Manufacture and Transport Account for About 25% of China’s CO2 Emissions

Nearly a quarter of China’s carbon emissions are created by the manufacture and transport of goods that are exported to Western consumers, according to research by University of Sussex climate change analysts Dr Tao Wang and Dr Jim Watson.

The study, carried out for the Tyndall Centre, suggests that counting carbon emissions within national borders, as is currently the case under the Kyoto Protocol, may be inadequate in deciding who is responsible for emissions reduction. Fair, globalized trade might imply that a nation’s entire carbon footprint should also include imported goods and services manufactured elsewhere, the researchers suggest.
The researchers calculated the carbon emissions of China’s net exports in 2004, the most recent year of full data. Their results may be conservative because between 2004 and 2006, China’s trade surplus (the value of exports minus imports) increased substantially.

China is now believed to be the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide, having overtaken the United States.

Although exports of carbon intensive products such as rolled steel and aluminium are increasing at more than 50% annually, the majority of China’s trade surplus comes from less carbon intensive goods such as textiles and consumer electronics. But the government’s efforts to reduce the expansion of exports are so far ineffective due to high international demand.
—Tao Wang

Their analysis provides evidence that not only are industrialized countries historically responsible for the majority of carbon emissions to date, but they may also have significant responsibility for driving the rapid growth in emissions from countries in the process of industrialization, such as China.

Green Car Congress