IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i16p6940-d1455460.html

Relational Global Value Chain Carbon Emissions and Their Network Structure Patterns: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Youfu Yue

    (School of Economics and Trade, Hunan University, Changsha 410079, China)

  • Junjun Hou

    (School of Economics and Trade, Hunan University, Changsha 410079, China
    School of Economics and Trade, Hunan University of Technology and Business, Changsha 410205, China)

  • Nuoya Yue

    (School of Economics and Trade, Hunan University, Changsha 410079, China)

  • Haofan Wang

    (School of Economics and Trade, Hunan University, Changsha 410079, China)

Abstract

The structure of the network among firms participating in global value chains is an important factor in understanding the changes in China’s carbon emissions. This paper focuses on the interdependence between firms and the interconnected networks to which they belong, utilizing an inter-country input–output model that distinguishes between domestic-owned enterprises and foreign-invested enterprises for measurement purposes. By distinguishing between domestic and cross-border global value chains, we illustrate the carbon emission effects of relational global value chains and their network structures, thereby contributing a Chinese perspective on relational global value chains and carbon emission reduction. This study reveals that (1) relational global value chain activities have emerged as a significant contributor to China’s carbon emissions, constituting approximately 26.8%, with its growth mainly stemming from the expansion of domestic global value chain emissions. At the sectoral level, relational global value chain activities lead to higher carbon emissions from the service sector than from the manufacturing sector. (2) Domestic global value chain relationship activities are more likely to have favorable economic and environmental trade-offs, as evidenced by the lower carbon intensity of the domestic global value chain than the cross-border global value chain. The circle-structured relationship activities between domestic-owned enterprises and foreign-invested enterprises are associated with more sustainable carbon emission growth and greater potential for emission reduction than the chain structure. (3) Structural decomposition analysis indicates that the impact of cross-border global value chain emissions on China’s carbon emission growth has been decreasing since 2012, while the influence of the domestic global value chain is on the rise and surpasses that of the cross-border global value chain by the end of the period.

Suggested Citation

  • Youfu Yue & Junjun Hou & Nuoya Yue & Haofan Wang, 2024. "Relational Global Value Chain Carbon Emissions and Their Network Structure Patterns: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-24, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:16:p:6940-:d:1455460
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/16/6940/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/16/6940/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Laura Alfaro & Pol Antràs & Davin Chor & Paola Conconi, 2019. "Internalizing Global Value Chains: A Firm-Level Analysis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(2), pages 508-559.
    2. Baldwin, Richard & Venables, Anthony J., 2013. "Spiders and snakes: Offshoring and agglomeration in the global economy," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(2), pages 245-254.
    3. Su, Bin & Ang, B.W., 2023. "Structural decomposition analysis applied to energy and emissions: Frameworks for monthly data," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    4. Erik Dietzenbacher & Bart Los, 1998. "Structural Decomposition Techniques: Sense and Sensitivity," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(4), pages 307-324.
    5. Tsekeris, Theodore, 2017. "Global value chains: Building blocks and network dynamics," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 488(C), pages 187-204.
    6. Cole, Matthew A. & Elliott, Robert J.R. & Strobl, Eric, 2008. "The environmental performance of firms: The role of foreign ownership, training, and experience," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 538-546, April.
    7. Jiang, Xiaochen & Shen, Jim Huangnan & Lee, Chien-Chiang & Chen, Chong, 2021. "Supply-side structural reform and dynamic capital structure adjustment: Evidence from Chinese-listed firms," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    8. Yan, Yunfeng & Li, Xiyuan & Wang, Ran & Pan, An, 2023. "Global value chain and export-embodied carbon emissions: New evidence from foreign-invested enterprises," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    9. Alonso Alfaro-Ureña & Isabela Manelici & Jose P Vasquez, 2022. "The Effects of Joining Multinational Supply Chains: New Evidence from Firm-to-Firm Linkages," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 137(3), pages 1495-1552.
    10. Zhu, Kunfu & Guo, Xuefan & Zhang, Zengkai, 2022. "Reevaluation of the carbon emissions embodied in global value chains based on an inter-country input-output model with multinational enterprises," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 307(C).
    11. Robert Koopman & Zhi Wang & Shang-Jin Wei, 2014. "Tracing Value-Added and Double Counting in Gross Exports," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(2), pages 459-494, February.
    12. Xing, Yuqing & Huang, Shaopeng, 2021. "Value captured by China in the smartphone GVC– A tale of three smartphone handsets," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 256-266.
    13. Pol Antràs & Davin Chor, 2013. "Organizing the Global Value Chain," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 81(6), pages 2127-2204, November.
    14. Mariarosaria Agostino & Emanuele Brancati & Anna Giunta & Domenico Scalera & Francesco Trivieri, 2020. "Firms' efficiency and global value chains: An empirical investigation on Italian industry," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(4), pages 1000-1033, April.
    15. Fang, Guochang & Huang, Meng & Zhang, Wenbin & Tian, Lixin, 2024. "Exploring global embodied carbon emissions transfer network—An analysis based on national responsibility," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    16. Liena Kano, 2018. "Global value chain governance: A relational perspective," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(6), pages 684-705, August.
    17. Sébastien Miroudot & Ming Ye, 2020. "Multinational production in value-added terms," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(3), pages 395-412, July.
    18. Ferrantino, Michael J. & Taglioni, Daria, 2014. "Global Value Chains in the Current Trade Slowdown," World Bank - Economic Premise, The World Bank, issue 138, pages 1-6, March.
    19. Meng, Bo & Peters, Glen P. & Wang, Zhi & Li, Meng, 2018. "Tracing CO2 emissions in global value chains," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 24-42.
    20. Pol Antràs & Davin Chor, 2021. "Global Value Chains," NBER Working Papers 28549, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Yuning Gao & Bo Meng & Gabriele Suder & Jiabai Ye & Yongping Sun, . "Making global value chains visible: Transnational corporations versus domestically owned firms," UNCTAD Transnational Corporations Journal, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
    22. Benno Ferrarini, 2013. "Vertical Trade Maps," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 27(2), pages 105-123, June.
    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. Manuel A. Zambrano-Monserrate & Gonzalo Hernández Soto, 2026. "Who pays the environmental price of global integration? Evidence from CO2 emissions and GVC participation," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 1-30, May.
    2. Jiangbai Liu & Yadong Ning & Shukuan Bai & Boya Zhang, 2025. "The Characteristics of Carbon Emissions Embodied in China’s International Economic Circulation Based on Global Value Chains," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-25, March.

