Complex network analysis of embodied carbon emission transfer in China’s construction industry

Abstract

The construction industry is an important material production sector of the national economy, and trade in goods and services between different industrial sectors in different regions may result in the transfer of embodied carbon emissions from the construction industry. A systematic identification of the relationships and structural characteristics of the embodied carbon transfer in the construction industry is crucial for rationally defining the responsibility for emission reduction and scientifically formulating emission reduction policies to promote the effective promotion of China’s carbon emission reduction actions. Based on the calculation of input-output theory, this study constructs a multi-regional input-output (MRIO) model of 31 provinces in China containing 28 industries to estimate the carbon emissions of the construction industry in 2017, it also combines the complex network theory to construct the industrial and regional embodied carbon transfer network of China’s construction industry, and calculates the network structure indexes to deeply explore the spatial transfer network structure characteristics of the embodied carbon transfer between regions of China’s construction industry in 2017. The results show that the construction, energy and building materials manufacturing sectors are at the core of the sectoral carbon transfer network structure, with strong network control. The embodied carbon transfer network between regions in the construction industry has a small-world character, more than 40% of all relevant regions have carbon transfer relationships with other regions, significant carbon emissions are transferred from the resource-rich, industrially well-endowed central-western and north-eastern provinces to the economically developed south-eastern coastal provinces. According to the results of the study, differentiated carbon emission reduction plans are formulated, and policy suggestions for optimizing the carbon emission reduction plan of the construction industry are put forward.