Tracing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Global Value Chains

This paper integrates two lines of research into a unified conceptual framework: trade in global value chains and embodied emissions. This allows both value added and emissions to be systematically traced at the country, sector, and bilateral levels through various routes in global production networks. By combining value-added and emissions accounting in a consistent way, the potential environmental cost (amount of emissions per unit of value added) along global value chains can be estimated from different perspectives (production, consumption, and trade). Using this unified accounting method, we trace value-added and CO2 emissions in global production and trade networks among 41 economies in 35 sectors from 1995 to 2009 based on the World Input–Output Database, and show how they improve our understanding on the impact of cross-border production sharing on the environment.