Abstract:
Coal industry’s low-carbon transformation is both an inherent requirement for achieving high-quality development and a crucial lever for implementing the national “dual-carbon” strategy goals. “Dual-carbon” goals have raised higher requirements for carbon emissions reduction in the coal industry. Accurate control of the current status of emission reduction and carbon reduction in the coal industry is the foundation and prerequisite for achieving the “dual-carbon” goals with high quality. This study aims to investigate the carbon emissions and influencing factors throughout the full life-cycle of the coal industry. This study focuses on the Chinese coal industry, and aims to calculate the carbon emissions from the coal industry across four stages: mining and washing, transportation, processing and conversion, and consumption and utilization. Furthermore, an analysis of coal consumption material flow and carbon circulation throughout the full life-cycle of the coal industry will be conducted. Finally, the MDI model will be used to analyze the driving factors of carbon emissions in China’s coal industry. The results show that: ① The carbon emissions of China’s coal industry increased by 6.39% annually from 2000 to 2020, with the processing and conversion stage being the main contributor to the carbon emissions of the coal industry, whose carbon emissions increased from 1296.23 million tons to 5003.65 million tons, with an average annual growth rate of 6.99%. ② In 2020, the carbon emissions of each sub-industry of the coal industry in descending order were: coal power generation industry (53.41%), ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing industry (17.88%), coal-based heating industry (9.73%), non-metallic mineral products industry (5.86%), raw chemical materials and chemical products manufacture industry (5.86%), coal coking industry (1.35%), etc. ③ The positive driving factors of carbon emissions of the coal industry are economic development (11798.35 million tons), carbon strength (1205.79 million tons) and population size (589.85 million tons), and the negative inhibiting factors of carbon emissions of coal industry are energy efficiency (−5232.72 million tons), energy structure (−1498.07 million tons), and industrial structure (−1411.18 million tons). This study is an important response to the need for the accurate calculation of coal supply and demand. It contributes to the targeted formulation of emission reduction and carbon reduction guidance strategies in the coal industry, and promotes the realization of the “dual-carbon” strategy in the coal industry.