IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v390y2025ics0306261925005951.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Local energy zone for urban carbon emissions studies – Accounting, characterization and prediction

Author

Listed:
  • Wang, RenFeng
  • Ren, Chao

Abstract

Cities play a pivotal role in achieving the global common goals for carbon peak and neutrality, encompassing energy conservation, emission reduction, sustainable utilization of urban ecosystems, and urban spatial configuration. As interest in urban contributions to climate change adaptation and mitigation intensifies, the accounting, spatial characterization, and prediction of urban carbon emissions are gaining increased attention. However, three critical challenges hinder progress: (1) the scarcity of long-term reliable data, (2) uncertainties and inconsistencies arising from fragmented carbon accounting, characterization, and prediction paradigms, and (3) the decoupling effects of socio-economic factors on carbon emissions. To address these issues, we propose an integrated research paradigm that simultaneously combines carbon emission accounting, spatial characterization, and prediction. This study comprehensively assesses the relationship between land use categories and corresponding sectoral carbon emissions across China's prefecture-level cities. An evidence-based landscape zoning system—Local Energy Zone (LEZ) is proposed, identifying significant inter-class (Mean coefficient of variation = 152 %) and intra-class (Maximum coefficient of variation = 412 %) variations in carbon source LEZ categories. Comparative analyses with multiple models and products validated LEZ's superiority in carbon emission accounting (R2 = 0.811). The pilot test conducted in Guangzhou (China) revealed that LEZ offers dual analytical benefits over other emission inventory and research paradigms by enabling comprehensive macro-level emission quantification while simultaneously facilitating precise micro-scale spatial characterization of emission patterns. This novel zoning scheme addresses the limitations of traditional carbon emission studies and offers new tools and perspectives for global urban carbon footprint and sustainable development research.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, RenFeng & Ren, Chao, 2025. "Local energy zone for urban carbon emissions studies – Accounting, characterization and prediction," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 390(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:390:y:2025:i:c:s0306261925005951
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2025.125865
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261925005951
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2025.125865?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. Ang, B.W., 2015. "LMDI decomposition approach: A guide for implementation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 233-238.
    2. Luo, Haizhi & Wang, Chenglong & Li, Cangbai & Meng, Xiangzhao & Yang, Xiaohu & Tan, Qian, 2024. "Multi-scale carbon emission characterization and prediction based on land use and interpretable machine learning model: A case study of the Yangtze River Delta Region, China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 360(C).
    3. Tilottama Ghosh & Christopher D. Elvidge & Paul C. Sutton & Kimberly E. Baugh & Daniel Ziskin & Benjamin T. Tuttle, 2010. "Creating a Global Grid of Distributed Fossil Fuel CO 2 Emissions from Nighttime Satellite Imagery," Energies, MDPI, vol. 3(12), pages 1-19, December.
    4. N. Thangaiyarkarasi & S. Vanitha, 2021. "The Impact of Financial Development on Decarbonization Factors of Carbon Emissions: A Global Perspective," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 11(6), pages 353-364.
    5. Riley M. Duren & Charles E. Miller, 2012. "Measuring the carbon emissions of megacities," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 2(8), pages 560-562, August.
    6. Mi, Zhifu & Zhang, Yunkun & Guan, Dabo & Shan, Yuli & Liu, Zhu & Cong, Ronggang & Yuan, Xiao-Chen & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2016. "Consumption-based emission accounting for Chinese cities," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 1073-1081.
    7. Bengang Li & Thomas Gasser & Philippe Ciais & Shilong Piao & Shu Tao & Yves Balkanski & Didier Hauglustaine & Juan-Pablo Boisier & Zhuo Chen & Mengtian Huang & Laurent Zhaoxin Li & Yue Li & Hongyan Li, 2016. "The contribution of China’s emissions to global climate forcing," Nature, Nature, vol. 531(7594), pages 357-361, March.
    8. Liu, Xiaochen & Sweeney, John, 2012. "Modelling the impact of urban form on household energy demand and related CO2 emissions in the Greater Dublin Region," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 359-369.
    9. Emodi, Nnaemeka Vincent & Emodi, Chinenye Comfort & Murthy, Girish Panchakshara & Emodi, Adaeze Saratu Augusta, 2017. "Energy policy for low carbon development in Nigeria: A LEAP model application," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 68(P1), pages 247-261.
