Decomposition analysis of energy-related carbon emissions from UK manufacturing

Energy-related carbon emissions from UK manufacturing have fallen, between 1990 and 2007, by approximately 2% per annum. This reduction could be caused by a number of effects that can act to increase or decrease the level of emissions. Decomposition analysis has been used to separate the contributions of changes in output, industrial structure, energy intensity, fuel mix and electricity emission factor to the reduction in carbon emissions. The primary reason for the fall in emissions was found to be a reduction in energy intensity. The manufacturing sector was also split into two subsectors: the energy-intensive (EI) subsector, and the non-energy-intensive (NEI) subsector. The NEI subsector, somewhat surprisingly, was found to have made greater relative reductions in its energy-related carbon emissions over the study period. This was principally due to much greater relative improvements in energy intensity. There is evidence that the EI subsector had made greater relative improvements in energy intensity in the period preceding 1990, and so this may have limited improvements post 1990.