Measuring Green Total Factor Productivity Growth in China’s Agricultural Sector: A CO₂ Adjusted Growth Accounting Approach

Changshuai Tian; Xiaolei Zhang; Ziwei Zhang; Yifan Wang

doi:10.62177/apemr.v3i5.1761

Authors

Changshuai Tian Gyeongsang National University
Xiaolei Zhang Inner Mongolia University of Finance and Economics
Ziwei Zhang Gyeongsang National University
Yifan Wang Gyeongsang National University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.62177/apemr.v3i5.1761

Keywords:

Agricultural Productivity, Green TFP, Growth Accounting, CO₂ Emissions, CO₂ Intensity

Abstract

This study examines agricultural productivity growth in China from 2013 to 2021 using a CO₂-adjusted growth-accounting framework. Agricultural value-added growth is decomposed into capital, labor, and residual productivity components, and conventional total factor productivity (TFP) growth is adjusted for changes in CO₂ intensity. The analysis uses national agricultural data and compares conventional and CO₂-adjusted TFP growth across annual and period-level changes. The results show substantial variation in productivity growth over the study period. Traditional TFP growth averaged 2.90% in 2013–2014, 5.08% in 2015–2017, and 5.19% in 2018–2021. Capital contributed positively to output growth in the first and third periods, whereas labor contributions remained small and negative. Over 2012–2021, agricultural value added increased by 58.60%, while labor input and CO₂ emissions declined by 41.70% and 25.30%, respectively. Cumulative traditional TFP growth was 51.90%, compared with 57.40% for CO₂-adjusted TFP. The environmental adjustment became positive in the later years and reached 2.65 percentage points in 2020, when CO₂ emissions fell by 22.10% while agricultural value added increased by 9.82%. Sensitivity analysis shows that the unusually high TFP growth in 2016 affects the magnitude of average productivity growth but has little effect on the average CO₂-based adjustment. The findings highlight the importance of incorporating environmental changes into agricultural productivity measurement while recognizing that the CO₂ adjustment represents an accounting relationship rather than a causal effect.

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