IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v191y2024ics1364032123010419.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Identifying critical transmission sectors, paths, and carbon communities for CO2 mitigation in global supply chains

Author

Listed:
  • Zhu, Qingyuan
  • Xu, Chengzhen
  • Pan, Yinghao
  • Wu, Jie

Abstract

The critical transmission hubs in global supply chain networks have great potential to reduce carbon emissions, yet this has not received much attention from existing studies. This research combines the structural path betweenness, an extended structural path analysis, and a multi-level modularity optimization algorithm to identify key transmission sectors, paths, and carbon communities in a global supply chain network using the environmentally extended multi-regional input-output analysis. The results show that (1) China's metal industry, power industry, and non-metallic industry are the most crucial transmission centers, and some sectors, such as the paper industry and textile industry in China, are also key transmission hubs, yet they are ignored by traditional accounting methods. From a national viewpoint, China is the most key transmission hub, and its high betweenness is mainly caused by domestic demand. Meanwhile, the CO2 emissions transferred by China to satisfy foreign demand are mainly related to the US, ROW (especially the Asia-Pacific region), and Japan. (2) The transmitted carbon emission is mainly concentrated in the first four production layers, accounting for 69.46 % of the total. (3) The global carbon emission network can be divided into 20 carbon communities. And the largest communities are mainly led by mainland China. Most of the communities contain various national sectors, which offer evidence for international cooperation strategies. The results offer policymakers a new perspective on mitigating environmental stress.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhu, Qingyuan & Xu, Chengzhen & Pan, Yinghao & Wu, Jie, 2024. "Identifying critical transmission sectors, paths, and carbon communities for CO2 mitigation in global supply chains," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:191:y:2024:i:c:s1364032123010419
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2023.114183
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032123010419
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2023.114183?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. Mattila, Tuomas & Koskela, Sirkka & Seppälä, Jyri & Mäenpää, Ilmo, 2013. "Sensitivity analysis of environmentally extended input–output models as a tool for building scenarios of sustainable development," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 148-155.
    2. Zhen, Wei & Qin, Quande & Zhong, Zhangqi & Li, Li & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2018. "Uncovering household indirect energy-saving responsibility from a sectoral perspective: An empirical analysis of Guangdong, China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 451-461.
    3. Xuechun Yang & Sai Liang & Jianchuan Qi & Cuiyang Feng & Shen Qu & Ming Xu, 2021. "Identifying sectoral impacts on global scarce water uses from multiple perspectives," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(6), pages 1503-1517, December.
    4. Richard Wood & Karsten Neuhoff & Dan Moran & Moana Simas & Michael Grubb & Konstantin Stadler, 2020. "The structure, drivers and policy implications of the European carbon footprint," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(S1), pages 39-57, April.
    5. Ali, Yousaf & Pretaroli, Rosita & Socci, Claudio & Severini, Francesca, 2018. "Carbon and water footprint accounts of Italy: A Multi-Region Input-Output approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P2), pages 1813-1824.
    6. Feng, Cuiyang & Tang, Xu & Jin, Yi & Guo, Yuhua & Zhang, Xiaochuan, 2019. "Regional energy-water nexus based on structural path betweenness: A case study of Shanxi Province, China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 102-112.
    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. M. Cordier & T. Poitelon & W. Hecq, 2019. "The shared environmental responsibility principle: new developments applied to the case of marine ecosystems," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(2), pages 228-247, April.
    9. Huang, Li & Kelly, Scott & Shi, Xunpeng & Lv, Kangjuan & Lu, Xuan & Giurco, Damien, 2022. "Maximizing the effectiveness of carbon emissions abatement in China across carbon communities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    10. Shohei Tokito & Shigemi Kagawa & Tesshu Hanaka, 2022. "Hypothetical extraction, betweenness centrality, and supply chain complexity," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1), pages 111-128, January.
    11. Kehan He & Zhifu Mi & Long Chen & D'Maris Coffman & Sai Liang, 2021. "Critical transmission sectors in embodied atmospheric mercury emission network in China," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(6), pages 1644-1656, December.
    12. Stavros Afionis & Marco Sakai & Kate Scott & John Barrett & Andy Gouldson, 2017. "Consumption‐based carbon accounting: does it have a future?," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(1), January.
    13. Tokito, Shohei, 2018. "Environmentally-Targeted Sectors and Linkages in the Global Supply-Chain Complexity of Transport Equipment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 177-183.
