Decomposition analysis of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions in the iron and steel industry in China

This work aims to identify the main factors influencing the energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the iron and steel industry in China during the period of 1995-2007. The logarithmic mean divisia index (LMDI) technique was applied with period-wise analysis and time-series analysis. Changes in energy-related CO2 emissions were decomposed into four factors: emission factor effect, energy structure effect, energy consumption effect, and the steel production effect. The results show that steel production is the major factor responsible for the rise in CO2 emissions during the sampling period; on the other hand the energy consumption is the largest contributor to the decrease in CO2 emissions. To a lesser extent, the emission factor and energy structure effects have both negative and positive contributions to CO2 emissions, respectively. Policy implications are provided regarding the reduction of CO2 emissions from the iron and steel industry in China, such as controlling the overgrowth of steel production, improving energy-saving technologies, and introducing low-carbon energy sources into the iron and steel industry.