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How responsible is a region for its carbon emissions? An empirical general equilibrium analysis

Karen Turner, Max Munday, Peter McGregor and John Swales ()

Ecological Economics, 2012, vol. 76, issue C, 70-78

Abstract: CO2 reduction targets tend to be set in terms of the amount of pollution emitted within a given region. However, there is increasing public and policy interest in the notion of a carbon footprint, or CO2 generated globally to serve final consumption demand within a region. This raises an issue in that, despite the local economic benefits, the latter involves effectively absolving the region of responsibility for CO2 generated in the production of exports. Using a CGE model of Wales, we illustrate by simulating an increase in export demand for the output of an industry (metal production) that is both carbon and export intensive and generally produces to meet intermediate rather than final demands. The key result is economic growth accompanied by a widening gap between regional CO2 generation and the carbon footprint, raising questions as to the identification of precisely ‘whose’ carbon footprint these additional emissions should be allocated to.

Keywords: Computable general equilibrium modelling; Input–output accounting; CO2 targets; Carbon footprints; Environmental responsibility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D57 D58 O18 O44 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:76:y:2012:i:c:p:70-78

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2012.02.001

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