IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/eneeco/v100y2021ics0140988321002620.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How does population aging affect household carbon emissions? Evidence from Chinese urban and rural areas

Author

Listed:
  • Fan, Jianshuang
  • Zhou, Lin
  • Zhang, Yan
  • Shao, Shuai
  • Ma, Miao

Abstract

Population aging has become a salient demographic phenomenon in China, thus causing social and economic concerns. However, little is known about the impact of population aging on the environment. The available literature mainly emphasizes decreases in energy consumption or carbon emissions caused by population aging, conveying limited information about the impact of population aging on household carbon emissions. This paper explores the impact of population aging on household carbon emissions in both urban and rural areas of China, using panel data of 30 provinces over 1997–2017. The relationship between population aging and household carbon emissions is investigated with a threshold regression model and a two-stage instrumental variable regression model. The results show that urban population aging increases urban household carbon emissions at levels both below and above 0.083, while this positive impact is comparatively smaller when urban population aging is above 0.083. However, at the national level, rural population aging has no significant impact on rural household carbon emissions at the level below 0.066, while rural population aging significantly increases rural household carbon emissions at the level above 0.066. Rural population aging has a significant positive effect on the increase in household carbon emissions in northern heating areas, when rural population aging is both below and above 0.077. The analysis of the underlying mechanism identifies consumption structure and consumption level as intermediary factors that affect the nonlinear relationship between urban population aging and urban household carbon emissions. Furthermore, the income level also affects the nonlinear relationship between rural population aging and rural household carbon emissions.

