16.1 Introduction
An international framework to address climate change has been constructed on the
basis of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
in 1992 and the Kyoto Protocol, which was adopted at the third Conference of the
parties (COP3). After that, UNFCCC adopted COP decision with regard to the Paris
Agreement and its implementation on 12 December 2015. The Paris Agreement
aims to hold the increase in the global temperature to well below 2
C above preindustrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5
C by
achieving net zero greenhouse gas emission in the second half of this country
(Takamura 2016, p. 11).
Climate change is a global issue; thus international cooperation to mitigate it is
essential. However, there is intense debate between developed and developing
countries concerning the burden of responsibility (Fujikawa et al. 2015, p. 130).
Due to industrialization of emerging nations and globalization of the economy, the
division of labor to provide goods and services spans international borders. Thus,
environmental burdens are internationally distributed. There is an “embodied environmental load”; consumption of goods and services induces production of goods in
multiple countries, and corresponding environmental loads are embodied in each
country (Fujikawa et al. 2015, p. 129). Domestic policies addressing climate change
mitigation must consider the carbon leakage that occurs when emission sources are
transferred overseas, as this greatly increases CO 2 emissions intensity.
CO 2 emissions can be generated by production. The IPCC Greenhouse Effect
Gas Inventory provides a method for estimating production-based emissions, which
are the total CO 2 emissions generated inside a country as a result of production in
that country. Another method allows estimation of consumption-based CO 2 emissions, or “trade embodied CO 2 emissions.” These are calculated by summing the
emissions from production of goods in the country of origin with emissions in the
country consuming the goods. The conventional method for calculating national
emissions is production-based. Considering trade embodied CO 2 emissions includes
emissions generated internationally.
1
There has been much research seeking to determine whether the producer or
consumer should be responsible for CO 2 emissions, through exploration of trade
embodied CO 2 emissions (Hoshino and Sugiyama 2012), attributed emissions
(Na 2006), and other concepts (e.g., Wyckoff and Roop 1994; Bastianoni et al.
2004; Peters and Hertwich 2008; Davis and Caldeira 2010; Peters et al. 2012;
Mózner 2013; Pang et al. 2016; Fujikawa and Ban 2016). Yamazaki et al. (2012)
estimated production-based and consumption-based CO 2 emissions of Japan, China,
Korea, and the European Union through international carbon flow with an inputoutput model, concluding that consumption-based estimation was theoretically and
quantitatively more appropriate. Yoshinaga (2013) examined CO 2 emission trends
1 For detailed information on international carbon flows, especially empirical research on trade
embodied CO 2 emissions; see Hoshino and Sugiyama (2012) and Fujikawa et al. (2015).
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H. Haga and W. Zhou
An international framework to address climate change has been constructed on the
basis of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
in 1992 and the Kyoto Protocol, which was adopted at the third Conference of the
parties (COP3). After that, UNFCCC adopted COP decision with regard to the Paris
Agreement and its implementation on 12 December 2015. The Paris Agreement
aims to hold the increase in the global temperature to well below 2
C above preindustrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5
C by
achieving net zero greenhouse gas emission in the second half of this country
(Takamura 2016, p. 11).
Climate change is a global issue; thus international cooperation to mitigate it is
essential. However, there is intense debate between developed and developing
countries concerning the burden of responsibility (Fujikawa et al. 2015, p. 130).
Due to industrialization of emerging nations and globalization of the economy, the
division of labor to provide goods and services spans international borders. Thus,
environmental burdens are internationally distributed. There is an “embodied environmental load”; consumption of goods and services induces production of goods in
multiple countries, and corresponding environmental loads are embodied in each
country (Fujikawa et al. 2015, p. 129). Domestic policies addressing climate change
mitigation must consider the carbon leakage that occurs when emission sources are
transferred overseas, as this greatly increases CO 2 emissions intensity.
CO 2 emissions can be generated by production. The IPCC Greenhouse Effect
Gas Inventory provides a method for estimating production-based emissions, which
are the total CO 2 emissions generated inside a country as a result of production in
that country. Another method allows estimation of consumption-based CO 2 emissions, or “trade embodied CO 2 emissions.” These are calculated by summing the
emissions from production of goods in the country of origin with emissions in the
country consuming the goods. The conventional method for calculating national
emissions is production-based. Considering trade embodied CO 2 emissions includes
emissions generated internationally.
1
There has been much research seeking to determine whether the producer or
consumer should be responsible for CO 2 emissions, through exploration of trade
embodied CO 2 emissions (Hoshino and Sugiyama 2012), attributed emissions
(Na 2006), and other concepts (e.g., Wyckoff and Roop 1994; Bastianoni et al.
2004; Peters and Hertwich 2008; Davis and Caldeira 2010; Peters et al. 2012;
Mózner 2013; Pang et al. 2016; Fujikawa and Ban 2016). Yamazaki et al. (2012)
estimated production-based and consumption-based CO 2 emissions of Japan, China,
Korea, and the European Union through international carbon flow with an inputoutput model, concluding that consumption-based estimation was theoretically and
quantitatively more appropriate. Yoshinaga (2013) examined CO 2 emission trends
1 For detailed information on international carbon flows, especially empirical research on trade
embodied CO 2 emissions; see Hoshino and Sugiyama (2012) and Fujikawa et al. (2015).
290
H. Haga and W. Zhou