The paper uses the nonparametric additive regression model with data- driven characteristics to investigate the impact of fossil energy abundance on China's economic growth and carbon dioxide (CO) emissions. The results show that the effect of fossil energy abundance on economic growth shows an inverted "U-shaped" pattern in the eastern region, due to the changes in coal mining, oil processing, and coking investments. On the contrary, fossil energy abundance exerts a positive "U-shaped" nonlinear effect on economic growth in the central region. This indicates that in the early stages fossil energy abundance did not play a role in promoting economic growth, and its driving effect was only prominent in the later stages. In addition, fossil energy abundance generates a positive "U-shaped" impact on CO emissions in the eastern and central regions, because of the changes in coal and oil consumption at different stages. However, fossil energy abundance has an inverted "U-shaped" nonlinear effect on CO emissions in the western region, on account of the phase difference in the production and consumption of natural gas and oil.