Carbon emissions due to rural energy consumption in China have not yet been sufficiently addressed or quantified. In this work systematic accounting with a life cycle perspective was used to estimate both the direct CO2 emissions from fuel combustion and the indirect emissions from the production and provision of rural energy carriers. The results indicate that the total direct CO2 emissions resulting from rural energy consumption have nearly tripled, from 0.79 billion metric tons (hereafter ton) in 1979 to 1.98 billion tons in 2008, whilst indirect emissions have nearly quadrupled, from 0.27 billion tons to 0.85 billion tons for the same period. This finding quantitatively illustrates the importance of rural energy consumption as a contributor to China's overall carbon emission. In addition, the analysis of per capita emission from rural energy revealed significant regional disparities and similarities in emission and energy sources used. Both total and per capita CO2 are significantly higher in the North China, which is largely due to the colder climate and the relatively high economic development levels for multi-demands of energy utilisation. The analysis and results presented here provide substantial information for policy makers in relation to energy and emission targets in China. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.