We use the refined Laspeyres index decomposition method to determine the main CO₂ emissions from industry and analyze differences in these over the period 1994–2007. Then we examined the decoupling state between carbon emissions and economic growth and the effectiveness of the implementation of emission reduction policy. We found that output effect is the dominant positive factor for carbon emissions growth in China's industrial sectors, and the effect of energy intensity change is the mainfactor affecting carbon emission reductions; the impact of these two factors is respectively 357.20% and -248.67%. The food industry, textile industry and machinery industry show a decreasing trend in emissions, and emissions from the oil industry increased by 217.75%. From 1994 to 2007 and 2000 to 2007, the decoupling index of carbon emissions and the industrial sector was 0.63 and 0.56 respectively. This indicates carbon emissions and economic growth are in a weak decoupling state, and emission reduction policies lack efficacy. These findings can be used in the design of policy priorities for improving decoupling across industrial sectors.