Journal of Cleaner Production 256 (2020) 120599

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Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

Identifying common paths of CO2 and air pollutants emissions in

China
Yu-Sheng Liu a, Ying Cao b, Juan-Juan Hou a, Jiu-Tian Zhang c, Yu-Ou Yang a,
Lan-Cui Liu a, d, *
a
Business School, Beijing Normal University, Haidian District, Beijing, China
b
Strategy and Planning Department, National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation, Xicheng District, Beijing, China
c
Green Development Institute, Beijing Normal University, Haidian District, Beijing, China
d
Center for Climate and Environmental Policy, Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People’s Republic
of China, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: China faces the dual challenge of mitigating climate change and preventing air pollution. The coordi-
Received 29 June 2019 nated control of both problems has become an issue of widespread concern. This study combined
Received in revised form environmentally extended input-output analysis and structural path analysis to analyze the CO2, SO2,
13 February 2020
NOx, black carbon, and PM2.5 emissions embodied in the production supply chain of China in 2012. The
Accepted 14 February 2020
results showed that electricity and heat production, nonmetallic mineral products along with the
Available online 23 February 2020
smelting and pressing of metal were primary sources of environmental emissions from the production
Handling editor: Yutao Wang perspective, and construction contributed 20e38% relevant emissions from the consumption perspec-
tive. Among the 100 largest paths, 22 common critical paths accounted for 16e37% of relevant emissions,
Keywords: meaning that measures focusing on these shared paths will have obvious co-controlling effects. These 22
Structural path analysis critical supply chains were mainly driven by fixed capital formation and exports. The dominant sectors
Supply chains included the construction, electricity and heat production, transportation and storage, and construction-
Co-control materials production (nonmetallic mineral products, smelting and pressing of metal). Therefore, mea-
sures from the production-side and the consumption-side should be given equal attention to effectively
co-control such emissions. Measures to decrease energy intensity, thus reducing end-of-pipe discharge
in these sectors, rather than to remove specific pollutants, represent the most promising production-
related measures. Moreover, slowing construction growth by guiding investments and encouraging
the use or export of products with lower emissions using environmental information labels are essential
consumption-related policies.
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction pollutions and global warming in China (Ramanathan and

In recent years, China has experienced rapid urbanization and
industrialization. While quality of life has improved for many
people in China due to economic development, China’s air quality is
deteriorating, and the effects of global warming is becoming more
profound. China has become the world’s largest emitter of carbon
dioxide and other air pollutants (Liu et al., 2013a, 2016). Thus, the
co-control of air quality and climate change has become an urgent
issue. Recently, studies have confirmed a correlation between air
* Corresponding author. Beijing Normal University, 1626 Room, the Main Building
19, Xinjiekouwai Street, Haidian District, Beijing, 100875, China.
E-mail address: liulancui@163.com (L.-C. Liu).
Carmichael, 2008). Several studies have confirmed the co-benefits
of air pollution control and CO2 mitigation for China. Xu and
Masui (2009), Liu et al. (2013b), Nam et al. (2013), Yang et al.
(2018b), and Muller (2012) presented the positive impacts of con-
trolling one or more main air pollutants on greenhouse gas
reduction. Cheng et al. (2015), Rypdal et al. (2007), Dong et al.
(2015), Gielen and Chen (2001), Xi et al. (2013), and Mao et al.
(2011) showed that better controlling CO2 emissions can greatly
reduce air pollutants. The Chinese government is also beginning to
realize the importance of the coordinated control of carbon dioxide
and major air pollutants. In 2018, the Chinese government merged
the climate change-related functions of the National Development
and Reform Commission and the air-pollution reduction functions

