Carbon dioxide emissions from the electricity sector in major countries: a decomposition analysis

Abstract

The electric power sector is one of the primary sources of CO₂ emissions. Analyzing the influential factors that result in CO₂ emissions from the power sector would provide valuable information to reduce the world's CO₂ emissions. Herein, we applied the Divisia decomposition method to analyze the influential factors for CO₂ emissions from the power sector from 11 countries, which account for 67% of the world's emissions from 1990 to 2013. We decompose the influential factors for CO₂ emissions into seven areas: the emission coefficient, energy intensity, the share of electricity generation, the share of thermal power generation, electricity intensity, economic activity, and population. The decomposition analysis results show that economic activity, population, and the emission coefficient have positive roles in increasing CO₂ emissions, and their contribution rates are 119, 23.9, and 0.5%, respectively. Energy intensity, electricity intensity, the share of electricity generation, and the share of thermal power generation curb CO₂ emissions and their contribution rates are 17.2, 15.7, 7.7, and 2.8%, respectively. Through decomposition analysis for each country, economic activity and population are the major factors responsible for increasing CO₂ emissions from the power sector. However, the other factors from developed countries can offset the growth in CO₂ emissions due to economic activities.