Is there a decoupling relationship between CO2 emission reduction and poverty alleviation in China?

Whether CO2 emission reduction will inhibit poverty alleviation in a short time still remains unclear. In this paper, the extended linear expenditure system model and the CO2 emission accounting method were applied to measure the values of the poverty alleviation as well as CO2 emission reduction, and then decoupling analysis model was introduced to identify the relationship between CO(2 )emissions and poverty alleviation within Hubei Province, a poverty-stricken area in China. The results show that the poverty indices all remain small although poverty line within Hubei Province is much higher than two dollars per day. Maximum values for head count, poverty gap, and squared poverty gap indices are all lower than 0.25, 0.10, and 0.05 respectively, implying that there are good realistic bases for poverty alleviation. At the same time, CO2 emission and energy intensities within this region are characterized by inverted U-shaped curves and are currently in a declining phase, but CO2 emissions have significantly increased. Results derived from multi-period data analysis show that the decoupling relationship have switched from 'expansive negative decoupling' to 'weak decoupling', indicating that there is a decoupling relationship between CO2 emission reduction and poverty alleviation. The data and results can be used to provide further references for clarifying the relationship between the two and arranging the plan of policy implementation.