Extracting critical paths for synergistic control of carbon emissions and air pollution: Case of Henan Province

Synergistic reduction of carbon emissions and air pollution is the core means to address the two major strategic tasks of fundamentally improving the ecological environment and the ‘Dual-carbon target’. The issue of synergistic reduction at the provincial level needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency. Taking Henan Province, the largest economy in central China, as an example, this study uses environmentally extended input-output analysis and structural path analysis to identify the key sectors that contribute to CO2, SO2, and total particulate matter (TPM) emissions, and to sort out key emission pathways (e.g., Final Demand → Sector…). The results indicate that S2 (Mining of Fossil Energy), S10 (Nonmetal Mineral Products), S11 (Metal Smelting), S13 (Power and Heat) and S17 (Transportation) are mainly responsible for CO2, SO2, and TPM direct emissions on the production side, while S16 (Construction), S12 (Equipment) and S18 (Services) account for more than 45 % of CO2, SO2, and TPM embodied emissions on the consumption side. 32 shared emission pathways are extracted from the top 100 pathways for CO2, SO2, and TPM emissions, which account for 27 %-51 % of total emissions in Henan Province. P9 (Export → Nonmetal Mineral Products), P10 (Export → Metal Smelting) and P21 (Gross Capital Formation → Construction → Nonmetal Mineral Products) are the leading paths responsible for embodied emissions. The research results provide the foundation and guidance for well-designed mitigation policies, as well as a reference for better synergistic control in provinces facing similar situations.