    10. Michael Sigmond & John C. Fyfe & Neil C. Swart, 2018. "Ice-free Arctic projections under the Paris Agreement," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(5), pages 404-408, May.
    11. M. Castillo-Santiago & A. Hellier & R. Tipper & B. Jong, 2007. "Carbon emissions from land-use change: an analysis of causal factors in Chiapas, Mexico," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 12(6), pages 1213-1235, July.
    12. Matthew Brander & Francisco Ascui & Vivian Scott & Simon Tett, 2021. "Carbon accounting for negative emissions technologies," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(5), pages 699-717, May.
    13. Ishii, Satoshi & Tabushi, Shoichi & Aramaki, Toshiya & Hanaki, Keisuke, 2010. "Impact of future urban form on the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from residential, commercial and public buildings in Utsunomiya, Japan," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(9), pages 4888-4896, September.
    14. Yutai Cheng & Yao Xiao, 2022. "Factors of carbon emissions from Chinese urban and rural residents: a time-varying study," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(18), pages 1696-1701, October.
    15. Shan, Yuli & Liu, Jianghua & Liu, Zhu & Xu, Xinwanghao & Shao, Shuai & Wang, Peng & Guan, Dabo, 2016. "New provincial CO2 emission inventories in China based on apparent energy consumption data and updated emission factors," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 742-750.
    16. Bin Chen & Shengbiao Wu & Yimeng Song & Chris Webster & Bing Xu & Peng Gong, 2022. "Contrasting inequality in human exposure to greenspace between cities of Global North and Global South," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    17. Zhang, Yan & Wu, Qiong & Fath, Brian D., 2018. "Review of spatial analysis of urban carbon metabolism," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 371(C), pages 18-24.
    18. Qingfeng Guan & Sijing Cheng & Yongting Pan & Yao Yao & Wen Zeng, 2021. "Sensing Mixed Urban Land-Use Patterns Using Municipal Water Consumption Time Series," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 111(1), pages 68-86, January.
    19. Miao, Yuang & Lu, Huixia & Cui, Shizhang & Zhang, Xu & Zhang, Yusheng & Song, Xinwang & Cheng, Haiying, 2024. "CO2 emissions change in Tianjin: The driving factors and the role of CCS," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 353(PA).
    20. Han Wang & Yujie Jin & Xingming Hong & Fuan Tian & Jianxian Wu & Xin Nie, 2022. "Integrating IPAT and CLUMondo Models to Assess the Impact of Carbon Peak on Land Use," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-16, April.
    21. Xia, Chuyu & Chen, Bin, 2020. "Urban land-carbon nexus based on ecological network analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    22. Mi, Zhifu & Zheng, Jiali & Meng, Jing & Zheng, Heran & Li, Xian & Coffman, D'Maris & Woltjer, Johan & Wang, Shouyang & Guan, Dabo, 2019. "Carbon emissions of cities from a consumption-based perspective," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C), pages 509-518.
    23. Cheng, Yuanyuan & Yao, Xin, 2021. "Carbon intensity reduction assessment of renewable energy technology innovation in China: A panel data model with cross-section dependence and slope heterogeneity," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    24. Su, Yongxian & Chen, Xiuzhi & Li, Yong & Liao, Jishan & Ye, Yuyao & Zhang, Hongou & Huang, Ningsheng & Kuang, Yaoqiu, 2014. "China׳s 19-year city-level carbon emissions of energy consumptions, driving forces and regionalized mitigation guidelines," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 231-243.
    25. Shilong Piao & Jingyun Fang & Philippe Ciais & Philippe Peylin & Yao Huang & Stephen Sitch & Tao Wang, 2009. "The carbon balance of terrestrial ecosystems in China," Nature, Nature, vol. 458(7241), pages 1009-1013, April.
    26. Olusanya Elisa Olubusoye & Dasauki Musa & Salvatore Ercolano, 2020. "Carbon Emissions And Economic Growth In Africa: Are They Related?," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(1), pages 1850400-185, January.
    27. Shilong Piao & Philippe Ciais & Yao Huang & Zehao Shen & Shushi Peng & Junsheng Li & Liping Zhou & Hongyan Liu & Yuecun Ma & Yihui Ding & Pierre Friedlingstein & Chunzhen Liu & Kun Tan & Yongqiang Yu , 2010. "The impacts of climate change on water resources and agriculture in China," Nature, Nature, vol. 467(7311), pages 43-51, September.
    28. Dhakal, Shobhakar, 2009. "Urban energy use and carbon emissions from cities in China and policy implications," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 4208-4219, November.
    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. Changlong Sun & Yongli Zhang & Wenwen Ma & Rong Wu & Shaojian Wang, 2022. "The Impacts of Urban Form on Carbon Emissions: A Comprehensive Review," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-20, August.
    2. Zhao, Rongqin & Liu, Ying & Tian, Mengmeng & Ding, Minglei & Cao, Lianhai & Zhang, Zhanping & Chuai, Xiaowei & Xiao, Liangang & Yao, Lunguang, 2018. "Impacts of water and land resources exploitation on agricultural carbon emissions: The water-land-energy-carbon nexus," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 480-492.
