Exploring the interregional trade-induced carbon-economic inequality in China's energy transition

China has set ambitious renewable energy targets to achieve its carbon emissions peak, driving an energy transition that is reshaping interregional trade networks and altering the distribution of embodied carbon emissions. This transition affects carbon-economic inequality, defined as the spatial mismatch between embodied carbon emissions and economic value-added. Yet, the specific impact of energy transitions on this regional carbon-economic inequality remains unexplored. To address this gap, we develop an environmentally extended multi-regional input-output model and apply the Theil index decomposition to uncover the evolution and drivers of carbon-economic inequality in China from 2007 to 2017. Results reveal a marked worsening in carbon-economic inequality in China from 2007 to 2017. By decomposition analysis shows that between-region inequality persistently dominates overall carbon-economic inequality in China, contributing more than half of the Theil index from both production and consumption perspectives. Furthermore, scenario simulations indicate that strategic energy transition, coupled with stable economic development in China can effectively mitigate carbon-economic inequality, offering a pathway toward sustainable regional development.