Multiple accounting of carbon emission responsibility in the construction sector under different principles: A study from China

The construction sector is a key actor in fighting climate change. A clear and comprehensive accounting of its carbon emission responsibility is the basis for effective emission mitigation actions. The intersectoral and interregional trade of the construction sector complicates emission responsibility allocation. Neglecting such trade flows or measuring them from a single perspective may cause the sector's emission status to be misinterpreted. Hence, based on the environmentally extended multiregional input-output model, this paper establishes the construction sector's multiprinciple emission responsibility accounting framework and conducts multiple accounting for China's construction sector. The emission distribution and transfer across regions and sectors are systematically revealed, and various accounting principles, regional clusters, and corresponding policy implications are compared and discussed. The results show significant differences in the emission responsibilities of the construction sector under different principles, indicating that the choice of principles will greatly affect the determination of responsibility and corresponding policy priorities, which requires careful consideration. The emission responsibilities in different regions also have notable heterogeneity under each principle and are further clustered into three main emission patterns, suggesting that classified and targeted emission mitigation strategies should be adopted. The emission transfer analysis demonstrates that the construction sector is a typical end-of-chain sector with high emission-pulling effects on upstream industries and tiny emission-pushing effects on downstream industries, resulting in varied incentive impacts under each principle. Overall, this study contributes extensive insights into the emission responsibility of the construction sector, supporting common but differentiated emission reduction targets and policy settings.