Proximate Causes of Worldwide Mega-regional CO2 Emission Changes 1995-2007: Focus on China

This is a chapter in a book I was invited by Yoshiro Higano ( University of Tsukuba, Japan and Editor, Springer Book Series on Advancements in Regional Science) to co-edit with Zhenhua Chen (Ohio State University) and Dale Whittington (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill). The book is a festschrift for Professor Kingsley E. Haynes. We solicited about 30 research chapters from Professor Hayne's former students and colleagues from all round the world. This paper is my contribution. Evidence suggests that climate change is real and accelerating. This has led to a great deal of research on improving energy efficiency and reducing per capita energy consumption, as well as on the sources of air polluting emissions such as carbon, and possible policy options for limiting permanent environmental damage. The top countries in the world in terms of these carbon emissions are China, the United States, the European Union, India, Russia, and Japan. This chapter will use the World Input Output Database (WIOD) and structural decomposition analysis to determine for these six countries whether observed improvements in energy intensity and carbon dioxide emissions are due to (a) the adoption of new energy technology or (b) structural changes in the economy. Policy and research implications will be drawn.