IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecmode/v150y2025ics0264999325001294.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Imported inputs reduce carbon intensity: Evidence from Indian manufacturing firms

Author

Listed:
  • Azim, Rumi
  • Sawhney, Aparna

Abstract

We examine the role of imported inputs in reducing carbon emission-intensity of Indian manufacturing firms during 1993-94 through 2018-19, and discern a differential impact between single-product versus diversified multi-product firms. Beginning with fixed effects panel regression analysis, followed by regression analysis of a propensity-score matched sample to control for endogeneity, we find robust evidence that imported intermediate inputs and imported capital goods significantly reduced firms’ emission intensity. Consistent with the literature, we find that more productive firms and exporting firms have lower emission-intensity. For multi-product firms, environmental benefit of imported capital goods is particularly pronounced compared to single-product firms. Moreover, in-house R&D exhibited significant complementarity with imported capital goods in reducing emission intensity for less-productive multi-product firms. We conclude that imported inputs together with own R&D will enhance firm environmental performance and help India achieve its Nationally Determined Contribution commitment in climate mitigation under the Paris Agreement.

Suggested Citation

  • Azim, Rumi & Sawhney, Aparna, 2025. "Imported inputs reduce carbon intensity: Evidence from Indian manufacturing firms," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:150:y:2025:i:c:s0264999325001294
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2025.107134
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264999325001294
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econmod.2025.107134?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.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Carbon emission intensity; Manufacturing firm; India; Export; Imported input; Imported technology;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • 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
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth

    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:eee:ecmode:v:150:y:2025:i:c:s0264999325001294. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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/30411 .

    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.