eprintid: 10189300
rev_number: 10
eprint_status: archive
userid: 699
dir: disk0/10/18/93/00
datestamp: 2024-03-19 10:35:06
lastmod: 2025-03-15 07:10:04
status_changed: 2024-03-19 10:35:06
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
sword_depositor: 699
creators_name: Zhao, Jinqi
creators_name: Zhang, Yuanyuan
creators_name: He, Xiaojia
creators_name: Axmacher, Jan Christoph
creators_name: Sang, Weiguo
title: Gains in China's sustainability by decoupling economic growth from energy use
ispublished: pub
divisions: UCL
divisions: B03
divisions: C03
divisions: F26
keywords: Decoupling, Energy–GDP relationship, Environmental kuznets curve, Fossil fuel, Sustainable development
note: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions.
abstract: 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.
date: 2024-04-05
date_type: published
publisher: Elsevier BV
official_url: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.141765
oa_status: green
full_text_type: other
language: eng
primo: open
primo_central: open_green
verified: verified_manual
elements_id: 2258190
doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.141765
lyricists_name: Axmacher, Jan
lyricists_id: JCAXM98
actors_name: Axmacher, Jan
actors_id: JCAXM98
actors_role: owner
full_text_status: public
publication: Journal of Cleaner Production
volume: 448
article_number: 141765
citation:        Zhao, Jinqi;    Zhang, Yuanyuan;    He, Xiaojia;    Axmacher, Jan Christoph;    Sang, Weiguo;      (2024)    Gains in China's sustainability by decoupling economic growth from energy use.                   Journal of Cleaner Production , 448     , Article 141765.  10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.141765 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.141765>.       Green open access   
 
document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10189300/2/Axmacher_%20Gains%20in%20China%27s%20sustainability%20by%20decoupling%20economic%20growth%20from%20energy%20use_AAM.pdf