Regional Distribution of Carbon Intensity and its Driving Factors in China: An Empirical Study Based on Provincial Data

摘要

The regional distribution and driving factors of total carbon emissions have been the focus of considerable research. However, carbon intensity rather than total carbon emissions has been selected as the emissions reduction index in China. The Chinese government has committed to reducing carbon intensity by 60-65% from 2005 levels. Currently, limited academic attention has been given to the regional distribution and driving factors of carbon intensity. To explore the means of achieving the carbon intensity target in China, Gini coefficients were employed in this paper to investigate regional differences in carbon intensity across 30 provinces from 1995 to 2014. Moreover, the FGLS (feasible generalized least squares) method was applied to identify the key influencing factors of carbon intensity at the national and three regional levels. The results indicate that: