Abstract
This paper extends the IO-SDA (input–output and structural decomposition analysis) method to decompose the CBAPT (cross-border air pollutant transfer) into different effects, and reveals the status of CBAPT and analyzes influencing factors affecting the CBAPT in China–US trade by comparing China with the US in these factors. This study found that China was a net air pollutant exporter, and this indicates the air pollutants were transferred from the US into China through China–US trade. On the whole, the China energy intensity, China emission coefficient, and import scale effects decreased the CBAPT, whereas the export scale and US emission coefficient effects increased the CBAPT; the influences of export structure, US energy intensity, and import structure on CBAPT were uncertain. The sectoral distribution of effects on the CBAPT in China–US trade was unbalanced, which was mainly concentrated in heavy industry and transportation. The China energy intensity, China emission coefficient, and import scale effects inhibited sectoral CBAPT, and the export scale effect promoted this sectoral transfer. Other effects on the sectoral transfer were negligible. This paper provides some policy suggestions based on empirical results.
Highlights
Pollution transfer is a major issue in the research area of the relationship between trade and environment, and it is mainly concentrated on the cross-border transfer caused by the trade between developed and developing countries
The following questions arise: Does China–US trade conform to the “environmental cost transfer” hypothesis, i.e., are the major air pollutants transferred from the US to China? What are the key factors affecting the transfer of air pollutants in China–US trade? Do these factors drive or inhibit cross-border air pollutant transfer (CBAPT)? How can the CBAPT in China–US trade be mitigated? The answers to these questions are helpful to scientifically recognize the CBAPT in China–US trade process and provide the basis for formulating the coordinated development policy between international trade and the environment
This means a large amount of air pollutants were transferred from the US into China in China–US trade. This result is consistent with Yu and Chen (2017) [25], Long et al (2018) [24], and Xu et al (2019) [2]. They suggested that a large number of air pollutants and greenhouse gases (GHGs) were transferred through trade from developed countries, such as the US, Japan, and Korea, into China
Summary
Pollution transfer is a major issue in the research area of the relationship between trade and environment, and it is mainly concentrated on the cross-border transfer caused by the trade between developed and developing countries. China–US trade is the most important research object in the study of cross-border pollution transfer in international trade. Air pollutants are caused by mixtures of gaseous, volatile, semi-volatile, and particulate matter, and they mainly include dust, inhalable particulate matter (PM), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), and so on, where SO2, NOx, and particulate matter with diameters less than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) are representative and major air pollutants We used these three types of air pollutants in this study. The money from export can meet some internal needs, this results in the cross-border air pollutant transfer (CBAPT) from other countries into China. China–US trade plays an extremely important role in China’s economic development. In this regard, the following questions arise: Does China–US trade conform to the “environmental cost transfer” hypothesis, i.e., are the major air pollutants transferred from the US to China? The following questions arise: Does China–US trade conform to the “environmental cost transfer” hypothesis, i.e., are the major air pollutants transferred from the US to China? What are the key factors affecting the transfer of air pollutants in China–US trade? Do these factors drive or inhibit CBAPT? How can the CBAPT in China–US trade be mitigated? The answers to these questions are helpful to scientifically recognize the CBAPT in China–US trade process and provide the basis for formulating the coordinated development policy between international trade and the environment
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