IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i9p4884-d796868.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of Economic Growth, Industrial Transition, and Energy Intensity on Carbon Dioxide Emissions in China

Author

Listed:
  • Zhoumu Yang

    (School of Mathematics and Statistics, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing 210044, China)

  • Jingjing Cai

    (School of Mathematics and Statistics, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing 210044, China)

  • Yun Lu

    (Department of Mathematics, Kutztown University, Kutztown, PA 19530, USA)

  • Bin Zhang

    (School of Mathematics and Statistics, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing 210044, China)

Abstract

Carbon emission reduction has become a worldwide concern on account of global sustainability issues. Many existing studies have focused on the various socioeconomic influencing factors of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions and the corresponding transmission mechanisms, while very few models have unified the scale effect, structure effect, and technique effect in the context of China. This paper attempted to analyze the impact of economic growth, industrial transition, and energy intensity on CO 2 emissions in China by constructing an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model. The results showed that there are long-term cointegration relationships between the three factors mentioned above and CO 2 emissions. There is an inverted U-shaped relationship between economic growth and CO 2 emissions, which not only verifies the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis, but also upholds the scale effect. In addition, the proportion of added value of secondary industry and energy intensity has significant positive impacts on CO 2 emissions. On one hand, this confirms the structure effect and technique effect; on the other hand, it implies that the reduction effect is the dominant effect in the case of China, instead of the rebound effect. This paper is expected to make a valuable contribution to research in the field of sustainable development by providing both theoretical support and implementation of path choice for CO 2 reduction in China.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhoumu Yang & Jingjing Cai & Yun Lu & Bin Zhang, 2022. "The Impact of Economic Growth, Industrial Transition, and Energy Intensity on Carbon Dioxide Emissions in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-14, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:9:p:4884-:d:796868
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/9/4884/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/9/4884/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. de Bruyn, S. M. & van den Bergh, J. C. J. M. & Opschoor, J. B., 1998. "Economic growth and emissions: reconsidering the empirical basis of environmental Kuznets curves," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 161-175, May.
    2. Tiwari, Aviral Kumar, 2014. "The asymmetric Granger-causality analysis between energy consumption and income in the United States," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 362-369.
    3. Tol, Richard S.J. & Pacala, Stephen W. & Socolow, Robert H., 2009. "Understanding Long-Term Energy Use and Carbon Dioxide Emissions in the USA," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 425-445, May.
    4. Salim, Ruhul A. & Shafiei, Sahar, 2014. "Urbanization and renewable and non-renewable energy consumption in OECD countries: An empirical analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 581-591.
    5. Shafique, Muhammad & Azam, Anam & Rafiq, Muhammad & Luo, Xiaowei, 2021. "Investigating the nexus among transport, economic growth and environmental degradation: Evidence from panel ARDL approach," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 61-71.
    6. Grossman, G.M & Krueger, A.B., 1991. "Environmental Impacts of a North American Free Trade Agreement," Papers 158, Princeton, Woodrow Wilson School - Public and International Affairs.
    7. Dinda, Soumyananda & Coondoo, Dipankor & Pal, Manoranjan, 2000. "Air quality and economic growth: an empirical study," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 409-423, September.
    8. Gazi Salah Uddin & Muhammed Shahbaz & Mohamed Arouri & Frédéric Teulon, 2014. "Financial Development and Poverty Reduction Nexus: A cointegration and causality analysis in Bangladesh," Working Papers 2014-291, Department of Research, Ipag Business School.
    9. Selden Thomas M. & Song Daqing, 1994. "Environmental Quality and Development: Is There a Kuznets Curve for Air Pollution Emissions?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 147-162, September.
    10. Ziyun Zhang & Sen Guo, 2021. "What Factors Affect the RMB Carry Trade Return for Sustainability? An Empirical Analysis by Using an ARDL Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-19, December.
