IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i8p2755-d161914.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What Drove Changes in the Embodied Energy Consumption of Guangdong’s Exports from 2007–2012?

Author

Listed:
  • Zhipeng Tang

    (Key Laboratory of Regional Sustainable Development Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
    College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

  • Jialing Zou

    (Center for Studies of Hong Kong, Macao and Pearl River Delta, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China)

  • Shuang Wu

    (Department of Geography, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China)

Abstract

China’s economy has been highly reliant on exports in recent years, with Guangdong its biggest province in export trade volume. Despite the global financial crisis of 2008, exports from Guangdong continued to increase significantly; however, the energy consumption embodied in exports is unknown. In this study, we investigate the changes of energy embodied in exports from 2007 to 2012 in Guangdong Province. We use EIO (Environmental Input-Output) and LMDI (Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index) method to find out the drivers of such changes embodied in total exports and export of each sector. Our results show: Firstly, from 2007 to 2012, the export structure in Guangdong has changed, reflecting in low energy intensity industry experiencing faster growth in exports than high energy intensity industry. Secondly, the growth rate of embodied energy consumption in Guangdong’s exports is slowing, with average annual growth from 2007 to 2012 of 6.8%. Thirdly, though Guangdong’s exports grew significantly, the energy consumption embodied therein decreased by 23% from 2007 to 2012, representing a drop of 50.51 Mtce. Finally, the most prominent change driver differed across sectors: For low value-added industries, such as metal smelting and rolling, the main contributor was export structure change, whereas for high value-added industries, such as communications, computers, and other electronic equipment, the main contributor was technical change. Guangdong is playing a leading role in industrial upgrading in China, and this has made the embodied energy consumption decreased obviously in Guangdong. It will be interesting to further investigate the trends of embodied energy consumption of other provinces in China, as this would give us deeper understanding of Chinese resource and environment problems.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhipeng Tang & Jialing Zou & Shuang Wu, 2018. "What Drove Changes in the Embodied Energy Consumption of Guangdong’s Exports from 2007–2012?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-15, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:8:p:2755-:d:161914
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/8/2755/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/8/2755/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Choi, Ki-Hong & Oh, Wankeun, 2014. "Extended Divisia index decomposition of changes in energy intensity: A case of Korean manufacturing industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 275-283.
    2. Wiedmann, Thomas, 2009. "A first empirical comparison of energy Footprints embodied in trade -- MRIO versus PLUM," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(7), pages 1975-1990, May.
    3. Li, Fangyi & Song, Zhouying & Liu, Weidong, 2014. "China's energy consumption under the global economic crisis: Decomposition and sectoral analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 193-202.
    4. Liu, Zhu & Geng, Yong & Lindner, Soeren & Zhao, Hongyan & Fujita, Tsuyoshi & Guan, Dabo, 2012. "Embodied energy use in China's industrial sectors," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 751-758.
    5. Shichun Xu & Wenwen Zhang & Qinbin Li & Bin Zhao & Shuxiao Wang & Ruyin Long, 2017. "Decomposition Analysis of the Factors that Influence Energy Related Air Pollutant Emission Changes in China Using the SDA Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-18, September.
    6. Weber, Christopher L., 2009. "Measuring structural change and energy use: Decomposition of the US economy from 1997 to 2002," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1561-1570, April.
    7. Zhang, Ming & Li, Huanan & Zhou, Min & Mu, Hailin, 2011. "Decomposition analysis of energy consumption in Chinese transportation sector," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(6), pages 2279-2285, June.
    8. Hoekstra, Rutger & van den Bergh, Jeroen C. J. M., 2003. "Comparing structural decomposition analysis and index," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 39-64, January.
    9. Zhang, Jinyun & Zhang, Yan & Yang, Zhifeng & Fath, Brian D. & Li, Shengsheng, 2013. "Estimation of energy-related carbon emissions in Beijing and factor decomposition analysis," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 252(C), pages 258-265.
