AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENERGY STRUCTURE, ECONOMIC GROWTH, AND CARBON EMISSIONS IN SHAANXI PROVINCE

Based on empirical data from 1990 to 2012 from Shaanxi province, this paper utilizes a vector autoregression (VAR) model which focuses on different energy types, economic growth, and carbon emissions. According to the estimation of the VAR model, we adopt the generalized impulse response function method to analyze the dynamic relationship between economic growth and the use of coal, oil, and natural gas on carbon emissions in Shaanxi province. The results show that the relationship between economic growth and carbon emissions is an inverted "U" type of Kuznets curve; the effect of coal and oil consumption on carbon emissions is positive, although the impact of the two on carbon emissions differs; and the impact of natural gas consumption on carbon emissions is negative. Therefore, adjusting the energy structure to reduce the proportion of coal in total energy consumption would be of great significance in developing a low carbon economy in Shaanxi province.