Examining The Inequality And Spatiotemporal Variations Of China’s Provincial CO₂ Emissions

Tremendous energy consumption appears as rapid economic development,leading to large amount of CO₂ emissions.It is of great significance for researchers to figure out the current situation of carbon dioxide emissions in China.China has a vast territory,and there are significant differences in the geographical environment and economic development of various provinces and cities.The distribution characteristics of carbon emissions have obvious spatial heterogeneity.And in recent years,China’s economy has developed rapidly and regional changes have been very obvious.Therefore,based on the relevant data of China’s provincial level carbon dioxide emissions from 2008 to2017,this paper uses the Geographically Weighted Regression Model to analyze the spatial distribution characteristics of China’s carbon emissions influencing factors and the change trend of this characteristic over time.The results are as follows:（1）From the perspective of China as a whole,the carbon dioxide emissions of various provinces have obvious spatial autocorrelation,among which the hot areas are concentrated in Beijing Tianjin Hebei,Shandong and the Yangtze River Delta;from2008 to 2017,China’s urbanization rate,per capita GDP and per capita carbon emissions have increased significantly,while the proportion of coal consumption and import in GDP have decreased significantly.（2）Population,urbanization rate,per capita carbon emission and energy consumption structure all have obvious positive effects.The effects of population factor and per capita carbon emission factor decrease year by year,while the effects of urbanization rate and energy consumption structure increasingly.When the economic level is very low,economic development will lead to the reduction of carbon emissions.When the economic level is medium,economic growth will lead to the rapid growth of carbon emissions.When the economic level is very high,economic growth will inhibit the increase of carbon emissions.The factors of trade openness have extreme effects.For regions with too high or too low proportion of trade openness,the impact of trade openness on carbon emissions has obvious positive effects.For regions with moderate proportion of trade openness,the impact of trade openness on carbon emissions is not obvious.（3）From the perspective of the impact of economic development level on carbon emissions,China as a whole is in the second half of the rising Kuznets curve.At this stage,economic development will still bring about the increase of carbon emissions,but the growth rate is relatively slow.China has passed the stage of high-speed emissions,and is expected to achieve zero growth of carbon emissions in economic development in the near future.At present,the eastern coastal areas and other economically developed areas have basically reached the second inflection point of the Kuznets curve,initially achieving zero growth of carbon emissions,while the central and western regions and other developing regions,the increase of carbon emissions brought by economic growth is still very obvious.（4）The distribution of carbon emissions in different regions of China is obviously unequal,and the carbon emissions per unit GDP in different regions are obviously unequal,and this inequality is increasing year by year,but it is not serious.Taking the carbon emission per unit GDP as the measurement standard of green development level,China’s Gini coefficient of carbon emission increases year by year,which shows that the differences of green development level among different regions in China are expanding year by year.（5）Although China’s overall energy consumption structure is improving,the impact of energy consumption structure on carbon emissions is increasing year by year,which shows that improving the energy consumption structure and reducing the proportion of fossil energy use are more and more important for China’s carbon emission reduction.（6）The impact of different factors on carbon emissions in different regions is not completely consistent,and there are obvious spatial differences.Regional carbon emission reduction not only needs to pay attention to the common factors among regions and formulate universal policies,but also needs to adapt to local conditions and formulate personalized carbon emission reduction policies according to the regional characteristics.