The impact of international trade on China׳s industrial carbon emissions since its entry into WTO

• We first employ a panel dataset of 19 industry sectors in China.
• The relationship between per capita output and CO2 emission is inverse N-typed.
• China’s industries are in the rising stage of the inverse N-typed curve.
• FDI and trade comparative advantage increase industrial carbon emissions in China.

This paper employs the input–output (IO) approach to analyze the scale and structure of embodied carbon emissions of China׳s 19 industry sectors during 2001–2011 and constructs a regression model to establish the relationship between energy intensity, per capita output, trade openness, foreign direct investment (FDI), trade comparative advantage, environmental regulation, technology, and CO2 emission intensity. Our results suggest that: China׳s international embodied carbon emission balance has been in a state of continuous growth for the period 2001–2011, and China has become a pollution haven; the relationship between per capita output and CO2 emission is inverse N-typed and China׳s industries are in the rising stage of the curve; FDI and trade comparative advantage are two main elements boosting China׳s carbon emissions; trade openness, environmental regulation, and technology will lower the growth rate of China׳s industrial carbon emissions (ICEs). Consequently, China׳s policies should center on adjusting the industry structure and scale of FDI inflows, transforming industries with trade comparative advantages into a clean type, facilitating environmental regulation level, and bringing in and developing low-carbon technology to avert China from being a pollution haven.