Analysis of Factors Affecting Transport Sector N2O Emissions in China

Abstract

This paper aims at investigating the potential factors influencing the change of transport sector N2O emissions in China.
First, the transport sector N2O emissions over the period 1985-2009 are calculated based on the presented method. Then the
presented LMDI (logarithmic mean Divisia index) method is used to find the nature of the factors that influence the changes in
transport sector N2O emissions. We find that: (1) Transport sector N2O emission increased from 557.09 Tt (Thousand tonnes) in
1985 to 4860.77 Tt in 2009, at an annual growth rate of 9.44%. And highways transport was the biggest N2O emitter both in 1985
and in 2009. (2) The economic activity effect and transportation modal shifting effect are found to be primarily responsible for
driving transport sector N2O emissions growth over the study period. (3) The transportation intensity effect and emission coefficient
effect are found to be the main drivers of the reduction of N2O emissions of transport sector in China.