Analysis of Factors Affecting CO2 Emissions in Six Central Chinese Cities

The results show that during the period of 2004-2014, carbon emissions in Chinese central cities still mainly originated from coal combustion. Apart from the proportion of C-CO2 in Changsha, the proportion of C-CO2 in the other five cities was reduced. The impact of changes in CO2 emissions in central provincial capital cities is mainly attributed to adjustments in "electricity, gas, water production and supply," "non-metal and metal manufacturing," "commercial and other industries," and "transportation." Zhengzhou's carbon emissions intensity has the most obvious inhibitory effect on CO2 emissions, and its cumulative contribution rate reaches -140.59%. The population growth has the most obvious effect on CO2 emissions increase in Zhengzhou and Taiyuan, with contribution ratio 57% and 49%, respectively. Carbon emissions in Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Changsha, and Nanchang are linearly correlated with urbanization rates, and their correlation coefficients are 0.9292 (P<0.001), 0.9288 (P<0.001), 0.9330 (P<0.001), and 0.9687 (P<0.001). However, the level of urbanization in Hefei has little effect on carbon emissions.