International trade and shared environmental responsibility by sector. An application to the Spanish economy

The aim of this paper is to define a shared responsibility criterion for analysing the impact of international trade on CO2 emissions applied to sectors. With the approach proposed it is possible for sectors in a country to account for only a part of the emissions associated with exported and imported goods. The agents considered as responsible for pollution are sectors two-fold: as producers and suppliers of intermediate inputs and final demand (accounting for direct emissions linked to production), and as consumers of intermediate inputs required for production (accounting for direct and indirect emissions linked to consumption of inputs), and the countries and foreign sectors that trade with these industries. The responsibility of emissions is shared by all the participants along the global product chain depending on the value added of each step. The criterion is applied to the Spanish economy for the period 2000 to 2005, and proves useful for determining what economic policies may be suitable for mitigating anthropogenic impact on the environment and for including all the agents of the supply chain in the development of sustainable supply chain management.

► Our main aim is to design a criterion for shared responsibility. ► We identify the sectors responsible for CO2 emissions from an economy within its frontiers or abroad. ► The method is empirically applied to the Spanish economy, broken down into 46 sectors. ► This is the first study to calculate shared responsibility by sector using real data. ► Results are useful in evaluating the possibilities for economic policy to reduce CO2 emissions.