To identify key factors of transport CO2 emissions and determine effective policies for emission reductions in fast-growing cities, this study establishes transport CO2 emission models, quantifying the influences of polycentricity and satellite cities and re-examining the effects of per capita GDP and metro service. Based on the model results, we forecast future residents’ urban transport CO2 emissions under several scenarios of different urban and transport policies and new energy technologies. We find nonlinear quadratic growth relationship between commuting CO2 emissions and per capita GDP, and the elasticities of household and individual commuting CO2 emission to per capita GDP are 1.90% and 1.45%, respectively. Developing job-housing balanced satellite cities and self-contained polycentric city can greatly decrease emissions from high emitters and can contribute to about 51–82% of the emission reductions by 2050 compared with the scenario of business as usual (BAU). Promotion of electric vehicles, electric public buses, metros, and improvement of traditional energy efficiency contributes to about 48–57% of the emission reductions by 2050 compared with the BAU. When these policies and technologies are combined, about 90% of the emissions could be reduced by 2050 compared with the BAU, and the emissions will be about 1.2–4.9 times of the present. The findings suggest that fostering polycentric urban form and job-housing balanced satellite cities is the key step for future transport CO2 emission reductions. Metro network promotion, energy efficiency improvement, and new energy type applications can also be effective in emission reductions.
Peer-reviewed publication