Carbon Emissions from Manufacturing Sector in Jiangsu Province: Regional Differences and Decomposition of Driving Factors

Abstract

Based on the Tapio decoupling model, this paper discusses the decoupling relationship between the economic growth and carbon emissions of the manufacturing sector in southern Jiangsu, northern Jiangsu and middle Jiangsu during the 13th Five-Year-Plan period. By using the LMDI method, the carbon emissions and influencing factors of 31 subindustries of the manufacturing sector in Jiangsu Province from 2016 to 2020 were quantitatively analyzed by region and industry. The main findings are as follows: (1) during the 13th Five-Year-Plan period, the growth rate of the energy consumption and carbon emissions of the manufacturing sectors in southern Jiangsu, northern Jiangsu and middle Jiangsu slowed down, and the industrial structure was increasingly optimized; (2) economic growth is the primary driving force behind the manufacturing carbon emissions in the three regions of Jiangsu Province, while energy intensity is the main factor that affects the carbon-emission differences among the manufacturing subsectors in the different regions; (3) improving the energy efficiency of high-emission-intensity industries, such as the ferrous metal smelting and calendering industry, chemical industry and textile industry, is the key to reducing the carbon emissions of the manufacturing sector in the different regions of Jiangsu in the future. Jiangsu Province should promote the upgrading of the manufacturing-industry structure, and it should encourage the high-energy-consumption industry to reduce its energy intensity by technological innovation to achieve the goal of emission reduction and economic growth.