Estimation of CO 2 Emissions Embodied in Domestic Trade and Their Influencing Factors in Japan

Yuzhuo Huang and Ken’ichi Matsumoto
Additional contact information
Yuzhuo Huang: Graduate School of Fisheries and Environmental Sciences, Nagasaki University, 1-14 Bunkyo-machi, Nagasaki 852-8521, Japan
Ken’ichi Matsumoto: Faculty of Economics, Toyo University, 5-28-20 Hakusan, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-8606, Japan

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 14, 1-22

Abstract: CO 2 emissions embodied in domestic trade between Japanese prefectures are gradually increasing and becoming an important growth point in the country’s CO 2 emissions. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the CO 2 emissions embodied in Japan’s domestic imports and exports to visualize the carbon transfer paths between prefectures according to the attributes of production and consumption: also to identify the influencing factors of the carbon flow. This study estimated the CO 2 emissions embodied in domestic imports and exports by prefectures using input–output analysis, followed by the log-mean Divisia index decomposition approach, which is used to quantify the influencing factor of net export CO 2 emissions across prefectures. The results show substantial regional differences in the CO 2 emissions embodied in domestic imports and exports across prefectures. Manufacturing prefectures satisfy most of Japan’s domestic demand for industrial products and are the main net exporters of CO 2 emissions. Carbon flow is more obvious in economically advanced regions (such as the Kanto and Kansai regions) and covers more prefectures through carbon transfer. Consumer prefectures import the most CO 2 emissions and export large amounts of CO 2 emissions to other prefectures. Among the three factors influencing net export CO 2 emissions, the technology effect has the most significant impact through the carbon intensity of domestic trade flows. These findings highlight the substantial differences in CO 2 emissions embodied in domestic trade and the influencing factors across prefectures in Japan. The responsibility for emission reduction is attributable to both manufacturing and consumer prefectures.

Keywords: Japan’s domestic trade; carbon transfer; manufacturing prefecture; consumer prefecture; influencing factors (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/14/8498/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/14/8498/ (text/html)

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:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:14:p:8498-:d:860309

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().