The Study on Influencing Factors of Urban Carbon Emissions in China: A Case of Harbin

Abstract

Under the New Normal context, China's government proposed requirements for national emission reduction, and such practice in cities is of great importance to achieve the goal of national environmental governance in 2030. This study selects Harbin as the typical case and investigates what factors affect the amount of its carbon emission by applying the SPIRPAT model with the data from 1995 to 2015. The findings show that urban population, energy intensity, per capita GDP deflator, and the capacity of public transportation all positively affected the level of city's carbon emissions with a gradually decreasing influencing extent, while industrial structure did not significantly affected carbon emissions. Accordingly, to reduce carbon emissions in Harbin, residential living environment, energy efficiency, and the energy system of public transportation should be further optimized.