    11. Uddin, Gazi Salah & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Arouri, Mohamed & Teulon, Frédéric, 2014. "Financial development and poverty reduction nexus: A cointegration and causality analysis in Bangladesh," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 405-412.
    12. Kaika, Dimitra & Zervas, Efthimios, 2013. "The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) theory—Part A: Concept, causes and the CO2 emissions case," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1392-1402.
    13. Shahbaz, muhammad & Solarin, Sakiru Adebola & Sbia, Rashid & Bibi, Sadia, 2015. "Does Energy Intensity Contribute to CO2 Emissions? A Trivariate Analysis in Selected African Countries," MPRA Paper 64335, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 19 Mar 2015.
    14. Shu Zhang & Wenying Chen, 2022. "Assessing the energy transition in China towards carbon neutrality with a probabilistic framework," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, December.
    15. Dimitropoulos, John, 2007. "Energy productivity improvements and the rebound effect: An overview of the state of knowledge," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 6354-6363, December.
    16. Kasman, Adnan & Duman, Yavuz Selman, 2015. "CO2 emissions, economic growth, energy consumption, trade and urbanization in new EU member and candidate countries: A panel data analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 97-103.
    17. Kaika, Dimitra & Zervas, Efthimios, 2013. "The environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) theory. Part B: Critical issues," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1403-1411.
    18. Dinda, Soumyananda, 2004. "Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis: A Survey," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 431-455, August.
    19. A. Greening, Lorna & Greene, David L. & Difiglio, Carmen, 2000. "Energy efficiency and consumption -- the rebound effect -- a survey," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(6-7), pages 389-401, June.
    20. Shafiei, Sahar & Salim, Ruhul A., 2014. "Non-renewable and renewable energy consumption and CO2 emissions in OECD countries: A comparative analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 547-556.
    21. Du, Limin & Wei, Chu & Cai, Shenghua, 2012. "Economic development and carbon dioxide emissions in China: Provincial panel data analysis," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 371-384.
    22. Fang, Kai & Li, Chenglin & Tang, Yiqi & He, Jianjian & Song, Junnian, 2022. "China’s pathways to peak carbon emissions: New insights from various industrial sectors," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(PA).
    23. Abbasi, Kashif Raza & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Jiao, Zhilun & Tufail, Muhammad, 2021. "How energy consumption, industrial growth, urbanization, and CO2 emissions affect economic growth in Pakistan? A novel dynamic ARDL simulations approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    24. Hanley, Nick & McGregor, Peter G. & Swales, J. Kim & Turner, Karen, 2009. "Do increases in energy efficiency improve environmental quality and sustainability?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 692-709, January.
    25. Begum, Rawshan Ara & Sohag, Kazi & Abdullah, Sharifah Mastura Syed & Jaafar, Mokhtar, 2015. "CO2 emissions, energy consumption, economic and population growth in Malaysia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 594-601.
    26. Yang, Zihui & Zhao, Yongliang, 2014. "Energy consumption, carbon emissions, and economic growth in India: Evidence from directed acyclic graphs," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 533-540.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jikun Jiang & Shenglai Zhu & Weihao Wang, 2022. "Carbon Emissions, Economic Growth, Urbanization, and Foreign Trade in China: Empirical Evidence from ARDL Models," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-15, August.
    2. Jaehong Lee, 2022. "Voluntary Disclosure of Carbon Emissions Information, Managerial Ability, and Credit Ratings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-13, June.
    3. Qing Wang & Yuhang Xiao, 2022. "Has Urban Construction Land Achieved Low-Carbon Sustainable Development? A Case Study of North China Plain, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-29, August.
    4. Yongmao Xiao & Jincheng Zhou & Xiaoyong Zhu & Fajun Yu, 2022. "Research on Optimization Method and Algorithm Design of Green Simultaneous Pick-up and Delivery Vehicle Scheduling under Uncertain Demand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-25, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tiba, Sofien & Omri, Anis, 2017. "Literature survey on the relationships between energy, environment and economic growth," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 1129-1146.
