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• Carbon emissions from energy consumption of 282 prefecture-level cities in China were calculated. • A new method for calculating carbon emission factors for electricity is proposed. • Extending the Atkinson Index to the application of Carbon Fairness. • Measured the inequality and fairness indicators of carbon emissions from energy consumption at the prefecture-level city level in China. This paper focuses on the conceptualization and quantification of carbon emission inequality and fairness from energy consumption. In order to more accurately measure the carbon emissions generated by electricity consumption in each city, we firstly propose a new method for calculating the carbon emission factor for electricity, and calculates the carbon emissions from energy consumption in 282 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2019. Through the application of the Theil-Kaya decomposition mechanism and the improved Atkinson index, we conducted an in-depth study of the carbon emission inequality and fairness indicators from energy consumption. The results show that (1) Although China's overall inequality has declined, it remains significant in the western region, with its inequality indicator fluctuating from 0.548 in 2003 to 0.683 in 2019.(2) The decomposition of the drivers of inequality indicators shows that the contribution of GDP per capita to inequality is increasingly being replaced by energy intensity and the energy carbon emission factor, with energy intensity emerging as the main driver, contributing more than 40% to inequality in 2019, both overall and in the three regions.(3) The results for the fairness indicator, on the other hand, show a certain degree of divergence. Further Dynamic Time Warping fitting analysis shows that regardless of how the public's sensitivity to carbon emissions varies, the change trends of the fairness and inequality indicators for carbon emissions in the eastern region show a high degree of convergence, even in the two most extreme cases. The fit is poorest in the western region, but improves significantly if public's sensitivity to carbon emissions increases. (4)To sum up, some policies that are consistent with the context of the times, such as the East-West regional counterparts and the construction of a new type of power system, are worthy of priority consideration by the Government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The high-quality development index is introduced into STIRPAT model. • The average yield of ecological footprint is updated. • High-quality development can effectively reduce the increase of ecological footprint. • The improvement of population quality helps ease pressure on the environment. • Lower energy consumption intensity helps improve ecological quality. It is urgent to coordinate the development of economy and environment under the "dual carbon" goal. As China's new development stage and mode, high-quality development takes into account both the speed and quality of economic, providing the possibility of achieving a "win-win" situation for the economy and the environment. In order to test the practical impact of high-quality development on ecological, based on the STIRPAT model, this paper introduces high-quality development index instead of per capita GDP, so as to measure the current economic situation in China, and explore the relationship between high-quality development and ecological footprint, and demonstrates the feasibility from theory and practice. At the same time, it pays attention to the complex effects of population and technology on environmental quality. The results show that the contradiction between economy and ecology still exists in China. The ecological footprint index of 30 provinces in the past 21 years has increased as a whole, and the fworst ecological footprint has concentrated in the Yellow River basin. But since 2012, the growth of the footprint has slowed. The slow down time and low value region of ecological footprint were observed, and it was found that they overlapped with the proposed time and the high value area of high-quality development. The level of high-quality development in China has also continued to rise, with regional differences but gradually narrowing. Among them, green development and shared development contribute more to the improvement of high-quality development level. Compared with the traditional economic development mode, high-quality development can reduce the increase of ecological footprint, and the longer the time, the smaller the increase, more conducive to long-term sustainable development. In addition, population and technology factors are also profoundly affecting China's ecological pattern. The increase in population size and population density, as well as the increase in the proportion of coal-based energy consumption structure, will lead to increased environmental pressure. The improvement of population quality and the reduction of energy consumption intensity will help alleviate ecological pressure. The research is helpful to provide policy guidance and path combination reference for China's sustainable development, and also provide new ideas for the global coordination of the relationship between economy and environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]