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120599
0959-6526/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
2 Y.-S. Liu et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 256 (2020) 120599
of the Ministry of Environmental Protection under the Ministry of
Ecology and Environment. Because China is pursuing the precise
control of environmental emissions, it is necessary to precisely
trace the “source” of emissions in supply chains (identifying critical
drivers and sectors) and to identify shared supply chains that drive
embodied emissions. A better understanding of these embodied
emissions holds important policy implications for the control of air
pollutants and carbon emissions.
Structural path analysis (SPA) is an effective tool to consider
both consumption and production process and can reveal how
embodied environmental emissions are driven by demand flow
along production supply chains (Yang et al., 2018a). SPA de-
composes the total amount of environmental emissions driven by
economic activities into the production supply chains of the whole
society, allowing the determination of supply chains contributing
the highest emissions and critical emissions “sources.” SPA has
been widely applied in environmental emissions research (Zhang
et al., 2018; Yang et al., 2015, 2018a; Llop and Ponce-Alifonso,
2015; Peters and Hertwich, 2006). For example, Yang et al.
(2018a) investigated dynamic variations in the SO2 emissions
embodied in the supply chains of 28 Chinese economic sectors
during 2002e2012. Liang et al. (2014) identified the primary
supply chain contributing to atmospheric mercury emissions in 30
sectors in 30 Chinese regions. Yang et al. (2015) analyzed the
embodied CO2 emissions in the supply chains in 56 sectors in
2007. Nagashima (2018) identified structural paths that induced
higher residential PM2.5 emissions in 30 sectors in 30 Chinese
regions.
However, the above studies generally only focus on emissions
of a single pollutant, and few of them analyze the multiple envi-
ronmental emissions inherent in supply chains. Thus, they cannot
provide sufficient information for the co-control of CO2 emissions
and main air pollutants. Moreover, due to differences in their di-
vision of sectors and data sources, it is impossible for us to identify
the “source of emissions” and determine the common paths of
main air pollutants and CO2 emissions. In addition, these litera-
tures are also inconsistent in their treatment of imported prod-
ucts. Therefore, a knowledge gap remains concerning common
emission supply chains, the sources of different environmental
emissions, and what measures should be implemented to co-
control these emissions. To address this, this study considered
multiple emissionsdSO2, NOx, black carbon (BC), PM2.5 and the
major greenhouse gas, CO2dthrough the combination of an
environmentally extended input-output analysis (EEIOA) and SPA
to investigate both the shared and distinct paths of higher emis-
sions and the dominant sectors and drivers of these paths to
provide detailed quantitative sectoral information for policy-
making regarding environmental emissions. The primary pur-
poses of this paper are: (a) to reveal the key sectors contributing to
SO2, NOx, BC, and PM2.5, and CO2 emissions in China, from the
perspectives of both production and consumption; (b) to identify
common paths with higher CO2 emissions and air pollutants in
China; and (c) to suggest policy measures to co-control SO2, NOx,
BC, PM2.5 and CO2 emissions. The results will help further our
understanding of the relationship between economic structures
and different environmental emissions and allow the sector-
specific policies to be developed and refined.
The remainder of the paper is structured as follows. In Section 2,
the EEIOA and SPA methods are introduced. In Section 3, the pro-
duction- and consumption-based emissions of CO2 and main air
pollutants are compared. Common and unique paths among the top
100 are identified, along with dominant sectors and drivers. Section
4 discusses the role of fixed capital formation, exports, and other
considerations. Finally, conclusions and policy implications are
presented in Section 5.
2. Methodology and data sources
2.1. Environmentally extended input-output model
In this study, EEIOA was used to link sectoral air pollutant
emissions to final demands for goods and services (Costello et al.,
2011; Erickson et al., 2012). As EEIOA can address the direct and
indirect relationship between industrial production and final de-
mand, many studies have used it to analyze direct and indirect
effects between the sectors of an economic system and the final
demand, and this approach has been extensively employed in the
fields of water resources, carbon emissions, energy, and environ-
mental studies (Hawkins et al., 2015; Feng and Hubacek, 2016;
Chen et al., 2017; Wu and Chen, 2017). The standard expression of
the input-output table (IOT) among n sectors (Leontief, 1970) is
expressed as:
X ¼ ðI  AÞ1 Y ¼ LY; (1)
where Xðn 1Þ is the matrix of total output; Aðn nÞ is the direct
requirement coefficient matrix representing the ratios of sector
inputs to sectoral outputs, and element a ij of A represents inputs
from sector i necessary to satisfy the unit output in sector j; Yðn 1Þ
is the final demand vector including rural and urban household
consumption, government consumption, fixed capital formation,
exports, and others; and L ¼ ðI  AÞ1 is the Leontief inverse
matrix.
The above framework is for noncompetitive, single-region IOTs.
Thus, its intermediate use and final use can be divided into two
partsdtotal local outputs and imports. The Chinese 2012 IOT was
used in our study. Because it is a competitive IOT with an import
column, adjustments had to be made to exclude the interference of
imports. As in a previous study by Ou et al. (2017), each economic
sector and the final demand category were assumed to have used
sectoral imports in the same proportions, and the following equa-
tions were used to adjust the direct requirement matrix, A, and the
final demand, Y:
fimportðiÞ
Si ¼ ; (2)
xi þ fimportðiÞ
Ad ¼ ðI  b
SÞ  A; (3)
Yd ¼ ðI  b
SÞ  Y; (4)
where xi and fimportðiÞ are the total output and imports of sector i,
respectively; b
S is the diagonal matrix of Si ðn  1); and Ad and Yd are
the adjusted values of A and Y, respectively.
The EEIOA method introduces a direct emission intensity
matrix: Fð1 nÞ (direct emissions per unit of output) to convert IO
output matrix into the environmental IO matrix E ðn  n), which is
calculated as:
E¼b c
F ðI  Ad Þ1 Yd (5)
Thus, the emissions were calculated in this way. The element e ij
of E represents the emissions in sector i to satisfy the unit of output
in sector j (Yang et al., 2018a). The final emissions from the pro-
duction and consumption activities of a sector can then be derived
