Comprehensive Appraisal of Provincial Low Carbon Development： A Case Study of China

In this research,the Factor Analysis model of measuring provincial low carbon development in China has been constructed.Based on data from 30 provinces,an empirical study was developed to measure comprehensive low carbon development using the Factor Analysis model(Principal Components method and Normalized Varimax Rotation).The results reveal that the provincial marks of low carbon development are generally low and only nine provinces have high marks(more than 0.80).The results also show significant regional disparity.The provincial marks of the eastern region are higher than both the middle and western provinces of mainland China.All of the provinces with high marks(more than 0.90) are located in the eastern region,and those with the lowest marks(0.60) are located in the middle region.Furthermore,regional disparity in low carbon development follows the same pattern as economic development in China.Finally,some suggestions for decision-makers are presented.