TY - JOUR
T1 - Input–output analyses of the pollution content of intra- and inter-national trade flows
AU - Turner, Karen
AU - Cui, Cathy Xin
AU - Ha, Soo Jung
AU - Hewings, Geoffrey
N1 - The research reported in this paper was funded through the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Climate Change Leadership Fellow project ‘Investigating the Pollution Content of Trade Flows and the Importance of Environmental Trade Balances’ (ESRC Ref. No. RES-066-27-0029), based at the universities of Stirling and Strathclyde. It is also supported by the Shetland Northern Isles New Energy Solutions (NINES) project. The authors acknowledge the invaluable assistance of the Input–Output team at the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser, Scottish Government, colleagues at the Stockholm Environment Institute (York, UK), and Norihiko Yamano at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in constructing data used in the UK application.
Karen Turner is a Reader in Economics at the University of Stirling. She studied at the Universities of Strathclyde and Glasgow in Scotland. She was one of six Climate Change Leadership Fellows funded by the UK ESRC between 2008 and 2010.
PY - 2014/10/2
Y1 - 2014/10/2
N2 - This paper considers the application of input–output accounting methods to consider the pollution implications of different production and consumption activities, with specific focus on pollution embodied in intra- and inter-national trade flows. It considers the illustrative case studies of production and consumption measures of emissions and pollution embodied in interregional trade flows between two regions of the UK and between five Midwest regions/states within the United States. The analysis raises questions in terms of policy reliance on the extremes of conventional production and consumption accounting measures and considers a range of alternative measures that may be calculated using input–output methods to provide different informational content. The paper focuses on different types of air pollutant of current policy concern in each the UK and the US Midwest cases and demonstrates how use of the environmental input–output framework allows the analysis of the nature and significance of interregional pollution spillovers. The results raise questions in terms of the extent to which authorities at the regional level can limit local emissions where they are limited in the way some emissions can be controlled, particularly with respect to changes in demand elsewhere within the national economy. This implies a need for policy coordination between national and regional level authorities to meet emissions reductions targets. Moreover, the existence of pollution trade balances between regions also raises issues regarding net losses/gains in terms of pollutants as a result of interregional trade. In conducting analyses for different types of air pollutant (here carbon dioxide, CO2, as a global warming gas, a greenhouse gas (GHG), in the UK case; and ammonia, NH3, as a pollutant of more local concern in the US case) the paper also considers how pollution embodied in international trade flows may be accounted for and attributed.
AB - This paper considers the application of input–output accounting methods to consider the pollution implications of different production and consumption activities, with specific focus on pollution embodied in intra- and inter-national trade flows. It considers the illustrative case studies of production and consumption measures of emissions and pollution embodied in interregional trade flows between two regions of the UK and between five Midwest regions/states within the United States. The analysis raises questions in terms of policy reliance on the extremes of conventional production and consumption accounting measures and considers a range of alternative measures that may be calculated using input–output methods to provide different informational content. The paper focuses on different types of air pollutant of current policy concern in each the UK and the US Midwest cases and demonstrates how use of the environmental input–output framework allows the analysis of the nature and significance of interregional pollution spillovers. The results raise questions in terms of the extent to which authorities at the regional level can limit local emissions where they are limited in the way some emissions can be controlled, particularly with respect to changes in demand elsewhere within the national economy. This implies a need for policy coordination between national and regional level authorities to meet emissions reductions targets. Moreover, the existence of pollution trade balances between regions also raises issues regarding net losses/gains in terms of pollutants as a result of interregional trade. In conducting analyses for different types of air pollutant (here carbon dioxide, CO2, as a global warming gas, a greenhouse gas (GHG), in the UK case; and ammonia, NH3, as a pollutant of more local concern in the US case) the paper also considers how pollution embodied in international trade flows may be accounted for and attributed.
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U2 - 10.1080/21582041.2012.692808
DO - 10.1080/21582041.2012.692808
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84919615596
SN - 2158-2041
VL - 9
SP - 430
EP - 455
JO - Contemporary Social Science
JF - Contemporary Social Science
IS - 4
ER -