Carbon inequality in the transportation industry: empirical evidence from China

Transportation has significantly contributed to carbon emissions, and concerns regarding emissions mitigation have become central research issues. To avoid a reversal of the reduction convergence in the environmental field, mitigation strategies should aim to reduce the environmental risks posed by carbon inequality. This article uses the Gini index and Theil index to examine carbon inequality in the transport sector in China and decomposes the per capita carbon inequality using Kaya factors. Then, the variations within and between regions are analyzed by decomposing the Theil index of the carbon intensity by region. Our major findings are as follows. First, carbon inequality is relatively insignificant in the regional transport sector in China. Second, the main drivers of the per capita carbon inequality include the carbon intensity and per capita added value in the transport sector. Third, intra-regional components are major contributors to the heterogeneous spatial distribution of the carbon intensity, and the degree of carbon inequality in the eastern region is much greater than that in other regions. Moreover, the four economic regional components of the Theil index of the carbon intensity have had an obvious convergence effect since 2009. In addition, this study provides some suggestions for developing differentiated mitigation policies in different regions.