The Analysis of Carbon Dioxide Emissions From Taiwan’s Export Industry

Abstract

By reviewing Taiwan's economic development after the Second World War, economic activities at various stages are driven by international trade exports, which has led to Taiwan's economic growth and rising per capita income. Therefore, the situation of Taiwan's export industry is of great significance to its development. In this study, the Environmental Input-Output (EIO) model, the World Input-Output Database (WIOD), and Socio-Economic Accounts are used to investigate the CO2 emissions of Taiwan's export industry sectors and its relationship with other countries. It is analysed how particular export sectors cause carbon dioxide emissions in domestic production supply chains (by tracking downstream to upstream), and how carbon emissions in specific sectors affect export output. The empirical results show that the growth rate of CO2 emissions in Taiwan's export industry is roughly the same as its GDP growth rate and far lower than Japan and the United States. From the perspective of industry categories, water transport, chemical products and electronic optical products are Taiwan's export sectors with high CO2 emissions and rapid growth.