Carbon emissions in China's urban residential building sector through 2060: A dynamic scenario simulation

Carbon-reduction effect of the urban residential building sector is crucial to the carbon neutrality target. This study aims to explore the interaction mechanism among influencing factors and simulate the future evolutionary trajectories of urban residential building carbon emissions (URBCE). An integrated dynamic emission assessment (IDEA) model is innovatively established by coupling the system dynamics (SD) model and a bottom-up end-use decomposition model. Combining with the scenario analysis approach, this IDEA model is applied in China's urban residential building sector from 2000 to 2060. Results show that under the baseline scenario, the URBCE will fail to peak before 2030 but will peak at 1.19 Bt CO2 in 2037. In comparison, it will peak at 0.79 Bt CO2 in 2025 and decline to 0.17 Bt CO2 in 2060 under carbonneutral scenario, which can be neutralized by negative carbon technologies. Different end-uses and climate zones show marked discrepancies in emission-reduction potential, with the contribution of heating and appliances being over 50%. Sensitivity analyses shows that the low-carbon awareness, electrification rate, proportion of clean energy generation and technological progress contribute positively to the early peak of URBCE. This study provides a deeper understanding of China's potential peaking paths and can assist policy-makers in better evaluating emission paths for other nations and regions.

Automated summary

This study establishes an integrated dynamic emission assessment model to explore the evolutionary trajectories of carbon emissions in China's urban residential building sector. The results show that under a carbon-neutral scenario, the peak of carbon emissions will occur in 2025 and decline thereafter. This study provides valuable insights for policy-making and evaluating emission paths in other countries and regions.