Against the backdrop of China’s “Dual Carbon” strategic goal, carbon emission issues in the furniture manufacturing industry—a pivotal light industry sector—remain understudied with systematic micro-level empirical evidence. Based on questionnaire survey data collected from 283 furniture manufacturing enterprises, this paper constructs a carbon emission measurement model tailored to the production characteristics of the industry, and empirically examines the impacts of enterprise scale, energy structure, technology level and other factors on carbon emission intensity per unit output value using a multiple linear regression model. The findings indicate that the average carbon emission intensity per unit output value of sample enterprises stands at 0.11 ton per 10,000 yuan. The industry presents distinct heterogeneous emission patterns: eastern regions outperform central and western regions, large-scale enterprises outperform micro and small enterprises, and enterprises with a higher share of clean energy demonstrate better emission efficiency. Specifically, wooden furniture enterprises register the highest emission intensity, while upholstered furniture enterprises record the lowest. Clean energy share, production process advancement and environmental protection facility configuration are identified as the three core determinants of carbon emission intensity, and all explanatory variables show a significant negative correlation with carbon emission intensity. These conclusions provide micro empirical support for formulating differentiated emission reduction policies and advancing energy structure optimization and process upgrading in the furniture manufacturing industry.
