Please wait a minute...
Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering

ISSN 2095-2201

ISSN 2095-221X(Online)

CN 10-1013/X

Postal Subscription Code 80-973

2018 Impact Factor: 3.883

Front Envir Sci Eng Chin    0, Vol. Issue () : 12-19    https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-009-0011-x
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Quantitative analysis of CO2 embodiment in international trade: An overview of emerging literatures
Xianbing LIU1(), Can WANG2
1. Kansai Research Centre, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), Kobe 651-0073, Japan; 2. Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
 Download: PDF(116 KB)   HTML
 Export: BibTeX | EndNote | Reference Manager | ProCite | RefWorks
Abstract

The increasing volume of CO2 embodiment in international trade adds a layer of complexity to environmental policies and has raised arguments on the traditional production based responsibility for CO2 emissions. In order to help understand the quantity of CO2 embodiment in trade and its policy implications, this paper gives observations to recently emerging literatures that quantitatively discuss CO2 embodiment in trade. The analytical approaches share the principle of using input and output modeling but vary dramatically in study boundary and estimation accuracy. The calculations can be roughly categorized into three types: direct quantification of CO2 embodiments in multiregional trade, direct quantification of CO2 embodiment in bilateral trade, and indirect analysis by comparing the scenarios with or without trade. The practical estimations strongly rely on trade partner selection and data availability. An obvious imbalance of net CO2 embodiment in the commodity trade between major developed countries and developing economies as a whole was confirmed by these literatures. Carbon taxes and other possible limitations on CO2 emissions have been addressed. The consistency across the calculations could be enhanced by systematic analyses in more detail to convince the international community to take binding commitments for the reduction of global CO2 emissions.