    2. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Haouas, Ilham & Hoang, Thi Hong Van, 2019. "Economic growth and environmental degradation in Vietnam: Is the environmental Kuznets curve a complete picture?," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 197-218.
    3. Muhammad Shahbaz & Avik Sinha, 2019. "Environmental Kuznets curve for CO2emissions: a literature survey," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 46(1), pages 106-168, January.
    4. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Sinha, Avik, 2019. "Environmental Kuznets Curve for CO2 emission: A survey of empirical literature," MPRA Paper 100257, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2019.
    5. Maralgua Och, 2017. "Empirical Investigation of the Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis for Nitrous Oxide Emissions for Mongolia," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 7(1), pages 117-128.
    6. Zhao, Jun & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Dong, Xiucheng & Dong, Kangyin, 2021. "How does financial risk affect global CO2 emissions? The role of technological innovation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    7. Kaika, Dimitra & Zervas, Efthimios, 2013. "The environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) theory. Part B: Critical issues," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1403-1411.
    8. Balsalobre-Lorente, Daniel & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Roubaud, David & Farhani, Sahbi, 2018. "How economic growth, renewable electricity and natural resources contribute to CO2 emissions?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 356-367.
    9. Barra, Cristian & Zotti, Roberto, 2016. "Investigating the impact of national income on environmental pollution. International evidence," MPRA Paper 74149, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Eyup Dogan & Nigar Taspinar & Korhan K Gokmenoglu, 2019. "Determinants of ecological footprint in MINT countries," Energy & Environment, , vol. 30(6), pages 1065-1086, September.
    11. Kaika, Dimitra & Zervas, Efthimios, 2013. "The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) theory—Part A: Concept, causes and the CO2 emissions case," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1392-1402.
    12. Rabeh Khalfaoui & Aviral Kumar Tiwari & Usman Khalid & Muhammad Shahbaz, 2023. "Nexus between carbon dioxide emissions and economic growth in G7 countries: fresh insights via wavelet coherence analysis," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 66(1), pages 31-66, January.
    13. Balado-Naves, Roberto & Baños-Pino, José Francisco & Mayor, Matías, 2018. "Do countries influence neighbouring pollution? A spatial analysis of the EKC for CO2 emissions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 266-279.
    14. Pata, Ugur Korkut, 2018. "The influence of coal and noncarbohydrate energy consumption on CO2 emissions: Revisiting the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis for Turkey," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 1115-1123.
    15. Béchir Ben Lahouel & Younes Ben Zaied & Guo-liang Yang & Maria-Giuseppina Bruna & Yaoyao Song, 2022. "A non-parametric decomposition of the environmental performance-income relationship: evidence from a non-linear model," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 313(1), pages 525-558, June.
    16. Onater-Isberk, Esra, 2016. "Environmental Kuznets curve under noncarbohydrate energy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 338-347.
    17. Roxana Pincheira & Felipe Zuniga, 2021. "Environmental Kuznets curve bibliographic map: a systematic literature review," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(S1), pages 1931-1956, April.
    18. Pei-Zhi Liu & Seema Narayan & Yi-Shuai Ren & Yong Jiang & Konstantinos Baltas & Basil Sharp, 2022. "Re-Examining the Income–CO 2 Emissions Nexus Using the New Kink Regression Model: Does the Kuznets Curve Exist in G7 Countries?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-18, March.
    19. Pablo-Romero, María del P. & De Jesús, Josué, 2016. "Economic growth and energy consumption: The Energy-Environmental Kuznets Curve for Latin America and the Caribbean," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 1343-1350.
    20. Le Hoang Phong, 2019. "Globalization, Financial Development, and Environmental Degradation in the Presence of Environmental Kuznets Curve: Evidence from ASEAN-5 Countries," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 9(2), pages 40-50.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:9:p:4884-:d:796868. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.