Emissions in maritime transport: A decomposition analysis from the perspective of production-based and consumption-based emissions

Abstract

Since most of the carbon emissions from maritime transportation occur in the international sea, it is difficult to divide the emission responsibilities, which hinders the control of maritime transportation carbon emissions. To clarify the emission responsibility, these key drivers of maritime transport carbon emission from the perspectives of both production-based and consumption-based was decomposed by combining the multi-regional input-output model and structural decomposition analysis. The results show: (1) The overall emissions of the maritime transport showed a trend of "rising- slightly falling-stable", which was mainly affected by the globalization and the economic crisis. (2) Owing to the differences in geographic location and economic level, the change pattern of emissions varied among the 11 major maritime emission countries. Among them, the United States was the only net importer of carbon emissions embodied in maritime transport. (3) In general, the decline in emission intensity had always played a positive role in carbon emission reduction, and the production-oriented and demand-oriented structural adjustments had become new driving forces for maritime transport decarbonization in the later period.