Suggested Citation

  • Fan, Jianshuang & Zhou, Lin & Zhang, Yan & Shao, Shuai & Ma, Miao, 2021. "How does population aging affect household carbon emissions? Evidence from Chinese urban and rural areas," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:100:y:2021:i:c:s0140988321002620
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2021.105356
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140988321002620
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.eneco.2021.105356?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dalton, Michael & O'Neill, Brian & Prskawetz, Alexia & Jiang, Leiwen & Pitkin, John, 2008. "Population aging and future carbon emissions in the United States," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 642-675, March.
    2. Marcos D. Chamon & Eswar S. Prasad, 2010. "Why Are Saving Rates of Urban Households in China Rising?," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(1), pages 93-130, January.
    3. Duarte, Rosa & Mainar, Alfredo & Sánchez-Chóliz, Julio, 2010. "The impact of household consumption patterns on emissions in Spain," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 176-185, January.
    4. Creedy, John & Guest, Ross, 2008. "Population ageing and intertemporal consumption: Representative agent versus social planner," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 485-498, May.
    5. Esteve, Vicente & Tamarit, Cecilio, 2012. "Threshold cointegration and nonlinear adjustment between CO2 and income: The Environmental Kuznets Curve in Spain, 1857–2007," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 2148-2156.
    6. Garau, Giorgio & Lecca, Patrizio & Mandras, Giovanni, 2013. "The impact of population ageing on energy use: Evidence from Italy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 970-980.
    7. Hamza, Neveen & Gilroy, Rose, 2011. "The challenge to UK energy policy: An ageing population perspective on energy saving measures and consumption," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 782-789, February.
    8. Xiao-Wei Ma & Jia Du & Meng-Ying Zhang & Yi Ye, 2016. "Indirect carbon emissions from household consumption between China and the USA: based on an input–output model," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 84(1), pages 399-410, November.
    9. Kazi Sohag & Rawshan Begum & Sharifah Abdullah, 2015. "Dynamic impact of household consumption on its CO 2 emissions in Malaysia," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 17(5), pages 1031-1043, October.
    10. Moises Neil V. Seriño & Stephan Klasen, 2015. "Estimation and Determinants of the Philippines' Household Carbon Footprint," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 53(1), pages 44-62, March.
    11. Papathanasopoulou, Eleni, 2010. "Household consumption, associated fossil fuel demand and carbon dioxide emissions: The case of Greece between 1990 and 2006," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 4152-4162, August.
    12. Xu, Bin & Lin, Boqiang, 2015. "How industrialization and urbanization process impacts on CO2 emissions in China: Evidence from nonparametric additive regression models," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 188-202.
    13. Mao, Rui & Xu, Jianwei, 2014. "Population aging, consumption budget allocation and sectoral growth," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 44-65.
    14. Nicole Maestas & Kathleen J. Mullen & David Powell, 2023. "The Effect of Population Aging on Economic Growth, the Labor Force, and Productivity," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 306-332, April.
    15. Ala-Mantila, Sanna & Heinonen, Jukka & Junnila, Seppo, 2014. "Relationship between urbanization, direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions, and expenditures: A multivariate analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 129-139.
    16. Kjartan Steen-Olsen & Richard Wood & Edgar G. Hertwich, 2016. "The Carbon Footprint of Norwegian Household Consumption 1999–2012," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 20(3), pages 582-592, June.
    17. Baul, T.K. & Datta, D. & Alam, A., 2018. "A comparative study on household level energy consumption and related emissions from renewable (biomass) and non-renewable energy sources in Bangladesh," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 598-608.
    18. Ehigiamusoe, Kizito Uyi & Lean, Hooi Hooi & Smyth, Russell, 2020. "The moderating role of energy consumption in the carbon emissions-income nexus in middle-income countries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(C).
    19. Fan, Jing-Li & Liao, Hua & Liang, Qiao-Mei & Tatano, Hirokazu & Liu, Chun-Feng & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2013. "Residential carbon emission evolutions in urban–rural divided China: An end-use and behavior analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 323-332.
    20. Willis, Ken & Scarpa, Riccardo & Gilroy, Rose & Hamza, Neveen, 2011. "Renewable energy adoption in an ageing population: Heterogeneity in preferences for micro-generation technology adoption," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 6021-6029, October.
    21. Addessi, William, 2018. "Population age structure and consumption expenditure composition: Evidence from European countries," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 18-20.
    22. Shi, Anqing, 2003. "The impact of population pressure on global carbon dioxide emissions, 1975-1996: evidence from pooled cross-country data," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 29-42, February.
    23. Kerkhof, Annemarie C. & Nonhebel, Sanderine & Moll, Henri C., 2009. "Relating the environmental impact of consumption to household expenditures: An input-output analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(4), pages 1160-1170, February.
    24. Leiwen Jiang & Karen Hardee, 2011. "How do Recent Population Trends Matter to Climate Change?," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 30(2), pages 287-312, April.
    25. Jaunky, Vishal Chandr, 2011. "The CO2 emissions-income nexus: Evidence from rich countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 1228-1240, March.
    26. Zhang, Chuanguo & Tan, Zheng, 2016. "The relationships between population factors and China's carbon emissions: Does population aging matter?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 1018-1025.
    27. Elisa Alén & Nieves Losada & Trinidad Domínguez, 2016. "The Impact of Ageing on the Tourism Industry: An Approach to the Senior Tourist Profile," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 127(1), pages 303-322, May.
    28. Menz, Tobias & Welsch, Heinz, 2012. "Population aging and carbon emissions in OECD countries: Accounting for life-cycle and cohort effects," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 842-849.
    29. Dai, Hancheng & Masui, Toshihiko & Matsuoka, Yuzuru & Fujimori, Shinichiro, 2012. "The impacts of China’s household consumption expenditure patterns on energy demand and carbon emissions towards 2050," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 736-750.
    30. Donglan, Zha & Dequn, Zhou & Peng, Zhou, 2010. "Driving forces of residential CO2 emissions in urban and rural China: An index decomposition analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(7), pages 3377-3383, July.
    31. Yang, Dewei & Lin, Yanjie & Gao, Lijie & Sun, Yanwei & Wang, Run & Zhang, Guoqin, 2013. "Process-based investigation of cross-boundary environmental pressure from urban household consumption," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 626-635.
    32. Chancel, Lucas, 2014. "Are younger generations higher carbon emitters than their elders?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 195-207.
