Influencing factors of the carbon dioxide emissions in China's commercial department: A non-parametric additive regression model

The commercial department plays a significant role in China's energy conservation and carbon dioxide emission mitigation. The study employs a panel data set during 2001-2015 and adopts a non-parametric additive regression model to analyse the drivers of commercial department's carbon dioxide emissions in China. Non-parametric additive regression model based on the provincial panel data is first applied to investigate the carbon dioxide emissions in China's commercial department. The consequences demonstrate that the nonlinear impact of economic growth upon carbon dioxide emissions is in accordance with the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. Energy intensity is currently in the left half of the overturned U-shaped relationship. In the long run, the overturned U-shaped impact of energy intensity may be due to the discrepant level of technological development in different phases. Nevertheless, the urbanization demonstrates an erected U-shaped impact on carbon dioxide emissions owing to the further urban commercial consumption and fixed asset investment in recent times. Aggregate population presents a fast-to-slow growth relationship, which is the result that residents require massive commercial goods with the augment in population and income. Energy structure also reveals an erected U-shape relationship on account of slight electricity consumption in former times and the large amount of thermal power consumption in later phases. As a result, we should take into full consideration the disparate fluctuant impacts of these influencing indicators when it comes to carbon dioxide emissions in commercial department. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.