The CO2 emission changes in China’s transportation sector during 1992–2015: a structural decomposition analysis

Based on a structural decomposition approach, the present paper simultaneously analyzes seven driving factors and forty sectors, which contribute to CO 2 emission changes for China’s transportation sector during 1992–2015. Based on the analysis of the driving factors, the total output and the energy intensity are found to be the primary positive and negative factor, respectively. From the sector analysis, top five sectors causing the increase of the transportation CO 2 emissions are identified. Particularly, information transmission, computer services and software sector (no. 28); construction sector (no. 26); transportation sector (no. 27); chemical sector (no. 12); and leasing and business service sector (no. 33) are the five most relevant contributions to the increase of CO 2 emissions of the transportation sector during 2002–2015. As a view to suppress CO 2 emission growth, besides the promotion of public transportation, low-carbon emission energy, and energy-saving technologies, policymakers should pay attention to the impacts of key sectors on transportation.