Fig. 2. Sectoral energy-related CO₂ emission pathways under broad cumulative carbon budget range under different scenarios (unit: GtCO₂).

The box plot shows the first quantile, intermediate range (IQR), and third quantile of all the results, where the data range within 1.5 times the IQR is denoted with whiskers. The thick blue line represents the emission pathway of the NDC scenario, and the thick gray line represents the emission pathway for the intermediate case in each scenario. The divergent color from blue to green reflects the increasing stringency of the cumulative carbon budget. The cumulative CO₂ parameter corresponds to the absolute value of China’s cumulative carbon budget for 2010–2050.