Carbon Efficiency, Carbon Reduction Potential, and Economic Development in the People's Republic of China

This paper proposes a new approach to measure the carbon performance of an economy that relies on a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)-based model. The most commonly used measure of the carbon performance of an economy is carbon intensity. As an indicator, it is easy to understand and use, but it has serious limitations. This paper presents the findings of an empirical study on measuring carbon performance that was conducted using provincial-level data from the People's Republic of China in 2005.