from the environmental IO matrix, E, as:
 Y.-S. Liu et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 256 (2020) 120599
X
n
Pi ¼ eij ;
j¼1
X
n
Ci ¼ eji ;
j¼1
where Pi and Ci are the production-based and consumption-based
emissions of sector i, respectively, and n is the number of sectors.
2.2. Structural path analysis (SPA)
SPA can map the pollutant emissions from final consumption to
production at each production tier of a supply chain. In SPA, the
Leontief inverse can be expanded using the Taylor series approxi-
mation to trace and extract key supply chains in the emissions
network:
L ¼ ðI  AÞ1 ¼ I þ A þ A2 þ A3 þ A4 þ … þ At ; lim At ¼ 0
t/∞
E ¼ F  ðI  Ad Þ1 Yd ¼ FIYd þ FAd Yd þ FA2d Yd þ FA3d Yd þ …
þ FAtd Yd
On the right-hand side of Eq. (9), each element in the expansion
denotes a different production tier. FAtd Yd represents the contri-
bution of emissions from the t th production tier. For example,
assuming the case where Yd is the demand for a car, then FIYd is the
direct pollution caused by the manufacturing of the car. To produce
this car, input Ad Yd from other industries is required, and those
industries generate FAd Yd units of pollutants. In turn, these in-
dustries require inputs of A2d Yd and emit FA2d Yd units of pollutants
and so on; the infinite expansion of the power series continues.
Thus, emissions of pollutants in the zeroth tier represent the
emissions during the car assembly phase. Emissions in the first tier
are associated with producing the parts required by the car
manufacturer, such as steel, rubber, and glass, etc. Emissions in the
higher tiers are those caused by the production of the inputs for the
components in the supply chain. Ultimately, a complete picture of
the pollution generated by the production of a car and its relevant
production paths can be obtained as a data tree. In general, the total
emissions contributed by given tier rapidly decrease as the tier
number increases (Nagashima, 2018). However, it is impossible to
evaluate the infinite number of nodes in the tree. For this study,
therefore, only the top 100 paths were considered. A detailed
illustration of the SPA process is given in Lenzen (2007) and Meng
et al. (2015).
2.3. Data preparation
Two types of data were required in this study: Chinese input-
output data, and sectoral environmental emissions (SO2, NOx, BC,
PM2.5 and CO2) for 2012. Inputeoutput data are from Chinese input-
output table 2012, obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics
of China (2015). Table 1 shows the sectoral environmental emis-
sions source.
The CO2 emissions reported in the China Emission Accounts and
Datasets (CEADs) are widely recognized and have been used in
many studies, such as Mi et al. (2017) and Zheng et al. (2018). The
total estimated SO2 emissions caused by economic production ac-
tivities in 2012 in this paper were 19.38 Mt, without consideration
3
of the direct emissions from urban and rural residents (1.48 Mt).
The total combined emissions from these activities were 20.86 Mt,
(6)
which is consistent with the total emissions from 2012 published
by Environmental Bulletin (21.18 Mt) and is also consistent with
those reported by Yang et al. (2018a). Based on NOx emissions
(7) factors from Tian et al. (2001), the estimated emissions from the
construction, transportation, and service industries were 7.56 Mt in
2012, which is between the amounts reported by Ding et al. (2017)
and in Multi-resolution Emission Inventory for China (MEIC) data.
This paper only considers the BC emissions of economic pro-
duction activities, excluding residents’ biomass combustion and
natural emissions. According to Zhang and Wang (2011) and Zhi
et al. (2009), BC emissions caused by economic production activ-
ities account for about 40% of total emissions, including biomass
burning. Based on this, the emissions from economic production
activities estimated by Fu et al. (2018) in 2012 were 0.76 Mt, while
this study’s estimate was 0.64 Mt. Thus, this study’s results were
basically consistent with those of Fu et al. (2018).
The estimated total direct PM2.5 emissions in 2012 were 8.08 Mt.
Because various sources of open-air dust and the open combustion
of biomass were not included, our estimate is lower than that re-
(8) flected in the MEIC data (11.86 Mt). PM2.5 emissions from various
open-air dust sources and the open combustion of biomass greatly
contribute to total direct PM2.5 emissions, which are also among the
key targets of air pollution prevention in China. With these con-
siderations, the PM2.5 emissions estimated by this study are com-
(9) parable with existing data.
To match the environmental emissions data of 42 sectors with
the input-output data, this study merged both types of data into 30
sectors, as presented in Table A1.
3. Results
3.1. Production-based and consumption-based emissions
In 2012, the total emissions of CO2, SO2, NOx, PM2.5, and BC were
8.77 Bt, 19.40 Mt, 25.22 Mt, 8.08 Mt, and 641,100 tons, respectively.
However, the levels of production-based and consumption-based
emissions are quite different, as shown in Fig. 1.
From the perspective of consumption, construction (S27) was
the dominant contributor to all five kinds of environmental emis-
sions, accounting for 33.96%, 30.85%, 29.07%, 37.17%, and 29.21% of
CO2, SO2, NOx, PM2.5, and BC emissions, respectively. While the
amount of direct emissions in S27 are small, large amounts of
emissions are embodied in their intermediate material inputs
including steel, cement, glass, and electrical and heat power (Liang
et al., 2014). In recent years, China has witnessed rapid urbanization
and a surge in its urban population (Guan et al., 2018; Wang and
Zhao, 2018), and the demand for urban housing and supporting
infrastructure is growing rapidly. From 2002 to 2012, the area
involved in building construction quadrupled with an average
annual growth rate of more than 16%, and the output of related
materials, such as cement, steel, and flat glass, also maintained a
high growth rate of more than 10% (National Bureau of Statistics of
China, 2017). Consequently, environmental emissions driven by
construction are soaring (Jiao et al., 2017; Mi et al., 2016).
From the perspective of production, electricity and heat pro-
duction (S24) was the dominant contributor to CO2, SO2, and NOx
emissions, accounting for 44.15%, 41.27%, and 40.59% respectively,
because coal is the dominant energy source for electricity and heat
generation in China (Liu et al., 2015). More importantly, this sector
provides indispensable energy inputs for almost all final demands
and industries. In recent years, the development of information
technologies, smart devices, and electric bicycles and vehicles are
greatly increasing national demand for electrical energy; thus,
4 Y.-S. Liu et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 256 (2020) 120599

