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Emissions embodied in Chinese exports taking into account the special export structure of China

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  • Weitzel, Matthias
  • Ma, Tao

Abstract

Quantification of CO2 emissions embodied in China's trade is important for an informed debate on whom to blame for the recent rise in Chinese emissions or the calculation of border carbon adjustments. Applying input–output (IO) techniques, we calculate these emissions in (1) a standard model, (2) a regionally disaggregated model, taking into account that export production is concentrated in more advanced and more emission efficient provinces and (3) in a model with export processing, taking into account that almost half of the Chinese exports rely on a large share of imported intermediates and little domestic value and emissions added. We compare year 2007 emissions embodied in Chinese exports in a unified framework. We also report emissions embodied in Chinese imports used for intermediate production of exports by combining calculations for China with data from global IO models.

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  • Weitzel, Matthias & Ma, Tao, 2014. "Emissions embodied in Chinese exports taking into account the special export structure of China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 45-52.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:45:y:2014:i:c:p:45-52
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2014.06.012
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    Cited by:

    1. Su, Bin & Thomson, Elspeth, 2016. "China's carbon emissions embodied in (normal and processing) exports and their driving forces, 2006–2012," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 414-422.
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    5. Boya Zhang & Shukuan Bai & Yadong Ning & Tao Ding & Yan Zhang, 2020. "Emission Embodied in International Trade and Its Responsibility from the Perspective of Global Value Chain: Progress, Trends, and Challenges," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-26, April.
    6. Meng, Fanxin & Liu, Gengyuan & Hu, Yuanchao & Su, Meirong & Yang, Zhifeng, 2018. "Urban carbon flow and structure analysis in a multi-scales economy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 553-564.
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    8. Jiang, Xuemei & Guan, Dabo & Zhang, Jin & Zhu, Kunfu & Green, Christopher, 2015. "Firm ownership, China's export related emissions, and the responsibility issue," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 466-474.
    9. Xianpu Xu & Bijiao Yi, 2022. "New Insights into the Impact of Local Corruption on China’s Regional Carbon Emissions Performance Based on the Spatial Spillover Effects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-26, November.
    10. Hu, Junmei & Liu, Gengyuan & Meng, Fanxin & Hu, Yuanchao & Casazza, Marco, 2020. "Subnational carbon flow pattern analysis using multi-scale input-output model," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 431(C).
    11. Zhang, Zhonghua & Zhao, Yuhuan & Su, Bin & Zhang, Yongfeng & Wang, Song & Liu, Ya & Li, Hao, 2017. "Embodied carbon in China’s foreign trade: An online SCI-E and SSCI based literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 68(P1), pages 492-510.
    12. Xia, Yan & Fan, Ying & Yang, Cuihong, 2015. "Assessing the impact of foreign content in China’s exports on the carbon outsourcing hypothesis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 296-307.
    13. Yuting Dang & Yating Song & Muhammad Mohiuddin & Dan Sheng, 2022. "Towards Cleaner Production Ecosystem: An Analysis of Embodied Industrial Pollution in International Trade of China’s Processing versus Normal Exports," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-21, August.
    14. Yan, Bingqian & Duan, Yuwan & Wang, Shouyang, 2020. "China’s emissions embodied in exports: How regional and trade heterogeneity matter," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    15. Jiang, Xuemei & Zhu, Kunfu & Green, Christopher, 2015. "China's energy saving potential from the perspective of energy efficiency advantages of foreign-invested enterprises," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 104-112.
    16. Zhengyan Liu & Xianqiang Mao & Peng Song, 2017. "GHGs and air pollutants embodied in China’s international trade: Temporal and spatial index decomposition analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(4), pages 1-19, April.
    17. Jiang, Xuemei & Green, Christopher, 2017. "The Impact on Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Geographic Shifts in Global Supply Chains," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 102-114.
    18. Ghazala Aziz & Zouheir Mighri, 2022. "Carbon Dioxide Emissions and Forestry in China: A Spatial Panel Data Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-40, October.
    19. Jiang, Xuemei & Duan, Yuwan & Green, Christopher, 2017. "Regional disparity in energy intensity of China and the role of industrial and export structure," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 209-218.
    20. Zhang, Youguo & Tang, Zhipeng, 2015. "Driving factors of carbon embodied in China's provincial exports," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 445-454.
    21. Lien-Chieh Lee & Yuan Wang & Yuanyuan Yan & Jian Zuo, 2018. "Greenhouse Gas Emissions Embodied in the Chinese International Trade of Computer Products," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-15, May.
    22. Duan, Yuwan & Yan, Bingqian, 2021. "Has processing trade made China's exports cleaner? A regional level analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    23. Liu, Hongguang & Liu, Weidong & Fan, Xiaomei & Zou, Wei, 2015. "Carbon emissions embodied in demand–supply chains in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 294-305.
    24. Xuemei Jiang & Quanrun Chen & Cuihong Yang, 2018. "A Comparison Of Producer, Consumer And Shared Responsibility Based On A New Inter-Country Input–Output Table Capturing Trade Heterogeneity," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 63(02), pages 295-311, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Emissions embodied in trade; China; Input–output modeling; Export processing; Spatial disaggregation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C67 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Input-Output Models
    • F18 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Environment
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

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