Examining carbon emissions from household consumption and inequality in Guangdong based on micro-survey data

Abstract

Achieving the “dual-carbon goals” is crucial to China's “ecological civilization construction” policy. Household carbon emissions are rapidly increasing and are expected to approach or even exceed industrial production, becoming the primary driver of carbon emission growth. However, current emission reduction measures mainly focus on industrial production and transportation, neglecting the growing impact of household consumption carbon emissions. In this study, we innovatively use the micro-level China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) database to conduct a bottom-up analysis of Guangdong's household carbon emissions (HHCE) from 2012 to 2020, categorized by urban and rural areas and by consumption types. We also utilize the comprehensive Dagum Gini coefficient to reflect carbon inequality across different categories within and between urban and rural areas. Our findings reveal that HHCE has been steadily increasing, with indirect HHCE accounting for over 95%, higher in urban areas than in rural ones. HHCE has gradually shifted from subsistence to enjoyment consumption, yet “residence” and “food” remain major contributors to indirect HHCE. While the structure of HHCE in urban and rural areas is similar, the growth rate is much higher in rural areas. High Gini coefficients across categories indicate significant carbon emission inequality in Guangdong, with disparities within urban and rural areas being much higher than between them, and inequality higher in rural areas than in urban ones.