Industrial trade and embodied energy transfer patterns analysis in China: A perspective of multilayer complex networks

The increasingly complex relationship between industrial trade and energy use challenges energy supply security. Moreover, the intricate links within economic sectors and across provincial boundaries underscore the necessity of employing multilayer network analysis. Based on the environmentally extended multiregional input-output method, the structural characteristics and key nodes of industrial trade and embodied energy multilayer networks in 2012 and 2017 are compared from a systematic and dynamic perspective. The results revealed that industrial trade and embodied energy multilayer networks exhibit structural interconnections driven by regional industrial endowments and sectoral energy intensities. The similarity in centrality patterns underscores the dependency of energy flows on economic trade networks, whereas layer-specific nodal prominences reflect sectoral specialization and spatial resource distributions, indicating that production efficiency and energy policies shape network heterogeneity. Regional analysis revealed that Guangdong, Hebei, Jiangsu, Shanghai, and Zhejiang consistently dominated the centrality rankings. S3, S5, and S7 emerged as critical due to their substantial influence, intermediary roles, and high centrality, playing pivotal parts in both networks. This research contributes to advancing sustainable development across economic, resource, and environmental dimensions while mitigating risks associated with China's energy supply, thereby offering fresh insights into enhancing energy security.