Carbon Emissions in International Trade: Calculating Size and Causes

Qiu Qiang  and Li Qingqing
Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade, Shanghai, China

 
Abstract: Due to ongoing growth in carbon emission, many governments have taken measures to curb it. Thus, it is of great importance to measure carbon emissions in international trade and probe into the causes behind them. This paper first applies input output model, then it estimates the carbon emissions embodied in China’s international trade in 2002, 2005 and 2007. Using structural decomposition analysis, this paper measures carbon emissions in international trade by their scale effect, composition effect and intensity effect. Our results illustrate: (1) a rapidly-rising net export of carbon emissions for China, and (2) scale effect and composition effect stimulates carbon emissions embodied in exports, while intensity effect discourages it.
Keywords: international trade, carbon emissions, input-output model, structural decomposition

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