Impact of urbanization on CO2 emissions and energy consumption structure: A panel data analysis for Chinese prefecture-level cities

Based on data of 188 prefecture-level cities, this article analyzes the relationship among urbanization, CO2 emissions and energy consumption structure. We find that there is an inverted U-shaped curve between urbanization and CO2 emissions in the western region of China. Besides, with higher urbanization rate, the eastern region tended to use more natural gas whereas the western region tended to use more coal. We propose that the Project of Natural Gas transmission from West to East which has been so far neglected by researchers may account for this abnormality. Our findings indicate that although this project facilitate the use of natural gas in the project's target regions, it may encourage the use of coal and thus increase CO2 emissions in the western region. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.