Energy Embodied in Goods in International Trade of China: Calculation and Policy Implications

In recent years, China’s energy demand and Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have grown very fast, quite an amount of which was exported as energy embodied in goods in international trade rather than consumed domestically. Starting from the concept of embodied energy, based on input-output energy analysis approach, in this paper the energy embodied in goods in international trade of China during the period from 2001 to 2006 is calculated. The results show that although China has become a net importer of petroleum since 1993, China is a net exporter of embodied energy due to international trade in goods. In 2002, the total amount of energy embodied in exported goods was about 410 million tce (ton of coal equivalent, hereinafter referred to as "tce"). Eliminating the amount of energy embodied in imported goods of about 170 million tce, the net export of embodied energy was about 240 million tce, accounting for 16% of the aggregate primary energy consumption of that very year in China, and the net export of embodied emissions was about 150 million tons of carbon. With the rapid growth of China’s international trade, assuming no structural input-output changes of among sectors, in 2006 the net export of embodied energy went up to about 630 million tce, an increase of 162 % over 2002. In addition, this paper also analyzes the possible sources of error in calculation, and also discusses the policy implications according to the result of the calculation.     

Influences of Border Carbon Adjustments on China’s Foreign Trade

The EU, the United States and other economies, with the intention to implement unilateral trade measures Border Carbon Adjustments, impose emission reduction pressure on developing countries. Once implemented, the measures will have great impact on China’s foreign trade. Using the input-output table in 2007, this paper had analyzed the influences on China’s foreign trade as a whole and sub-sectors in three tax rates scenarios. The results showed that the tariff level of China’s exports will increase by 3.6%-6.3% if the tax was levied on exports embodied emissions, and by 1.0%-1.7% if levied on export direct emissions. In 2007, the former total amount of carbon tax was about US$42.6-73.0 billion, 4 times that of the latter. Based on export embodied emissions, sectors largely influenced were non-traditional energy intensive ones, such as textile, et al. These sectors should be encour-aged to carry out industrial upgrading, raising the value-added of export goods, and reducing their embodied emissions by reduction of energy intensity. Taking into account of the complexity of data collection, the tax levied on products direct emission is more operational. The results showed that the five top sectors most affected were other chemical materials, processing of petroleum and nuclear fuel, coking, smelting and rolling of ferrous metal and textile. Most of them were energy intensive sectors. Therefore, adjusting export products structure, and controlling too fast development of energy intensive industries are also important strategies in China.     

Analysis of the Energy Embodied in Foreign Goods Trade of China

In recent years, scientists have been increasingly interested in the energy embodied in traded goods among countries. In this article, the direct energy intensities in various economic sectors of China were calculated with the data of energy consumption and output value of each sector, and the input-output table was used to estimate the external energy consumption. The total energy intensity of all sectors was then obtained. From the data of international trade, the energy embodied in goods trade of China was estimated for the period of 1994-2001. During this period, the average energy intensity of imported goods was always higher than that of exported ones. As a country with a surplus in international goods trade, China actually imported net embodied energy in the past few years. The net embodied energy imported was at the same magnitude of the imported energy in the form of fossil fuels.     

Research on carbon emissions in China's export trade based on input-output model

Becoming the world’s largest emitter of carbon makes China the object of criticism;however,people may ignore the fact that when China exports low-carbon products,the carbon emissions have been left in the meanwhile,forming the so-called"embodied carbon".Using the input-output model,this paper analyzes the carbon emission intensity and amount of embodied carbon of various sectors in China’s export trade in 2002 and 2007,and filters out high carbon emission sectors.In addition,this paper also points out the problem of carbon emissions’international transfer from developed countries to China through the analysis of national and regional flow of export carbon emissions and changing of the proportion of emissions for exports relative to total emissions,and explains the reason that caused carbon transfer to China by using the treadmill of production theory.Based on that,this paper proposes some measures for carbon reduction in China from the foreign trade perspective.     

Carbon price impacts on sector cost:based on an input-output model of Beijing

Under the pressure of sustained growth in energy consumption in China,the implementation of a carbon pricing mechanism is an effective economic policy measure for promoting emission reduction,as well as a hotspot of research among scholars and policy makers.In this paper,the effects of carbon prices on Beijing’s economy are analyzed using input-output tables.The carbon price costs are levied in accordance with the products’embodied carbon emission.By calculation,given the carbon price rate of 10 RMB/t-CO₂,the total carbon costs of Beijing account for approximately 0.22-0.40%of its gross revenue the same year.Among all industries,construction bears the largest carbon cost Among export sectors,the coal mining and washing industry has much higher export carbon price intensity than other industries.Apart from traditional energy-intensive industries,tertiary industry,which accounts for more than 70%of Beijing’s economy,also bears a major carbon cost because of its large economic size.However,from 2007 to 2010,adjustment of the investment structure has reduced the emission intensity in investment sectors,contributing to the reduction of overall emissions and carbon price intensity.     

