Analysis on the Spatial Trend of Regional Economic Development in China on Carbon Emission Reduction

Carbon emissions from energy consumption are a major source of greenhouse effect. On the basis of calculating carbon emissions from energy consumption in the provincial scale from 2001 to 2010, using decoupling theory and the Arc-GIS software, this paper analyzed spatial distribution trends of carbon emissions in China in the last decade. The results showed that the decoupling relationship between carbon emissions and economic growth in most provinces of China was weak decoupling from 2001 to 2010. In addition, after complicating causal chain decomposition model of decoupling relationship, we find that the significantly increase of energy efficiency in industrial sector and steadily advancing of electrification were the most important reasons in slowing down growth rate of carbon emissions in the last decade; and the dependence of economic development on industry, especially heavy industry, was the most important reason of carbon emissions growth during the same period.