Decomposition Analysis in Electricity Sector Output from Carbon Emissions in China

Abstract

Carbon emissions from China’s electricity sector account for about one-seventh of the global carbon dioxide emissions, or half of China’s carbon dioxide emissions. A better understanding of the relationship between CO2 emissions and electric output would help develop and adjust carbon emission mitigation strategies for China’s electricity sector. Thus, we applied the electricity elasticity of carbon emissions to a decoupling index that we combined with advanced multilevel Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index tools in order to test the carbon emission response to the electric output and the main drivers. Then, we proposed a comparative decoupling stability analysis method. The results show that the electric output effect played the most significant role in increasing CO2 emissions from China’s electric sector. Also, “relative decoupling” was the main state during the study period (1991–2012). Moreover, the electricity elasticity of CO2 emissions had a better performance regarding stability in the analysis of China’s electricity output.