CO 2 emissions vs. CO 2 responsibility: An input–output approach for the Turkish economy

Abstract

Recently, global warming (greenhouse effect) and its effects have become one of the hottest topics in the world agenda. There have been several international attempts to reduce the negative effects of global warming. The Kyoto Protocol can be cited as the most important agreement which tries to limit the countries’ emissions within a time horizon. For this reason, it becomes important to calculate the greenhouse gas emissions of countries. The aim of this study is to estimate the amount of CO 2—the most important greenhouse gas—emissions, for the Turkish economy. An extended input–output model is estimated by using 1996 data in order to identify the sources of CO 2 emissions and to discuss the share of sectors in total emission. Besides, ‘CO 2 responsibility’, which takes into account the CO 2 content of imports, is estimated for the Turkish economy. The sectoral CO 2 emissions and CO 2 responsibilities are compared and these two notions are linked to foreign trade volume. One of the main conclusions is that the manufacturing industry has the first place in both of the rankings for CO 2 emissions and CO 2 responsibilities, while agriculture and husbandry has the last place.