China's Voluntary Mitigation Target and Road of Low-carbon Development

China is going through a rapid development stage of industrialization and urbanization.Although tremendous achievements have been made in the aspects of energy conservation,improvement of energy effectiveness and development of new and renewable energies,because of the rapid development of economy,it is difficult to change the huge total amount and fast increase of CO2 emission in the near future.China has to confront the tough challenge to address global climate change.China plans to reduce carbon intensity,that is,CO2 emissions per unit GDP,by 40 to 45% by 2020 compared with the 2005 level.It is a strategic option to coordinate domestic sustainable development with coping with global climate change on the basis of China’s national circumstances,representing the core content and key measures for transforming development pattern and realizing low-carbon development.To achieve the target,more capital and technology inputs are required for energy conservation and low-carbon development during the twelfth and Thirteenth Five Year Plan period than in the Eleventh Five Year Plan period.In addition,energy conservation achieved by structural adjustment,industrial upgrading and product value-added improvement is also expected to play a greater role.Therefore,China should strengthen technological innovation,make greater efforts to transform the development pattern,take advantage of the synergistic effect of policies and measures while coping with global climate change and building a domestic tow-oriented society.China should also establish an industrial system characterized by low-carbon emission.Then China will ultimately achieve a win-win situation in both domestic sustainable development and coping with global climate change.     

Climate Change Responsibility and China’s Endeavor

The problem of climate change is a global challenge.It is closely associated with social development and human survival,and it has a significant impact to all countries on energy development,economic competitiveness,technological innovation,and way of life.In recent years,with the rapid economic development in China,there is a rumor that the rapid growth of China’s carbon dioxide emission offset the efforts of the international community in reducing emissions,and China should bear the international responsibility corresponding to its significant role in greenhouse gas emission,which obviously are unfair and not objective.As this paper reveals,"China environment responsibility" that is the socalled "China environment threat" or theories,China has made a positive contribution to addressing the climate change in the past and China will still be the backbone on the protection of global climate in the future.     

Sustainable Development of Export： Theoretical Meaning, Evaluation Model, and Empirical Research

With the effect of the human trade doctrine in the international trade field, almost all the countries have paid more attention to the sustainable development of international trade. This article chose the export sustainable development as the research object. On the basis of the analysis of the theoretical connotation of the export sustainable development, this article tried to establish an evaluation indices system and set up an evaluation model of the export sustainable development level, and finally made some empirical research on China. The result indicates that the comprehensive level of the export sustainable development in China showed a tendency to rise from 1985 to 2003 and the export sustainable development level of China in these years can be divided into four grades： excellent, good, moderate and poor. In most years, the social economic benefits of export was obtained at the cost of the deterioration of environment and the depletion of resources, and the economic profit of export did not increase with the enlargement of the export scale because of the deterioration of the terms of trade. Therefore, China should be careful about the problem of poverty accompanied by the increase of export.     

Technological Progress, Structural Change and China＇s Energy Efficiency

China has witnessed rapid economic development since 1978, and during the time, energy production and consumption developed at a tremendous speed as well. Energy efficiency which can be measured by energy consumption per unit of GDP, however, experienced continuous decrease. Theoretically, the change of energy efficiency can be attributed to industry structural change and technological change. In order to explain the transformation of Chinese energy efficiency, we adopt logarithmic mean Divisia index techniques to decompose changes in energy intensity in the period of 1994-2005. We find that technological change is the dominant contributor in the decline of energy intensity, but the contribution has declined since 2001. The change in industry structure has decreased the energy intensity before 1998, but raised the intensity after 1998. Decomposed technological effects for all sectors indicate that technological progresses in high energy consuming industries such as raw chemical materials and chemical products, smelting and pressing of ferrous metals, manufacture of non-metallic mineral products and household contribute are the principal drivers of China＇s declining energy intensity.     

