IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v184y2016icp1106-1113.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

‘Made in China’: A reevaluation of embodied CO2 emissions in Chinese exports using firm heterogeneity information

Author

Listed:
  • Liu, Yu
  • Meng, Bo
  • Hubacek, Klaus
  • Xue, Jinjun
  • Feng, Kuishuang
  • Gao, Yuning

Abstract

Emissions embodied in Chinese exports might be lower than commonly thought, which would increase China’s responsibility for carbon emissions under a consumption-based approach. Using an augmented Chinese input–output table in which information about firm ownership and type of traded goods are explicitly reported, we show that ignoring firm heterogeneity causes embodied CO2 emissions in Chinese exports to be overestimated by 20% at the national level, with huge differences at the sector level, for 2007. This is because different types of firms that are allocated to the same sector of the conventional Chinese input–output table vary greatly in terms of market share, production technology and carbon intensity. This overestimation of export-related carbon emissions would be even higher if it were not for the fact that 80% of CO2 emissions embodied in exports of foreign-owned firms are, in fact, emitted by Chinese-owned firms upstream in the supply chain. The main reason is that the largest CO2 emitter, the electricity sector located upstream in Chinese domestic supply chains, is strongly dominated by Chinese-owned firms with very high carbon intensity.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Yu & Meng, Bo & Hubacek, Klaus & Xue, Jinjun & Feng, Kuishuang & Gao, Yuning, 2016. "‘Made in China’: A reevaluation of embodied CO2 emissions in Chinese exports using firm heterogeneity information," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 1106-1113.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:184:y:2016:i:c:p:1106-1113
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.06.088
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261916308637
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.06.088?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert Koopman & Zhi Wang & Shang-Jin Wei, 2014. "Tracing Value-Added and Double Counting in Gross Exports," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(2), pages 459-494, February.
    2. Jiang, Xuemei & Guan, Dabo & Zhang, Jin & Zhu, Kunfu & Green, Christopher, 2015. "Firm ownership, China's export related emissions, and the responsibility issue," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 466-474.
    3. Su, Bin & Huang, H.C. & Ang, B.W. & Zhou, P., 2010. "Input-output analysis of CO2 emissions embodied in trade: The effects of sector aggregation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 166-175, January.
    4. Michieka, Nyakundi M. & Fletcher, Jerald & Burnett, Wesley, 2013. "An empirical analysis of the role of China’s exports on CO2 emissions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 258-267.
    5. Jan Ivar Korsbakken & Glen P. Peters & Robbie M. Andrew, 2016. "Uncertainties around reductions in China’s coal use and CO2 emissions," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 6(7), pages 687-690, July.
    6. Meng, Bo & Xue, Jinjun & Feng, Kuishuang & Guan, Dabo & Fu, Xue, 2013. "China’s inter-regional spillover of carbon emissions and domestic supply chains," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 1305-1321.
    7. Weber, Christopher L. & Peters, Glen P. & Guan, Dabo & Hubacek, Klaus, 2008. "The contribution of Chinese exports to climate change," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 3572-3577, September.
    8. Peters, Glen P., 2008. "From production-based to consumption-based national emission inventories," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 13-23, March.
    9. Kuishuang Feng & Yim Ling Siu & Dabo Guan & Klaus Hubacek, 2012. "Analyzing Drivers of Regional Carbon Dioxide Emissions for China," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 16(4), pages 600-611, August.
    10. Weber, Christopher L. & Matthews, H. Scott, 2008. "Quantifying the global and distributional aspects of American household carbon footprint," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2-3), pages 379-391, June.
    11. Xia, Yan & Fan, Ying & Yang, Cuihong, 2015. "Assessing the impact of foreign content in China’s exports on the carbon outsourcing hypothesis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 296-307.
    12. Jiahua Pan & Jonathan Phillips & Ying Chen, 2008. "China's balance of emissions embodied in trade: approaches to measurement and allocating international responsibility," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 24(2), pages 354-376, Summer.
    13. Su, Bin & Ang, B.W., 2014. "Input–output analysis of CO2 emissions embodied in trade: A multi-region model for China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 377-384.
