Analysis of China's urban household indirect carbon emissions drivers under the background of population aging

Population aging is an important concern not only in China but also to many developed countries, and it will be a more serious issue throughout the world in the future. From this point, understanding the impact of population aging on CO2 emissions is important for achieving carbon neutral in the future. To analyze this impact, this study quantifies lifestyle and urban household's consumption impacts upon carbon emissions from the indirect CO2 emissions aspect and uses the structural decomposition method to analyze the factors influencing the growth of indirect CO2 emissions from 2007 to 2012. The analysis results indicate that the indirect CO2 emissions peak at 20 s age group and gradually decline as age increases. Since elderly households have relatively lower indirect CO2 emissions, population aging in the future will reduce indirect CO2 emissions. The decomposition analysis for indirect CO2 emissions shows that the effects of changes in consumption pattern and production technology progress reduced indirect CO2 emissions to a large extent. The main factors leading to the increase in indirect CO2 emissions are the increase in the number of households and consumption volume. The corresponding policy implications are proposed based on our findings: improving energy efficiency in older households, promoting energy conservation promotion among younger households, and cultivating consumers' green-consumption awareness. (C)& nbsp;2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Population aging has an impact on CO2 emissions, with lower indirect CO2 emissions from elderly households. Population aging will reduce indirect CO2 emissions. Changes in consumption patterns and technological progress in production have reduced indirect CO2 emissions, while an increase in the number of households and consumption volume has led to an increase in indirect CO2 emissions.