Optimization Of Chinese Residents’ Consumption Structure Under The Low-carbon Economy

Throughout the past30-plus years of the reform and opening-up policy, Chinesesocialist economy is flourishing with high-speed, and the consumption structure ofurban and rural residents have experienced upgrading from subsistence consumptionto developmental and enjoyment consumption, gradually transforming from food andclothing consumption structure to well-off consumption structure. However, theLow-carbon economy put forward some new demands and new directions tooptimization of Chinese residents’ consumption structure, so that it is facing newproblems and new challenges. On the one hand, optimization of Chinese residents’consumption structure not only needs to reflect the needs of the residents the physical,social and economic aspects, but also needs to reflect low energy consumption, lowemissions, low-pollution proposed by the Low-carbon economy; On the other hand, itnot only needs to coordinate the relationship between consumption and expandingpeople’s health and overall development, but also needs to coordinate and expandconsumption optimization of the ecological environment, the relationship betweensustainable development and energy conservation. With consumption expanding,environmental pollution problems have been arising. Since consumption has becomea major source of carbon dioxide emissions, people began to attach importance to theenvironmental pollution in the process of consumption. The optimization of Chineseresidents’ consumption structure is facing unprecedented challenges. Faced with thissituation, this paper carried the research on the optimization of Chinese residents’consumption structure under the Low-carbon economy which has importanttheoretical and practical significance to the Low-carbon consumption structure andthe Low-carbon consumption.First of all, this article analyzes the meaning and the content of the optimizationof residents’ consumption structure, and then presents some qualitative andquantitative signs to evaluate the optimization of Chinese residents’ consumptionstructure. After evaluation, it is found that there are a variety of problems in Chineseresidents’ consumption structure which has produced amount of carbon dioxide.Eventually, it is concluded that Chinese residents’ consumption structure is anirrational consumption structure. However, this is a conclusion just made bytheoretical ways.In order to examine if Chinese residents’ consumption structure is an irrational consumption structure or not, this article also uses a practical method calledInput-output analysis. On this basis, this article estimates the indirect carbonemissions of Chinese urban and rural residents’ consumption in the use ofinput-output model. According to the calculation result, from an empirical perspective,it is believed that Chinese residents’ consumption structure is an irrationalconsumption structure under the low carbon economy.The results of theoretical analysis and empirical testing both show that Chineseresidents’ consumption structure is an irrational consumption structure under the Lowcarbon economy. Therefore, at the end of this article, it put forward some suggestionswhich may contribute to the optimization of Chinese residents’ consumption structure.