Abstract
This study seeks to estimate the carbon implications of recent changes in China’s economic development patterns and role in global trade in the post-financial-crisis era. We utilised the latest socioeconomic datasets to compile China’s 2012 multiregional input-output (MRIO) table. Environmentally extended input-output analysis and structural decomposition analysis (SDA) were applied to investigate the driving forces behind changes in CO2 emissions embodied in China’s domestic and foreign trade from 2007 to 2012. Here we show that emission flow patterns have changed greatly in both domestic and foreign trade since the financial crisis. Some economically less developed regions, such as Southwest China, have shifted from being a net emission exporter to being a net emission importer. In terms of foreign trade, emissions embodied in China’s exports declined from 2007 to 2012 mainly due to changes in production structure and efficiency gains, while developing countries became the major destination of China’s export emissions.
Highlights
This study seeks to estimate the carbon implications of recent changes in China’s economic development patterns and role in global trade in the post-financial-crisis era
In China, large amounts of CO2 emissions related to goods and services consumed in the richer eastern coastal provinces are imported from poorer provinces in Central and Western China
Great imbalances in CO2 emissions embodied in domestic trade are a reflection of the discrepancies in the levels of economic development between provinces
Summary
This study seeks to estimate the carbon implications of recent changes in China’s economic development patterns and role in global trade in the post-financial-crisis era. Extended input-output analysis and structural decomposition analysis (SDA) were applied to investigate the driving forces behind changes in CO2 emissions embodied in China’s domestic and foreign trade from 2007 to 2012. The per capita consumption and GDP growth has been much faster in western China than in eastern China since the global financial crisis. Su and Thomson[10] estimated China’s emissions embodied in both processing and normal exports during 2006–2012 and applied structural decomposition analysis (SDA) to identify the driving forces to the embodied emission changes. Their results show that the driving forces changed greatly after the financial crisis. The share of domestic value added in China’s exports has increased since 2005, suggesting that China’s exports are moving to higher value-added products rather than cheap products[11]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