Table 1
Environmental emissions sources.

Gases emissions Sources Literature

CO2 emissions China Emission Accounts and Datasets (CEADs) CEADs (2019)

SO2 Industrial and Chinese Environment Statistical Yearbook National Bureau of Statistics of China (2013a)
emissions agricultural
and NOx emissions
emissions Other Emissions from construction and tertiary industries were estimated Sectoral energy consumption data are from China Energy Statistical
emissions based on sectoral energy consumption and relevant emissions Yearbook (National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2013b). Emission
factors. factors are from Shi et al. (2014).
PM2.5 emissions Direct emissions from agriculture, industry, construction, and other Sectoral energy consumption are from China Energy Statistical
industries are calculated based on sectoral energy consumption Yearbook (National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2013b).
and relevant emission factors. Emission factors are from Technical Guidelines for the Preparation of
PM2.5 emissions from transport were derived from the Multi- Atmospheric Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5) Source Emission Inventory
resolution Emission Inventory for China (MEIC). (Trial) (Ministry of Environmental Protection, 2014) and MEIC (2019).
BC emissions Direct emissions from eight types of energy consumption are Sectoral energy consumption data are from China Energy Statistical
calculated based on sectoral energy consumption and relevant Yearbook (National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2013b).
emissions factors. Emission factors are from Li et al. (2016).

Fig. 1. Sectoral production- and consumption-based emissions of China in 2012.

Note: The horizontal axis shows sector codes, which are specified in Appendix A1, and the vertical axis indicates various air pollutants.

