The China Carbon Watch (CCW) system: A rapid accounting of household carbon emissions in China at the provincial level

• Published in: Renewable & sustainable energy reviews 2022-03, Vol.155, p.111825, Article 111825
• Main Authors: Du, Mengbing, Zhang, Xiaoling, Xia, Lang, Cao, Libin, Zhang, Zhe, Zhang, Li, Zheng, Heran, Cai, Bofeng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Electricity power consumption; Household carbon emissions; Low-carbon strategies; Nighttime light data; Rapid accounting
• ISSN: 1364-0321; 1879-0690
• DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2021.111825

A large proportion of carbon emissions emitted by human activities is from the household sector. Efforts to control such carbon emissions need a timely accounting. We attempt to establish a rapid accounting China Carbon Watch (CCW) system, through which we use an alternative solution for accounting household carbon emissions in China by applying monthly nighttime light (NTL) data. The compiled carbon emission accounting method is considered as timely with high accuracy by employing a 1-km grid dataset built from point-emission sources. The heterogeneities of carbon emissions in both urban and rural sectors are presented. Furthermore, this research calculates monthly data of urban and rural household carbon emissions at the provincial level from January to May 2020. Results show that the overall household carbon emissions slightly increased during the COVID-19 forced confinement due to the closure of international borders and the confinement of urbanists with significant heterogeneity between provinces. •The China Carbon Watch system is established to provide a real-time carbon emission inventory in the household sector.•The proposed methodology has an overall accuracy of 99% at the national level.•The overall urban household carbon emissions increased by 1.14% from January to May in 2019.•The overall rural household carbon emissions are consistent with January to March in 2019.