Per capita CO2 emission inequality of China's urban and rural residential energy consumption: A Kaya-Theil decomposition

With the increasing affluence, the differences in CO2 emission between urban and rural residential sectors are remarkable and show an increasing trend. In case of China, residential sector accounts for a substantial share of the national CO2 emission, bringing greater pressure to achieve the goal of carbon peak. Analyzing the emission inequality trend and its drivers is essential for formulating effective CO2 emission reduction policies. However, the existing literature lacks relevant analysis from the viewpoint of urban-rural disparity. Hence, this study decomposes the CO2 emission inequality of China's urban and rural residential consumption into four factors by combining the Theil index and Kaya decomposition. The results suggest that, in 2005–2020, the per capita CO2 emission of rural residential consumption increased to a higher extent than those of urban households, with large differences in spatial distribution. Decomposition of the per capita CO2 emission inequality for residential sector shows that the primary source is the inequality within the groups, mainly from the urban intra-group inequality. Based on the static decomposition, energy intensity appears as the main factor of urban–rural inequality. The dynamic decomposition shows that there have been differences in the factors of the change in the Theil index between urban and rural areas across sub-periods.