Impact of the International Trade on the EU Clothing Industry Carbon Emissions

Abstract

Globalization and international trade has strongly affected world’s economy in the recent decades. The importance of emissions loads distribution between countries participating in the supply chains is steadily growing. In the highly fragmented global supply chain structure, with the consumption and production separated geographically and politically, it is difficult to capture the distribution of carbon emission burden within the global production processes. Several recent scientific studies have emphasized that CO2 emissions embodied in international trade processes should be addressed. The CO2 emissions up to now are mostly evaluated on the base of domestic emission accounts. To address this research gap, our study applies multi-regional input-output (MRIO) method for the estimation of the CO2 emissions embodied in the EU clothing imports. The study evaluates carbon emissions of the EU clothing imports and provides suggestions for companies and policy makers. Our results show, that the EU has not reduced CO2 emissions t instead has outsourced them. MRIO and triangulation methods were used to evaluate the EU clothing sector embodied carbon emissions in imports from 2000 to 2016. CO2 emission reduction goal can be achieved by implementing the proposed consumption based emission accounting framework additionally to the country’s emission inventory. Our results may help businesses and policy makers to establish more efficient strategies towards the EU’s carbon emissions.

International Trade and Carbon Emissions: Evaluating the Role of Trade Rule Uncertainty

“…International trade can affect carbon emissions, which is a common conclusion and is recognized by most researchers [4,8,[79][80][81]. The existing results reveal that imports and exports are positively correlated with consumption-based carbon emissions [8,78], since growing international trade can lead to increasing logistics and transportation producing carbon emissions [4].…”

“…Consumption-based carbon emissions, which are adjusted by international trade, are more suitable for measuring environmental pollution, and the rise in exports can decrease the ratio of consumption-based carbon emissions [9]. Researchers argue that EU imports have not reduced CO 2 emissions but outsourced them instead, and a consumption-based carbon emission accounting framework can be an efficient path to CO 2 emission reduction [81]. Foreign trade is an important factor for carbon emissions and impacts in different regions are significantly different [82].…”

Environmental impacts of cotton and opportunities for improvement

“…US consumption of clothing, leather and furniture from China and other Asian countries drove the variation in marine eutrophication impacts embodied in global non-food trade 15 . Substantial amounts of the carbon footprint in the EU textile and clothing sector were 'outsourced' abroad to regions including China, India, Brazil and Turkey 16,17 . The globalization and fragmentation of the textile and fashion system have led to an uneven distribution of environmental consequences 18 .…”

Why are some countries cleaner than others? New evidence from macroeconomic governance

“…Furthermore, the PHH is somewhat applicable in Korea, and the negative impact of FDI on environmental quality is generally restricted. Additionally, government spending increases the quality of the environment 6 Akbar et al ( 2021 ) 33 OECD nations from 2006 to 2016 Healthcare spending, carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions, and the human development index (HDI) Panel vector autoregression -Healthcare expenditures, CO 2 emissions, and HDI, exhibit a causal relationship -Healthcare expenditures and CO 2 emissions exhibit bidirectional causality, implying that CO 2 emissions significantly increase healthcare expenditures in OECD countries 7 Valodka et al ( 2020 ) EU Countries 2000–2016 CO 2 emissions and imports The multi-regional input–output (MRIO) approach The findings indicate that the EU did not reduce CO 2 emissions but rather outsourced them 8 Ali and Kirikkaleli ( 2021 ) Italy Asymmetric influence of trade, renewable energy, and economic growth on consumption-based CO 2 emissions The Gregory–Hansen test for cointegration, Markov switching regression, Nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL), and a frequency domain causality test -Import has a positive asymmetric effect on consumption-based CO 2 emissions, implying that increasing import is associated with a decline in consumption-based environmental quality -Export, renewable consumption, and economic growth all help Italy reduce consumption-based CO 2 emissions 9 Thampanya et al ( 2021 ) 61 countries classified as high- and middle-income economies 1990–2018 The influence of positive and negative shocks in financial development on CO 2 emissions Linear and nonlinear ARDL (NARDL) Financial development factors in reducing CO 2 emissions in the long term for high-income economies, it increases CO 2 emissions and thereby degrades environmental quality in middle-income economies 10 Sephton and Mann ( ...…”