From production-based to consumption-based regional carbon inventories: Insight from spatial production fragmentation

Zengkai Zhang and Jintai Lin

Applied Energy, 2018, vol. 211, issue C, 549-567

Abstract: The key distinction between production-based and consumption-based accounting lies in the way in which trade-embodied emissions are allocated between producer and consumer regions. Yet, these two regions are not necessarily directly connected to each other in supply chains, due to spatial production fragmentation. To better understand the link from the production-based to the consumption-based regional carbon inventories, this paper defines the economic length of carbon transfer (ELCT) as the number of administrative border-crossing involved in the influence process of a region’s final demand on the carbon emissions of another region. Using a multi-regional input-output analysis framework for China, we propose an approach to calculating the ELCT related to a region’s production or demand for domestic consumption or international export. We find that the average ELCT in 2010 is 1.34 and that more than a quarter of interregional carbon transfer crosses provincial borders twice or more. The provincial and sectoral analysis of ELCT reveals that spatial production fragmentation is an important challenge to be conquered for successful implementation of consumption-based climate regulations.

Keywords: Carbon accounting; Carbon transfer; Spatial production fragmentation; Border-crossing frequency; Input-output model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030626191731632X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:211:y:2018:i:c:p:549-567

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.11.047

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().