An empirical study on the CO2 emissions in the Chinese construction industry.

In assuming its commitments to the reduction of CO 2 emissions, China is contributing great efforts to mitigate CO 2 emissions across its all economic sectors including construction industry. The Chinese construction industry is one of the main contributors to CO 2 emissions in China. This paper presents an empirical study on the CO 2 emissions in the Chinese construction industry across the period of 1995–2011. The input-output analysis method is employed for conducting the study. The data used for analysis are mainly collected from the world input-output database. The analysis results demonstrate that the CO 2 emissions in the Chinese construction industry increased by 388.7% from 1995 to 2011, reached to 3035.9 Mt in 2011. However, the carbon intensity in the construction industry decreased by 46.9% from 1995 to 2011, recorded as 0.00198 Mt/million dollars in 2011. The indirect CO 2 emissions were the majority of the construction CO 2 emissions, accounting for over 95% during 1995–2011. The process-based CO 2 emissions contributed 8.7%–12.6% of the total construction CO 2 emissions during 1995–2011. The electricity, gas and water supply industry, the other non-metallic mineral industry, and the basic metals and fabricated metal industry were the main contributors to the construction CO 2 emissions during 1995–2009. This study presents a comprehensive picture on the CO 2 emissions in the Chinese construction industry, which provides valuable references both to further study and to formulate more effective policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]