    3. Xue, Ruoyu & Wang, Shanshan & Long, Wenqi & Gao, Gengyu & Liu, Donghui & Zhang, Ruiqin, 2021. "Uncovering GHG emission characteristics of industrial parks in Central China via emission inventory and cluster analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    4. Cai, Bofeng & Lu, Jun & Wang, Jinnan & Dong, Huijuan & Liu, Xiaoman & Chen, Yang & Chen, Zhanming & Cong, Jianhui & Cui, Zhipeng & Dai, Chunyan & Fang, Kai & Feng, Tong & Guo, Jie & Li, Fen & Meng, Fa, 2019. "A benchmark city-level carbon dioxide emission inventory for China in 2005," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 233, pages 659-673.
    5. Cai, Bofeng & Liu, Helin & Zhang, Xiaoling & Pan, Haozhi & Zhao, Mengxue & Zheng, Tianming & Nie, Jingxin & Du, Mengbing & Dhakal, Shobhakar, 2022. "High-resolution accounting of urban emissions in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 325(C).
    6. Wang, Miao & Feng, Chao, 2021. "The consequences of industrial restructuring, regional balanced development, and market-oriented reform for China's carbon dioxide emissions: A multi-tier meta-frontier DEA-based decomposition analysi," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    7. Xuecheng Wang & Xu Tang & Zhenhua Feng & Yi Zhang, 2019. "Characterizing the Embodied Carbon Emissions Flows and Ecological Relationships among Four Chinese Megacities and Other Provinces," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-19, May.
    8. Luo, Haizhi & Li, Yingyue & Gao, Xinyu & Meng, Xiangzhao & Yang, Xiaohu & Yan, Jinyue, 2023. "Carbon emission prediction model of prefecture-level administrative region: A land-use-based case study of Xi'an city, China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 348(C).
    9. Wei Chen & Qian Zhang & Ziyan Gao & Yong Geng & Yu Cheng & Xu Tian, 2023. "Exploring the drivers of energy-related CO2 emissions in western China: a case study of Haixi," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(10), pages 11957-11971, October.
    10. Shi, Kaifang & Chen, Yun & Li, Linyi & Huang, Chang, 2018. "Spatiotemporal variations of urban CO2 emissions in China: A multiscale perspective," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 218-229.
    11. Junbo Wang & Liu Chen & Lu Chen & Xiaohui Zhao & Minxi Wang & Yiyi Ju & Li Xin, 2019. "City-Level Features of Energy Footprints and Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Sichuan Province of China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-14, May.
    12. Chen, Shaoqing & Long, Huihui & Chen, Bin & Feng, Kuishuang & Hubacek, Klaus, 2020. "Urban carbon footprints across scale: Important considerations for choosing system boundaries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    13. Xiao, Hongwei & Ma, Zhongyu & Mi, Zhifu & Kelsey, John & Zheng, Jiali & Yin, Weihua & Yan, Min, 2018. "Spatio-temporal simulation of energy consumption in China's provinces based on satellite night-time light data," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 231(C), pages 1070-1078.
    14. Cui, Yuanzheng & Zhang, Weishi & Wang, Can & Streets, David G. & Xu, Ying & Du, Mingxi & Lin, Jintai, 2019. "Spatiotemporal dynamics of CO2 emissions from central heating supply in the North China Plain over 2012–2016 due to natural gas usage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 241(C), pages 245-256.
    15. Fang, Chuanglin & Wang, Shaojian & Li, Guangdong, 2015. "Changing urban forms and carbon dioxide emissions in China: A case study of 30 provincial capital cities," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 519-531.
    16. Cai, Bofeng & Cui, Can & Zhang, Da & Cao, Libin & Wu, Pengcheng & Pang, Lingyun & Zhang, Jihong & Dai, Chunyan, 2019. "China city-level greenhouse gas emissions inventory in 2015 and uncertainty analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C), pages 1-1.
    17. Liu, Xiaoyu & Duan, Zhiyuan & Shan, Yuli & Duan, Haiyan & Wang, Shuo & Song, Junnian & Wang, Xian'en, 2019. "Low-carbon developments in Northeast China: Evidence from cities," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 236(C), pages 1019-1033.
    18. Wang, Shaojian & Liu, Xiaoping & Zhou, Chunshan & Hu, Jincan & Ou, Jinpei, 2017. "Examining the impacts of socioeconomic factors, urban form, and transportation networks on CO2 emissions in China’s megacities," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(P1), pages 189-200.
    19. Zhou, Xiaoyong & Zhou, Dequn & Wang, Qunwei & Su, Bin, 2020. "Who shapes China's carbon intensity and how? A demand-side decomposition analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    20. Maud Lanau & Luca Herbert & Gang Liu, 2021. "Extending urban stocks and flows analysis to urban greenhouse gas emission accounting: A case of Odense, Denmark," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(4), pages 961-978, August.

    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:appene:v:390:y:2025:i:c:s0306261925005951. 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/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    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.