China-Indian Silk Trade： Current Production and Future Prospects

As an important traditional labor-intensive industry of both India and China, the cocoon silk industry has long made great contributions to the ecological environment protection, rural economic development and the increase in export income of both countries. India is not only a very important cocoon silk trading partner, but an important production competitor of China. In recent years, there has been a large increase in the production and trade of the cocoon silk between China and India; however, China relies heavily on Indian market, which leads to a tendency of further deterioration in the silk trade environment between both countries. The present article makes an empirical study of the cocoon silk resources of the two countries and the scale, product mix and market structure of China-Indian silk trade from 2001 to 2007. Overall silk trading volumes from China to India and market concentration rate are on the increase because of the superiority of Chinese cocoon silk production over that of India. Owing to scattered market share and export that mainly focused on raw materials product, there has been a phenomenon of price reduction and quantity increase. India carries out fierce competition with China in the international market and even imposes antidumping sanction on Chinese silk, which are key factors restricting further increase between China-India trade. Based on the abovementioned facts, the authors aim to put forward suggestions for steadily developing the production and trade of China＇s silk.     

CO_2 Emissions Embodied in China-U.S.Trade

After the Kyoto Protocol was implemented, carbon leakage exerts great influences on international trade and economy. Trade creates a mechanism for consumers to shift environmental pollution associated with their consumption to other countries. China has overtaken the U.S. as the world＇s biggest CO2 emitter since 2006. As China＇s second largest trade partner, the U.S. has the biggest trade deficit with China which has aroused a lot of disputes between the two parties. But so far the assessments of the trade imbalance of China-U.S. have paid little attention to environmental impacts associated with the trade imbalance. Applied an input-output approach, the article estimates the amount of CO2 embodied in China-U.S. trade during 1997-2007. It was found that through trade with China, the U.S. reduced its CO2 emissions compared with a non-trade scenario. Due to the greater carbon-intensity and relatively less efficient production processes of Chinese industry, China-U.S. trade resulted in more CO2 emissions in China and the world. In the end, the article gives some suggestions： it is equal and sustainable that the international accounting methodologies should be improved, for CO2 emissions responsibility must be designed to account for the dynamic nature of international trade.     

Decomposition Analysis of Sectoral Energy Use in Beijing （1981-2005） Using the LMDI Method

This paper aims to identify the main driving force for changes of total primary energy consumption in Beijing during the period of 1981-2005. Sectoral energy use was investigated when regional economic structure changed significantly. The changes of total primary energy consumption in Beijing are decomposed into production effects, structural effects and intensity effects using the additive version of the logarithmic mean Divisia index （LMDI） method. Aggregate decomposition analysis showed that the major contributor of total effect was made by the production effect followed by the intensity effect, and the structural effect was relatively insignificant. The total and production effects were all positive. In contrast, the structural effect and intensity effect were all negative. Sectoral decomposition investigation indicated that the most effective way to slow down the growth rate of total primary energy consumption （TPEC） was to reduce the production of the energy-intensive industrial sectors and improving industrial energy intensity. The results show that in this period, Beijing＇s economy has undergone a transformation from an industrial to a service economy. However, the structures of sectoral energy use have not been changed yet, and energy demand should be increasing until the energy-intensive industrial production to be reduced and energy intensity of the region reaches a peak. As sequence energy consumption data of sub-sectors are not available, only the fundamental three sectors are considered： agriculture, industry and service. However, further decomposition into secondary and tertiary sectors is definitely needed for detailed investigations.     

Empirically Analysis of the CO2 Emissions Embodied in Exports of China

In this paper,using the input-output model,the author first calculated the CO 2 emissions embodied in exports of China in 2002 and 2007.Then,the author empirically analyzed problems existing in the composition of exported products and analyzed its possible reasons.The research results of this paper are as follows:Since China’s entry into WTO,the CO 2 emissions embodied in exports of China have been increasing rapidly;the value of exported products of high-carbon emissions industries accounts for a relatively higher proportion to China’s total exports value because China’s carbon intensive products have a certain competitive advantage.Additionally,this paper has put forward relevant suggestions based on these results.     

Share-Shift Analysis of Geo-Economic Pattern on Global Cereal Crops in Recent 50 Years

In recent 50 years, with the rapid development of international food trade, the geoeconomic pattern of cereal crops has changed tremendously which produced a significant impact on global food security. This paper attempted to analysis the production pattern and trade pattern of global cereals, especially three main crops of wheat, maize and rice by using the method of share-shift. Given the fact of almost every economic phenomenon is driven by their economic return behind them, this paper attempted to a further step into their economic pattern by examining their net trade flow. The results showed that from the view of production and trade, the geographic pattern of global cereals has changed greatly which can be described as developing countries has replaced developed countries and become the world’s biggest cereals production and trading area. But when moving to the net trade flow, it turns out to be another story that can depicted as the regional fixation features of economic returns which can be convinced from the labor division of global cereals trade, among which developed countries acts as net trade profit area while developing countries as net trade output area, and their gap between net export and net import has been widening from the view of evolution trend. So what we learn from the evolution of geoeconomic pattern on this topic is that our place in global cereals trade system, and therefore alert us to concern not only on the pattern transition but also the economic meaning behind it, only by doing so can we learn to plan our food future more wisely and effectively.     

