Global responsibility for CO2 emissions

Embodied CO2 emissions of international trade and the global climate responsibility of consumption

Assessment of the global energy-related CO2 emissions related to consumption in 55 countries and world region, using the Global Resource Accounting Model (GRAM).

There is widespread agreement that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must be reduced in order to tackle global warming and prevent severe environmental damage. In order to find fair and equitable climate policies it is worth analysing where and for which purpose these gases are emitted. This may help to assign a fair share of the responsibility for the necessary reductions to producers of goods and services and final consumers.

Under the Kyoto Protocol the responsibility for meeting the GHG emission reduction targets lies entirely with the countries in which they are produced. This principle of territorial responsibility contrasts the reality of globalisation where many GHG emissions that are related to domestic consumption are produced in foreign countries. These emissions which occur along international value chains are known as embodied emissions of traded goods and services.

While knowledge about the size of embodied CO2 emissions in imports and exports has long been limited, new models are now enabling the calculation and analysis of these embodied emissions. In this project, SERI and GWS used the Global Resource Accounting Model (GRAM) to calculate the emission balances of consumption (= production – exports + imports) in 55 countries and compared them to the existing Kyoto emission balances.

We can show now:

• which countries and regions are the biggest net importers and net exporters of embodied CO2 emissions from international trade,
• how outsourcing and relocation processes between OECD and non-OECD countries have developed between 1995 and 2005,
• the size of the shifts of CO2 emissions between different continents through international trade
• the influence of considering consumer responsibility on the goals of a post-Kyoto or post-Copenhagen agreement

The final discussion paper of the project can be downloaded here.