Environmental effects of global value chain embedding in manufacturing industry in countries along the Belt and Road

Abstract

While embedding in the global value chain (GVC), avoiding becoming a “pollution shelter” is an urgent issue that needs to be solved for the low-carbon economic development of countries along the Belt and Road. This study empirically analyzes the impact of manufacturing GVC embedding on carbon emissions and its mechanism from the perspectives of the embedding position and degree of the GVC. It then carries out group regressions by different industries, value chain embedding modes, and so on. Finally, this study constructs static and dynamic panel models to verify the nonlinear relationship between manufacturing GVC embedding and carbon emissions. The results show that the improvement of the embedding position of GVC in the manufacturing industry promotes an increase in carbon emissions; the deeper the embedding degree of GVC, the more conducive it is to carbon emissions reduction. Compared with the service industry, the impact of manufacturing GVC embedding on carbon emissions is more significant; regardless of the value chain embedding model, the deeper the embedding degree, the more conducive it is to carbon emissions reduction. Technological progress can weaken the impact of GVC embedding on carbon emissions. There is a U-shaped relationship between the GVC embedding position and carbon emissions in the manufacturing industry and an inverted U-shaped relationship between the GVC embedding degree and carbon emissions. This study provides beneficial insights for countries along the Belt and Road to embed into the GVC to avoid falling into the dilemma of “pollution growth”.

The impacts of digital value chain embeddedness on trade-related carbon emissions intensity

“…While it is in a low range of digital value chain embeddedness, the construction of digital supportive resources is insufficient. The host country's absorption capacity is limited because of the low degree of digital embedding (Huang et al, 2022). To sustain digital connectivity, many energy-intensive applications, such as data centers, electronic equipment, and data transmission networks, require massive energy consumption (Galvin, 2015;Bieser and Hilty, 2020).…”

“…Compared with conventional production technology, it is more difficult to learn digital technology through demonstration and observational learning. Under the conditions of the core technologies grasped by developed countries (Huang et al, 2022), developing countries have to strengthen their absorption capacity, which depends on the accumulation of human capital, R&D ability, and the institutional environment.…”

“…The new finding in this study is that compared with the single threshold associated with digital domestic value chain embeddedness, we have discovered two thresholds in the case of digital GVC embeddedness. The explanation may be that as digitalization is in the high range, a country's corresponding absorptive capacity is not synchronized with digital technological development, resulting in the aggravation of pollution (Huang et al, 2022). In the era of the knowledge-based economy, soft power, especially human capital, plays a very influential role in providing innovation impetus (Haini, 2018).…”

Can Global Value Chains Embedment Reduce Carbon Emissions Embodied in Exports?—Empirical Test Based on the Manufacturing Industries

“…Specifically, developed countries are mainly engaged in high value-added and low-pollution activities, tending to transfer high-pollution activities to other countries. In contrast, developing countries usually undertake high-pollution industries from developed countries so as to embed in GVC (Huang, 2022) [ 4 ]. Then, does the improvement of the GVC embedment position contribute to the reduction of CEET?…”