    14. Su, Bin & Ang, B.W., 2013. "Input–output analysis of CO2 emissions embodied in trade: Competitive versus non-competitive imports," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 83-87.
    15. Dietzenbacher, Erik & Pei, Jiansuo & Yang, Cuihong, 2012. "Trade, production fragmentation, and China's carbon dioxide emissions," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 88-101.
    16. Xu, Ming & Li, Ran & Crittenden, John C. & Chen, Yongsheng, 2011. "CO2 emissions embodied in China's exports from 2002 to 2008: A structural decomposition analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(11), pages 7381-7388.
    17. Su, Bin & Ang, B.W., 2010. "Input-output analysis of CO2 emissions embodied in trade: The effects of spatial aggregation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 10-18, November.
    18. Ma, Hong & Wang, Zhi & Zhu, Kunfu, 2015. "Domestic content in China’s exports and its distribution by firm ownership," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 3-18.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wang, Zhenguo & Su, Bin & Xie, Rui & Long, Haiyu, 2020. "China’s aggregate embodied CO2 emission intensity from 2007 to 2012: A multi-region multiplicative structural decomposition analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    2. Hafiz Muhammad Abubakar Siddique & Areesha Aziz & Naima Shehzadi & Sumaira, 2022. "Financial Development, Exports, and Industrial Pollution: Evidence from Lower and Upper Middle-Income Countries," Journal of Policy Research (JPR), Research Foundation for Humanity (RFH), vol. 8(4), pages 335-343, December.
    3. Li, Meng & Meng, Bo & Gao, Yuning & Wang, Zhi & Zhang, Yaxiong & Sun, Yongping, 2022. "Tracing CO2 emissions in global value chains: Multinationals vs. domestically-owned firms," Sustainable Global Supply Chains Discussion Papers 2, Research Network Sustainable Global Supply Chains.
    4. Zhu, Bangzhu & Su, Bin & Li, Yingzhu & Ng, Tsan Sheng, 2020. "Embodied energy and intensity in China’s (normal and processing) exports and their driving forces, 2005-2015," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    5. Zhou, Meifang & Liu, Yu & Feng, Shenghao & Liu, Yang & Lu, Yingying, 2018. "Decomposition of rebound effect: An energy-specific, general equilibrium analysis in the context of China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 280-298.
    6. Picciolo, Francesco & Papandreou, Andreas & Hubacek, Klaus & Ruzzenenti, Franco, 2017. "How crude oil prices shape the global division of labor," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 753-761.
    7. Duan, Yuwan & Jiang, Xuemei, 2017. "Temporal Change of China's Pollution Terms of Trade and its Determinants," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 31-44.
    8. Fang, Delin & Chen, Bin, 2019. "Information-based ecological network analysis for carbon emissions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(C), pages 45-53.
    9. Zhong, Zhangqi & Jiang, Lei & Zhou, Peng, 2018. "Transnational transfer of carbon emissions embodied in trade: Characteristics and determinants from a spatial perspective," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 858-875.
    10. Mateo Ortiz & María‐Ángeles Cadarso & Luis‐Antonio López, 2020. "The carbon footprint of foreign multinationals within the European Union," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 24(6), pages 1287-1299, December.
    11. PU, Zhengning & YUE, Shujing & GAO, Peng, 2020. "The driving factors of China's embodied carbon emissions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    12. Duan, Yuwan & Yan, Bingqian, 2019. "Economic gains and environmental losses from international trade: A decomposition of pollution intensity in China's value-added trade," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 540-554.
    13. Meng, Bo & Wang, Jianguo & Andrew, Robbie & Xiao, Hao & Xue, Jinjun & Peters, Glen P., 2017. "Spatial spillover effects in determining China's regional CO2 emissions growth: 2007–2010," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 161-173.
    14. Zaman, Khalid & Abd-el Moemen, Mitwali, 2017. "The influence of electricity production, permanent cropland, high technology exports, and health expenditures on air pollution in Latin America and the Caribbean Countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 1004-1010.
    15. Su, Bin & Ang, B.W., 2017. "Multiplicative structural decomposition analysis of aggregate embodied energy and emission intensities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 137-147.
    16. Liu, Yajuan & Wang, Yutao & Mi, Zhifu & Ma, Zhongyu, 2018. "Carbon implications of China’s changing economic structure at the city level," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 163-171.
    17. Zhang, Zhonghua & Zhao, Yuhuan & Su, Bin & Zhang, Yongfeng & Wang, Song & Liu, Ya & Li, Hao, 2017. "Embodied carbon in China’s foreign trade: An online SCI-E and SSCI based literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 68(P1), pages 492-510.
