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The issue of China's CO2 emissions has become a major focus of the growing concerns, globally, for its potential impact on Climate Change. In this paper, supply chain paths that drive changes in life cycle CO2 emissions in China from 1992 to 2007 were identified, based on SPD (structural path decomposition) analysis of China's input–output tables and energy demand changes, over this study period. The study period was divided into three stages: 1992–1997, 1997–2002 and 2002–2007. The influence on changes of CO2 emissions derived from final demand was divided into six factors: direct CO2 emission intensity (e); industrial structure (A); product structure of final demand (ψ); category composition of final demand (Δ); per capita final demand (Y), and population (P). The detailed analysis reveals that direct CO2 emissions intensity (e) was the dominant factor in reducing China's CO2 emissions, while per capita final demand (Y) was the major single factor increasing the emissions. The largest influence on CO2 emissions from the viewpoint of supply chain paths was found to be “Chemical industry → exports”. The supply chain paths with high emissions at different stages during the study were “Metal smelting → exports”, “Nonmetallic products → fixed capital” and “Metal smelting → fixed capital”, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: With the intensification of global warming, the issue of carbon emissions causes more and more attention in recent years. In this paper, China’s 30 provincial-level administrative units are divided into five emission regions according to the annual average value of provincial CO2 emissions per capita during 1990 and 2010. The regional differences in impact factors on CO2 emissions are discussed using STIRPAT (stochastic impacts by regression on population, affluence, and technology) model. The results indicate that although GDP (Gross domestic product) per capita, industrial structure, population, urbanization and technology level have different impacts on CO2 emissions in different emission regions, they are almost always the main factors in all emission regions. In most emission regions, urbanization and GDP per capita has a bigger impact on CO2 emissions than other factors. Improving technology level produces a small reduction in CO2 emissions in most emission regions, but it is still a primary way for CO2 reduction in China. It’s noteworthy that industrial structure isn’t the main factor and improving technology level increases CO2 emissions in high emission region. Different measures should be adopted for CO2 reductions according to local conditions in different regions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]