Oslo, 9 March 2010

Nearly one-quarter of global carbon dioxide emissions were the result of exports to rich countries: A new study by researchers at the Carnegie Institution of Washington examined consumption-based CO2 emissions – output from the production of goods destined for another country. They used results from 2004, the year with the most complete data on economic sectoral activities.

The report’s authors found that 6.2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels were emitted during the production of goods consumed in another country.

The impact of consumption-related emissions are not factored into traditional emissions inventories, the authors pointed out.

China Exports

China was by far the largest exporter of emissions, releasing 1.4 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide – 23 per cent – to produce goods consumed in other countries or regions. Its emissions stemming from imports were significantly lower.

China’s emissions embodied in trade (EET) stem largely from exports of intermediary goods (787 million tonnes), machinery (134 million tonnes), electronics (117 million) and clothing (80 million), among others.

Representatives of the world’s largest overall emitter of greenhouse gases have often argued in global climate talks that rich countries should be responsible for emissions from Chinese-produced exports.

The authors said international climate policy should aim to ensure that China does not have to shoulder all the burden of its consumer product-related emissions.

“To the extent that constraints on emissions in developing countries are the major impediment to effective international climate policy, allocating responsibility for some portion of these emissions to final consumers elsewhere may represent an opportunity for compromise,” the authors wrote.

US and EU

Emissions imported to the US were higher than of any other country or region, according to the report.

They stemmed mainly from the production of machinery (91 million tonnes), cars and car parts (75 million), electronics (77 million) among other products.

But according to the report, this was offset somewhat by US exports of transport services, machinery, electronics, cars and other intermediate goods.

In contrast to the US, the report found that goods imported to western Europe and Japan embodied much more carbon dioxide per dollar than their highly-valued (per energy unit) exports.

The carbon intensity of US products is more than double of goods produced in western Europe, according to the report. In western Europe, imported emissions account from 20-50 per cent of its consumption-related emissions.

This is significantly higher than the net imported emissions ratio in Japan and the US at 17.8 per cent and 10.8 per cent.

The study, written by Steven Davis and Ken Caldeira, will appear in an upcoming edition of the journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Ends --

By Valerie Volcovici, Point Carbon

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