IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/chinae/v22y2014i4p102-120.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

CO 2 Emissions Embodied in China's Foreign Trade: An Investigation from the Perspective of Global Vertical Specialization

Author

Listed:
  • Yuhuan Zhao
  • Zhonghua Zhang
  • Song Wang
  • Shaojun Wang

Abstract

In light of the growth in vertically specialized in global trade, the present paper uses input– output tables from the World Input–Output Database to construct an environmental multi-regional input–output model to calculate the CO 2 emissions embodied in China's international trade during 1995–2009. The advantage of this model lies in its incorporation of the re-exported CO 2 emissions component embodied in trade and its ability to differentiate domesticsourced CO 2 emissions from foreign-sourced CO 2 emissions in trade. The results show that carbon emissions embodied in both China's exports and imports increased significantly during 1995–2009. One important reason for this is that the re-exported carbon emissions embodied in China's imported intermediate inputs increased substantially during this period. Our research reveals that accelerating the transformation of trade pattern and upgrading processing trade should be emphasized in the formulation of policy to prompt CO 2 emissions abatement in China.

Suggested Citation

  • Yuhuan Zhao & Zhonghua Zhang & Song Wang & Shaojun Wang, 2014. "CO 2 Emissions Embodied in China's Foreign Trade: An Investigation from the Perspective of Global Vertical Specialization," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 22(4), pages 102-120, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:chinae:v:22:y:2014:i:4:p:102-120
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/j.1749-124X.2014.12077.x
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    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. Rudolfs Bems & Robert C. Johnson & Kei-Mu Yi, 2011. "Vertical Linkages and the Collapse of Global Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 308-312, May.
    2. Chen, Z.M. & Chen, G.Q., 2011. "Embodied carbon dioxide emission at supra-national scale: A coalition analysis for G7, BRIC, and the rest of the world," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 2899-2909, May.
    3. Liu, Ying & Jayanthakumaran, Kankesu & Neri, Frank, 2013. "Who is responsible for the CO2 emissions that China produces?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1412-1419.
    4. Lenzen, Manfred & Murray, Joy & Sack, Fabian & Wiedmann, Thomas, 2007. "Shared producer and consumer responsibility -- Theory and practice," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 27-42, February.
    5. Judith M. Dean & K. C. Fung & Zhi Wang, 2011. "Measuring Vertical Specialization: The Case of China," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(4), pages 609-625, September.
    6. Weber, Christopher L. & Peters, Glen P. & Guan, Dabo & Hubacek, Klaus, 2008. "The contribution of Chinese exports to climate change," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 3572-3577, September.
    7. Peters, Glen P., 2008. "From production-based to consumption-based national emission inventories," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 13-23, March.
    8. Youguo Zhang, 2012. "Scale, Technique and Composition Effects in Trade-Related Carbon Emissions in China," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 51(3), pages 371-389, March.
    9. Wiedmann, Thomas & Lenzen, Manfred & Turner, Karen & Barrett, John, 2007. "Examining the global environmental impact of regional consumption activities -- Part 2: Review of input-output models for the assessment of environmental impacts embodied in trade," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 15-26, February.
    10. Hummels, David & Ishii, Jun & Yi, Kei-Mu, 2001. "The nature and growth of vertical specialization in world trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 75-96, June.
    11. Wang, Yafei & Zhao, Hongyan & Li, Liying & Liu, Zhu & Liang, Sai, 2013. "Carbon dioxide emission drivers for a typical metropolis using input–output structural decomposition analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 312-318.
    12. Liu, Zhu & Geng, Yong & Lindner, Soeren & Zhao, Hongyan & Fujita, Tsuyoshi & Guan, Dabo, 2012. "Embodied energy use in China's industrial sectors," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 751-758.
    13. 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.
    14. Marques, Alexandra & Rodrigues, João & Lenzen, Manfred & Domingos, Tiago, 2012. "Income-based environmental responsibility," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 57-65.
    15. Dietzenbacher, Erik & Pei, Jiansuo & Yang, Cuihong, 2012. "Trade, production fragmentation, and China's carbon dioxide emissions," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 88-101.
    16. Leontief, Wassily, 1970. "Environmental Repercussions and the Economic Structure: An Input-Output Approach," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 52(3), pages 262-271, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pérez-Sánchez, Laura & Velasco-Fernández, Raúl & Giampietro, Mario, 2021. "The international division of labor and embodied working time in trade for the US, the EU and China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    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.

    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. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. Xu, Xueliu & Wang, Qian & Ran, Chenyang & Mu, Mingjie, 2021. "Is burden responsibility more effective? A value-added method for tracing worldwide carbon emissions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    7. 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.
    8. Maria Csutora & Zs�fia Vetőn� m�zner, 2014. "Proposing a beneficiary-based shared responsibility approach for calculating national carbon accounts during the post-Kyoto era," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(5), pages 599-616, September.
    9. Su, Bin & Ang, B.W., 2014. "Attribution of changes in the generalized Fisher index with application to embodied emission studies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 778-786.
    10. 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.
    11. Zhang, Youguo & Tang, Zhipeng, 2015. "Driving factors of carbon embodied in China's provincial exports," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 445-454.
    12. Su, Bin & Ang, B.W., 2017. "Multiplicative structural decomposition analysis of aggregate embodied energy and emission intensities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 137-147.
    13. Peng, Shuijun & Zhang, Wencheng & Sun, Chuanwang, 2016. "‘Environmental load displacement’ from the North to the South: A consumption-based perspective with a focus on China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 147-158.
    14. Zhang, Youguo, 2015. "Provincial responsibility for carbon emissions in China under different principles," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 142-153.
    15. Markaki, M. & Belegri-Roboli, A. & Sarafidis, Υ. & Mirasgedis, S., 2017. "The carbon footprint of Greek households (1995–2012)," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 206-215.
    16. Ninpanit, Panittra & Malik, Arunima & Wakiyama, Takako & Geschke, Arne & Lenzen, Manfred, 2019. "Thailand’s energy-related carbon dioxide emissions from production-based and consumption-based perspectives," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    17. Zhu, Yongbin & Shi, Yajuan & Wu, Jing & Wu, Leying & Xiong, Wen, 2018. "Exploring the Characteristics of CO2 Emissions Embodied in International Trade and the Fair Share of Responsibility," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 574-587.
    18. Wei Zhen & Quande Qin & Lei Jiang, 2022. "Heterogeneous Domestic Intermediate Input-Related Carbon Emissions in China’s Exports," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 81(3), pages 453-479, March.
    19. Dietzenbacher, Erik & Pei, Jiansuo & Yang, Cuihong, 2012. "Trade, production fragmentation, and China's carbon dioxide emissions," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 88-101.
    20. Marques, Alexandra & Rodrigues, João & Domingos, Tiago, 2013. "International trade and the geographical separation between income and enabled carbon emissions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 162-169.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:bla:chinae:v:22:y:2014:i:4:p:102-120. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iwepacn.html .

    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.