Spatiotemporal Evolution, Regional Differences, and Decoupling Effects of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Animal Husbandry in Henan Province

Livestock is one of the primary sources of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and has a significant impact on the achievement of global climate goals. This paper comprehensively analyzes GHG emissions from the livestock industry in Henan Province in a multidimensional manner, employing the Thiel index, the Tapio decoupling model, and the Markov chain. It was found that (1) The total GHG emissions of animal husbandry in Henan Province showed a fluctuating downward trend and gradually formed a main GHG emission belt extending from northwest to southeast. (2) The Theil index of GHG emissions from animal husbandry generally showed a trend of 'down-up,' and Inter-regional differences became the main source of overall differences. (3) Changes in regional GHG emissions are limited by their original emission types and stocks, showing growth inertia and path dependency; the type of neighbours significantly affects the transfer of regional GHG emission types, and the impact of spatial effects becomes more significant when the gap between one's own and the neighbouring city's GHG emission levels is larger. (4) The overall decoupling state is dominated by weak decoupling and strong decoupling, which means that environmental protection and economic development in Henan Province are gradually moving toward coordination.