Regional Differences of the Driving Factors and Decoupling Effect of Carbon Emissions Evidence from China's Pollution-Intensive Industry

The completed decomposition model combined with the decoupling index is used to analyze the contribution of each factor which influences energyrelated CO2 emission in 15 regions over the period 2000-2012. The results show that the major factors that influence CO2 emission in areas are industrial output effect and energy intensity effect, followed by the industrial structure effect, while the energy structure and energy emission intensity have a smaller effect. Moreover, a reduction potential model is implemented in order to investigate the emission reduction potential of regions and sub-industrial sectors. It is found that although most governments showed great enthusiasm in promoting emission reduction, most regions present no decoupling effect. It indicates that emission reduction efforts have not always proven effective till now, therefore, most regions, including Beijing, have great energy saving and emission reduction potential.