    10. Wachsmann, Ulrike & Wood, Richard & Lenzen, Manfred & Schaeffer, Roberto, 2009. "Structural decomposition of energy use in Brazil from 1970 to 1996," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(4), pages 578-587, April.
    11. Jialing Zou & Weidong Liu & Zhipeng Tang, 2017. "Analysis of Factors Contributing to Changes in Energy Consumption in Tangshan City between 2007 and 2012," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-14, March.
    12. Brian R. Copeland & M. Scott Taylor, 1994. "North-South Trade and the Environment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(3), pages 755-787.
    13. Nie, Hongguang & Kemp, René, 2014. "Index decomposition analysis of residential energy consumption in China: 2002–2010," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 10-19.
    14. Gasim, Anwar A., 2015. "The embodied energy in trade: What role does specialization play?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 186-197.
    15. Wyckoff, Andrew W. & Roop, Joseph M., 1994. "The embodiment of carbon in imports of manufactured products : Implications for international agreements on greenhouse gas emissions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 187-194, March.
    16. Su, Bin & Thomson, Elspeth, 2016. "China's carbon emissions embodied in (normal and processing) exports and their driving forces, 2006–2012," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 414-422.
    17. Zhao, Min & Tan, Lirong & Zhang, Weiguo & Ji, Minhe & Liu, Yuan & Yu, Lizhong, 2010. "Decomposing the influencing factors of industrial carbon emissions in Shanghai using the LMDI method," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 2505-2510.
    18. Zhao, Xiaoli & Ma, Chunbo & Hong, Dongyue, 2010. "Why did China's energy intensity increase during 1998-2006: Decomposition and policy analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 1379-1388, March.
    19. Zhang, Haiyan & Lahr, Michael L., 2014. "China's energy consumption change from 1987 to 2007: A multi-regional structural decomposition analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 682-693.
    20. Ang, B. W., 2004. "Decomposition analysis for policymaking in energy:: which is the preferred method?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(9), pages 1131-1139, June.
    21. Cellura, Maurizio & Longo, Sonia & Mistretta, Marina, 2012. "Application of the Structural Decomposition Analysis to assess the indirect energy consumption and air emission changes related to Italian households consumption," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 1135-1145.
    22. Zeng, Lin & Xu, Ming & Liang, Sai & Zeng, Siyu & Zhang, Tianzhu, 2014. "Revisiting drivers of energy intensity in China during 1997–2007: A structural decomposition analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 640-647.
    23. Ang, B. W., 2005. "The LMDI approach to decomposition analysis: a practical guide," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(7), pages 867-871, May.
    24. Fernández González, P. & Landajo, M. & Presno, M.J., 2014. "Multilevel LMDI decomposition of changes in aggregate energy consumption. A cross country analysis in the EU-27," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 576-584.
    25. Zhang, Wei & Li, Ke & Zhou, Dequn & Zhang, Wenrui & Gao, Hui, 2016. "Decomposition of intensity of energy-related CO2 emission in Chinese provinces using the LMDI method," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 369-381.
    26. Zhang, Youguo, 2009. "Structural decomposition analysis of sources of decarbonizing economic development in China; 1992-2006," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(8-9), pages 2399-2405, June.
    27. Wang, W.W. & Zhang, M. & Zhou, M., 2011. "Using LMDI method to analyze transport sector CO2 emissions in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 5909-5915.
    28. Li Hong & Pei Dong, Zhang & Chunyu, He & Wang Gang, 2007. "Evaluating the effects of embodied energy in international trade on ecological footprint in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 136-148, April.
    29. Ang, B.W. & Liu, Na, 2007. "Handling zero values in the logarithmic mean Divisia index decomposition approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 238-246, January.
    30. Zhe Wang & Lin Zhao & Guozhu Mao & Ben Wu, 2015. "Factor Decomposition Analysis of Energy-Related CO 2 Emissions in Tianjin, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(8), pages 1-16, July.
    31. Leontief, Wassily, 1970. "Environmental Repercussions and the Economic Structure: An Input-Output Approach," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 52(3), pages 262-271, August.
    32. Zhang, Ming & Mu, Hailin & Ning, Yadong & Song, Yongchen, 2009. "Decomposition of energy-related CO2 emission over 1991-2006 in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(7), pages 2122-2128, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tang, Zhipeng & Yu, Haojie & Zou, Jialing, 2022. "How does production substitution affect China's embodied carbon emissions in exports?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).

