China’s carbon emissions from urban and rural households during 1992-2007

In China, Rapid economic growth has stimulated fast urban expansion and rural household income and consumption expenditure. In current paper, an input-output method is used to determine the impact of China’s increased urban and rural household consumption on carbon emissions. The results shows that the direct and indirect CO₂ emission from household consumption accounted for more than 40% of total carbon emissions from primary energy utilization in China in 1992-2007. The population increase, expansion of urbanization and the increase of household consumption per capita all contribute to an increase of indirect carbon emissions, while carbon intensity decline mitigates the growth of carbon emissions. Therefore, at the domestic level, household consumption is of great significance for CO₂ emission, which could be mitigated through changing the composition of goods and services consumed by households, and switching to consumption pattern of less carbon-intensive products. The government must consider the substantial contribution of household consumption to carbon emissions when China is encouraging consumption in order to address the current global financial crisis.