Analysis of CO2 emissions peak:China’s objective and strategy

Establishing positive and urgent targets for CO₂ reduction and emission peak,and promoting energy conservation and energy structure adjustment are among the strategies to address global climate change and CO₂ emissions reduction.They are also means to break through the constraints of domestic resources and environment,and internal needs,to achieve sustainable development.Generally speaking,a country’s CO₂ emission peak appears after achieving urbanization and industrialization.By then,connotative economic growth will appear,GDP will grow slowly,energy consumption elasticity will decrease,and energy consumption growth will slow down-dependent mainly on new and renewable energies.Fossil fuel consumption will not increase further.When CO₂ emission reaches its peak,the annual reduction rate of CO₂ intensity of GDP is greater than GDP annual growth rate;and the annual reduction rate of CO₂ intensity of energy use is greater than the annual growth rate of energy consumption.Therefore,three important approaches to promotion of CO₂ emission peak can be concluded:maintaining reasonable control of GDP growth,strengthening energy conservation to significantly reduce the GDP energy intensity,and optimizing the energy mix to reduce the CO₂ intensity of energy use.By around 2030,China will basically have completed its rapid development phase of industrialization and urbanization.Connotative economic growth will appear with the acceleration of industrial structure adjustment The target of GDP energy intensity will still be to maintain an average annual reduction of 3%or higher.The proportion of non-fossil fuels will reach 20-25%,and the aim will be to maintain an average annual growth rate of 6-8%.The total annual energy demand growth of 1.5%will be satisfied by the newly increased supply of non-fossil fuels.The annual decline in CO₂ intensity of GDP will reach 4.5%or higher,which is compatible with an average annual GDP growth     

An International Comparative Analysis on China's Economic Growth and the Convergence in Energy Intensity Gap and Its Economic Mechanism

In this paper,the authors have empirically analyzed the convergence in per capita GDP gap and the convergence in the variation of energy intensity with respect to the change of per capita GDP between China and eight developed countries.Then,the authors run a regression on the impact of decisive factors of economic growth on energy intensity and its change,so as to find out the economic mechanism of energy intensity gap changing with respect to the variation of economic growth.This study concludes that:First,there is a convergence in per capita GDP gap between China and the eight developed countries.With the convergence in per capita GDP gap,the energy intensity gap between China and eight different countries also converge,and the convergence rate of the latter is faster than that of the former,i.e.if the per capita GDP gap between China and the eight developed countries decreases by 1%,the energy intensity gap between them will correspondingly decrease by 1.552%.Second,the energy intensity decreases with the improvement of industrial structure,the rising of energy prices,the advances of technology,and the expansion of investment in fixed assets,and it slightly increases with the increase of FDI.Third,the energy intensity gap between China and eight developed countries narrows with the lessening of the difference in fixed assets investment,energy prices,and technological progress between China and eight developed countries,yet increases with the narrowing of the difference in FDI,and has no significant correlation with the difference in industrial structure.Fourth,the narrowing of difference in per capita GDP between China and the eight developed countries can result in the lessening of energy intensity gap,whose economic mechanism is that the decisive factors,such as difference in investment,technology,and the competition mechanism of prices,which can determine the difference in economic growth,can significantly affect the energy intensity gap.     