electricity and heat production will contribute a larger share of the
total emissions in the future, and the other sectors will be
responsible for a shrinking share. Undoubtably, a series of mitiga-
tion policies, such as the adjustment of power generation structures
to increase the use of renewable energy sources, decrease the use of
coal, and phase out high-emission power plants, should be adopted.
Importantly, all five kinds of environmental emissions must be
reduced, not merely SO2, NOx, and dust through the deployment of
ultra-low emissions technology.
Sectors S14 and S13 (smelting and pressing of metal and
nonmetal mineral products) also played an important role in
production-based emissions, as their main products were iron &
steel and cement. These two sectors alone accounted for 34.15%,
28.68%, 15.68%, 42.71%, and 33.78% of the total CO2, SO2, NOx,
PM2.5, and BC emissions, respectively. China has long been the
world’s largest producer of cement and steel (Cao et al., 2016),
meeting nearly half of the world’s cement demand (Van Oss,
2015). According to data from the World Steel Association
(2018), China accounted for 46.43% (736.8 million tons) of
global steel production in 2017. These two sectors not only have
overcapacity but also have a large amount of backward capacity,
leading to considerable energy consumption and emissions. To
improve air quality, the Chinese government has made fruitful
efforts to reduce backward production capacity and excess
production capacity in both sectors since 2012. Coal-dominated
energy structures have changed little over the last decade, and
the production activities of the above-mentioned sectors require
considerable coal consumption. Both sectors are still defined as
“high emission” sectors by the Comprehensive List of Environ-
mental Protection (Ministry of Environmental Protection, 2018).
Optimizing industrial structure by minimizing their environ-
mental burden in the current period of economic transformation
would significantly reduce emissions in both sectors. Addition-
ally, decreasing energy intensity and encouraging downstream
sector (construction) to use the products involving lower emis-
sions will also be helpful.
In addition, in 2012, more than one third of total NOx emissions
occurred in sector S29 (transport and storage) from the production-
based perspective. The main reason is the growth in freight and
passenger transport within the context of regional specialization.
For instance, Hebei province contributes almost 50% of the total
iron and steel production in China, and Shandong province is an
important vegetable production base. Due to national restrictions
on diesel engines to improve air quality that encourage the use of
electric engines, emissions will transfer from the transport sector to
the electricity and heat production sector, although the demand for
transportation demand is rigid.
 Y.-S. Liu et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 256 (2020) 120599
3.2. CO2 and air pollutant emissions in main supply chains
3.2.1. Emissions-path distribution of CO2 and main air pollutants
This study employed SPA to identify the primary consumption-
based supply chains of CO2, SO2, NOx, PM2.5, and BC emissions. To
identify those paths embodied higher emissions, we ranked the
proportion of emissions contributed by the first 100 paths for each
kind of emissions, as shown in Fig. 2. The cumulative contributions
of the top 100 paths to total emissions were 39.43%, 37.92% 42.34%,
47.10%, and 62.11% for CO2, SO2, NOx, PM2.5, and BC emissions,
respectively. The emissions along the main emission paths differed
markedly among the different kinds of air pollutants and CO2. The
largest 10 emission paths accounted for approximately 30% of the
total PM2.5 and BC emissions, 20% of the total CO2 and NOx emis-
sions, and 17.43% for SO2 emissions.
3.2.2. Common paths of CO2 and main air pollutant emissions
In this study, 22 of the top 100 emission paths of CO2 and main air
pollutants were found to be common to all emissions, as shown in
Fig. 3 and Table A2. These 22 paths accounted for 20.10%, 18.63%,
16.91%, 32.60%, and 37.56% of the total CO2, SO2, NOx, PM2.5, and BC
emissions, respectively. This indicates that the emissions of air pol-
lutants and CO2 are homologous in these supply chains. Therefore,
these 22 paths are ideal foci for measures aiming for co-control.
Eight ranking paths were driven by fixed capital formation. CO2,
SO2, NOx, PM2.5, and BC emissions in these paths accounted for
78.78%, 64.84%, 50.03%, 71.07%, and 51.81% of the emissions of the
shared 22 paths respectively, far exceeding the emissions driven by
urban residents and exports. Moreover, these shared critical supply
chains caused by fixed capital formation are mainly related to
construction activities and construction materials (metals and
nonmetallic mineral products), reflecting the dominance of large-
scale infrastructure construction within China’s economy. Fixed
capital formation (F4) in the construction (S27) (F4/S27) led to
boosted production activities in upstream sectors (S13 and S14).
The path with the highest pollutant emissions was P2
(F4/S27/S13), which accounted for 7.54%, 5.45%, 5.76%, 15.15%,
and 10.14% of total CO2, SO2, NOx, PM2.5, and BC emissions,
respectively. Path P3 (F4/S27/S14) was also a significant emis-
sion path and contributed 3.38%, 3.13%, 3.93%, 0.81%, and 2.39% of
total CO2, SO2, NOx, PM2.5, and BC emissions, respectively. As the
downstream sector embodying the highest emissions, the devel-
opment of construction is difficult to separate from its upstream
sectors (S13 and S14). Consequently, both S13 and S14 were also
dominant sectors, contributing 16.93%, 13.62%, 9.40%, 25.24%, and
Fig. 2. Proportion distribution of emission paths of CO2 and main air pollutants.
Note: The rings represent CO2, SO2, BC, NOx, and PM2.5 from the inner to the outer
rings.
5
21.54% to the total CO2, SO2, NOx, PM2.5, and BC emissions,
respectively.
In the context of China’s rapid industrialization, the continuous
expansion of manufacturing has led China to be known as the
“world’s factory,” and exports have become important drivers of
China’s economic growth. With the development of an export-
oriented economy, emissions of main pollutants have also been
on the rise. The main pollutant emission paths driven by exporting
accounted for 3.23%, 3.07%, 4.43%, 5.16%, and 7.58% of CO2, SO2, NOx,
PM2.5, and BC emissions, respectively, due to the product export of
sectors S13, S14, S12, S28, and S29. Hence, changing the export
structure of Chinese products and reducing the proportion of
products with high energy consumption and emissions are the
most effective co-control emission measures.
Emission paths driven by household consumption (including
rural and urban household consumption) were associated with
sectors S29, S6, and S30, which indicate that eco-friendly trans-
portation and energy-saving lifestyles should be encouraged to
achieve co-controlled emission targets.
