Identification of key industries of industrial sector with energy-related CO2 emissions and analysis of their potential for energy conservation and emission reduction in Xinjiang, China.

As the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter, China bears an arduous task of energy conservation (EC) and emission reduction (ER). CO2 arising from energy consumption during industrial processes makes up the vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions in China. It is the key for the Chinese government to achieve its goal of emission reduction in 2030 by identifying key industries with CO2 emissions and probing into their potential for EC&ER. We used Xinjiang Province of China as a research area. Next, we proposed a method for identifying key industries with CO2 emissions in Xinjiang's industrial sector and analyzed their energy consumption and CO2 emission characteristics. Finally, the average energy efficiency index of national industries was used to explore the potential for EC&ER of key industries. Results indicated that (1) the CO2 emissions in industrial sector were 463.35 million tons in 2016, making up 90.72% of its total CO2 emissions from energy consumption, considerably higher than the global and national averages; (2) In 2016, the 8 key industries with energy-related CO2 emissions determined in this study are all heavy industries whose energy consumption and CO2 emissions were 119.65 million tce (tons carbon equivalent) and 445.36 million tons respectively, taken up 62.51% and 87.2% of the total amount in Xinjiang. These 8 key industries play a critical role in realizing EC&ER in Xinjiang; (3) In 2016, the eight key industries had the potential to save 74.65 million tce, accounted for 45.79% of the total EC. Their potential for ER were 272.07 million tons of CO2, equal to 53.27% of the total CO2 emissions. On this basis, it is recommended that the local government exploit the potential of key industries for EC&ER by improving their energy efficiency.