Evaluation of carbon emissions associated with land use and cover change in Zhengzhou City of China

doi:10.1016/j.regsus.2022.03.002

Abstract

Abstract:

Studies on carbon emissions associated with land use and cover change (LUCC) are key to understanding the impact of human activities on regional sustainability. In this study, we analyzed the temporal and spatial changes in carbon emissions associated with LUCC for production, living, and ecological spaces in Zhengzhou City of China. Landsat remote sensing images were used to classify the land use and land cover (LULC) types in Zhengzhou City in 1988, 2001, 2009, and 2015. Carbon emissions associated with LUCC were evaluated using a spatial gradient model and the niche mechanism. It was found that during 1988-2015, carbon emissions associated with LUCC in Zhengzhou City increased by 17.1×10⁶t, while the carbon sink resulted from cultivated land, forests, water bodies, and unused land decreased significantly. Most of the increase in carbon emissions associated with LUCC occurred in the center of the city. The peak carbon emissions were located in the northeastern, southeastern, northwestern, and southwestern regions of Zhengzhou City, and carbon emissions varied considerably in the different spatial gradient rings over time. Among the three spaces, carbon emissions associated with LUCC were mainly affected by the living space. The population size and population urbanization rate were negatively correlated with the ecological space and positively correlated with the production and living spaces. Our results highlight that Zhengzhou City should take the new urbanization path of urban transformation development and ecological civilization construction to ensure the realization of the promised carbon emission reduction targets.

Key words: Carbon emissions, Land use and cover change, Spatial gradient model, Niche mechanism, Zhengzhou City

HE Jianjian, ZHANG Pengyan. Evaluation of carbon emissions associated with land use and cover change in Zhengzhou City of China[J]. Regional Sustainability, 2022, 3(1): 1-11.

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LULC type	Carbon emission coefficient (kg/(m²•a))	Reference
Cultivate land	0.4595	Zhang et al. (2018)
Forests	-0.6125	Zhang et al. (2018)
Water bodies	-0.0257	Lai (2010)
Unused land	-0.0005	Lai (2010)

Fuel type	Energy carbon emission coefficient (×10³ t CO₂/(×10¹²J))	Conversion factor	Energy combustion quality (×10³t)
Crude coal	94.600	0.7143 tce/t	47.829
Coke	107.000	0.9714 tce/t	35.168
Crude oil	73.300	1.4286 tce/t	23.914
Diesel	74.100	1.4571 tce/t	23.446
Kerosene	71.900	1.4714 tce/t	23.218
Gasoline	69.300	1.4714 tce/t	23.218
Fuel oil	77.400	1.4286 tce/t	23.914
Natural gas	56.100	1.3300 tce/(×10³ m³)	25.686

Space	Population size	Per capita GDP	Population urbanization rate	Energy intensity
Production space	0.99^***	0.90	0.94^*	-0.94^*
Living space	0.92^*	0.93^*	0.97^**	-0.91^*
Ecological space	-0.98^**	-0.92^*	-0.96^**	0.94^*