TY  - JOUR
A1  - Zhao, Jinqi
A1  - Zhang, Yuanyuan
A1  - He, Xiaojia
A1  - Axmacher, Jan Christoph
A1  - Sang, Weiguo
PB  - Elsevier BV
VL  - 448
Y1  - 2024/04/05/
N2  - China's adoption of an ?ecological civilization? strategy since 2012 demonstrates its vision to move toward more sustainable development models while promoting green energy and strengthening environmental protection. However, China's continuing heavy reliance on fossil fuels, especially coal, masks the complex positive trends in energy use, more sustainable economic development, and environmental management. Through examining the evolving energy-GDP relationships in China over the past few decades, we elucidated the underlying complex nonlinear processes using environmental Kuznets curve analysis and showed that the energy?GDP relationship has fluctuated between positive and negative decoupling. Furthermore, fluctuating trajectories manifested as sharp regional divergences when early-transitioning coastal areas restructured toward services and exhibited robust decoupling, whereas the industrial interior remained fossil fuel reliant. We identified various forces related to these provincial disparities, where rapid urbanization, industrial realignment, and income growth were all important. By promoting service transitions and enabling low-carbon technologies in coastal hubs, these drivers also exposed infrastructure deficits and entrenched fossil fuel usage in the interior. These problems led to China's latest strategic plans emphasizing ?higher quality? growth underpinned by clean energy transitions and coordinated regional policies. Ongoing declines in coal and the rise in renewable energy usage highlight promising momentum, but stable decoupling remains contingent on sustained policy coordination. The intricate balance between growth and environmental pressures in China provides essential lessons to help emerging economies achieve sustainability by catalyzing green transitions and attaining developmental milestones.
AV  - public
JF  - Journal of Cleaner Production
N1  - This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions.
ID  - discovery10189300
KW  - Decoupling
KW  -  Energy?GDP relationship
KW  -  Environmental kuznets curve
KW  -  Fossil fuel
KW  -  Sustainable development
TI  - Gains in China's sustainability by decoupling economic growth from energy use
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.141765
ER  -