Spatial-temporal differences and convergence analysis of residential building carbon emission efficiency in China

Data indicate that carbon dioxide emissions from residential buildings in China constitute 60% of the country’s total, making carbon reduction efforts in residential construction crucial for achieving dual carbon goals. From the perspective of eight major economic regions, this paper selects energy consumption, per capita residential area, and residential population as input indicators, per capita disposable income as the output indicator, and carbon dioxide emissions as the undesired output indicator. It employs the super-efficiency model based on the directional distance (super-DDF) function and the Malmquist-Luenberger (ML) index to measure the static and dynamic carbon emission efficiencies of residential buildings (RBCEE) during their operational phase from 2010 to 2020. After analyzing the differences and equity in RBCEE among regions using the Theil index and Gini coefficient, the σ-convergence, absolute β-convergence, and conditional β-convergence methods are utilized to explore the changing trends of RBCEE across the eight major economic regions. Results show that the static RBCEE in China is at a medium level; dynamic efficiency has improved across all eight regions, though at varying rates; overall, RBCEE exhibits poor equity and significant differences, with intra-group differences being a major cause. In terms of convergence, all eight economic regions display significant absolute β-convergence and conditional β-convergence. Finally, based on the research findings, this paper proposes corresponding emission reduction recommendations for the eight major economic regions.