As urbanization accelerates, urban areas play a leading role in energy consumption and CO2 emissions in China. The existing research is extensively concerned with the relationships between urbanization, energy consumption and CO2 emissions in recent years, but little attention has been paid to the regional differences. This paper is an analysis of the impact of urbanization on energy consumption and CO2 emissions at the national and regional levels using the STIRPAT model and provincial panel data from 1995 to 2010 in China. The results showed that urbanization increases energy consumption and CO2 emissions in China. The effects of urbanization on energy consumption vary across regions and decline continuously from the western region to the central and eastern regions. The impact of urbanization on CO2 emissions in the central region is greater than that in the eastern region. The impact of urbanization on energy consumption is greater than the impact on CO2 emissions in the eastern region. And some evidences support the argument of compact city theory. These results not only contribute to advancing the existing literature, but also merit particular attention from policy makers and urban planners in China. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.