164
consumption. CBA is more diffi cult to measure and implement though, and impacts
occurring in foreign jurisdictions are hard if not impossible to infl uence or control
(Jakob et al. 2014 ). Furthermore, CBA provides no incentive for countries to produce clean exports (since impacts embodied in exports are subtracted). It has been
suggested recently to address this drawback by using the world-average carbon
intensity for exporting industries, rather than the domestic average, when calculating export-related emissions (Kander et al. 2015 ). Doing so rewards countries that
produce export commodities that are cleaner than their counterparts on the world
market.
2.2 Recent Research on Environmental, Social and Economic
Impacts Embodied in International Trade
2.2.1 Scope and Scale of Embodied Impacts
Numerous studies have been conducted in the last few years to shed light on the
question how trade infl uences the use and distribution of natural, social and economic capital. Table 8.1 summarises some high-level results, in particular the fraction of total global impact that can be attributed to international trade as well as the
major bilateral embodied trade fl ows. Note that these values depend on the number
of countries or regions used in the various calculation models. As a general rule, the
fi ner the spatial resolution of the model, the higher the international trade fl ows, and
the lower the intra-regional trade movements. Where possible, individual countries
were identifi ed as main traders in Table 8.1 .
At least a fi fth and up to 64 % of global environmental impacts can be linked to
trade (for all references refer to Table 8.1 ). Greenhouse gas emissions are the beststudied indicator. About one quarter of all global CO 2 emissions are linked to the
production of goods and services that are exported and used to satisfy demand in
countries other than the country where the emissions occur. One study suggests that
the fraction of CO 2 embodied in trade could be as high as a third of global emissions. And if the trade of fossil fuels is taken into account, then the amount of ‘dislocated’ CO 2 emissions from the point of extraction to the point of fi nal consumption
is 37 % or more than 10 Gt of CO 2 . According to Meng et al. ( 2015 ), the median
export share of a country’s territorial emissions was 29 % in 2007, and emissions
embodied in imports made up almost half of the carbon footprints of countries
(median 49 %). The largest bilateral fl ows of embodied CO 2 emissions with well
over 1 Gt of CO 2 are from China to the USA. This fi nding is not surprising given the
large volumes of exports from China and imports to the USA and the fact that
China’s production system is very carbon intensive (Minx et al. 2011 ). The EU is
also a large importer of GHG emissions from Asia (0.8 Gt CO 2 e). When accounting
for international CO 2 emissions embodied in investments (instead of total fi nal
demand), China also emerges as the main exporter of investment-embodied emissions and Western Europe and North America as the main importers.
T. Wiedmann
consumption. CBA is more diffi cult to measure and implement though, and impacts
occurring in foreign jurisdictions are hard if not impossible to infl uence or control
(Jakob et al. 2014 ). Furthermore, CBA provides no incentive for countries to produce clean exports (since impacts embodied in exports are subtracted). It has been
suggested recently to address this drawback by using the world-average carbon
intensity for exporting industries, rather than the domestic average, when calculating export-related emissions (Kander et al. 2015 ). Doing so rewards countries that
produce export commodities that are cleaner than their counterparts on the world
market.
2.2 Recent Research on Environmental, Social and Economic
Impacts Embodied in International Trade
2.2.1 Scope and Scale of Embodied Impacts
Numerous studies have been conducted in the last few years to shed light on the
question how trade infl uences the use and distribution of natural, social and economic capital. Table 8.1 summarises some high-level results, in particular the fraction of total global impact that can be attributed to international trade as well as the
major bilateral embodied trade fl ows. Note that these values depend on the number
of countries or regions used in the various calculation models. As a general rule, the
fi ner the spatial resolution of the model, the higher the international trade fl ows, and
the lower the intra-regional trade movements. Where possible, individual countries
were identifi ed as main traders in Table 8.1 .
At least a fi fth and up to 64 % of global environmental impacts can be linked to
trade (for all references refer to Table 8.1 ). Greenhouse gas emissions are the beststudied indicator. About one quarter of all global CO 2 emissions are linked to the
production of goods and services that are exported and used to satisfy demand in
countries other than the country where the emissions occur. One study suggests that
the fraction of CO 2 embodied in trade could be as high as a third of global emissions. And if the trade of fossil fuels is taken into account, then the amount of ‘dislocated’ CO 2 emissions from the point of extraction to the point of fi nal consumption
is 37 % or more than 10 Gt of CO 2 . According to Meng et al. ( 2015 ), the median
export share of a country’s territorial emissions was 29 % in 2007, and emissions
embodied in imports made up almost half of the carbon footprints of countries
(median 49 %). The largest bilateral fl ows of embodied CO 2 emissions with well
over 1 Gt of CO 2 are from China to the USA. This fi nding is not surprising given the
large volumes of exports from China and imports to the USA and the fact that
China’s production system is very carbon intensive (Minx et al. 2011 ). The EU is
also a large importer of GHG emissions from Asia (0.8 Gt CO 2 e). When accounting
for international CO 2 emissions embodied in investments (instead of total fi nal
demand), China also emerges as the main exporter of investment-embodied emissions and Western Europe and North America as the main importers.
T. Wiedmann