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China's uncertain CO2 emissions

Nature Climate Change volume 2, page 762 (2012)Cite this article

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By compiling the emission inventories of China's 30 provinces (excluding Tibet, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) and the nation as a whole in 2010, Guan and his co-workers reported an 18% difference in estimates of China's CO2 emissions1. Although several possible reasons have been suggested2, the researchers were unable to resolve the source of the discrepancy and could not identify which value was the most accurate3. Such discrepancies are apparent not only in energy consumption but also in other economic and environmental datasets, such as gross domestic product (GDP). Throughout the past decades, the data in China's statistical yearbooks never equal the sum of the numbers shown in the provincial statistical yearbooks. For example, just in the first half of 2012 the gap in GDP between the country data announced by the National Statistic Bureau (NSB) and the aggregation of its 31 provinces (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) is about RMB3,000 billion, about 14% of the national total4, whereas the difference in CO2 emissions in 2010 reported by Guan et al.1 is about 18% compared with the national figure. In both cases the sum of the provinces is greater than the national total.

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References

  1. Guan, D. et al. Nature Clim. Change 2, 672–675 10.1038/nclimate1560 (2012).

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  2. Cyranoski, D. Nature (13 June 2012); available via http://go.nature.com/4Z9FMs

  3. Marland, G. Nature Clim. Change 2, 645–646 (2012).

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  4. National Bureau of Statistics of China. China Statistical Database. Accessed 25 August 2012 (NBS, 2012) ; available at http://219.235.129.58/welcome.do.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Lab on Pollution Ecology and Environmental Engineering, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.72, Wenhua Road, Shenhe District, Shenyang, 110016, China

    Bing Xue & Wanxia Ren

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  1. Bing Xue
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  2. Wanxia Ren
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Correspondence to Bing Xue.

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Xue, B., Ren, W. China's uncertain CO2 emissions. Nature Clim Change 2, 762 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1715

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