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High-resolution accounting of urban emissions in China

Author

Listed:
  • Cai, Bofeng
  • Liu, Helin
  • Zhang, Xiaoling
  • Pan, Haozhi
  • Zhao, Mengxue
  • Zheng, Tianming
  • Nie, Jingxin
  • Du, Mengbing
  • Dhakal, Shobhakar

Abstract

The cities of China, the world’s largest CO2 emitting country, play a crucial role in mitigating global climate change by their pursuit of carbon neutrality. However, assessing their decarbonization levels with internationally recognized metrics such as the OECD cities’ criteria is a major challenge, as the fuzzy definitions of China’s cities – including by city administrative boundary (UB1), city district boundary (UB2), and urban built-up area (UB3) – create misconceptions and ambiguities over the integrity and accuracy of their reported emissions. In this study, we develop a new China high-resolution emission database (CHRED) as a means of quantifying urban emissions based on dynamic city limits defined by population density boundary (UB4). Employing a 1 km grid dataset built from point-emission sources, it is showed that: (1) the reported emissions from the adoption of different urban boundaries can have differences as large as 17.77 %; (2) the spatial structure of China’s urban CO2 emissions has a clustered pattern reflecting the country’s spatial urban agglomeration structure; (3) the CO2 emissions per capita of China mega UB4 cities are similar to OECD C40 cities; and (4) that nonindustrial emissions are influenced by geographical location and population density.

Suggested Citation

  • Cai, Bofeng & Liu, Helin & Zhang, Xiaoling & Pan, Haozhi & Zhao, Mengxue & Zheng, Tianming & Nie, Jingxin & Du, Mengbing & Dhakal, Shobhakar, 2022. "High-resolution accounting of urban emissions in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 325(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:325:y:2022:i:c:s030626192201159x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2022.119896
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