IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i9p3940-d1644076.html

Driving Factors and Decoupling Effect of Energy-Related Carbon Emissions in Beijing, 2013–2020

Author

Listed:
  • Rongqing Ding

    (School of Business, Jiangsu Ocean University, Lianyungang 222001, China)

  • Dongwei Tian

    (School of Management Science and Engineering, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 100081, China)

  • Youzhou Wei

    (College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 200100, China)

Abstract

Energy-induced carbon emissions make up more than 70% of China’s total carbon emissions. In this study, carbon emissions categorized by energy source and industry type in Beijing from 2013 to 2020 were analyzed. The Tapio model was used to reveal the decoupling effect between economic development levels and carbon emissions, and the log-mean score Difference index (LMDI) decomposition method was used to identify impact factors. From 2013 to 2020, Beijing’s energy-related carbon emissions decreased by 21.1%, while GDP increased by 70.8%, and Beijing achieved absolute decoupling of economic development level and carbon emissions, especially after implementing strict environmental protection policies and expediting the transition of energy consumption structure. Although economic growth had a driving effect on carbon emissions, this driving effect gradually weakened, and Beijing achieved carbon emission reduction mainly through the energy consumption intensity effect (−302.1%) and carbon emission factor effect (104.1%). This study reveals the decoupling effect of economic development level and carbon emissions, emphasizes the key role of policy, technology, and structural adjustment in achieving sustainable development, and provides valuable experience and reference for other cities and regions to formulate low-carbon development strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Rongqing Ding & Dongwei Tian & Youzhou Wei, 2025. "Driving Factors and Decoupling Effect of Energy-Related Carbon Emissions in Beijing, 2013–2020," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-15, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:9:p:3940-:d:1644076
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/9/3940/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/9/3940/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ang, B.W. & Su, Bin, 2016. "Carbon emission intensity in electricity production: A global analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 56-63.
    2. Zhang, Xing-Ping & Cheng, Xiao-Mei, 2009. "Energy consumption, carbon emissions, and economic growth in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(10), pages 2706-2712, August.
    3. Du, Kerui & Cheng, Yuanyuan & Yao, Xin, 2021. "Environmental regulation, green technology innovation, and industrial structure upgrading: The road to the green transformation of Chinese cities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    4. Li, Jia Shuo & Zhou, H.W. & Meng, Jing & Yang, Q. & Chen, B. & Zhang, Y.Y., 2018. "Carbon emissions and their drivers for a typical urban economy from multiple perspectives: A case analysis for Beijing city," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C), pages 1076-1086.
    5. Ouyang, Xiaoling & Li, Qiong & Du, Kerui, 2020. "How does environmental regulation promote technological innovations in the industrial sector? Evidence from Chinese provincial panel data," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    6. Manfred Lenzen, 2016. "Structural analyses of energy use and carbon emissions -- an overview," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(2), pages 119-132, June.
    7. Xu, Shi-Chun & He, Zheng-Xia & Long, Ru-Yin, 2014. "Factors that influence carbon emissions due to energy consumption in China: Decomposition analysis using LMDI," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 182-193.
    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. Sun, Xiaoqi & Liu, Xiaojia, 2020. "Decomposition analysis of debt’s impact on China’s energy consumption," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    2. Marc Audi & Marc Poulin & Khalil Ahmad & Amjad Ali, 2025. "Modeling Disaggregate Globalization to Carbon Emissions in BRICS: A Panel Quantile Regression Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-24, March.
    3. Guo, Yuanyu & Xie, Wenlan & Yang, Yang, 2024. "Dual green innovation capability, environmental regulation intensity, and high-quality economic development in China: Can green and growth go together?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    4. Alessandro Marra & Emiliano Colantonio & Roberto Benedetti, 2026. "A panel regression approach to the role of economic policy uncertainty in the energy transition: what to expect with the return of trumponomics?," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 43(1), pages 327-360, April.
    5. Xu, Deyi & Abbas, Shah & Rafique, Kalsoom & Ali, Najabat, 2023. "The race to net-zero emissions: Can green technological innovation and environmental regulation be the potential pathway to net-zero emissions?," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    6. Wang, Junfeng & He, Shutong & Qiu, Ye & Liu, Nan & Li, Yongjian & Dong, Zhanfeng, 2018. "Investigating driving forces of aggregate carbon intensity of electricity generation in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 249-257.
    7. Wei Wang & Yanan She & Yue Peng & Yunqiang Liu, 2025. "Unleashing green technology innovation in agribusiness: traditional environmental regulations, carbon trading, or synergies?," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-14, December.
    8. Feihong Zheng & Rongxin Diao & Hongsheng Che, 2024. "Environmental Decentralization, Digital Financial Inclusion, and the Green Transformation of Industries in Resource-Based Cities in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-26, September.
    9. Linwei Ma & Chinhao Chong & Xi Zhang & Pei Liu & Weiqi Li & Zheng Li & Weidou Ni, 2018. "LMDI Decomposition of Energy-Related CO 2 Emissions Based on Energy and CO 2 Allocation Sankey Diagrams: The Method and an Application to China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-37, January.
    10. Zihao Wu & Ye Wang, 2023. "Does Heterogeneous Environmental Regulation Induce Regional Green Economic Growth? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-14, June.
    11. Keliang Wang & Bin Zhao & Tianzheng Fan & Jinning Zhang, 2022. "Economic Growth Targets and Carbon Emissions: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-16, June.
    12. Alsagr, Naif, 2023. "How environmental policy stringency affects renewable energy investment? Implications for green investment horizons," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    13. Song, Wenfei & Han, Xianfeng & Liu, Qiange, 2024. "Patterns of environmental regulation and green innovation in China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 176-192.
    14. Tang, Tianwei & Jiang, Xiaojing & Zhu, Kaiwen & Ying, Ziyao & Liu, Wenyu, 2024. "Effects of the promotion pressure of officials on green low-carbon transition: Evidence from 277 cities in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    15. Muhammad Daniyal & Kassim Tawiah & Moiz Qureshi & Mohammad Haseeb & Killian Asampana Asosega & Mustafa Kamal & Masood ur Rehman, 2023. "An autoregressive distributed lag approach for estimating the nexus between CO2 emissions and economic determinants in Pakistan," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(5), pages 1-18, May.
    16. Bouznit, Mohammed & Pablo-Romero, María del P., 2016. "CO2 emission and economic growth in Algeria," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 93-104.
    17. Guo, Mengmeng & Wang, Huixin & Kuai, Yicheng, 2023. "Environmental regulation and green innovation: Evidence from heavily polluting firms in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    18. Lin, Boqiang & Xu, Mengmeng, 2019. "Quantitative assessment of factors affecting energy intensity from sector, region and time perspectives using decomposition method: A case of China’s metallurgical industry," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    19. Sun, Xiaojun & Fan, Yee Van & Lei, Yalin & Si, Chunyan & Cao, Zimin & Varbanov, Petar Sabev, 2025. "Mechanism of environmental regulation on energy productivity, energy structure, and carbon emissions: The role of directed technological progress," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 328(C).
    20. Xinyu Wang & Yuanze Chai & Wensen Wu & Adnan Khurshid, 2023. "The Empirical Analysis of Environmental Regulation’s Spatial Spillover Effects on Green Technology Innovation in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-14, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:17:y:2025:i:9:p:3940-:d:1644076. 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.