A study on carbon transfer and carbon emission critical paths in China: I-O analysis with multidimensional analytical framework

As environmental issues aggravated heavily, China faces increasing pressure and challenges on carbon emission reduction and distribution. we used non-competitive input-output table (I-O table) combined with the methods of Structural Path Analysis (SPA) and Multidimensional Analytical Framework (MAF), based on the data of China in 2012, to analyze the current situation of inter-sector carbon emission transfer and identify the key sectors and the critical paths from multiple perspectives. Our results show that total fixed capital formation is the main final demand. The electricity, petroleum, and metal smelting are the largest carbon outflow sectors, which emit carbon at the upstream of the path. Construction and other services are the most obvious carbon inflow sectors, which belong to the middle and downstream of the path and lead to indirect carbon emissions through their demands for other sectors. Metal smelting -> Construction -> Total fixed capital formation, Nonmetallic products -> Construction -> Total fixed capital formation, and Petroleum -> Urban consumption, Electricity -> Urban consumption are the top four paths with large carbon emission, which deserve attention. Finally, this paper puts forward some policy implications on emission reduction based on the results.