Abstract This study proposes an alternative input–output based spatial structural decomposition analysis to elucidate the importance of domestic regional heterogeneity and inter-regional spillover effects in determining China's regional CO 2 emissions growth. Our empirical results, based on the 2007 and 2010 Chinese inter-regional input–output tables, show that changes in most regions' final demand scale, final expenditure structure, and export scale have positive spatial spillover effects on other regions' CO 2 emissions growth; changes in most regions' consumption and export preference help reduce other regions' CO 2 emissions; changes in production technology and investment preferences may exert positive or negative effects on other region's CO 2 emissions growth through domestic supply chains. For some regions, the aggregate spillover effect from other regions may be larger than the intra-regional effect in determining regional emissions growth. All these facts can significantly help provide a better, deeper understanding of the driving forces behind the growth of regional CO 2 emissions and can thus enrich the policy implications concerning a narrow definition of “carbon leakage” through domestic inter-regional “trade” as well as a relevant political consensus about responsibility sharing between developed and developing regions inside China.