Source: tandem-flights.blogspot.com

Within the GRAM CO2 project, funded by the Austrian Climate and Energy Fund, a data base of CO2 emissions embodied in the Austrian foreign trade (imports and exports), so called carbon rucksacks, was created. The project was completed recently.

Climate change is a global problem that needs global action. National policy measures addressing the reduction of domestic CO2 emissions may increase emissions of other countries and therefore counteract the global fight against climate change. This phenomenon is generally known as carbon leakage.

In order to assess the global impacts of a climate change policy international trade has to be considered. We, therefore, calculated the CO2 emissions embodied in the Austrian exports and imports for the period of 1995 to 2005 based on the Global Resource Accounting Model (GRAM), and derived consumption-based emission accounts and trade balances, rather than mere emissions caused by domestic production, as accounted for by ordinary CO2 accounts like these used within the Kyoto Protocol.

Detailed results for countries and world regions and sectoral analysis of Austrian production and consumption-based emissions can be found in the Final Report (in German) – to be downloaded here.

The results are provided on-line in the form of an Excel-based data set and can easily be used and adopted for model simulations, e.g. to calculate global effects on carbon emissions by structural change or changing life styles and consumption patterns (download here).

Summarised results (in English) can be read on www.seri.at/gram-co2 .