Optimal embodied energy abatement strategy for Beijing economy: Based on a three-scale input-output analysis

Energy strategies in China's 11th and 12thzfive-year Plan failed to reduce the total energy consumption and misled the implementation of energy saving measures, as they were focused towards the direct energy input as well as formulated based on incomplete energy consumption information. Therefore, an optimal energy abatement strategy built on comprehensive information on overall embodied energy consumption is in urgent need. Adopting the three-scale input-output analysis, this study uses Beijing as a case to depict a specific urban economy's overall energy consumption impacted by local direct energy use, domestic and foreign trade. The results show that energy embodied in domestic trade dominated Beijing's energy consumption, while local direct energy is accounting for less than 1/3 of Beijing's total embodied energy consumption. The quantity of energy embodied in imports far exceeds that embodied in exports, making the city a net embodied energy importer and indicating that policies considering direct energy use only will cause energy leakage problem. These findings suggest that the current measures such as displacing energy-intensive sectors to other regions lead to "local reduction but overall rise". Moreover, analysis for five abatement scenarios (average, intensity share, absolute share, discriminatory absolute and discriminatory intensity) was carried out to figure out the optimal abatement strategy for Beijing. Due to less loss of potential output, it is found that intensity share scenario is the optimal one among all the scenarios concerned. Analysis in this study suggests that each region should break limits of self-centered perceptions and multi-scale governance for more appropriate responsibility assignment is recommended for overall energy abatement.