Abstract: By adopting the IPCC method to estimate the provincial carbon dioxide emissions from 1995 to 2009 in China, this paper measures the regional differences of the carbon intensity distribution in China and conducts a structural decomposition according to the four major regions of east, middle, west and northeast. At the same time, it makes use of the convergence testing method from the theory of economic growth to perform a convergence test on the regional differences of China’s carbon intensity. The study finds that: (1) Generally speaking, the distribution of China’s carbon intensity has obvious regional differences and the differences come mainly from the inside of the four major regions; of which the central region has the greatest influence on the overall difference of carbon intensity, while the impact of the western region on the overall differences is increasing.（2）The results of the estimate with the panel data and cross-sectional data show that there is neither absolute β convergence nor conditional β convergence existing in China’s carbon intensity regional distribution from 1995 to 2009, even no obvious σ convergence. The above conclusion indicates that China’s carbon intensity will not automatically reduce to the steady state, the government policy intervention to reduce carbon emissions will be essential.

Key words: carbon intensity; regional differences; Theil index; convergence