    33. Stephanie Kremer & Alexander Bick & Dieter Nautz, 2013. "Inflation and growth: new evidence from a dynamic panel threshold analysis," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 861-878, April.
    34. Bardazzi, Rossella & Pazienza, Maria Grazia, 2017. "Switch off the light, please! Energy use, aging population and consumption habits," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 161-171.
    35. Yuan, Baolong & Ren, Shenggang & Chen, Xiaohong, 2015. "The effects of urbanization, consumption ratio and consumption structure on residential indirect CO2 emissions in China: A regional comparative analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 94-106.
    36. Liu, Wenling & Wang, Can & Mol, Arthur P.J., 2012. "Rural residential CO2 emissions in China: Where is the major mitigation potential?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 223-232.
    37. Brounen, Dirk & Kok, Nils & Quigley, John M., 2012. "Residential energy use and conservation: Economics and demographics," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(5), pages 931-945.
    38. Youguo Zhang, 2013. "Impact Of Urban And Rural Household Consumption On Carbon Emissions In China," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 287-299, September.
    39. Holian, Matthew J. & Kahn, Matthew E., 2015. "Household carbon emissions from driving and center city quality of life," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 362-368.
    40. Zhang, Xi & Geng, Yong & Shao, Shuai & Wilson, Jeffrey & Song, Xiaoqian & You, Wei, 2020. "China’s non-fossil energy development and its 2030 CO2 reduction targets: The role of urbanization," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(C).
    41. Kamrul Hassan & Ruhul Salim, 2015. "Population ageing, income growth and CO2emission," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 42(1), pages 54-67, January.
    42. Perobelli, Fernando Salgueiro & Faria, Weslem Rodrigues & Vale, Vinicius de Almeida, 2015. "The increase in Brazilian household income and its impact on CO2 emissions: Evidence for 2003 and 2009 from input–output tables," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(PA), pages 228-239.
    43. Nicole Maestas & Kathleen J. Mullen & David Powell, 2016. "The Effect of Population Aging on Economic Growth, the Labor Force and Productivity," NBER Working Papers 22452, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    44. McDonald, Garry W. & Forgie, Vicky E. & MacGregor, Catherine, 2006. "Treading lightly: Ecofootprints of New Zealand's ageing population," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(3), pages 424-439, March.
    45. Munksgaard, Jesper & Pedersen, Klaus Alsted & Wien, Mette, 2000. "Impact of household consumption on CO2 emissions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 423-440, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhu, Penghu & Lin, Boqiang, 2022. "Do the elderly consume more energy? Evidence from the retirement policy in urban China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    2. Shi, Xunpeng & Wang, Keying & Cheong, Tsun Se & Zhang, Hongwu, 2020. "Prioritizing driving factors of household carbon emissions: An application of the LASSO model with survey data," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    3. Jaehyeok Kim & Minwoo Jang & Donghyun Shin, 2019. "Examining the Role of Population Age Structure upon Residential Electricity Demand: A Case from Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-19, July.
    4. Chen, Jiandong & Cheng, Shulei & Song, Malin, 2017. "Decomposing inequality in energy-related CO2 emissions by source and source increment: The roles of production and residential consumption," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 698-710.
    5. Zhang, Junjie & Yu, Biying & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2018. "Heterogeneous impacts of households on carbon dioxide emissions in Chinese provinces," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 229(C), pages 236-252.
    6. Donglan Zha & Pan Liu & Hui Shi, 2022. "Does population aging aggravate air pollution in China?," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 1-14, February.
    7. Pottier, Antonin, 2022. "Expenditure elasticity and income elasticity of GHG emissions: A survey of literature on household carbon footprint," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    8. Yuan, Baolong & Ren, Shenggang & Chen, Xiaohong, 2015. "The effects of urbanization, consumption ratio and consumption structure on residential indirect CO2 emissions in China: A regional comparative analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 94-106.
    9. Usman Mehmood & Ephraim Bonah Agyekum & Solomon Eghosa Uhunamure & Karabo Shale & Ayesha Mariam, 2022. "Evaluating the Influences of Natural Resources and Ageing People on CO 2 Emissions in G-11 Nations: Application of CS-ARDL Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-14, January.
    10. Day, Rosie, 2015. "Low carbon thermal technologies in an ageing society – What are the issues?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 250-256.
    11. Balsalobre, Daniel & Sinha, Avik & Driha, Oana M. & Shujaat Mubarik, Muhammad, 2021. "Assessing the Impacts of Ageing and Natural Resource Extraction on Carbon Emissions: A proposed Policy Framework for European Economies," MPRA Paper 108159, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2021.
    12. Wei, Rui & Zhang, Wencheng & Peng, Shuijun, 2022. "Energy and greenhouse gas footprints of China households during 1995–2019: A global perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    13. Tao Lin & Junna Yan, 2017. "Investigating the sensitivity factors of household indirect CO2 emission from the production side," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 88(2), pages 721-740, September.
    14. Li, Jun & Zhang, Dayong & Su, Bin, 2019. "The Impact of Social Awareness and Lifestyles on Household Carbon Emissions in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 145-155.
    15. Hongwu Zhang & Lequan Zhang & Keying Wang & Xunpeng Shi, 2019. "Unveiling Key Drivers of Indirect Carbon Emissions of Chinese Older Households," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-17, October.
    16. Ha-Hyun Jo & Minwoo Jang & Jaehyeok Kim, 2020. "How Population Age Distribution Affects Future Electricity Demand in Korea: Applying Population Polynomial Function," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-17, October.
    17. Pedro J. Zarco-Periñán & Fco Javier Zarco-Soto & Irene M. Zarco-Soto & José L. Martínez-Ramos & Rafael Sánchez-Durán, 2022. "CO 2 Emissions in Buildings: A Synopsis of Current Studies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-10, September.
    18. Lina Liu & Jiansheng Qu & Afton Clarke-Sather & Tek Narayan Maraseni & Jiaxing Pang, 2017. "Spatial Variations and Determinants of Per Capita Household CO 2 Emissions (PHCEs) in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-19, July.
    19. Zhang, Hongwu & Shi, Xunpeng & Wang, Keying & Xue, Jinjun & Song, Ligang & Sun, Yongping, 2020. "Intertemporal lifestyle changes and carbon emissions: Evidence from a China household survey," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    20. Xinkuo Xu & Liyan Han, 2017. "Diverse Effects of Consumer Credit on Household Carbon Emissions at Quantiles: Evidence from Urban China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-25, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:100:y:2021:i:c:s0140988321002620. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eneco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.