Description: Trade in 'Virtual Carbon' : Empirical Results and Implications for Policy

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Trade in 'Virtual Carbon' : Empirical Results and Implications for Policy

The fact that developing countries do not have carbon emission caps under the Kyoto Protocol has led to the current interest in high-income countries in border taxes on the "virtual" carbon content of imports. The authors use Global Trade...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Atkinson, Giles, Hamilton, Kirk, Ruta, Giovanni, Van Der Mensbrugghe, Dominique
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2014
Subjects:	ABATEMENT ACID ACID RAIN ADJUSTMENT POLICIES AVERAGE TAX RATES BALANCE OF PAYMENTS BILATERAL TRADE CALCULATION CAPS CARBON CARBON BALANCE CARBON CONTENT CARBON DIOXIDE CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS CARBON EMISSION CARBON EMISSIONS CARBON FLOWS CARBON INTENSITY CARBON INVENTORIES CARBON LEAKAGE CARBON PRICE CARBON REDUCTIONS CARBON TAX CARBON TAXES CARBONIZATION CHEMICALS CLIMATE CLIMATE CHANGE CLIMATE CHANGE NEGOTIATIONS CLIMATE CHANGE PROBLEM CLIMATE POLICY CO CO2 COAL COST OF ABATEMENT CRUDE OIL DAMAGES DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DOMESTIC CARBON DOMESTIC EMISSIONS DOMESTIC PRODUCTION DOMESTIC SOURCES ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS ECONOMIC ACTIVITY ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT ECONOMIC EFFECTS ECONOMIC IMPACTS ECONOMIC RESEARCH ECONOMIC SECTORS ECONOMICS ELASTICITIES ELECTRICITY EMISSION INTENSITIES EMISSION INTENSITY EMISSION TRADING EMISSIONS DATA EMISSIONS FROM AGRICULTURE EMISSIONS FROM PRODUCTION EMISSIONS INVENTORIES EMISSIONS LEAKAGE EMISSIONS REDUCTION ENERGY GOODS ENERGY POLICY ENVIRONMENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ENVIRONMENTAL LAW EQUILIBRIUM EQUITY CONSIDERATIONS EXCHANGE RATE EXCHANGE RATES EXPORTS FERROUS METALS FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FINANCIAL TRANSFERS FOSSIL FUEL FOSSIL FUEL CONSUMPTION FUEL CONSUMPTION GDP GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE GLOBAL EMISSIONS GREENHOUSE GREENHOUSE GASES GROSS NATIONAL INCOME INCENTIVE EFFECTS INDUSTRIALIZATION INTERMEDIATE GOODS INTERNATIONAL TRADE LAND-USE CHANGE LOWER PRICES
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2010/01/11704469/trade-virtual-carbon-empirical-results-implications-policy http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19903

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Summary:	The fact that developing countries do not have carbon emission caps under the Kyoto Protocol has led to the current interest in high-income countries in border taxes on the "virtual" carbon content of imports. The authors use Global Trade Analysis Project data and input-output analysis to estimate the flows of virtual carbon implicit in domestic production technologies and the pattern of international trade. The results present striking evidence on the wide variation in the carbon-intensiveness of trade across countries, with major developing countries being large net exporters of virtual carbon. The analysis suggests that tax rates of $50 per ton of virtual carbon could lead to very substantial effective tariff rates on the exports of the most carbon-intensive developing nations.