The study on the air pollutants embodied in goods for consumption and trade in China – Accounting and structural decomposition analysis

Recently, comprehensive attention has been attracted to global warming. Meanwhile, China is a country with huge energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission. Therefore, it is urgent for China to reduce the air pollutants embodied in each unit of a good for a less greenhouse gas earth. In this paper, air pollutants embodied in goods consumption as well as import-export trade in China was accounted in 1995–2009. Besides, we checked the structural decomposition analysis of emissions' variation. The results showed: (1) in 1995–2009, air pollutants embodied in goods for consumption and import-export trade in China displayed a rising trend. Emission of carbon dioxide was the largest and methane, carbon monoxide, sulphur oxides, non-methane volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides, ammonia, nitrous oxide were in proper sequence based at the average level. (2) Air pollutants embodied in goods exported were larger than those in imported and difference among nations existed. (3) The percentages of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides, carbon monoxide, non-methane volatile organic compounds embodied in Construction were larger than in other departments on the consumption side, while percentages of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides, carbon monoxide, non-methane volatile organic compounds embodied in Electrical and Optical Equipment was bigger on the trade side. (4) Emission reduction techniques reduced air pollutants embodied in goods consumption and import and export trade in China. Consequently, China ought to pay attention to emission reduction of carbon dioxide and raise awareness of air pollutants controlling, especially in Construction, Electrical and Optical Equipment and other departments. More importantly, China ought to strengthen cooperation with other nations in emission reduction and developing technologies so as to cut down air pollutants, not only for China but also for the earth.

[1]  Emilio Padilla,et al.  The materiality of the immaterial , 2015 .

[2]  Guangyao Deng,et al.  Regional water footprint evaluation and trend analysis of China—based on interregional input–output model , 2016 .

[3]  Jianfeng Zhao,et al.  Does urbanization lead to more direct and indirect household carbon dioxide emissions? Evidence from China during 1996–2012 , 2015 .

[4]  B. W. Ang,et al.  Input–output analysis of CO2 emissions embodied in trade: Competitive versus non-competitive imports , 2013 .

[5]  Economic analysis of water resources in Japan: using factor decomposition analysis based on input-output tables , 2005 .

[6]  C. Weber,et al.  Growth in emission transfers via international trade from 1990 to 2008 , 2011, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[7]  Weidong Liu,et al.  China's energy consumption under the global economic crisis: Decomposition and sectoral analysis , 2014 .

[8]  Jan Weinzettel,et al.  A Footprint Family extended MRIO model to support Europe's transition to a One Planet Economy. , 2013, The Science of the total environment.

[9]  Bart Los,et al.  Structural decomposition techniques : sense and sensitivity , 1998 .

[10]  Qiaoling Liu,et al.  Reexamine SO2 emissions embodied in China's exports using multiregional input–output analysis , 2015 .

[11]  Danae Diakoulaki,et al.  Common trends and drivers of CO2 emissions and employment: a decomposition analysis in the industrial sector of selected European Union countries , 2016 .

[12]  M Berners-Lee,et al.  Greenhouse gas footprinting for small businesses--the use of input-output data. , 2011, The Science of the total environment.

[13]  Michael L. Lahr,et al.  China's energy consumption change from 1987 to 2007: A multi-regional structural decomposition analysis , 2014 .

[14]  Laura Diaz Anadon,et al.  A multi-regional input–output analysis of domestic virtual water trade and provincial water footprint in China , 2014 .

[15]  Fulvio Fontini,et al.  The European Union Emission Trading System and technological change: The case of the Italian pulp and paper industry , 2014 .

[16]  M. Jaber,et al.  A Framework for Reducing Global Manufacturing Emissions , 2016 .

[17]  Stefan Giljum,et al.  Carbon and Materials Embodied in the International Trade of Emerging Economies , 2012 .

[18]  Zhigao Liu,et al.  Carbon emissions embodied in value added chains in China , 2015 .

[19]  Vicente Pinilla,et al.  The effect of globalisation on water consumption: A case study of the Spanish virtual water trade, 1849–1935 , 2014 .

[20]  Ujjaini Mukhopadhyay,et al.  Management accounting approach to analyse energy related CO2 emission: A variance analysis study of top 10 emitters of the world , 2013 .

[21]  Richard Wood,et al.  Labor Embodied in Trade , 2015 .

[22]  N. H. Ravindranath,et al.  2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories , 2006 .

[23]  Liying Li,et al.  Carbon dioxide emission drivers for a typical metropolis using input–output structural decomposition analysis , 2013 .

[24]  Qiao-Mei Liang,et al.  Accounting for China's regional carbon emissions in 2002 and 2007: production-based versus consumption-based principles , 2015 .

[25]  Yong Geng,et al.  Changes of CO2 emissions embodied in China–Japan trade: drivers and implications , 2016 .

[26]  F. Shi,et al.  Structural decomposition analysis of the carbonization process in Beijing: A regional explanation of rapid increasing carbon dioxide emission in China , 2013 .

[27]  Yong Geng,et al.  Exploring driving factors of energy-related CO2 emissions in Chinese provinces: A case of Liaoning , 2013 .

[28]  Saikat Kumar Paul,et al.  Changes in energy requirements of the residential sector in India between 1993–94 and 2006–07 , 2013 .

[29]  Klaus Hubacek,et al.  Analyzing Drivers of Regional Carbon Dioxide Emissions for China , 2012 .

[30]  Rong Yuan,et al.  Changes in CO2 emissions from China's energy-intensive industries: a subsystem input–output decomposition analysis , 2016 .

[31]  Minjun Shi,et al.  Understanding Beijing's water challenge: a decomposition analysis of changes in Beijing's water footprint between 1997 and 2007. , 2012, Environmental science & technology.

[32]  Ning Chang,et al.  Changing industrial structure to reduce carbon dioxide emissions: a Chinese application , 2015 .

[33]  Ming Xu,et al.  Revisiting drivers of energy intensity in China during 1997–2007: A structural decomposition analysis , 2014 .