Pathways of human development and carbon emissions embodied in trade
Author
:
Steinberger J K, Roberts J T, Peters G P, Baiocchi G
Source
:
Nature Climate Change 2(2): p. 81–85
Keywords
:
carbon emissions; trade
Year
:
2012
Author Affiliation
:
Sustainability Research Institute and Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Maths/Earth and Environment Building, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
Abstract
:
The authors use new consumption-based measures of national carbon emissions1 to explore how the relationship between human development and carbon changes when the authors adjust national emission rates for trade. Without such adjustment of emissions, some nations seem to be getting far better development ‘bang’ for the carbon ‘buck’ than others, who are showing scant gains for disproportionate shares of global emissions. Adjusting for the transfer of emissions through trade explains many of these outliers, but shows that further socio-economic benefits are accruing to carbon-importing rather than carbon-exporting countries. The authors also find that high life expectancies are compatible with low carbon emissions but high incomes are not. Finally, the authors see that, despite strong international trends, there is no deterministic industrial development trajectory: there is great diversity in pathways, and national histories do not necessarily follow the global trends.
