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Decoupling the Relationships between Carbon Footprint and Economic Growth within an Urban Agglomeration—A Case Study of the Yangtze River Delta in China

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  • Fengsong Pei

    (School of Geography, Geomatics and Planning, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou 221116, China)

  • Rui Zhong

    (School of Geography, Geomatics and Planning, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou 221116, China)

  • Li-An Liu

    (School of Geography, Geomatics and Planning, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou 221116, China)

  • Yingjuan Qiao

    (School of Geography, Geomatics and Planning, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou 221116, China)

Abstract

Carbon footprint is emerging as an effective tool for carbon emission management, especially that from fossil energy consumption. In addition, decoupling analysis is important to keep a high pace of economic growth while reducing carbon emission and its carbon footprint. Taking the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) urban agglomeration in China as a case, this paper examined the changes in carbon footprint and carbon footprint pressure by incorporating land resource limits. On this basis, we further analyzed the decoupling relationships between carbon footprint, carbon footprint pressure and economic growth. The GeoDetector was also employed to detect the spatial heterogeneity of the carbon footprint pressure. The results showed that despite the decrease of carbon emissions from 2011 to 2019 in the YRD, carbon footprint pressure still revealed an increased trend in this period. As to the decoupling relationships between carbon footprint, carbon footprint pressure and economic growth, they were improved in most of the cities in the YRD, changing from expansive coupling to weak decoupling to strong decoupling. However, the descending trend of decoupling elasticity coefficient for carbon footprint pressure is smaller than that of the carbon footprint. This result could be explained by the fact that not only carbon emission but also carbon sequestration (by productive lands including forests and grasslands) pose large impacts on carbon footprint pressure. The findings indicate the necessity not only to reduce carbon emission, but also to protect productive lands to realize low carbon economy.

Suggested Citation

  • Fengsong Pei & Rui Zhong & Li-An Liu & Yingjuan Qiao, 2021. "Decoupling the Relationships between Carbon Footprint and Economic Growth within an Urban Agglomeration—A Case Study of the Yangtze River Delta in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-15, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:10:y:2021:i:9:p:923-:d:627318
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    Cited by:

    1. Jiaxin Han & Enkhjargal Dalaibaatar, 2023. "A Study on the Influencing Factors of China’s Ecological Footprint Based on EEMD–GeoDetector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-15, April.
    2. Qi Fu & Mengfan Gao & Yue Wang & Tinghui Wang & Xu Bi & Jinhua Chen, 2022. "Spatiotemporal Patterns and Drivers of the Carbon Budget in the Yangtze River Delta Region, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-18, August.
    3. Xin Nie & Zhoupeng Chen & Linfang Yang & Qiaoling Wang & Jiaxin He & Huixian Qin & Han Wang, 2022. "Impact of Carbon Trading System on Green Economic Growth in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-16, July.
    4. Shuohua Liu & Xiao Zhang & Yifan Zhou & Shunbo Yao, 2021. "Spatiotemporal Evolution and Influencing Factors of Carbon Sink Dynamics at County Scale: A Case Study of Shaanxi Province, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-18, December.

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