3.3. Individual emission path analysis for different environmental
emissions
The emission of air pollutants and CO2 has common character-
istics in some paths but still retain unique characteristics. To ach-
ieve effective air pollutant control and greenhouse gas emission
reduction in China, specific emission reduction policies should also
be formulated based on the main emission paths of different pol-
lutants, as shown in Fig. 4. This section presents an analysis of the
100 largest emission paths beyond the 22 common paths.
3.3.1. Main emission paths of CO2 and SO2
China’s largest driver of CO2 and SO2 emissions in 2012 was
fixed capital formation (F4), followed by urban household con-
sumption (F2) and exports (F6), which accounted for 9.06%, 4.63%,
and 3.62% of total CO2 emissions and 8.51%, 4.67%, and 4.09% of total
SO2 emissions, respectively. The main emission paths driven by
fixed capital formation and export were associated with the de-
mand for manufactured products (S12, S15, S16, S17, S18, S19, and
S20), electricity (S24), and metal products (S14). The emission path
F2/S24 contributed the largest share, 1.99% of CO2 emissions and
1.86% of SO2 emissions, due to the great electricity demand of urban
residents, followed by F4/S27/S24 contributing of 1.50% and
1.41% respectively. Urban resident-driven pollutant emissions
mainly come from two activitiesddirect consumption of electricity
(F2/S24) and indirect emissions driven by the electrical demands
of services (F2/S30/S24). Among the top critical paths, most CO2
and SO2 emission paths can be traced to the upstream S24 sector,
suggesting that electrification levels in China have improved
significantly. As the SO2 and NOx emissions involved the electricity
and heat production have reached the national standards, reducing
CO2 emissions and realize the coordinated control of these emis-
sions is an important next step.
3.3.2. Major pollution emission paths of NOx and PM2.5
Beyond S24, S29 also involved primary NOx emission paths,
because vehicular emissions were China’s largest source of NOx
emissions (Li and Li, 2013). The paths associated with S29
accounted for 12.92% of NOx emissions.
PM2.5 is the main constituent of haze, and, in recent years, it has
become one of the most studied air pollutants. Fixed capital for-
mation, exports, and urban household consumption drove the key
PM2.5 emission paths, which triggered 5.77%, 4.29%, and 2.80% of
6 Y.-S. Liu et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 256 (2020) 120599
Fig. 3. Proportion of the key co-control paths of main pollutants.
Note: The horizontal axis shows sector codes, which are defined in the Appendix in Table A2.
total emissions, respectively. In addition to sectors S13 and S14, S12
is also an important contributor to NOx emissions.
3.3.3. Major BC pollution emission routes
Fixed capital formation, exports, and urban and rural household
consumption drove BC emissions, accounting for 10.63%, 4.53%, and
7.03% of total emissions, respectively. Unlike air pollutants and CO2
emissions, production-based BC emissions are mainly from the
wholesale, retail trade, and catering services sector (S28), ac-
counting for 20.17% of total emissions. Consequently, the BC emis-
sions stemming from urban household consumption were traced to
S1 (agriculture) and S28. The larger polluting paths F4/S28 and
F1/S28, accounted for 1.22% and 1.20% of total BC emissions,
respectively.
4. Discussion
The 22 common supply chains identified by the SPA trace the
transfer of CO2, SO2, NOx, PM2.5, and BC emissions from underlying
drivers to direct emitters, suggesting that we can trace not only the
effects of both consumption-side and production-side measures,
but also the effects of upstream sectors and downstream sectors on
the co-control of various emissions. Such an analysis allows us to
consider both supply-side and demand-side effects.
Fixed capital formation is the largest driver force of shared
emission paths. As an emerging economy, China is actively devel-
oping its infrastructure and increasing urban housing construction
to meet the demands of rapid urbanization and growing incomes,
making CO2, SO2, NOx, PM2.5, and BC emissions driven by fixed
capital formation challenging to reduce. However, some of China’s
current investments focus on the low-level repetitive construction
of buildings and infrastructure, and the value of short-lived build-
ings and vacant houses are debated due to their energy consump-
tion and pollutions. Cai et al. (2015) showed that if building
lifespans were extended to 23e50 years, the energy consumption
that could have been avoided in 2011 is nearly equal to Mexico’s
national energy consumption. In the future, rational investment
considering long-term environmental goals may slow current
emissions. At the same time, policies promoting the recycling of
goods, such as steel, cement, and glass, through “high emissions”
labels could further reduce emission. Exporting is the second-
largest driver, and structural changes to decrease the export of
goods with high embodied emissions could help mitigate CO2, SO2,
NOx, PM2.5, and BC emissions. However, making such changes will
be a long-term process, requiring changes in international trade
patterns and the transformation of domestic production capacity.
From the production perspective, the Chinese government has
mandated the end-of-pipe removal of SO2 and NOx through
running desulfurization and denitrification facilities, although this
has contributed to greater emissions due to energy penalty. How-
ever, measures emphasizing the changes in the mix of energy
consumed through economic restructuring and technological
advancement, such as the closing down enterprises using outdated
technology and mandating cleaner steel and cement production
offer some confirmed co-benefits (Mao et al., 2011). Given the dual
challenge of dealing with climate change and preventing air
pollution, the Chinese government should coordinate air pollution
and carbon dioxide emission control and design co-control mea-
sures through the integrated consideration of production and
consumption factors.
5. Conclusions
China, along with many other developing countries, could more
effectively address climate change and air pollution by considering
both problems simultaneously. Unlike previous studies that have
focused only on single pollutants, this study identified the emission
sources that could be targeted for the co-control of CO2 and
important air pollutants and discerned their critical common paths.
The main conclusions are summarized as follows:
(1) From the consumption perspective, construction contributed
the most to China’s CO2, SO2, NOx, PM2.5, and BC emissions,
accounting for more than 30% of total emissions. From the
perspective of production, electricity and heat production
dominated CO2, SO2, NOx, PM2.5, and BC emissions emission
because coal is the dominant energy source for electricity
and heat generation in China.
 Y.-S. Liu et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 256 (2020) 120599 7

