IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/streco/v46y2018icp180-193.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Regional embodied carbon emissions and their transfer characteristics in China

Author

Listed:
  • Zhou, Dequn
  • Zhou, Xiaoyong
  • Xu, Qing
  • Wu, Fei
  • Wang, Qunwei
  • Zha, Donglan

Abstract

Estimating embodied carbon emissions (ECEs) in inter-regional trade and uncovering their transfer characteristics are of great significance to the efficient allocation of regional carbon responsibilities. With a multi-regional input-output (MRIO) model, this study first estimated the China’s regional ECEs during 2002–2012, and then investigated how they transferred through major regions and key industries. Finally, a structural decomposition analysis (SDA) was used to analyze the driving factors of changes in China’s regional ECEs. The results indicate that: (1) China’s regional ECEs have increased by 197%, from 518 Mt in 2002 to 1537 Mt in 2012; (2) ECEs have mainly transferred from less developed regions like northwest to developed regions like east coast through carbon-intensive manufacturing industries, testifying that “pollution heaven” hypothesis did work in China to some extent; (3) inter-regional trade scale growth was the dominant factor in increasing regional ECEs, while technological progress in exporting regions played a key restraining role. Based on the results, we provide some relevant suggestions for China’s regional carbon reduction policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhou, Dequn & Zhou, Xiaoyong & Xu, Qing & Wu, Fei & Wang, Qunwei & Zha, Donglan, 2018. "Regional embodied carbon emissions and their transfer characteristics in China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 180-193.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:streco:v:46:y:2018:i:c:p:180-193
    DOI: 10.1016/j.strueco.2018.05.008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0954349X18300389
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.strueco.2018.05.008?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Su, Bin & Huang, H.C. & Ang, B.W. & Zhou, P., 2010. "Input-output analysis of CO2 emissions embodied in trade: The effects of sector aggregation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 166-175, January.
    2. Eder, Peter & Narodoslawsky, Michael, 1999. "What environmental pressures are a region's industries responsible for? A method of analysis with descriptive indices and input-output models," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 359-374, June.
    3. 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.
    4. Dabo Guan & David M. Reiner, 2009. "Emissions affected by trade among developing countries," Nature, Nature, vol. 462(7270), pages 159-159, November.
    5. Hoekstra, Rutger & van den Bergh, Jeroen C. J. M., 2003. "Comparing structural decomposition analysis and index," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 39-64, January.
    6. Zhu Liu & Dabo Guan & Wei Wei & Steven J. Davis & Philippe Ciais & Jin Bai & Shushi Peng & Qiang Zhang & Klaus Hubacek & Gregg Marland & Robert J. Andres & Douglas Crawford-Brown & Jintai Lin & Hongya, 2015. "Reduced carbon emission estimates from fossil fuel combustion and cement production in China," Nature, Nature, vol. 524(7565), pages 335-338, August.
    7. Mi, Zhifu & Zhang, Yunkun & Guan, Dabo & Shan, Yuli & Liu, Zhu & Cong, Ronggang & Yuan, Xiao-Chen & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2016. "Consumption-based emission accounting for Chinese cities," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 1073-1081.
    8. Shui, Bin & Harriss, Robert C., 2006. "The role of CO2 embodiment in US-China trade," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(18), pages 4063-4068, December.
    9. Laike Yang, 2012. "CO2 Emissions Embodied in International Trade — A Comparison on BRIC Countries," Competence Centre on Money, Trade, Finance and Development 1203, Hochschule fuer Technik und Wirtschaft, Berlin.
    10. Elena Ianchovichina & Will Martin, 2004. "Impacts of China's Accession to the World Trade Organization," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 18(1), pages 3-27.
    11. Lin, Boqiang & Sun, Chuanwang, 2010. "Evaluating carbon dioxide emissions in international trade of China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 613-621, January.
    12. Wiedmann, Thomas, 2009. "A review of recent multi-region input-output models used for consumption-based emission and resource accounting," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 211-222, December.
    13. Wyckoff, Andrew W. & Roop, Joseph M., 1994. "The embodiment of carbon in imports of manufactured products : Implications for international agreements on greenhouse gas emissions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 187-194, March.
    14. Su, Bin & Ang, B.W. & Low, Melissa, 2013. "Input–output analysis of CO2 emissions embodied in trade and the driving forces: Processing and normal exports," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 119-125.
    15. Jiahua Pan & Jonathan Phillips & Ying Chen, 2008. "China's balance of emissions embodied in trade: approaches to measurement and allocating international responsibility," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 24(2), pages 354-376, Summer.
    16. 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.
    17. Nadim Ahmad & Andrew Wyckoff, 2003. "Carbon Dioxide Emissions Embodied in International Trade of Goods," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2003/15, OECD Publishing.
    18. Su, Bin & Ang, B.W., 2010. "Input-output analysis of CO2 emissions embodied in trade: The effects of spatial aggregation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 10-18, November.
    19. Meng, Bo & Xue, Jinjun & Feng, Kuishuang & Guan, Dabo & Fu, Xue, 2013. "China’s inter-regional spillover of carbon emissions and domestic supply chains," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 1305-1321.
    20. Zhifu Mi & Jing Meng & Dabo Guan & Yuli Shan & Malin Song & Yi-Ming Wei & Zhu Liu & Klaus Hubacek, 2017. "Chinese CO2 emission flows have reversed since the global financial crisis," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-10, December.
