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As the Chinese regions become more and more connected to each other and foreign countries, this study aims to address carbon imbalance and outsourcing issues in China. Using a production-based carbon emission inventory and a China-global multi-regional input-output model, this study estimates the consumption-based carbon emissions in 30 Chinese regions in 2007 and 2010. Our results reveal that the carbon imbalances of most Chinese provinces and cities have decreased between 2007 and 2010, but disparities in the regional per capita carbon footprint have widened. Our Structural Path Analysis (SPA) results shows that most Chinese regions have higher ratios of both imported (to consumption-based) and exported (to production-based) carbon emissions in further upstream supplier tiers than that of direct imports and exports in the first tier, thus it's vital to trace emissions in the upstream supply chain to understand emission outsourcing. Our result from four case study provinces suggests that Beijing should import more electricity products from nearby Hebei and Shandong rather than Inner Mongolia to lower its consumption-based carbon emissions given the smaller emission coefficients of their electricity production.

Petroleum coke, a non-environmentally friendly energy source, is gradually replacing other power fuels in China's industrial enterprises because of its price advantage. Petroleum coke has high emission factors and thus emits more greenhouse gases (GHGs) and air pollutants than even raw coal. This study first examines the rapid growth of petroleum coke consumption in China since 2010 by industry sector and region and then estimates the petroleum coke-related emissions. We conclude that the total consumption of petroleum coke increased by 18.9% from 2010 to 2016 and that the industry final consumption for burning in boilers increased dramatically (by 158.2%). Petroleum coke-related CO 2 emissions reached 28 million tonnes in 2016, whereas CH 4 and N 2 O emissions totaled 870 and 143 tonnes, respectively. The increased use of petroleum coke will increase the urgency for the development of climate change mitigation and emissions reduction measures in China. We propose several possible policy suggestions for petroleum coke management and emissions control, such as strongly restricting the production and import of high-sulphur petroleum coke, as well as burning petroleum coke to provide power; more power plants and industrial kiln stoves/boilers should be equipped with efficient decontamination systems; the development of advanced industrial processes and the clean utilization of petroleum coke should be encouraged.

Over the past decade, China has entered a “new normal” phase in economic development, with its role in global trade flows changing significantly. This study estimates the driving forces of Chinese export‐embodied carbon emissions in the new normal phase, based on environmentally extended multiregional input‐output modeling and structural decomposition analysis. We find that Chinese export‐embodied CO2 emissions peaked in 2008 at a level of 1,657 million tones. The subsequent decline in CO2 emissions was mainly due to the changing structure of Chinese production. The peak in Chinese export‐embodied emissions is encouraging from the perspective of global climate change mitigation, as it implies downward pressure on global CO2 emissions. However, more attention should focus on ensuring that countries that may partly replace China as major production bases increase their exports using low‐carbon inputs.