Study on the decoupling relationship of energy-related CO2 emissions and economic growth in China: Using the new two-dimensional decoupling model

The traditional Tapio decoupling model can not discriminate the decoupling state of a country or region with multiple levels of economic development. Based on this, this paper introduces the economic growth index into the Tapio decoupling model for the first time, and constructs a new two-dimensional decoupling (TDD) model. Through the TDD analysis of economic growth and CO2 emissions of 30 provinces in China from 2000 to 2019, the three main conclusions can be drawn: (1) the economic development level of the developed eastern provinces is at the medium or high state and the economic growth does not highly depend on energy consumption; (2) The economy of the central and western provinces is at the low or middle level, their economic growth relies too much on energy consumption; (3) The dynamic path of TDD state of 23 provinces is ascendant and the remaining 7 provinces are fluctuant over the 4 sub-periods. Provincial governments should adjust industrial and energy structures based on their local conditions to reduce carbon emissions, as well achieve the ideal TDD state of economic growth and CO2 emissions, that is, Strong Decoupling-High economic state (SD-HS).

Automated summary

This paper introduces a new decoupling model and analyzes the economic growth and CO2 emissions of Chinese provinces, resulting in three main conclusions.