2.3.2. Relative Growth Rate (R)

Relative growth rate R refers to the ratio of the carbon emission change of a relevant section in the Sankey diagrams during the observed period to the carbon emission in base year. It can make up for the shortcomings when T index is used for the industry that used to be small and unconcerned but has rapid development in recent years thus leading to high emission growth rate. R index also reflects the orientation of relevant policies and changes of market demand to some extent. These parts are also the ones that should be paid special attention to, because they are likely to become the main driving force for the growth of carbon emissions in the future. Identifying this indicator can help policy makers adjust the energy structure of relevant industries at an early stage, so as to control carbon emissions more effectively. The formula for calculating the relative growth rate of carbon emissions of sector *i* is as shown in Equation (3):

$$R\_i = \frac{\mathcal{C}\_{Ti} - \mathcal{C}\_{ti}}{\mathcal{C}\_{ti}} \tag{3}$$
