Evaluation of Carbon Emission Performance and Estimation of CO2 Abatement Costs for Provinces of China: A Non-Parametric Distance Function Approach

In this research, 30 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) in mainland China were selected as research subjects. Inputs elements such as coal, oil, natural gas, capital, and labor were selected, while GDP and carbon dioxide emissions in each province were taken as outputs elements, and distance function of carbon dioxide emissions was derived with the Malmquist index model. Shadow price and emission reduction cost of CO2 emission in each province were analyzed in order to measure the environmental cost of economic growth and the economic cost of pollution reduction.