The Impact of GVC Participation on China’s Trade-Implicit Carbon Emission Intensity: A Moderating Effect Based on Industrial Digitalization

Keping Men and Hui Sun ()
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Keping Men: Center for Innovation Management Research of Xinjiang, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 830046, China
Hui Sun: Center for Innovation Management Research of Xinjiang, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 830046, China

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 14, 1-20

Abstract: Based on relevant data from WIOD database from 2010 to 2014, this article calculates the trade-implied carbon emission intensity of various industrial sectors in China, analyzes the impact of GVC embedding on the trade-implied carbon emission intensity of Chinese industrial sectors, and further explores the moderating effect of industrial digitalization on this basis. Research has shown that, on an overall level, as the degree of forward embedding of the GVC deepens, the trade-implied carbon emission intensity of China’s industrial sectors shows an inverted “U”-shaped change of first increasing and then decreasing, while the backward embedding of the GVC promotes trade-implied carbon emissions. From the perspective of industry heterogeneity, there is an inverted “U”-shaped relationship between forward participation in non-pollution-intensive and non-technology-intensive industries and trade-implicit carbon emissions intensity. In technology-intensive industries, there is a positive “U”-shaped relationship between forward participation in the GVC and trade-implicit carbon emissions intensity. The increase in forward participation in pollution-intensive industries effectively suppresses and promotes trade-implicit carbon emissions. At the same time, the improvement of industrial digitalization can promote the early entry of China’s industrial sector’s trade-implicit carbon emission intensity into the decline stage. Therefore, enhancing the forward participation of the GVC and the level of industrial digitalization is an effective measure to promote the low-carbon development of trade in China’s industrial sectors.

Keywords: global value chain participation; trade implies carbon emissions; industrial digitalization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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