Measuring embodied carbon dioxide of the logistics industry in China: based on industry stripping method and input-output model

Due to the lack of carbon dioxide (CO2) emission data on China’s logistics industry, this study uses the industry stripping method to calculate the embodied energy consumption CO2 emissions based on input-output tables for China’s logistics industry from 1997 to 2017. And then the Log-Mean Divisia Index method is used to decompose the influencing factors of carbon emission from five aspects. The empirical study mainly focused on the application of carbon emission tools and approaches in China, and this resulted in four key findings. First, the use of transportation, warehousing, and postal industries as a proxy for the logistics is simply not in line with reality and could result in greatly underestimating the CO2 emissions of logistics. Second, the annual direct CO2 accounts for roughly 40% in the embodied CO2 emissions in the logistics industry. Third, construction industry makes a greater contribution to the embodied CO2 of the logistics industry, followed by manufacturing. Fourth, economic output, population size, industrial structure, and energy structure are factors that contributed to the increase of logistics CO2 emissions, while the restraining factors included energy intensity. There is immense scope for adjustment in the energy and industrial structures.