China’s construction industry-linked economy-resources-environment flow in international trade

Abstract

During construction, a large number of resources are consumed; concurrently, a large amount of greenhouse gas is emitted, which contributes to air pollution. There exist close interactions among construction regions. This study examined the main economy-resources-environment indexes associated with China’s construction industry, embodied in international trade based on the Eora database, by using the input-output model. It investigated the linkages of the economy-resources-environment nexus and suggests recommendations accordingly. We found that the total amount of input consumption and output emissions in China’s construction activities increased rapidly, both locally and abroad. China pulled much more emissions from construction-related activities abroad than the latter pulled from China. The overseas regions’ dependence on China’s construction industry gradually increased. Overall, China’s construction activities accelerated the rate of foreign countries’ resource utilization and air pollution more than it did economic profits for some of these countries. The effects on countries differed. China’s construction industry was closely related to the Asian, African, and Latin American undeveloped regions. In regard to the developed regions, cooperation with Australia, the UK, Sweden and Russia was more frequent. There existed a close relationship between all the economy-resources-environment indexes. Based on the findings, protective measures were suggested, including avoiding unnecessary construction activities, optimizing China’s economic and energy use structure, improving the efficient use of resources, strengthening environmental protection both abroad and locally, as well as reducing the export of products with high energy or resources consumption.