Fig. 4. Sankey diagram of embodied air pollutant emission flows for Chinese economic sectors in 2012. The widths of the indicated flows represent the magnitude of emissions. The
right-hand side of the map shows the final demand. From right to left, each tier’s emission of production is represented in turn (i.e. tier 0, tier 1, tier 2).

(2) There are 22 shared supply chains among the first 100
emission paths. Fixed capital formation was the biggest
driver, with eight ranking paths accounting for 73.78%,
64.84%, 50.03%, 71.07%, and 51.81% of emission from the
common 22 paths respectively, far exceeding the emissions
driven by urban residential consumption and exports.
(3) Nonmetallic mineral products and the smelting and pressing
of metal dominated 9 paths among the 22 common supply
chains, contributing 84.23%, 73.11%, 55.59%, 77.42%, and
57.3% of emissions.
The common supply chains identified in this study can help
policymakers target measures to effectively mitigate production-
and consumption-side emissions by co-controlling CO2, SO2, NOx,
BC and PM2.5 emissions. To realize the co-control of air pollutants
and CO2, comprehensive policies should be enacted to address the
supply chain of pollutant emissions from both the supply and
demand sides. Policies addressing only production-based consid-
erations will be insufficient to ensure continuous emissions
reduction if the construction activities still keeps growing. On one
hand, emission reduction policies targeting upstream production
sectors could be implemented, such as (a) reducing overcapacity in
the steel and cement industries; (b) strengthening end-of-pipe
emission controls; and (c) decreasing energy intensity through
technological advancement. On the other hand, consumption-side
factors should also be given greater consideration. Policies
addressing consumption should focus on the following aspects: (a)
providing detailed information about CO2 emissions and air pol-
lutants through environmental information labeling of products
produced in sectors S13 and S14; (b) setting emissions standards;
and (c) encouraging the use of products with lower embodied
emissions through subsidies. Further, the use of coal in electricity
and heat production should be replaced by cleaner energy sources
to coordinate control of all five environmental emissions.
8 Y.-S. Liu et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 256 (2020) 120599

Fig. 4. (continued).
 Y.-S. Liu et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 256 (2020) 120599 9

To reduce NOx emissions, attention should be paid to the
transportation industry (S29). Specific emission reduction mea-
sures include (a) improving vehicle fuel technology and emission
standards, included the enforced removal of vehicles that do not
meet the emission standards and (b) continuing to support and
encourage the use of vehicles using alternative energy sources.
The analyses employed in this study have elucidated common
emissions sources among the shared supply chains, providing
essential information for the coordinated control of CO2 emissions
and air pollution in China. Further, our analyses have allowed us to
provide relatively refined policy recommendations addressing both
production and consumption factors. However, as many aspects of
emissions control are carried out at the provincial level, we
intended to further refine our suggestions in the future. Rather than
considering China as a single entity, a future multi-regional study
considering China’s individual provinces, municipalities, and
autonomous regions could help provide more detailed and specif-
ically targeted policy suggestions.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Yu-Sheng Liu: Formal analysis, Conceptualization, Methodol-
ogy, Software, Writing - original draft. Ying Cao: Data curation,
Writing - review & editing. Juan-Juan Hou: Visualization, Writing -
original draft. Jiu-Tian Zhang: Data curation, Writing - original
draft. Yu-Ou Yang: Methodology, Writing - original draft. Lan-Cui
Liu: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Supervision,
Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support by
“The Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities”
(2017EYT17) the National Natural Science Foundation of China
(71622012, 71373099).
Appendix

Table A1
Economic sector classification in this study.

Sector Sector Sector code in this Aggregated sector

code study

S1 Agriculture, Forestry, Animal Husbandry, Fishery and Water Conservancy S1 Agriculture

S2 Mining and Washing of Coal S2 Coal Mining

S3 Extraction of Petroleum and Natural Gas S3 Petroleum and Natural Gas Extraction

S4 Mining and Processing of Ferrous Metal Ores S4 Metals Mining

S5 Mining and Processing of Non-Ferrous Metal Ores

S6 Mining and Processing of Nonmetal Ores S5 Other Minerals Mining

S7 Support Activities for Mining

S8 Mining of Other Ores

S9 Processing of Food from Agricultural Products S6 Food Processing

S10 Manufacture of Foods

S11 Manufacture of Liquor, Beverages and Refined Tea

S12 Manufacture of Tobacco

S13 Manufacture of Textile S7 Textile

S14 Manufacture of Textile, Wearing Apparel and Accessories S8 Garments

S15 Manufacture of Leather, Fur, Feather and Related Products and Footwear

S16 Processing of Timber, Manufacture of Wood, Bamboo, Rattan, Palm, and Straw Products S9 Timber Processing

S17 Manufacture of Furniture

S18 Manufacture of Paper and Paper Products S10 Paper Products

S19 Printing and Reproduction of Recording Media

S20 Manufacture of Articles for Culture, Education, Arts and Crafts, Sport and Entertainment
Activities

S21 Processing of Petroleum, Coking and Processing of Nuclear Fuel S11 Petroleum Processing

S22 Manufacture of Raw Chemical Materials and Chemical Products S12 Chemical Products

S23 Manufacture of Medicines

S24 Manufacture of Chemical Fibers

S25 Manufacture of Rubber and Plastics Products

S26 Manufacture of Non-metallic Mineral Products S13 Nonmetal Mineral Products

S27 Smelting and Pressing of Ferrous Metals S14 Smelting and Pressing of Metal

S28 Smelting and Pressing of Non-ferrous Metals

S29 Manufacture of Metal Products S15 Metal Products

(continued on next page)

10 Y.-S. Liu et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 256 (2020) 120599

Table A1 (continued )

Sector Sector Sector code in this Aggregated sector

code study

S30 Manufacture of General Purpose Machinery S16 Ordinary Machinery

S31 Manufacture of Special Purpose Machinery S17 Equipment for Special Purposes

S32 Manufacture of Automobiles S18 Transportation Equipment

S33 Manufacture of Railway, Ship, Aerospace and Other Transport Equipments

S34 Manufacture of Electrical Machinery and Apparatus S19 Electric Equipment

S35 Manufacture of Computers, Communication and Other Electronic Equipment S20 Telecommunications Equipment

S36 Manufacture of Measuring Instruments and Machinery S21 Office Machinery

S37 Other Manufacture S22 Other Manufacturing Industry

S38 Utilization of Waste Resources S23 Waste

S39 Repair Service of Metal Products, Machinery and Equipment S30 Others

S40 Production and Supply of Electric Power and Heat Power S24 Electric Power

S41 Production and Supply of Gas S25 Gas Production and Supply

S42 Production and Supply of Water S26 Water Production and Supply

S43 Construction S27 Construction

S44 Wholesale, Retail Trade and Hotel, Restaurants S28 Wholesale, Retail Trade and Catering
Services

S45 Transport, Storage and Post S29 Transport and Storage

S46 Others S30 Others

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