Keywords CO2 embodiment      international trade      quantitative estimation      analytical approach     
Corresponding Author(s): LIU Xianbing,Email:liu@iges.or.jp   
Issue Date: 05 March 2009
 Cite this article:   
Xianbing LIU,Can WANG. Quantitative analysis of CO2 embodiment in international trade: An overview of emerging literatures[J]. Front Envir Sci Eng Chin, 0, (): 12-19.
 URL:  
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/10.1007/s11783-009-0011-x
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/Y0/V/I/12
1 Peters G P, Hertwich E G. Post-Kyoto greenhouse gas inventories: Production versus consumption. Climate Change , 2008, 86(1-2): 51–66
2 Peters G P, Weber C L, Guan D, Hubacek K. China’s growing CO2 emissions—A race between increasing consumption and efficiency gains. Environmental Science & Technology , 2007, 41(17): 5939–5944
doi: 10.1021/es070108f
3 IPCC. 2006 IPCC guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories. 2008, http://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gj/index.htm
4 Helm D, Smale R, Phillips J. Too good to be true: The UK’s climate change record. 2008, http://www.dieterhelm.co.uk/publications/carbon_record_2007.pdf
5 Peters G P, Hertwich E G. CO2 embodied in international trade with implications for global climate policy. Environmental Science & Technology , 2008, 42(5): 1401–1407
doi: 10.1021/es072023k
6 Wyckoff A W, Roop J M. The embodiment of carbon in imports of manufactured products: Implications for international agreements on greenhouse gas emissions. Energy Policy , 1994, 22(3): 187–194
doi: 10.1016/0301-4215(94)90158-9
7 Machado G, Roberto S, Ernst W. Energy and carbon embodied in the international trade of Brazil: An input-output approach. Ecological Economics , 2001, 39(3): 409–424
doi: 10.1016/S0921-8009(01)00230-0
8 Ferng J J. Allocating the responsibility of CO2 over-emissions from the perspective of benefit principle and ecological deficit. Ecological Economics , 2003, 46(1): 121–141
doi: 1016/S0921-8009(03)00104-6
9 Shui B, Harriss R C. The role of CO2 embodiment in US-China trade. Energy Policy , 2006, 34(18): 4063–4068
doi: 10.1016/j.enpol.2005.09.010
10 Costanza R. Embodied energy and economic valuation. Science , 1980, 210(4475): 1219–1224
doi: 10.1126/science.210.4475.1219
11 Leontief W W. The Structure of American Economy, 1919-1929: An Empirical Application of Equilibrium Analysis. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1941
12 Isard W. International and regional input-output analysis: A model of a space-economy. Review of Economics and Statistics , 1951, 33(4): 318–328
doi: 10.2307/1926459
13 Chenery H B. Regional analysis. In: Chenery H, Clark P, eds. The Structure and Growth of the Italian Economy . Rome: United States Mutual Security Agency, 1953, 97–129
14 Moses L N. The stability of interregional trading patterns and input-output analysis. American Economic Review , 1955, 45(5): 803–826
15 Treloar G J, Love P E D, Holt G D. Using national input-output data for embodied energy analysis of individual residential buildings. Construction Management and Economics , 2001, 19(1): 49–61
doi: 10.1080/014461901452076
16 Wang T, Watson J. Who owns China’s carbon emissions?Tyndall Center for Climate Change Research, Tyndall Briefing Note , 2007, 23
17 Hoshino Y, Sugiyama D. Quantifications of CO2 embodiment in trade. Discussion Paper , SERC08002. Japan: Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry, 2008
18 Li H, Zhang P D, He C Y, Wang G. Evaluating the effects of embodied energy in international trade on ecological footprint in China. Ecological Economics , 2007, 62(1):136–148
doi: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2006.06.007
19 Qi Y, Li H M, Xu M. Accounting embodied carbon in import and export in China. China Population, Resources and Environment , 2008, 18(3): 8–13 (in Chinese)
20 Luo S P, Wang C, Chen J N. Analysis of embodied energy in China’s international trade. Journal of Tsinghua University (Sci & Eng) , 2009, in press (in Chinese)
21 Li Y, Hewitt C N. The effect of trade between China and the UK on national and global carbon dioxide emissions. Energy Policy , 2008, 36: 1907–1914
doi: 10.1016/j.enpol.2008.02.005
22 Hubacek K, Giljum S. Applying physical input-output analysis to estimated land appreciation on international trade activities. Ecological Economics , 2003, 44: 131–151
doi: 10.1016/S0921-8009(02)00257-4
23 Nansai K, Moriguchi Y, Tohno S. Embodied Energy and Emission Intensity Data for Japan Using Input-Output Tables (3EID)—Inventory Data for LCA. CGER Report . National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan, 2002
24 Haan M. A structural decomposition analysis of pollution in the Netherlands. Economic Systems Research , 2001, 13: 181–196
doi: 10.1080/09537320120052452
25 Office of National Statistics. Environmental accounts: Input-output tables. London: National Office of Statistics of the UK, 1997
26 Ackerman F, Ishikawa M, Suga M. The carbon content of Japan-US trade. Energy Policy , 2007, 35(9): 4455–4462
doi: 10.1016/j.enpol.2007.03.010
27 Tamamura C. Conceptual framework and compilation procedure of bilateral IO table. Asian International IO Series No. 34 . Tokyo: Institute of Developing Economies, 1994
28 Dimaranan B V. Global trade, assistance, and production: The GTAP 6 database. West Lafayette: Center for Global Trade Analysis. Purdue University, 2006
29 Muradian R, O’Connor M, Martinez-Alier J. Embodied pollution in trade: Estimating the environmental load displacement of industrialized countries. Ecological Economics , 2002, 41(1): 51–67
doi: 10.1016/S0921-8009(01)00281-6
30 Chung H S, Rhee H C. Carbon dioxide emissions of Korea and Japan and its transmission via international trade. International Economic Journal , 2001, 15(4): 117–136
doi: 10.1080/10168730100080032
31 Kondo Y, Moriguchi Y, Shimizu H. CO2 emissions in Japan: Influences of imports and exports. Applied Energy , 1998, 59(2-3), 163–174
32 Tolmasquim M T, Machado G. Energy and carbon embodied in the international trade of Brazil. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change , 2003, 8: 139–155
doi: 10.1023/A:1026013814547
33 Ahmad N, Wyckoff A. Carbon dioxide emissions embodied in international trade of goods. STI Working Paper . Paris: OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry, 2003, 15
34 Lenzen M. Primary energy and greenhouse gases embodied in Australian final consumption: An input-output analysis. Energy Policy , 1998, 26(6): 495–506
doi: 10.1016/S0301-4215(98)00012-3
35 Peters G P, Hertwich E G. Pollution embodied in trade: The Norgwegian case. Global Environmental Change , 2006, 16: 379–387
doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2006.03.001
36 Kander A, Lindmark M. Foreign trade and declining pollution in Sweden: a decomposition analysis of long-term structural and technological effects. Energy Policy , 2006, 34(13): 1590–1599
doi: 10.1016/j.enpol.2004.12.007
37 Munksgaard J, Pade L L, Minx J, Lenzen M. Influence of trade on national CO2 emissions. International Journal of Global Energy Issues , 2005, 23(4): 324–336
38 Grossman G M, Krueger A B. Environmental impacts of a North American Free Trade Agreement. National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. , 1991
39 Beghin J B, Bowland S D, Roland-Holst D, van der Mensbrugghe D. Trade integration, environmental degradation and public health in Chile: assessing the linkages. Environment and Development Economics , 2002, 7: 241–267
doi: 10.1017/S1355770X02000165
40 Anderson K, Strutt A. Will trade liberalization harm the environment? The case of Indonesia to 2020. Environmental and Resource Economics , 2000, 17(3): 203–232
doi: 10.1023/A:1026480823657
41 Hayami H, Nakamura M. CO2 emission of an alternative technology and bilateral trade between Japan and Canada: Relocating production and an implication for joint implementation. Discussion Paper 75, Keio Economi Observatory . Tokyo: Keio University, 2002
42 Hoerner J A, Bosquet B. Environmental tax reform: The European experience. Washington DC: Center for a Sustainable Economy, 2001: 11–27
43 Brown L R. Shifting taxes, plan B: Rescuing a planet under stress and a civilization in trouble. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 2003
Viewed
Full text


Abstract

Cited

  Shared   
  Discussed