    21. Erik Dietzenbacher & Bart Los, 1998. "Structural Decomposition Techniques: Sense and Sensitivity," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(4), pages 307-324.
    22. Manfred Lenzen & Lise-Lotte Pade & Jesper Munksgaard, 2004. "CO2 Multipliers in Multi-region Input-Output Models," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(4), pages 391-412.
    23. Li, You & Hewitt, C.N., 2008. "The effect of trade between China and the UK on national and global carbon dioxide emissions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 1907-1914, June.
    24. Su, Bin & Ang, B.W., 2014. "Input–output analysis of CO2 emissions embodied in trade: A multi-region model for China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 377-384.
    25. Koesler, Simon & Swales, Kim & Turner, Karen, 2016. "International spillover and rebound effects from increased energy efficiency in Germany," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 444-452.
    26. Wang, Yuan & Wang, Wenqin & Mao, Guozhu & Cai, Hua & Zuo, Jian & Wang, Lili & Zhao, Peng, 2013. "Industrial CO2 emissions in China based on the hypothetical extraction method: Linkage analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1238-1244.
    27. Dong, Yanli & Ishikawa, Masanobu & Liu, Xianbing & Wang, Can, 2010. "An analysis of the driving forces of CO2 emissions embodied in Japan-China trade," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 6784-6792, November.
    28. Liu, Xianbing & Ishikawa, Masanobu & Wang, Can & Dong, Yanli & Liu, Wenling, 2010. "Analyses of CO2 emissions embodied in Japan-China trade," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 1510-1518, March.
    29. Su, Bin & Ang, B.W., 2011. "Multi-region input–output analysis of CO2 emissions embodied in trade: The feedback effects," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 42-53.
    30. Sun, Licheng & Wang, Qunwei & Zhang, Jijian, 2017. "Inter-industrial Carbon Emission Transfers in China: Economic Effect and Optimization Strategy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 55-62.
    31. Zhang, Zengkai & Guo, Ju'e & Hewings, Geoffrey J.D., 2014. "The effects of direct trade within China on regional and national CO2 emissions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 161-175.
    32. Deng, Guangyao & Xu, Yan, 2017. "Accounting and structure decomposition analysis of embodied carbon trade: A global perspective," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 140-151.
    33. Fujimori, Shinichiro & Matsuoka, Yuzuru, 2011. "Development of method for estimation of world industrial energy consumption and its application," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 461-473, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. Zhang, Youguo & Tang, Zhipeng, 2015. "Driving factors of carbon embodied in China's provincial exports," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 445-454.
    4. Wen Wen & Qi Wang, 2017. "Are Developed Regions in China Achieving Their CO 2 Emissions Reduction Targets on Their Own?—Case of Beijing," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-25, November.
    5. Qi, Tianyu & Winchester, Niven & Karplus, Valerie J. & Zhang, Xiliang, 2014. "Will economic restructuring in China reduce trade-embodied CO2 emissions?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 204-212.
    6. Sun, Licheng & Wang, Qunwei & Zhang, Jijian, 2017. "Inter-industrial Carbon Emission Transfers in China: Economic Effect and Optimization Strategy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 55-62.
    7. 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.
    8. Yuhuan Zhao & Song Wang & Jiaqin Yang & Zhonghua Zhang & Ya Liu, 2016. "Input-output analysis of carbon emissions embodied in China-Japan trade," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(16), pages 1515-1529, April.
    9. Guo, Ju’e & Zhang, Zengkai & Meng, Lei, 2012. "China’s provincial CO2 emissions embodied in international and interprovincial trade," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 486-497.
    10. Su, Bin & Ang, B.W. & Low, Melissa, 2013. "Input–output analysis of CO2 emissions embodied in trade and the driving forces: Processing and normal exports," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 119-125.
    11. Zhong, Zhangqi & Jiang, Lei & Zhou, Peng, 2018. "Transnational transfer of carbon emissions embodied in trade: Characteristics and determinants from a spatial perspective," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 858-875.
    12. Hehua Zhao & Hongwen Chen & Lei He, 2022. "Embodied Carbon Emissions and Regional Transfer Characteristics—Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-20, February.
    13. Hongguang Liu & Xiaomei Fan, 2017. "Value-Added-Based Accounting of CO 2 Emissions: A Multi-Regional Input-Output Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-18, December.
    14. 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.
    15. Jayanthakumaran, Kankesu & Liu, Ying, 2016. "Bi-lateral CO2 emissions embodied in Australia–China trade," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 205-213.
    16. Su, Bin & Ang, B.W., 2013. "Input–output analysis of CO2 emissions embodied in trade: Competitive versus non-competitive imports," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 83-87.
    17. Liu, Qiaoling & Wang, Qi, 2015. "Reexamine SO2 emissions embodied in China's exports using multiregional input–output analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 39-50.
    18. Ding, Tao & Ning, Yadong & Zhang, Yan, 2018. "The contribution of China’s bilateral trade to global carbon emissions in the context of globalization," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 78-88.
    19. Zhang, Zengkai & Guo, Ju'e & Hewings, Geoffrey J.D., 2014. "The effects of direct trade within China on regional and national CO2 emissions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 161-175.
    20. Hehua Zhao & Hongwen Chen & Ying Fang & Apei Song, 2022. "Transfer Characteristics of Embodied Carbon Emissions in Export Trade—Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-21, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:streco:v:46:y:2018:i:c:p:180-193. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/525148 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.