Sources and flows of embodied CO2 emissions in import and export trade of China

Abstract

This paper uses the Global Trade Analysis Project (version 7) database to calculate embodied CO2 emissions in bilateral trade between China and other countries (regions) based on input-output methods. The sources and flows of embodied CO2 emissions in import and export trade of China are analyzed. Results show that the flows of embodied CO2 emissions in export trade are highly concentrated. The main flows to the United States (US) and Japan account for 1/4 and 1/7 of the total CO2 emissions in export trade, respectively. Concentrated flows of total exports and small differences in export structure are the main reasons for the highly concentrated export trade. The sources of embodied CO2 emissions in import trade have relatively low concentration. Taiwan Province of China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, US, Russia, Republic of Korea, and Japan account for around 7.72%–12.67% of the total embodied CO2 emissions in import trade. The relative dispersion of import sources, the impact of the import structure, and the level of production technology in importing countries caused low concentration of CO2 emissions in import trade. Overall, the embodied CO2 emissions in the export trade of China are higher than those in import trade. As a result, production-based CO2 emissions are higher than consumption-based CO2 emissions. The difference of 8.96 × 108 t of CO2, which comes mainly from the US, Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom, accounts for 58.70% of the total difference. Some suggestions, such as improving energy efficiency, alerting high carbon-intensive industries transfer, expanding the market for sharing risks, and prompting the accounting system of consumption-based CO2 emissions, are proposed based on the results.