Abstract:

Energy consumption contributes to the emission of greenhouse gases,which is arguably responsible for the global warming.As one of the most developed regions in China,the Yangtze River Delta is both a cause and victim of global and regional climate change.The understanding of the relationship between energy consumption and economic development in the Yangtze River Delta would help local governments to designate effective strategies to mitigate the impact of climate change and to enhance their adaptation capabilities to climate change.This study applied Johansen integration test，VEC model and Granger Causality Test to uncover the relationship between energy consumption and regional development in the Yangtze River Delta.The logarithmic mean Divisia index techniques (LMDI) was used to decompose changes in energy intensity to identify the key factors that influence the relationship between energy consumption and regional development.Some interesting differences in the relationship between energy consumption and economic development among Shanghai,Jiangsu and Zhejiang were found in this study.In Shanghai and Jiangsu,energy consumption resulted in economic growth,although in Jiangsu,this influence was not so significant.But in the Zhejiang province,economic growth led to more energy consumption.The decomposition analysis indicated that the scale of industry and industrial structure affected both economic growth and energy consumption