Spatial pattern of China’s agricultural carbon emission performance

• Published in: Ecological indicators 2021-12, Vol.133, p.108345, Article 108345
• Main Authors: Liu, Moucheng, Yang, Lun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agricultural carbon emission; Carbon neutrality; China; Convergence; Regional differences
• ISSN: 1470-160X; 1872-7034
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.108345

[Display omitted] •China’s agricultural carbon emission performance (ACEP) has greatly improved.•Technological progress promotes ACEP, but efficiency changes does little.•China’s ACEP has an aggregation effect, provinces with lower ACEP are catching up.•China’s ACEP is converging and growing at the same time.•China’s ACEP will increase further in terms of spatial scope and temporal trends. The spatial characteristics of carbon emissions form the basis for exploring carbon neutrality measures for different regions. As the second largest carbon emission source globally, agricultural carbon emissions should not be ignored. This paper used panel data from 2009 to 2019 to calculate the agricultural carbon emissions of 30 provinces in China, and used the ML index, spatial Morans’I index and three convergence indices to analyze the dynamic changes and spatial pattern of China’s agricultural carbon emission performance (ACEP). The results showed that: (i), China's ACEP has increased by 1.5% from 2009 to 2019, following a spatial pattern of eastern (1.041) > western (1.020) > central (0.974);(ii) the contribution of technological progress to China's ACEP was 1.035, exceeding 1, and thus indicating that technological progress can improve ACEP, while the contribution of efficiency changes was only 0.991; (iii) China’s ACEP has exhibited a spatial aggregation effect over the last 10 years (P