Carbon emissions embodied in China's international trade of textiles and clothing

Abstract

International trade of textiles and clothing has numerous environmental implications, such as carbon leakage. In order to estimate the CO2 emissions embodied in China's imports and exports of textiles and clothing, an empirical analysis was carried out with environmental input-output analysis (EIOA) method using the most recent data available. The results indicate that China is a net exporter of embodied CO2 emissions on account of its international trade of textiles and clothing. The amount of the net exported embodied CO2 emissions increases from 110 million metric tons(Mt) of CO2 in 2002 to 280 Mt of CO2 in 2011. In particular, United States, Japan, and European Union transfer to China 339 Mt of CO2, 291 Mt of CO2 and 396 Mt of CO2 respectively during the period of 2002-2011. © 2012 by Editorial Board of Journal of Donghua University, Shanghai, China.