Volume 11: Sustainable Energy Solutions for Changing the World: Part III

Assessment of the Energy-saving Effect of Urbanization in China Based on STIRPAT Model Jingyao Shu, Chi Zhang*, Jinyue Yan

Abstract

Energy consumption is one of the main sources of GHG emissions in China with the development of rapid urbanization. To tackle climate change and energy conservation, China has processed a series practices that gain co-benefits towards meeting sustainable development goals along with climate change mitigation since 2007.This paper evaluates the impact factors of population, urbanization level, GDP per capita, industrialization level on the environmental energy saving impact using the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology (STIRPAT) model based on China provincial panel data from 2005 to 2017. The results show that industrialization has the largest potential effect on environmental impact, followed by urbanization level, GDP per capita and population. Industrialization and GDP per capita can cause an increase in energy consumption per capita. Whereas, urbanization level and population can lead to a decrease in energy consumption per capita. An in-depth analysis on energy consumption of China’s recent urbanization is carried out and policy recommendations are put forward.

Keywords Energy consumption, STIRPAT model, Urbanization, China