China's non-CO 2 greenhouse gas emissions: Inventory and input–output analysis Bo Zhang a,b, ⁎, Z.M. Chen c, ⁎⁎, H. Qiao d , B. Chen e , T. Hayat f , A. Alsaedi f a Center for Resource and Environmental Policy Research, School of Management, China University of Mining & Technology (Beijing), Beijing 100083, PR China b State Key Laboratory of Coal Resources and Safe Mining, China University of Mining & Technology (Beijing), Beijing 100083, PR China c School of Economics, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, PR China d School of Management, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, PR China e School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, PR China f NAAM Group, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia abstract article info Article history: Received 28 August 2013 Received in revised form 6 January 2014 Accepted 7 January 2014 Available online xxxx Keywords: Non-CO 2 greenhouse gases National emission inventory Input–output analysis Emission mitigation China In contrast to the ever-increasing focus on China's CO 2 emissions, little attention has been given to its non-CO 2 greenhouse gases (GHGs). Based on the latest released official GHG emission data, this paper presents an inven- tory and embodiment analysis of the non-CO 2 GHG emissions covering CH 4 ,N 2 O, HFCs, PFCs and SF 6 by the Chi- nese economy in 2005. The total direct non-CO 2 GHG emissions from economic sectors amount to 1368.5 Mt CO 2 - eq, of which CH 4 contributes 848.4 Mt, N 2 O 356.8 Mt and F-GHGs 163.3 Mt. Responsible for 93.2% of the total emissions are the three sectors of Agriculture, Coal Mining and Dressing and Chemicals. Exports, urban consump- tion and capital formation derive the major fractions of embodied emissions for final demand. Rural and urban consumption are both non-CO 2 GHG emission intensive, having the largest embodied emission intensities among all final demand categories. The impact of international trade on China's non-CO 2 GHG emissions is sig- nificant. The total emissions embodied in exports are 487.0 Mt CO 2 -eq, equivalent to 35.6% of the total domestic emissions. Prominently, the re-exported emissions amount to 135.3 Mt CO 2 -eq due to the processing trade. Tex- tile and Garments and Other Fiber Products, Leather, Furs, Down and Related Products are the top two net embodied emission export sectors. While China's non-CO 2 GHG emissions are expected to increase steadily in the future, both the direct emissions from on site production and the embodied emissions induced by final consumption and international trade need to be addressed and targeted to inform effective mitigation policies. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Since the pre-industrial era, approximately 28% of global radiative forcing of greenhouse gases (GHGs) covered by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) can be attributed to non-CO 2 GHG emissions (IPCC, 2007). There is ample evidence that non-CO 2 GHGs deserve more concern because of their effects on global climate change (Bousquet et al., 2006; Garg et al., 2004; Karakurt et al., 2012; Yusuf et al., 2012). Moreover, since they are more effective at trapping heat and have greater Global Warming Potentials (GWPs) than CO 2 , global emissions of non-CO 2 GHGs will continue to have a sig- nificant contribution to climate change as their emissions are projected to increase steadily in the future (EPA, 2012). China's non-CO 2 GHG emissions are remarkably significant. Accord- ing to the first official GHG emission inventory of China from the Initial National Communication on Climate Change of China, the two major non-CO 2 GHGs of CH 4 and N 2 O represent 24.2% of the total nationwide GHG emissions in 1994, by the commonly referred 100-year GWP fac- tors (INCCCC, 2004). Chen and Zhang (2010) reported that CH 4 and N 2 O in terms of 100-year GWP factors account for 14.3% of the total GHG emissions of the 26 industrial sectors by Chinese economy in 2007. Recently, the latest official national GHG inventory of China from the Second National Communication on Climate Change of China is released, according to which non-CO 2 GHGs by the commonly re- ferred GWP factors contribute 20.0% to the total national GHG emissions in 2005, the base year of China's pledge to cut CO 2 emissions per unit of GDP (SNCCCC, 2013). Although there is a growing concern about an- thropogenic non-CO 2 GHG emissions from the notable sources at differ- ent scales in China (e.g., Cheng et al., 2011; Fang et al., 2013; Fu and Yu, 2010; Liu et al., 2012; Zhang and Chen, 2010; Zhang et al., 2014), more efforts are still required to understand China's non-CO 2 GHG emissions and related emission mitigation. Input–output analysis as a well-established methodology has been widely accepted as a useful quantitative tool for GHG emission investi- gations (Lenzen et al., 2007; Miller and Blair, 2009; Peters, 2008; Wiedmann, 2009; Wiedmann et al., 2011), especially in the national scale analysis due to its empirical applicability (e.g., Liu and Wang, Ecological Informatics xxx (2014) xxx–xxx ⁎ Correspondence to: B. Zhang, Center for Resource and Environmental Policy Research, School of Management, China University of Mining & Technology (Beijing), Beijing 100083, PR China. Tel./fax: +86 10 62339315. ⁎⁎ Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +86 10 62339315. E-mail addresses: zhangbo@cumtb.edu.cn (B. Zhang), chenzhanming@pku.edu.cn (Z.M. Chen). ECOINF-00464; No of Pages 10 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2014.01.009 1574-9541/© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Ecological Informatics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolinf Please cite this article as: Zhang, B., et al., China's non-CO 2 greenhouse gas emissions: Inventory and input–output analysis, Ecological Informatics (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2014.01.009