Carbon emission allocation in China based on gradually efficiency improvement and emission reduction planning principle

Carbon emission allocation in China is one of the most important research fields in recent years. The existing carbon allocation approaches are primary based on efficiency maximized principle or efficiency invariance principle. Such two principles, however, are both extreme cases which are particularly difficult to realize in reality. In this study, we proposed an alternative approach based on gradually efficiency improvement planning and emission reduction planning principles. Based on them, the efficiency is planning to be steadily improved after allocating carbon emission year by year rather than achieve the maximized target (efficient) in a single step or maintain the original efficiency without any improvement. Meanwhile, the total carbon emission is also planning to be reduced by a certain percent according to the promise by China in Copenhagen climate conference. Finally, the proposed method is applied to allocate the carbon emission quotas among provinces in China, and some realistic conclusions are obtained to guide in reality.