A Comparative Analysis Of The Evolutionary Patterns And Driving Factors Of Economic Growth And Carbon Emissions Between China And The United States

The global warming trend continues.Climate change represented by global warming stems from the continuous accumulation of carbon dioxide emitted by human activities.Climate change is a major challenge facing the world and requires countries to respond with unprecedented speed and scale at the level of policies and practical actions.China and the U.S.are leaders in tackling climate change and major contributors to global warming.Since 2007,China’s energy-related CO₂ emissions have surpassed that of the United States,and China is currently the world’s largest carbon dioxide emitter.As of 2019,the total carbon emissions of the two countries accounted for approximately 46%of the world’s total carbon dioxide emissions.Due to the combination and interaction of economic development,technological improvements and policy adjustments,the energy-related carbon emission trends of the two countries have changed.Therefore,it is particularly necessary to the main driving force of changes in carbon dioxide emissions and highlight the differences in the impact mechanisms of the two countries.The main drivers of the two largest sources of carbon dioxide emissions help to formulate further carbon emissions mitigation strategies,which are essential for predicting future carbon dioxide emissions and formulating energy saving and emission reduction policies.The U.S.greenhouse gas emissions have shown an inflection point in 2007,achieving a peak in total carbon emissions.The trajectory of change between China and the United States may be because China is still in the mid-stage of industrialization characterized by huge energy demand during the period of rapid development,and after two centuries of fossil fuel emissions,the United States has been in the post-industrial stage.The empirical results of this paper show that in China,economic activities will still be the main long-term contributor to increasing CO₂emissions,the income effect is the main driving force leading to the increase in carbon emissions,and the energy intensity effect is the main factor in reducing carbon emissions.During the study period,the population and carbon intensity effects played a positive role in increasing CO₂ emissions at roughly equal rates.In the United States,the energy intensity effect is the most critical factor affecting CO₂ emissions.This factor ultimately led to a reduction in emissions of 2732.9 Mt,which is 2.3 times the total change in carbon emissions.The energy mixing effect has more restraining effects on US carbon dioxide emissions than it has on China.This is because oil and natural gas have dominated the US energy structure,and the US has realized the shale gas revolution.In China,the energy structure is more carbon-intensive.High coal driven.At the same time,it can be found from the results of the decoupling elasticity analysis that while maintaining economic growth,CO₂ emissions can be reduced,and CO₂ emissions can be reduced without sacrificing economic growth.Generally speaking,the decoupling state of the United States is more stable than that of China.In addition,in China,the influence of non-technical factors is slightly greater than that of technological factors,and the directions of technological and non-technical factors are always opposite.