Inequalities of China's regional low-carbon development

As China plays an important role in global climate change, investigating its low-carbon development (LCD) will shed light on the global low-carbon economy. This study aims to explore the drivers of LCD inequality and evolution based on an extended spatial decomposition model. We find that potential energy intensity is the most important factor responsible for both national LCD inequality and its evolution. Further analysis suggests that the central region made some progress in LCD due to the decline of potential energy intensity. Nonetheless, the west must pay attention to the high potential energy intensity and deteriorating industry structure for the persistent poor LCD. And the provincial results indicate that the poorer the economy, the worse the LCD. The LCD formation and evolution mechanism of the various provinces are highly heterogeneous. Overall, we underscore the comprehensive investigation of inequality issues of LCD and provide insights for other regions desiring to develop the low-carbon economy.