Spatial and temporal characteristics of coal consumption and carbon emissions in China

Based on the requirement of energy restructuring in China’s “Dual Carbon” target, this study measures the carbon emissions of 30 provinces (autonomous region and municipality directly under the central government) in China from 1997 to 2019, the relationship between coal consumption and carbon emissions in China was investigated by using the methods of robust test, panel cointegration test, and Granger causality test; exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) is applied to analyze the spatial characteristics of energy consumption and carbon emissions in China. The results show that (i) there is a long-term two-way causal relationship between coal consumption and carbon emissions in China; (ii) both coal consumption and carbon emissions in China show spatial correlation, with obvious locational characteristics, and are relatively stable in the spatial pattern as a whole, with relatively small changes in the short term; (iii) both coal consumption and carbon emissions show significant positive correlation and positive spatial correlation, with an increase in coal consumption and an increase in carbon emissions. The local Moran’s I can show that there are fewer areas that differ from the overall trend, with H-H agglomeration maintaining a stable contiguous trend, L-L agglomeration decreasing, and contiguous characteristics gradually disappearing.