Study on carbon emission factors and their influencing factors in high-speed railway and civil aviation passenger transport in China
MAO Baohua
ZHAO Yixin
LI Ninghai
TIAN Peining
LU Xia
Abstract：To address the low comparability in carbon emission estimates between High-Speed Rail-way (HSR) and Civil Aviation (CA),this study first establishes a carbon emission factor calculation framework and mathematical model for these two passenger transport modes,considering both power generation and oil refining processes. Then,using actual parameters of HSR and CA in China,the car-bon emission factors of both modes are calculated and compared with those of several developed West-ern countries. The analysis of influencing factors on carbon emission factors for both modes is then con-ducted,and key directions for reducing carbon emissions in HSR and CA are proposed. The results show that when accounting for power generation and oil refining processes,the carbon emission factor of CA is approximately 3.6 to 3.9 times that of HSR. China's HSR carbon emission factor is higher than those of France,Japan,and Germany,due to its power generation structure. The maintenance and updating of infrastructure such as tracks,bridges,subgrades,tunnels,electrification systems,sta-tions,and trains contribute to a roughly 16％ increase in the carbon emission factor of HSR.The CA carbon emission factor in China is lower than that of the United States,the United Kingdom,and Ja-pan,due to higher load factors and longer average travel distances. Oil refining and airport-related emissions account for approximately 9.4％ and 4.6％,respectively,of the total carbon emissions of CA. In the future,reducing carbon emissions for HSR in China will focus on improving the power gen-eration structure,while for CA,the focus will be on advancements in aviation fuel technology.
Keywords：air transporthigh-speed railwaycarbon emission factorpassenger transportcarbon reduction policy
Publication Date：2024-08-28
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：11( 11-21 )