What Accounts for the Growth of Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Advanced and Emerging Economies? The Role of Consumption, Technology, and Global Supply Chain Trade

Benno Ferrarini, Gaaitzen J. De Vries
2015 Social Science Research Network  
on ongoing and recently completed research and policy studies undertaken by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) staff, consultants, or resource persons. The series deals with key economic and development problems, particularly those facing the Asia and Pacific region; as well as conceptual, analytical, or methodological issues relating to project/program economic analysis, and statistical data and measurement. The series aims to enhance the knowledge on Asia's development and policy challenges;
more » ... engthen analytical rigor and quality of ADB's country partnership strategies, and its subregional and country operations; and improve the quality and availability of statistical data and development indicators for monitoring development effectiveness. ABSTRACT v I. ABSTRACT Climate policy pledges and negotiations involve commitments about the reduction of emissions within national borders. However, the rise of global value chains has changed the nature of production and international trade, blurring the attribution of ultimate responsibility for emissions. This paper applies a novel method that examines the change in territorial emissions due to changes in energy intensity, supply chain participation, and domestic and foreign consumption. Our findings suggest that rising levels of domestic consumption are related to increased carbon dioxide emissions in both advanced and emerging economies. A substantial share of emissions growth in emerging economies is accounted for by higher participation in global production networks that serve expanding foreign consumption. However, even for economies that most rapidly integrated in global production networks, such as the People's Republic of China, rising domestic consumption accounts for the bulk of territorial emissions. Improved energy efficiency partially stemmed the spike in emissions from higher consumer demand.
doi:10.2139/ssrn.2708827 fatcat:tsho5qmlvrgprmravozel234sq