Multiperspective Decoupling Analyses between Global Embodied Carbon Chains and Global Value Chains.

Abstract

Decoupling global economic growth from carbon emissions is essential for mitigating global climate change while maintaining continuous economic growth. Traditional production-side decoupling analysis alone is insufficient to capture the decoupling status between carbon emissions and the value added throughout global supply chains. This study investigates the decoupling status between value added and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions during 1995-2019 from consumption and income perspectives. We find that the decoupling statuses of 17 regions (especially Russia, Australia, and Malta) show significant differences across multiple perspectives. For example, Malta's direct GHG emissions decreased with its GDP growth from a production perspective (i.e., achieved strong decoupling). However, its consumption-based GHG emissions increased with the growth of consumption-based value added (i.e., expansive negative decoupling). Moreover, most international pairs have not yet achieved strong decoupling from consumption and income perspectives. International multilateral cooperation is crucial for decoupling global GHG emissions from economic growth across global supply chains. This study provides insights into the decoupling between embodied GHG emissions and value added from consumption and income perspectives. The findings of this study can complement existing policies on global GHG emission mitigation and sustainable development.