High-income countries often outsource material demands to poorer countries along with the associated environmental damage. This phenomenon can also occur within (large) countries, such as China, which was responsible for 24 to 30% of the global material footprint (MF) between 2007 and 2010. Understanding the distribution and development of China’s MF is hence critical for resource efficiency and circular economy ambitions globally. Here we present a comprehensive analysis of China’s MF at the provincial and sectoral levels. We combine provincial-level input–output data with sector- and province-specific trade data, detailed material extraction data, and the global input–output database EXIOBASE. We find that some provinces have MFs equivalent to medium-sized, high-income countries and limited evidence of material decoupling. Lower-income regions with high levels of material extraction can have an MF per capita as large as developed provinces due to much higher material intensities. The higher-income south-coastal provinces have lower MF per capita than equally developed provinces. This finding relates partly to differences in economic structure but indicates the potential for improvement across provinces. Investment via capital formation is up to 4 times more resource-intensive than consumption and drives 49 to 86% of provincial-level MFs (the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average is 37%). Resource-efficient production, efficient use of capital goods/infrastructure, and circular design are essential for reductions in China’s MF. Policy efforts to shift to a high-quality development model may reduce material intensities, preferably while avoiding the further outsourcing of high-intensity activities to other provinces or lower-income countries.
China is the world's largest cement producer, contributing to 60% of the global total. Jiangsu province takes the lead of cement production among China's provinces, contributing to 8.4% of the national total cement output. In this study, a geographical information system-based energy model is developed to assess the potential of energy savings and associated mitigation of CO 2 and air pollutant emissions in Jiangsu's cement industry during 2015-2030. Results show that 1) compared to 2015, energy consumption in the baseline scenario will decrease by 54% at the provincial level. Economical energy saving potential for 2030 is around 50 PJ, which equals to 35% of energy use in the baseline in 2030. 2) At the city level, Changzhou, Wuxi, and Xuzhou are top three cities in terms of energy saving potential. 3) The economical CO 2 emission reductions will decrease by 4.4 Mt in 2030, while the emissions of PM and NOx would decline by 30% and 56%, respectively. This study will help policy makers develop integrated policies to support the coordinated development of Jiangsu and can also enhance the effectiveness of the implementation of joint prevention and control of atmospheric pollution to improve regional air quality.
As cities represents the microcosms of global environmental change, it is very important for the global sustainable development by decoupling environmental pressure from economic growth on city level. In this paper, the municipality of Chongqing in China is employed 18 as a case to show whether the decoupling of environmental pressures from economic growth has 19 occurred in cities undergoing rapid economic growth; what is the level of decoupling; and what 20 causes the observed degree of decoupling. Results show the following. (1) During the period of 21 1999-2010, decoupling from economic growth has been absolute for the emissions of SO2, soot, and waste water, while it has been relative for total energy consumption, emissions of CO2 and solid waste. (2) Compared with the period 2000-2005, decoupling level improved for all the six environmental pressures in the period 2005-2010. (3) Compared with China and other three municipalities of China, the overall decoupling level of Chongqing is above China's average while below those of Beijing and Shanghai. (4) During the period 1999-2000, technological change was the dominate factor for decoupling Chongqing's environmental pressure from economic growth, as it contributed 131.4%, 134.6%, 99.9%, 97.7%, 104.5% and 54.9% to the decoupling of total energy consumption, emissions of CO2, SO2, soot, waste water and solid waste, respectively; while economic structural change had very tiny effect to the decoupling of emissions of soot and SO2, and it even had negative effect to that of total energy consumption, and emissions of CO2 and waste water. Based on the above observations, we explain the difference in decoupling levels for different environmental pressures and suggest approaches for policy-makers on further promoting decoupling environmental pressure from economic growth.
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