Abstract: The macroeconomic cost of CO₂ emission abatement may be greatly different for countries in different development phases. Estimating this cost scientifically is of important scientific and practical significance. This paper estimates the macroeconomic cost of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission abatement in China, employing the input-output analysis with the multi-objective programming approach. The results show that the effect of abating CO₂ emission on China's economy is significant. Under the present conditions, the estimated macroeconomic cost of CO₂ emission abatement for China in 2010 is approximately between 3100 RMB/t and 4024 RMB/t. The stronger the abatement actions are, the higher the macroeconomic cost of per unit emission reduction would be. Mining, oil industry, chemical industry, and metal smelting industry are high CO₂-emission industries, but meanwhile they have more potential to abate their CO₂ emissions.

Key words: CO₂ emission abatement, macroeconomic cost, multi-objective programming, input-output analysis