    14. Lenzen, Manfred, 2003. "Environmentally important paths, linkages and key sectors in the Australian economy," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 1-34, March.
    15. Zhou, Sheng & Tong, Qing & Pan, Xunzhang & Cao, Min & Wang, Hailin & Gao, Ji & Ou, Xunmin, 2021. "Research on low-carbon energy transformation of China necessary to achieve the Paris agreement goals: A global perspective," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    16. Pang, Qinghua & Dong, Xianwei & Zhang, Lina & Chiu, Yung-ho, 2023. "Drivers and key pathways of the household energy consumption in the Yangtze river economic belt," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(PA).
    17. Liu, Ying & Jayanthakumaran, Kankesu & Neri, Frank, 2013. "Who is responsible for the CO2 emissions that China produces?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1412-1419.
    18. Konstantin Stadler & Richard Wood & Tatyana Bulavskaya & Carl†Johan Södersten & Moana Simas & Sarah Schmidt & Arkaitz Usubiaga & José Acosta†Fernández & Jeroen Kuenen & Martin Bruckner & Stefan, 2018. "EXIOBASE 3: Developing a Time Series of Detailed Environmentally Extended Multi†Regional Input†Output Tables," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 22(3), pages 502-515, June.
    19. Sai Liang & Yu Feng & Ming Xu, 2015. "Structure of the Global Virtual Carbon Network: Revealing Important Sectors and Communities for Emission Reduction," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 19(2), pages 307-320, April.
    20. Mi, Zhifu & Zhang, Yunkun & Guan, Dabo & Shan, Yuli & Liu, Zhu & Cong, Ronggang & Yuan, Xiao-Chen & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2016. "Consumption-based emission accounting for Chinese cities," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 1073-1081.
    21. Maeno, Keitaro & Tokito, Shohei & Kagawa, Shigemi, 2022. "CO2 mitigation through global supply chain restructuring," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    22. Hanaka, Tesshu & Kagawa, Shigemi & Ono, Hirotaka & Kanemoto, Keiichiro, 2017. "Finding environmentally critical transmission sectors, transactions, and paths in global supply chain networks," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 44-52.
    23. Astrid Kander & Magnus Jiborn & Daniel D. Moran & Thomas O. Wiedmann, 2015. "National greenhouse-gas accounting for effective climate policy on international trade," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 5(5), pages 431-435, May.
    24. Ali, Yousaf, 2017. "Carbon, water and land use accounting: Consumption vs production perspectives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 921-934.
    25. Zhen, Wei & Qin, Quande & Miao, Lu, 2023. "The greenhouse gas rebound effect from increased energy efficiency across China's staple crops," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    26. Cheng, Xuelei & Wu, Xudong & Guan, Chenghe & Sun, Xudong & Zhang, Bo, 2023. "Impacts of production structure changes on global CH4 emissions: Evidences from income-based accounting and decomposition analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    27. Li, Yingzhu & Su, Bin & Dasgupta, Shyamasree, 2018. "Structural path analysis of India's carbon emissions using input-output and social accounting matrix frameworks," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 457-469.
    28. Zhou, Xiaoyong & Zhou, Dequn & Wang, Qunwei & Su, Bin, 2019. "How information and communication technology drives carbon emissions: A sector-level analysis for China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 380-392.
    29. Peters, Glen P., 2008. "From production-based to consumption-based national emission inventories," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 13-23, March.
    30. Wen, Wen & Feng, Cuiyang & Zhou, Hao & Zhang, Li & Wu, Xiaohui & Qi, Jianchuan & Yang, Xuechun & Liang, Yuhan, 2021. "Critical provincial transmission sectors for carbon dioxide emissions in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    31. Zhang, Lulu & Yu, Chang & Cheng, Baodong & Yang, Chao & Chang, Yuan, 2020. "Mitigating climate change by global timber carbon stock: Accounting, flow and allocation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    32. Feng, Cuiyang & Dong, Liyan & Adbiat, Muhsen & Xu, Lixiao & Yu, Ao, 2023. "Critical transmission sectors in China's energy supply chains," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 266(C).
    33. Wang, Saige & Chen, Bin, 2018. "Three-Tier carbon accounting model for cities," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 229(C), pages 163-175.
    34. Li, Yiming & Wang, Zhaohua & He, Weijun & Zhao, Yuandong & Xu, Ming & Zhang, Bin, 2021. "Critical transmission sectors for CO2 emission mitigation in supply chains," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    35. Tiago Domingos & Jorge E. Zafrilla & Luis A. López, 2016. "Consistency of technology-adjusted consumption-based accounting," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 6(8), pages 729-730, August.
    36. Marques, Alexandra & Rodrigues, João & Lenzen, Manfred & Domingos, Tiago, 2012. "Income-based environmental responsibility," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 57-65.
    37. Zhang, Zengkai, 2018. "Technology-adjusted national carbon accounting for a greener trade pattern," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 274-285.