    18. Meng, Bo & Liu, Yu & Andrew, Robbie & Zhou, Meifang & Hubacek, Klaus & Xue, Jinjun & Peters, Glen & Gao, Yuning, 2018. "More than half of China’s CO2 emissions are from micro, small and medium-sized enterprises," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C), pages 712-725.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yu, Liu & Meng, Bo & Hubacek, Klaus & Xue, Jinjun & Feng, Kuishuang & Gao, Yuning, 2016. "How does firm heterogeneity information impact the estimation of embodied carbon emissions in Chinese exports?," IDE Discussion Papers 592, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    2. Boya Zhang & Shukuan Bai & Yadong Ning & Tao Ding & Yan Zhang, 2020. "Emission Embodied in International Trade and Its Responsibility from the Perspective of Global Value Chain: Progress, Trends, and Challenges," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-26, April.
    3. Su, Bin & Thomson, Elspeth, 2016. "China's carbon emissions embodied in (normal and processing) exports and their driving forces, 2006–2012," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 414-422.
    4. Zhang, Youguo & Tang, Zhipeng, 2015. "Driving factors of carbon embodied in China's provincial exports," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 445-454.
    5. Yuhuan Zhao & Song Wang & Jiaqin Yang & Zhonghua Zhang & Ya Liu, 2016. "Input-output analysis of carbon emissions embodied in China-Japan trade," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(16), pages 1515-1529, April.
    6. Jiansuo Pei & Bo Meng & Fei Wang & Jinjun Xue & Zhongxiu Zhao, 2018. "Production Sharing, Demand Spillovers And Co2 Emissions: The Case Of Chinese Regions In Global Value Chains," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 63(02), pages 275-293, March.
    7. Su, Bin & Ang, B.W., 2017. "Multiplicative structural decomposition analysis of aggregate embodied energy and emission intensities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 137-147.
    8. Ding, Tao & Ning, Yadong & Zhang, Yan, 2018. "The contribution of China’s bilateral trade to global carbon emissions in the context of globalization," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 78-88.
    9. Su, Bin & Ang, B.W. & Low, Melissa, 2013. "Input–output analysis of CO2 emissions embodied in trade and the driving forces: Processing and normal exports," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 119-125.
    10. Su, Bin & Ang, B.W., 2014. "Attribution of changes in the generalized Fisher index with application to embodied emission studies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 778-786.
    11. Liu, Hongguang & Liu, Weidong & Fan, Xiaomei & Zou, Wei, 2015. "Carbon emissions embodied in demand–supply chains in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 294-305.
    12. Zhang, Zengkai & Guo, Ju'e & Hewings, Geoffrey J.D., 2014. "The effects of direct trade within China on regional and national CO2 emissions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 161-175.
    13. Liu, Qiaoling & Wang, Qi, 2015. "Reexamine SO2 emissions embodied in China's exports using multiregional input–output analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 39-50.
    14. Qi, Tianyu & Winchester, Niven & Karplus, Valerie J. & Zhang, Xiliang, 2014. "Will economic restructuring in China reduce trade-embodied CO2 emissions?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 204-212.
    15. Weitzel, Matthias & Ma, Tao, 2014. "Emissions embodied in Chinese exports taking into account the special export structure of China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 45-52.
    16. Duan, Yuwan & Jiang, Xuemei, 2017. "Temporal Change of China's Pollution Terms of Trade and its Determinants," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 31-44.
    17. Zhang, Bo & Yang, T.R. & Chen, B. & Sun, X.D., 2016. "China’s regional CH4 emissions: Characteristics, interregional transfer and mitigation policies," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 1184-1195.
    18. Zhu, Bangzhu & Su, Bin & Li, Yingzhu & Ng, Tsan Sheng, 2020. "Embodied energy and intensity in China’s (normal and processing) exports and their driving forces, 2005-2015," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    19. Su, Bin & Ang, B.W., 2013. "Input–output analysis of CO2 emissions embodied in trade: Competitive versus non-competitive imports," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 83-87.
    20. Xia, Yan & Fan, Ying & Yang, Cuihong, 2015. "Assessing the impact of foreign content in China’s exports on the carbon outsourcing hypothesis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 296-307.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:184:y:2016:i:c:p:1106-1113. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.