Who should bear the cost of China’s carbon emissions embodied in goods for exports?
Who should bear the cost of China’s carbon emissions embodied in goods for exports?
复制标题
DOI：
10.2139/ssrn.1927031
复制
发表时间：
2011-09
影响因子：
2.5
通讯作者：
Zhongxiang Zhang
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Zhongxiang Zhang
自1978年底开始实行开放政策和经济改革以来，中国资本密集型、出口导向型的惊人经济增长不仅创造了就业机会，使数百万中国人摆脱了贫困，而且也造成了前所未有的环境污染和二氧化碳排放。虽然对中国贸易中隐含的二氧化碳排放量的估计不同，但针对中国的单一国家研究和全球研究都表明，中国的二氧化碳排放量中有很大一部分隐含在贸易中。这部分的二氧化碳排放量使中国成为世界上最大的碳排放国，并且正在进一步扩大与第二大排放国的差距。这就提出了谁应该为这部分排放负责并承担出口碳成本的问题。中国当然希望进口商承担部分（如果不是全部的话）成本。虽然中国的立场是可以理解的，但本文从一个广泛而平衡的角度认为，如果这一点被推得太远，将无助于找到解决这一问题的办法。相反，这可能对中国不利，原因有很多。然而，将这一责任归于中国并不一定意味着只依赖国内行动。在此背景下，本文建议国际和国内需要采取具体行动，以有效控制中国贸易中隐含的二氧化碳排放。
China’s capital-intensive, export-oriented, spectacular economic growth since launching its open-door policy and economic reforms in late 1978 not only has created jobs and has lifted millions of the Chinese people out of poverty, but also has given rise to unprecedented environmental pollution and CO2 emissions. While estimates of the embedded CO2 emissions in China’s trade differ, both single-country studies for China and global studies show a hefty chunk of China’s CO2 emissions embedded in trade. This portion of CO2 emissions had helped to turn China into the world’s largest carbon emitter, and is further widening its gap with the second largest emitter. This raises the issue of who should be responsible for this portion of emissions and bearing the carbon cost of exports. China certainly wants importers to cover some, if not all, of that costs. While China’s stance is understandable, this paper has argued from a broad and balanced perspective that if this is pushed too far, it will not help to find solutions to this issue. On the contrary, it can be to China’s disadvantage for a number of reasons. However, aligning this responsibility with China does not necessarily suggest the sole reliance on domestic actions. In that context, the paper recommends specific actions that need to be taken internationally as well as domestically in order to effectively control the embedded CO2 emissions in China’s trade.