    38. Zhan-Ming Chen & Stephanie Ohshita & Manfred Lenzen & Thomas Wiedmann & Magnus Jiborn & Bin Chen & Leo Lester & Dabo Guan & Jing Meng & Shiyun Xu & Guoqian Chen & Xinye Zheng & JinJun Xue & Ahmed Alsa, 2018. "Consumption-based greenhouse gas emissions accounting with capital stock change highlights dynamics of fast-developing countries," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-9, December.
    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. Zhu, Qingyuan & Xu, Chengzhen & Lee, Chien-Chiang, 2024. "Trade-induced carbon-economic inequality within China: Measurement, sources, and determinants," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(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. Li, Yingzhu & Su, Bin, 2024. "Identification of the bias in embodied emissions flows and their sources," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    2. 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).
    3. Xuechun Yang & Sai Liang & Jianchuan Qi & Cuiyang Feng & Shen Qu & Ming Xu, 2021. "Identifying sectoral impacts on global scarce water uses from multiple perspectives," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(6), pages 1503-1517, December.
    4. Zhang, Lulu & Yu, Chang & Cheng, Baodong & Yang, Chao & Chang, Yuan, 2020. "Mitigating climate change by global timber carbon stock: Accounting, flow and allocation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    5. Maeno, Keitaro, 2023. "Identifying critical sectors in the restructuring of low-carbon global supply chains," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(PA).
    6. de Boer, Bertram F. & Rodrigues, João F.D. & Tukker, Arnold, 2019. "Modeling reductions in the environmental footprints embodied in European Union's imports through source shifting," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1-1.
    7. Airebule, Palizha & Cheng, Haitao & Ishikawa, Jota, 2023. "Assessing carbon emissions embodied in international trade based on shared responsibility," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    8. Li, Jia Shuo & Zhou, H.W. & Meng, Jing & Yang, Q. & Chen, B. & Zhang, Y.Y., 2018. "Carbon emissions and their drivers for a typical urban economy from multiple perspectives: A case analysis for Beijing city," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C), pages 1076-1086.
    9. Wei Yang & Junnian Song, 2019. "Depicting Flows of Embodied Water Pollutant Discharge within Production System: Case of an Undeveloped Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-15, July.
    10. 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.
    11. Yuhuan Zhao & Zhonghua Zhang & Song Wang & Shaojun Wang, 2014. "CO 2 Emissions Embodied in China's Foreign Trade: An Investigation from the Perspective of Global Vertical Specialization," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 22(4), pages 102-120, July.
    12. Ninpanit, Panittra & Malik, Arunima & Wakiyama, Takako & Geschke, Arne & Lenzen, Manfred, 2019. "Thailand’s energy-related carbon dioxide emissions from production-based and consumption-based perspectives," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    13. Wen, Wen & Feng, Cuiyang & Zhou, Hao & Zhang, Li & Wu, Xiaohui & Qi, Jianchuan & Yang, Xuechun & Liang, Yuhan, 2021. "Critical provincial transmission sectors for carbon dioxide emissions in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    14. Zhu, Yongbin & Shi, Yajuan & Wu, Jing & Wu, Leying & Xiong, Wen, 2018. "Exploring the Characteristics of CO2 Emissions Embodied in International Trade and the Fair Share of Responsibility," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 574-587.
    15. Zhou, Xiaoyong & Zhou, Dequn & Wang, Qunwei & Su, Bin, 2020. "Who shapes China's carbon intensity and how? A demand-side decomposition analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    16. Wang, Jiayu & Ji, Chang-Jing & Liu, Yu & Shan, Yuli & Hubacek, Klaus & Wei, Yi-Ming & Wang, Ke, 2024. "Re-investigating the shared responsibility for trade-embodied carbon emissions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    17. Yan, Yunfeng & Li, Xiyuan & Wang, Ran & Meng, Bo & Zhao, Zhongxiu & Li, Xuemeng, 2024. "Visible carbon emissions vs. invisible value-added: Re-evaluating the emissions responsibility of multinational enterprises in global value chains," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    18. Xu, Zhongwen & Huang, Liqiao & Liao, Maolin & Xue, Jinjun & Yoshida, Yoshikuni & Long, Yin, 2022. "Quantifying consumption-based carbon emissions of major economic sectors in Japan considering the global value chain," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 330-341.
    19. Wang, Jianda & Yang, Senmiao & Dong, Kangyin & Nepal, Rabindra, 2024. "Assessing embodied carbon emission and its drivers in China's ICT sector: Multi-regional input-output and structural decomposition analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    20. Ivanova, Diana & Wieland, Hanspeter, 2023. "Tracing carbon footprints to intermediate industries in the United Kingdom," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).

    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:rensus:v:191:y:2024:i:c:s1364032123010419. 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/600126/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.