Regional differences research on low-carbon economy development in Guangdong province, China – based on chasing decoupling perspective

One of obvious characteristics of low-carbon economy is that economic development level and carbon productivity reached a certain high level at the same time. In this article, 21 cities of Guangdong province in China are categorized as region A, B and C based on their economic level and carbon productivity level. Shenzhen city in region A is chosen as “model city”, because it has the highest economic development level and carbon productivity. Chasing decoupling model for other cities to catching up with “model city” is established based on tapio decoupling model. Main results show that most of cities did not catch up with the “model city” during 2005 to 2016. Finally, different low-carbon development proposals are proposed for region A, B and C，respectively. Cities in region A should improve the technology level of energy saving and carbon reduction. Cities in region B should develop high value-added and low carbon industries while strive for ecological compensation funds. In addition to the ecological compensation fund, cities in region C should also develop ecological industry vigorously