To explore the sources of regional carbon emission differences and the evolution characteristics of spatial heterogeneity pattern, this paper first calculates the corresponding carbon emissions according to the relevant statistical data of eight economic regions in China from 2005 to 2019. It analyzes the overall differences and temporal and spatial evolution characteristics of regional carbon emissions combined with the visualization method of GIS. Then, the total carbon emission difference is decomposed by the Theil index to find out the primary sources affecting the regional carbon emission difference. Finally, the driving factors affecting the spatial heterogeneity pattern of regional carbon emissions are studied with the help of the Geodetector method. The results show that (1) significant differences in carbon emissions among China's eight economic regions. The contribution rate of inter-regional and intra-regional differences of carbon emissions in different regions to the overall carbon emission difference is diverse. (2) Regional carbon emissions are affected by single driving factors and the interaction of two driving factors. The interaction has an increasing impact on the determinant of regional carbon emission spatial differentiation. (3) The factor detection results and interaction detection results, respectively, show that the level of energy consumption, industrialization, and technological development has always been the main driving factors affecting the spatial heterogeneity pattern of regional carbon emissions, and the critical interaction factors have multiple spatial superposition interaction effects. Therefore, regional carbon emission reduction should consider the national strategic objectives and own regional characteristics and implement differentiated emission reduction schemes.
Keywords: Carbon emission; Differences decomposition; Driving factors; Geodetector method; Theil index.
© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.