Identification of key industries of industrial sector with energy-related CO2 emissions and analysis of their potential for energy conservation and emission reduction in Xinjiang, China

Fuqiang Xia; Xinhuan Zhang; Tianyi Cai; Shaohong Wu; Dongsheng Zhao

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134587

Identification of key industries of industrial sector with energy-related CO₂ emissions and analysis of their potential for energy conservation and emission reduction in Xinjiang, China

Sci Total Environ. 2020 Mar 15:708:134587. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134587. Epub 2019 Nov 20.

Authors

Fuqiang Xia¹, Xinhuan Zhang², Tianyi Cai³, Shaohong Wu⁴, Dongsheng Zhao⁵

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China. Electronic address: xiafq@ms.xjb.ac.cn.
² State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China. Electronic address: zhangxh@ms.xjb.ac.cn.
³ State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China. Electronic address: caitianyi14@mails.ucas.ac.cn.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China. Electronic address: wush@igsnrr.ac.cn.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China. Electronic address: zhaods@igsnrr.ac.cn.

PMID: 31787290
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134587

Abstract

As the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter, China bears an arduous task of energy conservation (EC) and emission reduction (ER). CO₂ arising from energy consumption during industrial processes makes up the vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions in China. It is the key for the Chinese government to achieve its goal of emission reduction in 2030 by identifying key industries with CO₂ emissions and probing into their potential for EC&ER. We used Xinjiang Province of China as a research area. Next, we proposed a method for identifying key industries with CO₂ emissions in Xinjiang's industrial sector and analyzed their energy consumption and CO₂ emission characteristics. Finally, the average energy efficiency index of national industries was used to explore the potential for EC&ER of key industries. Results indicated that (1) the CO2 emissions in industrial sector were 463.35 million tons in 2016, making up 90.72% of its total CO2 emissions from energy consumption, considerably higher than the global and national averages; (2) In 2016, the 8 key industries with energy-related CO₂ emissions determined in this study are all heavy industries whose energy consumption and CO₂ emissions were 119.65 million tce (tons carbon equivalent) and 445.36 million tons respectively, taken up 62.51% and 87.2% of the total amount in Xinjiang. These 8 key industries play a critical role in realizing EC&ER in Xinjiang; (3) In 2016, the eight key industries had the potential to save 74.65 million tce, accounted for 45.79% of the total EC. Their potential for ER were 272.07 million tons of CO₂, equal to 53.27% of the total CO₂ emissions. On this basis, it is recommended that the local government exploit the potential of key industries for EC&ER by improving their energy efficiency.

Keywords: CO(2) emission; Energy conservation and emission reduction potential; Energy consumption; Key industry; Xinjiang’s industry.