Convergence of per capita carbon emissions in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China

Abstract

The convergence of carbon emissions in important regions is a key prerequisite for reaching China's carbon emissions peak target. The Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) is the latest strategic economic area in China. In this study, a method of investigating the convergence of per capita carbon emissions in the YREB is proposed, and it includes the following models: r convergence, stochastic convergence and b convergence. Besides, the five control variables per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP), energy consumption structure, industrial structure, population density and urbanization rate are considered in the test models. In addition to testing the whole sample of 74 cities belonging to the Economic Belt, the convergence of three subgroups (municipalities, capital and sub-provincial cities and prefecture-level cities) is also tested by considering spatial effects. The following results are obtained: (1) although r convergence and b conditional convergence are observed, stochastic convergence is not observed for the 74 cities; (2) the per capita GDP and energy structure are the key factors influencing the cities' convergence, whereas the urbanization rate has a limited impact; and (3) improving the industrial structure and reducing the population density are effective methods of promoting the convergence of per capita carbon emissions among the capital and subprovincial cities and municipalities, respectively.

Environmental convergence and environmental Kuznets curve: A unified empirical framework

“…Im recent literature, researchers have been considering, in addition to CO 2 emissions, environmental indicators such emissions and energy intensities as well as eco-efficiency index in addressing EC. Among others, this has been the case in the study by Camarero et al (2013); Zhao et al (2015); Apergis and Payne (2017) and Yu et al (2019). Relying on eco-efficiency indicators (obtained by data envelopment), Camarero et al (2013) assess EC to find results suggesting the existence of 4 convergence clubs across OECD countries.…”

Industrial Structure Optimization and Low-Carbon Transformation of Chinese Industry Based on the Forcing Mechanism of CO2 Emission Peak Target

“…Opinions in the existing literature generally agree that if certain emission reduction measures are taken, China could achieve the CEPT around 2030 [13][14][15]. Promoting technological progress [16][17][18][19], reducing CO 2 emission intensity [20], adjusting industrial structure [21,22] or energy structure [23][24][25], and establishing CO 2 emission trading mechanisms [26,27] are considered the main measures required to achieve the CEPT. In general, the logic of these researches is a line type positive thinking (as opposed to reverse thinking) that about what measures can be taken to achieve the CEPT.…”

The convergence of carbon dioxide emissions: a survey of the empirical literature

“…Further analysis using the Phillips-Sul (2007; club convergence tests indicates two strong convergence clubs among 20 industrial sectors with the remaining four industrial sectors exhibiting weaker convergence. Yu et al (2019) explore the convergence of per capita CO 2 emissions for 74 cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt over the period 2005-2015 using σ-convergence, conditional β-convergence and stochastic convergence approaches. The coefficient of variation in per capita CO 2 emissions shows a downward trend with the differences in per capita CO 2 emissions among the cities decreasing, lending support for σ-convergence.…”