Critical structural paths of residential PM2.5 emissions within the Chinese provinces

Consumption-based approach has provided beneficial information for understanding the key industries driving the huge life-cycle PM2.5 emissions. However, the residential sector, which is the largest emitter of carbonaceous aerosols in China, has been treated exogenously and neglected in the context of consumption-based thinking. This study aims to extend the endogenous input-output system by incorporating residential PM2.5 emissions in China into the consumption → production → income process. I find that households engaged in high income industries such as “other services”, “agriculture” and “construction” in Sichuan, Shangdong, Guangxi and Anhui mainly contributed their own residential PM2.5 emissions. Furthermore, the final demand of urban areas for construction, transport equipment and agriculture drove rural areas' residential emissions through production of commodities such as nonmetal products, coal mining, agriculture, and metallurgy.