Quantifying the Provincial Carbon Emissions of China Embodied in Trade: The Perspective of Land Use

Land use supports production and living activities and provides ecosystem services for people. With the flow of capital, goods, and services among regions, trade leads to the transfer of carbon emissions from importing regions to exporting regions, and this is telecoupled with land systems in differ...

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Main Authors: Qiqi Wu, Jijun Meng, Cuiyutong Yang, Likai Zhu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-04-01
Series:Land
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/4/753
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author Qiqi Wu
Jijun Meng
Cuiyutong Yang
Likai Zhu
author_facet Qiqi Wu
Jijun Meng
Cuiyutong Yang
Likai Zhu
author_sort Qiqi Wu
collection DOAJ
description Land use supports production and living activities and provides ecosystem services for people. With the flow of capital, goods, and services among regions, trade leads to the transfer of carbon emissions from importing regions to exporting regions, and this is telecoupled with land systems in different regions. Although significant progress has been made in quantifying embodied carbon emissions induced by interprovincial and international trade, the telecoupling relationship between carbon emissions and land systems has not been sufficiently investigated. Here we followed the telecoupling theoretical framework and used the multi-region input–output (MRIO) model to examine the spatial pattern of embodied carbon emissions by land use in China due to interprovincial trade. The results show that the spatial patterns of embodied carbon emissions from the production end and from the consumption end are different based on land use type. The provinces with rich energy resources and favorable conditions such as Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Heilongjiang undertake carbon emissions from the agricultural and industrial land use of other provinces. In contrast, the provinces with large economies but scarce resources such as Zhejiang and Guangdong export larger portions of their carbon emissions to the land use of other provinces. Across China, developed regions generally exported more carbon emissions from land use than they undertake from other developing regions. The carbon transfer in agricultural land was prominent between the eastern and western regions. The carbon emissions of industrial land were generally transferred from southern regions to northern and western areas. Our research reveals different patterns of embodied carbon emissions for different land use types, and these findings could provide more detailed information for policy-making processes to achieve fair carbon emissions and sustainable land use.
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spelling doaj-art-7f7eeb0dc7284bb2aeea3bb073dcddcc2025-08-20T03:13:32ZengMDPI AGLand2073-445X2025-04-0114475310.3390/land14040753Quantifying the Provincial Carbon Emissions of China Embodied in Trade: The Perspective of Land UseQiqi Wu0Jijun Meng1Cuiyutong Yang2Likai Zhu3Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes of Ministry of Education, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, ChinaKey Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes of Ministry of Education, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, ChinaKey Laboratory of Geographic Information Science of the Ministry of Education, School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, ChinaKey Laboratory of Geographic Information Science of the Ministry of Education, School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, ChinaLand use supports production and living activities and provides ecosystem services for people. With the flow of capital, goods, and services among regions, trade leads to the transfer of carbon emissions from importing regions to exporting regions, and this is telecoupled with land systems in different regions. Although significant progress has been made in quantifying embodied carbon emissions induced by interprovincial and international trade, the telecoupling relationship between carbon emissions and land systems has not been sufficiently investigated. Here we followed the telecoupling theoretical framework and used the multi-region input–output (MRIO) model to examine the spatial pattern of embodied carbon emissions by land use in China due to interprovincial trade. The results show that the spatial patterns of embodied carbon emissions from the production end and from the consumption end are different based on land use type. The provinces with rich energy resources and favorable conditions such as Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Heilongjiang undertake carbon emissions from the agricultural and industrial land use of other provinces. In contrast, the provinces with large economies but scarce resources such as Zhejiang and Guangdong export larger portions of their carbon emissions to the land use of other provinces. Across China, developed regions generally exported more carbon emissions from land use than they undertake from other developing regions. The carbon transfer in agricultural land was prominent between the eastern and western regions. The carbon emissions of industrial land were generally transferred from southern regions to northern and western areas. Our research reveals different patterns of embodied carbon emissions for different land use types, and these findings could provide more detailed information for policy-making processes to achieve fair carbon emissions and sustainable land use.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/4/753land useembodied carbon emissionsmulti-regional input–output model (MRIO)interprovincial trade
spellingShingle Qiqi Wu
Jijun Meng
Cuiyutong Yang
Likai Zhu
Quantifying the Provincial Carbon Emissions of China Embodied in Trade: The Perspective of Land Use
Land
land use
embodied carbon emissions
multi-regional input–output model (MRIO)
interprovincial trade
title Quantifying the Provincial Carbon Emissions of China Embodied in Trade: The Perspective of Land Use
title_full Quantifying the Provincial Carbon Emissions of China Embodied in Trade: The Perspective of Land Use
title_fullStr Quantifying the Provincial Carbon Emissions of China Embodied in Trade: The Perspective of Land Use
title_full_unstemmed Quantifying the Provincial Carbon Emissions of China Embodied in Trade: The Perspective of Land Use
title_short Quantifying the Provincial Carbon Emissions of China Embodied in Trade: The Perspective of Land Use
title_sort quantifying the provincial carbon emissions of china embodied in trade the perspective of land use
topic land use
embodied carbon emissions
multi-regional input–output model (MRIO)
interprovincial trade
url https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/4/753
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AT cuiyutongyang quantifyingtheprovincialcarbonemissionsofchinaembodiedintradetheperspectiveoflanduse
AT likaizhu quantifyingtheprovincialcarbonemissionsofchinaembodiedintradetheperspectiveoflanduse