract

Carbon emissions in countries in the “Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)” account for more than half of the world’s total volume. According to the international energy agency report, the world transportation industry carbon emissions in 2015 came second on the list for the proportion of global carbon emissions across all industries, accounting for 23.96% of the total. Along with the advancement of the BRI construction, transportation industry carbon emissions will continue their rapid growth. Therefore, studying the factors affecting the carbon emissions of the transportation industry in countries in the BRI is conducive to the formulation of policies to control carbon emissions. In this paper, the CO2 emissions of the transportation industry in countries in the BRI line from 2005 to 2015 were measured, and then the influencing factors of 57 countries in the BRI were analyzed by using the panel data model. The results show that per capita GDP, urbanization level, and energy consumption structure have positive effects on the carbon emissions of transportation industry, while technology level and trade openness have negative effects on carbon emissions of the transportation industry. Therefore, in order to effectively control the carbon emissions of the transportation industry in the BRI countries, it is necessary to reasonably control the transportation industry carbon emissions caused by urbanization, optimize the energy consumption structure of the transportation industry, optimize the structure of the transportation industry, and improve the openness of trade and the technical level of the BRI countries.