Sustainability, Vol. 11, Pages 4414: Factors Influencing Indirect Carbon Emission of Residential Consumption in China: A Case of Liaoning Province (Sustainability)

Indirect carbon emissions caused by residential consumption has gradually become the key to the formulation of carbon emission reduction policies. In order to analyze the factors that influence the provincial residential indirect carbon emissions in China, comprehensive structural decomposition analysis (SDA) and logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) models are established in this paper. The Liaoning province was selected due to its typical features as a province with higher urbanization rates. The model is based on input–output tables from 2002 to 2012, including those pertaining to the carbon emission coefficient (ΔF), energy intensity effect (ΔE), intermediate demand (ΔL), commodity structure (ΔS), residential consumption structure (ΔU), residential consumption ratio (ΔR), per capita GDP (ΔA) and population size (ΔP). The results show that the consumption of urban residents is the most common and significant section causing the growth of direct and indirect carbon emissions, both of which show an obvious upward trend. Nonmetal mining is the sector experiencing the greatest growth in indirect carbon emissions. The two most influential factors of indirect carbon emissions via the consumption of rural and urban residents are the intermediate demand effect (ΔL) and the per capita GDP effect (ΔA), respectively. Reducing energy intensity and optimizing commodity structures are the most effective ways to reduce indirect carbon emissions.