Under the United National Framework Convention of Climate Change (UNFCCC) countries are required to submit National Emission Inventories (NEI) to benchmark reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) ...emissions. Depending on the definition and system boundary of the NEI, the mitigation options and priorities may vary. The territorial system boundary used by the UNFCCC has been critiqued for not including international transportation and potentially causing carbon leakage. To address these issues, past literature has argued in favour of using consumption-based NEI in climate policy. This article discusses several issues in moving from the standard production-based NEI to consumption-based NEI. First, two distinct accounting approaches for constructing consumption-based NEI are presented. The approaches differ in the allocation of intermediate consumption of imported products. Second, a consistent method of weighting production-based and consumption-based NEI is discussed. This is an extension of the previous literature on shared responsibility to NEI. Third, due to increased uncertainty and a wide system boundary it may be difficult to implement consumption-based NEI directly into climate policy. Several alternative options for incorporating consumption-based inventories into climate policy are discussed.
This paper integrates two lines of research into a unified conceptual framework: trade in value-added and embodied emissions in trade. This allows both value-added and emissions to be systematically ...traced at the country, sector, and bilateral levels through various routes in global value chains. By combining value-added and emissions accounting in a consistent way, the potential environmental cost along global value chains can be estimated from different perspectives like production, consumption, and trade. Using this unified accounting framework, we trace value-added and CO2 emissions in global production and trade networks among 41 economies in 35 sectors from 1995 to 2009 based on the World Input–Output Database, and show how they improve our understanding of the impacts of cross-border production sharing on the environment.
•We integrate two lines of research into a unified accounting framework: trade in value-added and embodied emissions.•The distinction between forward and backward linkage is the key to measure embodied emissions at sector and bilateral levels.•We show the potential environmental cost along global value chains from perspectives of production, consumption, and trade.•The empirical results can significantly improve our understanding on the impact of cross-border production sharing on the environment.
Processes causing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions benefit humans by providing consumer goods and services. This benefit, and hence the responsibility for emissions, varies by purpose or consumption ...category and is unevenly distributed across and within countries. We quantify greenhouse gas emissions associated with the final consumption of goods and services for 73 nations and 14 aggregate world regions. We analyze the contribution of 8 categories: construction, shelter, food, clothing, mobility, manufactured products, services, and trade. National average per capita footprints vary from 1 tCO2e/y in African countries to ∼30t/y in Luxembourg and the United States. The expenditure elasticity is 0.57. The cross-national expenditure elasticity for just CO2, 0.81, corresponds remarkably well to the cross-sectional elasticities found within nations, suggesting a global relationship between expenditure and emissions that holds across several orders of magnitude difference. On the global level, 72% of greenhouse gas emissions are related to household consumption, 10% to government consumption, and 18% to investments. Food accounts for 20% of GHG emissions, operation and maintenance of residences is 19%, and mobility is 17%. Food and services are more important in developing countries, while mobility and manufactured goods rise fast with income and dominate in rich countries. The importance of public services and manufactured goods has not yet been sufficiently appreciated in policy. Policy priorities hence depend on development status and country-level characteristics.
Carbon footprints and embodied carbon have a strong methodological foundation and provide valuable input into policy formation. The widespread use of carbon footprints using existing knowledge needs ...to be encouraged and even regulated. At the product level, carbon footprints can empower consumers to shape their own climate friendly behaviour and help governments design policies that do not give the wrong incentives. Companies can use carbon footprints to reduce exposure to carbon prices or highlight the positive actions they have taken. Cities and regions can use carbon footprints to implement local policies that help meet overarching national objectives. National carbon footprints can help design equitable and efficient climate agreements that avoid shifting problems to other administrative territories. Further advances can provide strong interdisciplinary links between the physical carbon-cycle, emission drivers, and policy at a variety of scales.
Despite the emergence of regional climate policies, growth in global COâ emissions has remained strong. From 1990 to 2008 COâ emissions in developed countries (defined as countries with ...emission-reduction commitments in the Kyoto Protocol, Annex B) have stabilized, but emissions in developing countries (non-Annex B) have doubled. Some studies suggest that the stabilization of emissions in developed countries was partially because of growing imports from developing countries. To quantify the growth in emission transfers via international trade, we developed a trade-linked global database for COâ emissions covering 113 countries and 57 economic sectors from 1990 to 2008. We find that the emissions from the production of traded goods and services have increased from 4.3 Gt COâ in 1990 (20% of global emissions) to 7.8 Gt COâ in 2008 (26%). Most developed countries have increased their consumption-based emissions faster than their territorial emissions, and non-energy-intensive manufacturing had a key role in the emission transfers. The net emission transfers via international trade from developing to developed countries increased from 0.4 Gt COâ in 1990 to 1.6 Gt COâ in 2008, which exceeds the Kyoto Protocol emission reductions. Our results indicate that international trade is a significant factor in explaining the change in emissions in many countries, from both a production and consumption perspective. We suggest that countries monitor emission transfers via international trade, in addition to territorial emissions, to ensure progress toward stabilization of global greenhouse gas emissions.
supply chain of CO2 emissions Davis, Steven J; Peters, Glen P; Caldeira, Ken
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS,
11/2011, Letnik:
108, Številka:
45
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
CO2 emissions from the burning of fossil fuels are conventionally attributed to the country where the emissions are produced (i.e., where the fuels are burned). However, these production-based ...accounts represent a single point in the value chain of fossil fuels, which may have been extracted elsewhere and may be used to provide goods or services to consumers elsewhere. We present a consistent set of carbon inventories that spans the full supply chain of global CO2 emissions, finding that 10.2 billion tons CO2 or 37% of global emissions are from fossil fuels traded internationally and an additional 6.4 billion tons CO2 or 23% of global emissions are embodied in traded goods. Our results reveal vulnerabilities and benefits related to current patterns of energy use that are relevant to climate and energy policy. In particular, if a consistent and unavoidable price were imposed on CO2 emissions somewhere along the supply chain, then all of the parties along the supply chain would seek to impose that price to generate revenue from taxes collected or permits sold. The geographical concentration of carbon-based fuels and relatively small number of parties involved in extracting and refining those fuels suggest that regulation at the wellhead, mine mouth, or refinery might minimize transaction costs as well as opportunities for leakage.
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