Decoupling Analysis of CO₂ Emissions in Transportation Sector from Economic Growth during 1995–2015 for Six Cities in Hebei, China

• Main Authors: Lijun Zhang, Caiyun Kou, Ji Zheng, Yu Li
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018-11-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: decoupling; traffic CO₂ emissions; economic growth; city; Hebei
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/11/4149

The transport sector is one of the most important and potential sectors to achieve low-carbon development in China. As economic growth is desirable, but high-level traffic CO₂ emissions are not. This paper estimated the on-road traffic CO₂ emissions and investigated the decoupling states of traffic CO₂ emissions from economic growth for six cities in Hebei province from 1995 to 2015. In 2015, the on-road traffic CO₂ emissions were ranked, as follows: Tangshan (4.75 Mt) > Handan (3.38 Mt) > Baoding (1.38 Mt) > Zhangjiakou (1.05 Mt) > Langfang (1.01 Mt) > Chengde (0.46 Mt). Two turning points of traffic CO₂ emissions during the study period were found. From 2008 to 2013, the traffic CO₂ emissions increased more rapidly than before. After 2013, the traffic CO₂ emissions of three cities (Baoding, Handan and Chengde) began to decrease, and the traffic CO₂ emissions’ growth rates of the other three cities (Zhangjiakou, Langfang and Tangshan) became lower than before. The decoupling states during 1996⁻2015 can be divided into four phases: decoupling-coupling concurrence stage (1996⁻2000), decoupling dominant stage (2001⁻2008), coupling dominant stage (2009⁻2013), and improvement stage (2014⁻2015). Chengde and Baoding were identified due to their good local practice on decoupling CO₂ emissions in transport sector from economic growth. These results will enrich the greenhouse gas inventory of China at city level and provide scientific support to achieve the mitigation of CO₂ emissions in the transport sector.