Assessing Embodied Carbon Emission and Its Intensities in the ICT Industry: The Global Case

Xiucheng Dong,Qingzhe Jiang,Jianda Wang

doi:10.3389/fenrg.2021.685021

Abstract

With the intensification of globalization, the information and communication technologies (ICT) sector, as one of the emerging industrial sectors, has played an important role in reducing carbon emissions in regional trade and improving the energy efficiency of traded products. This article uses a multi-regional input-output (MRIO) model to explore the flow of embodied carbon emissions and embodied carbon emission intensities in the ICT sector triggered by trade in 15 major economies around the world from 2000 to 2014. The article further discusses the emission-reduction strategies of each ICT sector. The results show that: (1) The overall embodied carbon emissions of ICT have demonstrated a significant downward trend, but the proportion of embodied carbon emissions caused by trade is increasing; (2) The embodied carbon emissions in the ICT sector of most developed countries in 2014 are significantly lower than in 2000, but in developing countries such as China and India they show an upward trend during this period; (3) The ICT sector’s export embodied carbon emission intensity in Indonesia is much higher than that of other countries, and the embodied carbon emissions of ICT exported by Mexico have increased significantly; (4) The manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products (S1) is the main contributor to the ICT sector’s embodied carbon emissions, while import embodied carbon emission intensities among publishing activities (S2) are increasing significantly in most countries. The conclusion of this paper has important implications for how to reduce ICT’s embodied carbon emissions of major countries.

Highlights

With global warming and frequent disasters, countries are increasingly starting to realize the severity of climate change (Sun et al, 2020; Hou et al, 2021)
We explore the embodied carbon emissions of the global information and communication technologies (ICT) industry and the embodied carbon emissions of imports and exports of major economies, which is necessary to understand the developing trend and emission reduction direction of the global ICT industry; Second, we measure the mutual flow and intensities of embodied carbon emissions among major economies in the world, which can better evaluate the embodied carbon emissions in export and import, and conducive to the policy formulation and negotiation of cross-regional carbon emission reduction; Third, the embodied carbon emissions and intensities of various ICT industries have been calculated by this study, which shows heterogeneity in the ICT sector’s carbon emissions and provides a good reference for government to formulate emissionreduction strategies for enterprises
After investigating the embodied carbon emissions and embodied carbon emission intensities of the ICT sector in various countries, we find that there is relatively little understanding of the internal ICT sector, and the internal ICT manufacturing products or services that have caused the increase in embodied carbon emissions are worthy of attention

Summary

Introduction

With global warming and frequent disasters, countries are increasingly starting to realize the severity of climate change (Sun et al, 2020; Hou et al, 2021). Many scholars are actively exploring corresponding emission reduction strategies, including the use of clean energy or renewable energy to replace fossil fuels (Dong et al, 2017, 2018, Dong K. et al, 2020), optimizing the industrial structure (Dong et al, 2019, Dong B. et al, 2020; Zhu and Zhang, 2021), and increasing energy efficiency (He et al, 2021; Xu and Tan, 2021). As a new type of industry, the information and communication technologies (ICT) industry can partially replace high-energy-consuming products, and its success in this respect and its ability to reduce carbon emissions and use energy efficiently have received widespread attention from scholars. Global Energy Statistical Yearbook (2014) points out that ICT have an important role to play in reducing the energy intensity and increasing energy efficiency of the economy As a new type of industry, the information and communication technologies (ICT) industry can partially replace high-energy-consuming products, and its success in this respect and its ability to reduce carbon emissions and use energy efficiently have received widespread attention from scholars. Moyer and Hughes (2012) believe ICT can improve economic productivity, reduce energy intensity, and exert downward pressure on renewable energy costs. Global Energy Statistical Yearbook (2014) points out that ICT have an important role to play in reducing the energy intensity and increasing energy efficiency of the economy

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion