Shared Responsibility for Carbon Emission Based on Embodied Carbon Emission in China-US Trade

Abstract Traditional Production-Based Accounting (PBA) principle does not consider the embodied carbon emissions in export and import trade. A multiregional input-output (MRIO) model is constructed to estimate the embodied carbon dioxide emissions of 41 countries and regions worldwide, based on the PBA and shared responsibility approach in this paper. The results indicate that the embodied carbon emissions in 2018 in China's export trade were 1326.1 million tons higher than that of import trade. Through the empirical analysis of the embodied carbon emissions in China's import and export trade, it can be seen that China is a major producer of carbon emissions, not a consumer country, and has taken more carbon emissions responsibility for the world. And it is more reasonable and impartial to assign developed and developing country’s carbon emissions responsibility in the light of the shared responsibility method.