IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v107y2017icp158-166.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Recalculating CO2 emissions from the perspective of value-added trade: An input-output analysis of China's trade data

Author

Listed:
  • Xu, Xueliu
  • Mu, Mingjie
  • Wang, Qian

Abstract

Using traditional trade statistics to calculate CO2 emissions embodied in international trade results in significant miscalculations and a deeper divide between countries. The aim of this research is to provide a reasonable estimate of carbon emissions to help policymakers in each country address their actual share of responsibility. This study employs the World Input-Output Database and the gross export decomposition methodology to recount the CO2 emissions embodied in China's international trade from the perspective of value-added trade. The result shows that reliance on traditional statistics caused a significant overestimation of China's imports and exports: US$ 398.77 billion and US$ 504.46 billion for China's imports and exports, respectively. Our findings suggest that 177.24 million tons of carbon emissions embodied in imports and 907.636 million tons of carbon emission embodied in exports were over calculated. The result obtained with traditional calculation methods has artificially increased the responsibility share of China in the global emissions reduction. We also compare the CO2 emission coefficients of China with those of other countries. Our findings suggest that the high emission coefficients of most Chinese industrial sectors determine the carbon emissions embodied in China's exports to be higher than in its imports.

Suggested Citation

  • Xu, Xueliu & Mu, Mingjie & Wang, Qian, 2017. "Recalculating CO2 emissions from the perspective of value-added trade: An input-output analysis of China's trade data," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 158-166.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:107:y:2017:i:c:p:158-166
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2017.04.026
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421517302513
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2017.04.026?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. Marcel P. Timmer & Erik Dietzenbacher & Bart Los & Robert Stehrer & Gaaitzen J. Vries, 2015. "An Illustrated User Guide to the World Input–Output Database: the Case of Global Automotive Production," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(3), pages 575-605, August.
    2. Shui, Bin & Harriss, Robert C., 2006. "The role of CO2 embodiment in US-China trade," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(18), pages 4063-4068, December.
    3. 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.
    4. Rodrigues, Joao & Domingos, Tiago & Giljum, Stefan & Schneider, Francois, 2006. "Designing an indicator of environmental responsibility," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(3), pages 256-266, September.
    5. 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.
    6. Machado, Giovani & Schaeffer, Roberto & Worrell, Ernst, 2001. "Energy and carbon embodied in the international trade of Brazil: an input-output approach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 409-424, December.
    7. Lenzen, Manfred & Murray, Joy & Sack, Fabian & Wiedmann, Thomas, 2007. "Shared producer and consumer responsibility -- Theory and practice," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 27-42, February.
    8. 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.
    9. Lin, Boqiang & Sun, Chuanwang, 2010. "Evaluating carbon dioxide emissions in international trade of China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 613-621, January.
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    12. Hu, Yu & Monroy, Carlos Rodríguez, 2012. "Chinese energy and climate policies after Durban: Save the Kyoto Protocol," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 3243-3250.
    13. Rodrigues, João & Domingos, Tiago, 2008. "Consumer and producer environmental responsibility: Comparing two approaches," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2-3), pages 533-546, June.
    14. Du, Huibin & Guo, Jianghong & Mao, Guozhu & Smith, Alexander M. & Wang, Xuxu & Wang, Yuan, 2011. "CO2 emissions embodied in China-US trade: Input-output analysis based on the emergy/dollar ratio," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 5980-5987, October.
    15. 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.
    16. Johnson, Robert C. & Noguera, Guillermo, 2012. "Accounting for intermediates: Production sharing and trade in value added," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 224-236.
    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. Simplice A. Asongu, 2017. "ICT, Openness and CO2 emissions in Africa," Research Africa Network Working Papers 17/055, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    2. Wang, Xiaoqing & Sun, Xing & Oprean-Stan, Camelia & Chang, Tsangyao, 2023. "What role does global value chain participation play in emissions embodied in trade? New evidence from value-added trade," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1205-1223.
    3. 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.
    4. Jing Wang & Jie Li, 2021. "Exploring the Impact of International Trade on Carbon Emissions: New Evidence from China’s 282 Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-12, August.
    5. Deng, Guangyao & Xu, Yan, 2017. "Accounting and structure decomposition analysis of embodied carbon trade: A global perspective," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 140-151.
    6. Asongu, Simplice A. & Le Roux, Sara & Biekpe, Nicholas, 2017. "Environmental degradation, ICT and inclusive development in Sub-Saharan Africa," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 353-361.
    7. Munir Ahmad & Gul Jabeen & Syed Ahsan Ali Shah & Abdul Rehman & Fayyaz Ahmad & Cem Işik, 2022. "Assessing long- and short-run dynamic interplay among balance of trade, aggregate economic output, real exchange rate, and CO2 emissions in Pakistan," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(5), pages 7283-7323, May.
    8. Jingyao Peng & Yidi Sun & Junnian Song & Wei Yang, 2020. "Exploring Potential Pathways toward Energy-Related Carbon Emission Reduction in Heavy Industrial Regions of China: An Input–Output Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-20, March.
    9. Jin, Yi & Tang, Xu & Feng, Cuiyang & Höök, Mikael, 2017. "Energy and water conservation synergy in China: 2007–2012," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 206-215.
    10. Fang, Guochang & Huang, Meng & Zhang, Wenbin & Tian, Lixin, 2024. "Exploring global embodied carbon emissions transfer network—An analysis based on national responsibility," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    11. Xu, Xueliu & Wang, Qian & Ran, Chenyang & Mu, Mingjie, 2021. "Is burden responsibility more effective? A value-added method for tracing worldwide carbon emissions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    12. Craig Langston & Edwin H. W. Chan & Esther H. K. Yung, 2018. "Hybrid Input-Output Analysis of Embodied Carbon and Construction Cost Differences between New-Build and Refurbished Projects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-15, September.
    13. Fan, Xiaojia & Wu, Sanmang & Lei, Yalin & Li, Shantong & Li, Li, 2020. "Have China's resource-based regions improved in the division of GVCs? — Taking Shanxi Province as an example," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    14. Guo, Shan & Zheng, Shupeng & Hu, Yunhao & Hong, Jingke & Wu, Xiaofang & Tang, Miaohan, 2019. "Embodied energy use in the global construction industry," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).

