Temporospatial changes of carbon footprint based on energy consumption in China

• Published in: Journal of geographical sciences Vol. 22; no. 1; pp. 110 - 124
• Main Author: 揣小伟 赖力 黄贤金 赵荣钦 王婉晶 陈志刚
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg SP Science Press 01.02.2012; Springer Nature B.V; School of Geographic & Oceanic Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China%School of Geographic & Oceanic Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China; Land Development and Consolidation Technology Engineering Center of Jiangsu Province, Nanjing 210093,China; Jiangsu Information Center, Nanjing 210013, China%School of Geographic & Oceanic Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
• Subjects: Absorption; Bgi / Prodig; Carbon footprint; Climate change; Distribution patterns; Earth and Environmental Science; Economic development; Emission measurements; Emissions; Energy consumption; Environment and resources; Geographical Information Systems/Cartography; Geography; Global climate; Land use; Management of resources and environment; Nature Conservation; Physical Geography; Regions; Remote Sensing/Photogrammetry; Spatial distribution; World. Multiregional geography; 中国东北地区; 中国北方; 中国西北地区; 中国西南地区; 低碳; 单位面积; 碳排放量; 能源消耗; Northern China; China; China, People's Rep; temporospatial changes; carbon footprint; carbon emissions; carbon sink; China; Grassland; Industry; Energy consumption; Energy; Plant canopy; Agriculture; Ecological footprint; Carbon sequestration; Land use; temporospatiai changes
• ISSN: 1009-637X; 1861-9568
• DOI: 10.1007/s11442-012-0915-4

Study on regional carbon emission is one of the hot topics under the background of global climate change and low-carbon economic development, and also help to establish different low-carbon strategies for different regions. On the basis of energy consumption and land use data of different regions in China from 1999 to 2008, this paper established carbon emission and carbon footprint models based on total energy consumption, and calculated the amount of carbon emissions and carbon footprint in different regions of China from 1999 to 2008. The author also analyzed carbon emission density and per unit area carbon footprint for each region. Finally, advices for decreasing carbon footprint were put forward. The main conclusions are as follows： （1） Carbon emissions from total energy consumption increased 129% from 1999 to 2008 in China, but its spatial distribution pattern among different regions just slightly changed, the sorting of carbon emission amount was： Eastern China Northern China Central and Southern China Southwest China Northwest China. （2） The sorting of carbon emission density was： Eastern China Northeast China Central and Southern China Northern China Southwest China Northwest China from 1999 to 2003, but from 2004 Central and Southern China began to have higher carbon emission density than Northeast China, the order of other regions did not change. （3） Carbon footprint increased significantly since the rapid increasing of carbon emissions and less increasing area of pro-ductive land in different regions of China from 1999 to 2008. Northern China had the largest carbon footprint, and Northwest China, Eastern China, Northern China, Central and Southern China followed in turn, while Southwest China presented the lowest area of carbon footprint and the highest percentage of carbon absorption. （4） Mainly influenced by regional land area, Northern China presented the highest per unit area carbon footprint and followed by Eastern China, and Northeast China; Central and Southern China, and Northwest China had a similar medium per unit area carbon footprint; Southwest China always had the lowest per unit area carbon footprint. （5） China faced great ecological pressure brought by carbon emission. Some measures should be taken both from reducing carbon emission and increasing carbon absorption.