    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. Jialing Zou & Weidong Liu & Zhipeng Tang, 2017. "Analysis of Factors Contributing to Changes in Energy Consumption in Tangshan City between 2007 and 2012," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-14, March.
    2. He, He & Reynolds, Christian John & Li, Linyang & Boland, John, 2019. "Assessing net energy consumption of Australian economy from 2004–05 to 2014–15: Environmentally-extended input-output analysis, structural decomposition analysis, and linkage analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 240(C), pages 766-777.
    3. Wang, Miao & Feng, Chao, 2018. "Decomposing the change in energy consumption in China's nonferrous metal industry: An empirical analysis based on the LMDI method," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 2652-2663.
    4. Wang, H. & Ang, B.W. & Su, Bin, 2017. "Assessing drivers of economy-wide energy use and emissions: IDA versus SDA," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 585-599.
    5. Zhipeng Tang & Shuang Wu & Jialing Zou, 2020. "Consumption substitution and change of household indirect energy consumption in China between 1997 and 2012," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(8), pages 1-19, August.
    6. Bowen Xiao & Dongxiao Niu & Xiaodan Guo, 2016. "The Driving Forces of Changes in CO 2 Emissions in China: A Structural Decomposition Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-17, March.
    7. Song, Yi & Huang, Jianbai & Zhang, Yijun & Wang, Zhiping, 2019. "Drivers of metal consumption in China: An input-output structural decomposition analysis," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1-1.
    8. Jiang, Jingjing & Ye, Bin & Xie, Dejun & Li, Ji & Miao, Lixin & Yang, Peng, 2017. "Sector decomposition of China’s national economic carbon emissions and its policy implication for national ETS development," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 855-867.
    9. Wang, Miao & Feng, Chao, 2017. "Analysis of energy-related CO2 emissions in China’s mining industry: Evidence and policy implications," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 77-87.
    10. Liang, Wei & Gan, Ting & Zhang, Wei, 2019. "Dynamic evolution of characteristics and decomposition of factors influencing industrial carbon dioxide emissions in China: 1991–2015," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 93-106.
    11. Vaninsky, Alexander, 2014. "Factorial decomposition of CO2 emissions: A generalized Divisia index approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 389-400.
    12. Lei Liu & Ke Wang & Shanshan Wang & Ruiqin Zhang & Xiaoyan Tang, 2019. "Exploring the Driving Forces and Reduction Potential of Industrial Energy-Related CO 2 Emissions during 2001–2030: A Case Study for Henan Province, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-25, February.
    13. Kim, Yong-Gun & Yoo, Jonghyun & Oh, Wankeun, 2015. "Driving forces of rapid CO2 emissions growth: A case of Korea," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 144-155.
    14. Yan, Junna & Su, Bin, 2020. "What drive the changes in China's energy consumption and intensity during 12th Five-Year Plan period?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    15. Xianrui Liao & Wei Yang & Yichen Wang & Junnian Song, 2019. "Uncovering Variations, Determinants, and Disparities of Multisector-Level Final Energy Use of Industries Across Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-16, March.
    16. José A. Camacho & Lucas Silva Almeida & Mercedes Rodríguez & Jesús Molina, 2022. "Domestic versus foreign energy use: an analysis for four European countries," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 4602-4622, April.
    17. Rina Wu & Jiquan Zhang & Yuhai Bao & Quan Lai & Siqin Tong & Youtao Song, 2016. "Decomposing the Influencing Factors of Industrial Sector Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Inner Mongolia Based on the LMDI Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-14, July.
    18. Wang, Miao & Feng, Chao, 2018. "Using an extended logarithmic mean Divisia index approach to assess the roles of economic factors on industrial CO2 emissions of China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 101-114.
    19. Hu, Yi & Yin, Zhifeng & Ma, Jian & Du, Wencui & Liu, Danhe & Sun, Luxi, 2017. "Determinants of GHG emissions for a municipal economy: Structural decomposition analysis of Chongqing," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 162-169.
    20. Jialing Zou & Zhipeng Tang & Shuang Wu, 2019. "Divergent Leading Factors in Energy-Related CO 2 Emissions Change among Subregions of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Area from 2006 to 2016: An Extended LMDI Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-17, 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:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:8:p:2755-:d:161914. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.