    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. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. Xu, Xueliu & Wang, Qian & Ran, Chenyang & Mu, Mingjie, 2021. "Is burden responsibility more effective? A value-added method for tracing worldwide carbon emissions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    4. 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.
    5. Misato Sato, 2014. "Embodied Carbon In Trade: A Survey Of The Empirical Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 831-861, December.
    6. 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.
    7. Zhang, Youguo & Tang, Zhipeng, 2015. "Driving factors of carbon embodied in China's provincial exports," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 445-454.
    8. 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.
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    12. Wen Wen & Qi Wang, 2017. "Are Developed Regions in China Achieving Their CO 2 Emissions Reduction Targets on Their Own?—Case of Beijing," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-25, November.
    13. Zhou, Dequn & Zhou, Xiaoyong & Xu, Qing & Wu, Fei & Wang, Qunwei & Zha, Donglan, 2018. "Regional embodied carbon emissions and their transfer characteristics in China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 180-193.
    14. 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.
    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. Hongguang Liu & Xiaomei Fan, 2017. "Value-Added-Based Accounting of CO 2 Emissions: A Multi-Regional Input-Output Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-18, December.
    17. 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.
    18. Zhang, Youguo, 2013. "The responsibility for carbon emissions and carbon efficiency at the sectoral level: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 967-975.
    19. 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.
    20. 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).

    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:enepol:v:107:y:2017:i:c:p:158-166. 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/locate/enpol .

    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.