    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. Yue, Youfu & Hou, Junjun & Zhang, Meichen & Ye, Jiabai, 2024. "Does the sticky relationships of global value chains help stabilize employment? Evidence from China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 632-651.
    2. Yuning Gao & Bo Meng & Gabriele Suder & Jiabai Ye & Yongping Sun, . "Making global value chains visible: Transnational corporations versus domestically owned firms," UNCTAD Transnational Corporations Journal, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
    3. Meng, Bo & Ye, Ming, 2022. "Smile curves in global value chains: Foreign- vs. domestic-owned firms; the U.S. vs. China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 15-29.
    4. Nenci, Silvia & Fusacchia, Ilaria & Giunta, Anna & Montalbano, Pierluigi & Pietrobelli, Carlo, . "Mapping global value chain participation and positioning in agriculture and food: stylised facts, empirical evidence and critical issues," Bio-based and Applied Economics Journal, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA), vol. 11(2).
    5. Pan, Chen & He, Jianwu & Zhu, Lingxiu & Li, Shantong & Zhou, Dequn, 2025. "Tracing Chinese provincial CO2 emissions in cross-border production – An accounting base for decarbonizing production chains," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 322(C).
    6. Pol Antràs & Davin Chor, 2021. "Global Value Chains," NBER Working Papers 28549, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Chor, Davin & Manova, Kalina & Yu, Zhihong, 2021. "Growing like China: Firm performance and global production line position," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    8. Li, Meng & Gao, Yuning & Meng, Bo & Meng, Jing, 2023. "Tracing embodied energy use through global value chains: Channel decomposition and analysis of influential factors," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    9. Charlie Joyez, 2019. "Alignment of Multinational Firms along Global Value Chains: A Network-based Perspective," GREDEG Working Papers 2019-05, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    10. A. Giunta & P. Montalbano & S. Nenci, 2022. "Consistency of micro- and macro-level data on global value chains: Evidence from selected European countries," International Economics, CEPII research center, issue 171, pages 130-142.
    11. Bilgehan Karabay, 2024. "The link between organizational choice and global input sourcing under sequential production," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(4), pages 1751-1786, September.
    12. Agbekponou, Kossi-Messanh & Cheptea, Angela & Latouche, Karine, 2022. "Quality upgrading and position in global value chains," 2022: Transforming Global Value Chains, December 11-13, Clearwater Beach, FL 339411, International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium.
    13. Udo Kreickemeier & Zhan Qu, 2020. "International trade with sequential production," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 69(4), pages 1101-1125, June.
    14. Chen, Xiaoping & Lu, Yi & Zhu, Lianming, 2017. "Product cycle, contractibility, and global sourcing," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 283-296.
    15. Arne J. Nagengast & Robert Stehrer, 2016. "The Great Collapse in Value Added Trade," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 392-421, May.
    16. M Mancini & P Montalbano & S Nenci & D Vurchio, 2024. "Positioning in Global Value Chains: World Map and Indicators, a New Dataset Available for GVC Analyses," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 38(4), pages 669-690.
    17. Ilaria Fusacchia & Jean Balié & Luca Salvatici, 2022. "The AfCFTA impact on agricultural and food trade: a value added perspective," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 49(1), pages 237-284.
    18. Yang, Qizhong, 2024. "Heterogeneous impact of non-tariff measures on import margins through global value chains: Firm-level evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 533-562.
    19. Aichele, Rahel & Heiland, Inga, 2018. "Where is the value added? Trade liberalization and production networks," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 130-144.
    20. Zhong, Zhangqi & Guo, Zhifang & Zhang, Jianwu, 2021. "Does the participation in global value chains promote interregional carbon emissions transferring via trade? Evidence from 39 major economies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:16:p:6940-:d:1455460. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.