Decoupling analysis of transportation carbon emissions and economic growth in China

The development of low-carbon transportation is growing rapidly, which plays an increasingly important functional role in economic growth and dealing with climate change. The transport carbon emissions in China between 1995 and 2014 using the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change emission-factor approach are estimated in this research. This article analyzes the decoupling relationship between transport carbon emissions and economic growth in China and puts forward a decoupling volatility index to evaluate the stability of decoupling by applying Tapio's decoupling model which is composed of structure, technology, and scale decoupling elasticity. From the results, the relationships between transport carbon emissions and Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and transport carbon emission and its added value, appear to be complex characteristics of the stages and experience a process of weak decoupling. The relationship between added value of transportation and energy consumption intensity is relatively simple and experience a process of strong negative decoupling, while energy consumption intensity and GDP show a strong decoupling relationship. The four elastic decoupling fluctuation indices are large, which illustrate that the state of decoupling is not stable. Policies are made available to facilitate a better understanding of transportation structure, fuel type, and energy efficiency. Future research will focus on aspects of spatial analysis, formation mechanism, and driver factor analysis. (c) 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 37: 1696-1704, 2018