Saving less in China facilitates global CO2 mitigation
Chen Lin, Jianchuan Qi, Sai Liang, Cuiyang Feng, Thomas Wiedmann, Yihan Liao, Xuechun Yang, Yumeng Li, Zhifu Mi, Zhifeng Yang
Abstract
Abstract Transforming China’s economic growth pattern from investment-driven to consumption-driven can significantly change global CO 2 emissions. This study is the first to analyse the impacts of changes in China’s saving rates on global CO 2 emissions both theoretically and empirically. Here, we show that the increase in the saving rates of Chinese regions has led to increments of global industrial CO 2 emissions by 189 million tonnes (Mt) during 2007–2012. A 15-percentage-point decrease in the saving rate of China can lower global CO 2 emissions by 186 Mt, or 0.7% of global industrial CO 2 emissions. Greener consumption in China can lead to a further 14% reduction in global industrial CO 2 emissions. In particular, decreasing the saving rate of Shandong has the most massive potential for global CO 2 reductions, while that of Inner Mongolia has adverse effects. Removing economic frictions to allow the production system to fit China’s increased consumption can facilitate global CO 2 mitigation.