Journal of Geographical Sciences >
CO2 emissions and their bearing on China's economic development: the long view
Received date: 2004-08-11
Revised date: 2004-11-15
Online published: 2005-03-25
Supported by
National Basic Research Priorities Programme of China, No.2002CB412507; Research Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, No.973-2002CB412507
Greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions in China have aroused much interest, and not least in recent evidence of their reduction. Our intent is to place that reduction in a larger context, that of the process of industrialization. A lengthy time perspective is combined with a cross-sectional approach-China plus five other countries-and addressed through two general models. The findings are salutary. First, they suggest that a diversified economic structure is consistent with diminished intensity in energy use. Secondly, and the obverse of the first, they imply that a diversified energy structure promotes reductions in CO2 emissions. Finally, one is led inevitably to the conclusion that, together, the findings point to a path for countries to transform their economies while at the same time undertaking to drastically moderate their energy use, switching from a pattern of heavy carbon emissions to one in which lighter carbon emissions prevail. The implications of such findings for environmental management are enormous.
Key words: China; structural change; energy use; CO2 emissions; industrialization
ZHANG Lei, Daniel TODD, XIE Hui, CHEN Wenyan,WU Yingmei, JIANG Wei . CO2 emissions and their bearing on China's economic development: the long view[J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2005 , 15(1) : 61 -70 . DOI: 10.1360/gs050108
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