A Decomposition Analysis of Energy-Related CO2 Emissions: The Top 10 Emitting Countries

Abstract

Climate change, caused by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, is one of the hot topics all around the world. Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuel combustion account for more than half of the total anthropogenic GHG emissions. The top 10 emitting countries accounted 65.36 % of the world carbon dioxide emissions in 2010. China was the largest emitter and generated 23.84 % of the world total. The objective of this study is to identify factors that contribute to changes in energy-related CO2 emissions in the top 10 emitting countries for the period 1971-2010. To this aim, a decomposition analysis has been employed. Decomposition analysis is a technique used to identify the contribution of different components of a specific variable. Here, four factors, namely population, per capita income, energy intensity, and carbon intensity, are differentiated. The results show that the economic activity effect and the energy intensity effect are the two biggest contributors to CO2 emissions for all countries with a few exceptions.