Measurement and driving factors of carbon productivity in China’s provinces: From the perspective of embodied carbon emissions

Carbon productivity incorporates economic development and carbon emissions within a unified framework for measuring the economic value per unit carbon emissions. In the context of climate change, improving carbon productivity is of great value for promoting low-carbon development in a country or region. From the perspective of embodied carbon emissions, this study constructs an embodied carbon productivity (ECP) index and uses the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index decomposition method to study the evolution trends and driving factors of ECP in China’s provinces based on China Interregional Input-Output Tables for 2002, 2007, 2012, and 2017. The following results were obtained: First, China’s overall ECP showed a continuously increasing trend during the entire period, with the energy efficiency factor playing the largest role among all driving factors. Second, the ECP in 19 of the 30 Chinese provinces continued to increase and the contributions of energy emission ratio, ECP per capita, and population size factors to the increase in ECP presented evident disparities among different provinces. Third, the ECP in three major regions ranged from high to low in the order of East, Central, and West, with the largest growth in the Central, followed by the West, with the smallest in the East. Based on the analysis of research results, we proposed relevant policy recommendations to further improve China’s ECP and achieve low-carbon economy.