Drivers of Chinese energy use and intensity from regional and demand perspectives, 2012-2015-2017

China has been experiencing significant transitional development of energy utilization since the New normal phase. The dual controls to limit energy consumption and to reduce energy intensity have been proposed and strengthened at both the national and regional levels. It is thus of significance to investigate the regional contributions to the national achievements and their differentiated pathways towards energy conservation. This paper combined the multi-region input-output model (MRIO) and structural decomposition analysis (SDA) techniques to study the changes of energy consumption and energy intensity from demand perspective for China’s 31 regions (including Tibet) using the latest available Chinese MRIO dataset for period 2012-2017. The increase in total energy consumption was largely due to the production structure of the eastern region (2012-2015) and central region (2015-2017), and the total final demands of most regions. The decrease in aggregate energy intensity was mainly influenced by the energy intensity of eastern region (2012-2015) and central & western regions (2015-2017). Most of the 31 regions achieved energy conservation to varying degrees through differentiated paths. Based on the findings, policy efforts are suggested to focus on structural changes in both the production system and final demand