Calculation and Decomposition Analysis of Embodied Energy and Embodied Carbon Emissions in China’s Foreign Trade Based on Value-Added Trade

Abstract

Under the new mode of labor division for global production, the method of calculating a country’s energy consumption and carbon emissions is based on a “production side” principle that disregards the embodied energy and carbon emissions caused by international trade. This method is unfair to China and other large, exporting countries. From the perspective of value-added trade, the multiregional input–output model based on the world input–output table and environmental account from the World Input–Output Database are used to measure the scale of China’s value-added trade; subsequently, the import and export net values of China’s foreigntraderelated embodied energy and carbon emissions are calculated. The results show that: (1) China’s value-added exports in 2009 amounted to US $1,045.37 billion, which constitutes 21% of China’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in that year. Nearly half of the value-added exports are to fulfill the final demand from North America and European Union countries; manufacturing and service are the main value-added export industries of China. (2) China has a relatively high unit coefficient for value-added energy consumption and carbon emissions, both representing a net export of embodied energy and embodied carbon emissions in foreign trade. In this regard, energy and mid-level technology manufacturing industries, such as coke, refined oil, and nuclear fuel processing, are the main exporters of embodied energy and embodied carbon.