Modeling regional private income and its embedded carbon emissions: sources, flows and inequalities

Composing regional total income jointly with government income, private income represents levels of development and affluence from the household perspective. Considering the need for fair carbon emission reduction responsibility distributions among regions with divergent income levels, private income-embedded emission (PIEE) and the inter-regional inequalities remain to be explored. Combining input-output analysis and the Gini coefficient, this study traces the sources and disposals of regional private income in China, as well as their embedded carbon emission flow, and quantifies the distribution and inequality of PIEE across industrial sectors and provincial regions. Results indicate that the sectors of power and heat, smelting and pressing of metals, and manufacture of non-metallic mineral products contribute the most to PIEE. Hebei and Inner Mongolia have larger PIEE, while emissions embedded in private income disposals are primarily driven by consumption of products from agriculture, light industry, and services. Regions clustering at the beginning (Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin) of the C-Lorenz curve of PIEE account for 19.3% of private income, while 8.2% in PIEE, with the percentages for those clustering at the end (Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Xinjiang) as 10.0% and 28.5%. The findings provide insights into strategizing emission reduction along the entire value flow and coordinating carbon emissions, income and emission reduction responsibility.