Abstract
Knowledge about the driving forces behind greenhouse gasses (GHG) emissions is crucial for informed and evidence-based policy towards mitigation of GHG emission and changing production and consumption patterns. Both national and regional-level authorities are capable of addressing their actions more effectively if they have information about the spatial distribution of phenomena related to the policies they conduct. In this context, the main aim of this paper is to explain the regional differences in carbon intensity in Poland. The differences in carbon intensity between regions and the national average were analysed using index decomposition analysis (IDA). Aggregate carbon intensity for regional economies as well as the carbon intensity of households was investigated. For both levels of analysis: total emissions and emission from households economic development is the key factor responsible for the inter-regional differences in carbon emission per capita. In the case of total emissions, the second important factor influencing these differences is the structure of the national power system, i.e., its concentration and the production of energy from fossil fuels. For households, disposable income per capita is a key factor of differences in CO2 emission per capita between regions. Higher households’ incomes contribute to higher emission per capita, mostly due to the shift in consumption towards more energy- and material-intensive goods. The contribution of energy emissivity is quite low and not as varied as in the case of income. This suggests that policy instruments targeted at the consumption of fuels can be rather uniform across regions, while more developed regions should also be subject to measures supporting less energy-intensive consumption. On the other hand, policy in less developed regions should prevent them from following the path of per capita emissions growth.