Towards a new climate economics:research areas and prospects

International cooperation to address climate change now stands at a crossroads.With a new international regime for emissions reduction established by the Durban Platform, "New Climate Economics(NCE)" has become a research hotspot.The need for urgent action to combat climate change has prompted discussion on reforms of economic growth patterns and the energy system.The industrial civilization,therefore,now faces a transition towards a new pathway for ecological sustainability.NCE explores new economic concepts,theories,and analytical methods to design a balanced pathway for sustainable growth and emission reduction.Instead of getting trapped in discussions on allocation of emission reduction responsibilities and obligations among countries,NCE pays more attention to developing win-win multilateral cooperation mechanisms that facilitate collaborative RD and knowledge sharing.In addition,NCE studies incentives for low-carbon transition,turning carbon emission reduction into a domestic need for countries to increase their international competitiveness.To achieve the 2°C target,most countries around the world face challenges of insufficient emission allowances to cover expected emissions associated with their projected economic growth.As carbon emissions rights becomes an increasingly scarce resource,increasing the carbon productivity of the economy turns to be the critical path to address the dilemma of green or growth.NCE studies the historical evolution of carbon productivity for countries at different development stages as well as ways to enhance such carbon productivity.This type of study provides invaluable lessons for emerging economies to reach their own emission peaks without losing the momentum of growth.Replacing fossil fuels with new and renewable energy has proven to be an inevitable choice for reshaping the energy system and addressing climate change- it has already become a global trend.NCE studies incentives for new energy technology innovation and deployment provided by carbon pricing,and sheds light on the co-benefits of climate change mitigation,such as resource conservation,environmental protection,and energy security.The role of carbon pricing in promoting intemational RD cooperation and technical transfer will also be studied.The shift in consumption patterns is another key factor enabling a low-carbon transformation.Therefore,NCE also explores the theoretical work on new values of wealth,welfare and consumption,new lifestyles in the context of ecological civilization,concepts and implementation of low-carbon urban planning in developing countries,and the impacts of consumption pattern changes on social development,material production,and urban infrastructure construction.     

Actively Dealing with Climate Change and Striving to Strengthen the Capability of Sustainable Development

Either from the perspective of the finite supply capacity of global resources and energy,or from the perspective of global environment restrictive conditions,developing countries can not repeat the old development road of developed countries,either in view of the international pressure China is currently facing,or in view of China’s own resources endowment and stages of development,we must actively face such a challenge of climate change.We must recognize that the issue of climate change may be a great restraint to the present and future eco-social development,and may also be an important driving force and new opportunity to push forward the transformation of development pattern,to take a new road of industrialization and to realize sustainable development.This demands us,on the one hand,to take the Scientific Outlook of Development as the guide to make efforts to control the emission of greenhouse gases and continuously increase the capability of adapting to climatic change,and set up the overall plan to respond to climate change of our country,and on the other hand,we should unswervingly take the road of sustainable development,save energy,optimize energy structure and strengthen biological protection in slowing and adapting to climate change.     

International trade,carbon leakage,and CO2 emissions of manufacturing industry

Foreign trade drives China’s growth,but as the trade scale continues to expand,the carbon emissions also increase quickly.Based on the industry panel data from 1996 to 2010,this paper calculates carbon emissions of 27manufacturing industries.According to the intensity of carbon emissions,this paper divides the manufacturing sectors into low carbon and high carbon manufacturing industry and then analyzes the carbon emission trends.Next,the paper uses the feasible generalized least square regression to verify the existence of environmental Kuznets curve（EKC）of the manufacturing industry’s carbon.In order to investigate the carbon leakage problem,the regression also includes the interaction term between trade and industrial value added.Our findings are as follows:the carbon emissions of the whole manufacturing industry and low carbon manufacturing industry accord with the EKC curve,but have a linear relationship with the high carbon manufacturing industry;trade reduces the carbon emissions of the whole manufacturing industry and low carbon manufacturing industry,but it increases those of the high carbon manufacturing industry;for the whole manufacturing industry and low carbon manufacturing industry,there is no carbon leakage,but it exists in the high carbon manufacturing industry.On the whole,pollution haven hypothesis does not hold up in China,and China does not need to limit industry foreign trade to reduce the emission of CO₂.But the manufacturing industry will still be the main engine of the economic growth,and therefore our country should make an effective low-carbon policy,introduce advanced technology,increase R&D investment into lowcarbon technologies,and upgrade and transform the original equipment to change the backward mode of production.     

Temporal-spatial Characteristics of the Urbanization of Rural Land in Xinjiang

Relying on remote sensor technology, GIS and Land-sat TM digital images, the authors use spatial and statistical analysis to examine the temporal-spatial characteristics of the change caused by urban Construction in Xinjiang＇s rural areas from the end of the 1980s to the end of the 1990s. The primary findings show the following： 1） The urban construction in rural areas has increased drastically. The expansion speed of urban land use has accelerated over the past decade. The sub-land use changes caused by the urbanization of rural are characterized by salient regional differentiation among the three main regions and among the 85 counties of Xinjiang. 2） The shift of land use is mostly characterized by cultivated land and grassland being used for urban and industrial projects. Moreover, this change of land use is characteristic of regional differences. 3） Factors of rural-urban construction land use changes in Xinjiang, are undoubtedly affected by natural environment, social, economic conditions, and to a larger degree by population growth, GDP development and industrial development.