| Author: | Ogungbile, Adedayo Johnson |
| Title: | A multi-scale multi-regional assessment of embodied CO2 emissions in China’s construction sector |
| Advisors: | Shen, Q. P. Geoffrey (BRE) |
| Degree: | Ph.D. |
| Year: | 2022 |
| Subject: | Construction industry -- Environmental aspects -- China Carbon dioxide mitigation -- China -- Measurement Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | Department of Building and Real Estate |
| Pages: | xxiv, 226 pages : color illustrations |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | While the conversation around climate change and its environmental consequences is a hot topic worldwide, China's contribution to reducing and increasing GHGs remained a subject of importance. The focus of emissions studies in China's construction sector, considered a significant stakeholder in GHGs emissions generation in the country, is concentrated around the operational phase use of the industry. By implication, many studies aggregated at sectoral and provincial levels of the sector are methodologically inept in investigating the direct CO2 emissions and determining the hidden linkages of CO2 emissions embodied in trans-sectoral and inter-provincial trades with the entire economic structure. The literature review identified the gaps in CO2 emission accounting in China's construction industry. The study was designed to bridge the gaps identified and significantly accrued to methodological improvements in CO2 emission accounting in the sector. Therefore, the study aimed to quantify the direct and indirect embodied CO2 emissions in China's construction sector at the national, regional, and provincial levels to determine the aggregated hidden linkages of CO2 emissions embodied in trans-sectoral and inter-provincial upstream trades of the industry. In achieving the aim of the research, three objectives were set to guide the study, including: (1) to quantify the direct CO2 emissions embodied in China's construction sectors (National and regional levels) and (2) to investigate embodied CO2 emissions linkages from a sectoral and provincial perspective and (3) to investigate the driving forces of embodied CO2 emissions interactions among provincial construction sectors from a multi-regional perspective. Two separate datasets were used in the study. The first data set was used to quantify the direct CO2 emissions from construction project activities at regional and national aggregation levels. The data included fossil fuel, electricity consumption and economic data of the sector between 1997 and 2015. The second data set included the construction sector's annual CO2 emissions and China's economic data in input-output tables for 2012, 2015, and 2017. A hybrid framework was developed for quantifying the direct CO2 emissions in the sector, while an environmental extended hybrid multi-regional input-output (MRIO) tables were constructed for Hypothetical Extraction Method (HEM), Structural Decomposition Analysis (SDA), and Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index I (LMDI-I) methodologies to determine the hidden linkages and driving forces of CO2 emissions in China's construction sector. The study identified the industry's gradual shift from coal as the primary energy source, with over 30% of direct CO2 emissions generated in the Northeast region of China. The study shows a correlation between direct CO2 emissions, construction materials and annual construction outputs. The Chinese construction sector's hidden total CO2 emissions linkages increased from 1,499 MtCO2 in 2012 to 2,000 MtCO2 in 2017. The construction sector in China was determined to have more CO2 emissions in the forward linkages than in backward linkages, indicating the industry is a net exporter of CO2 emissions to satisfy final demands in other economic sectors. The study identified construction sectors in Gansu, Xingjian, Ningxia, and Inner Mongolia as the most crucial provinces with hidden CO2 emissions linkages. Finally, the four driving forces of CO2 emissions assessed in the study showed significant addition and reduction drives in the sector's production-based CO2 emissions. The SDA and LMDI-I analysis results showed that final demand, Leontief structure, and final demand structure effects contributed 964.30, 338.47, and 20.22 MtCO2, respectively. However, direct carbon emission intensity caused a CO2 emissions reduction of 117 MtCO2. The study identified Henan, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Liaoning, and Jilin provinces as having the most critical CO2 emissions change contributions in 2015 and 2017. The study proposed a dynamic and systemic assessment for quantifying CO2 emissions embodied in the construction industry's upstream and downstream activities and interactions within the entire national economic structure. The assessment system can give an early predictive CO2 emissions indication to policymakers and other stakeholders within the industry on the sources and destinations of embodied CO2 emissions within the construction sector. The study presented a simplified methodology for detecting hidden linkages and identifying driving forces of CO2 emissions in provincial and regional interactions. In addition, the methodology and developed models are practical foundations for further examinations and studies on construction-related CO2 emissions and interaction with other economic sectors. The study concludes with policy suggestions, limitations, and future research directions, one of which is the complete decomposition of different driving forces contributing to CO2 emissions changes in the construction industry, not included in this study. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | open access |
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