TY - JOUR
T1 - How responsible is a region for its carbon emissions? An empirical general equilibrium analysis
AU - Turner, Karen
AU - Munday, Max
AU - McGregor, Peter
AU - Swales, John
PY - 2012/4
Y1 - 2012/4
N2 - Targets for CO2 reduction tend to be set in terms of the amount of pollution generated within the borders of a given region or nation. That is, under a "production accounting principle". However, in recent years there has been increased public and policy interest in the notion of a carbon footprint, or the amount of pollution generated globally to serve final consumption demand within a region or nation. That is, switching focus to a "consumption accounting principle". However, this paper argues that a potential issue arising from the increasing focus on consumption-based "carbon footprint" type measures is that while regional CO2 generation embodied in export production is attributed outside of the region (i.e. to the carbon footprints of other regions/nations), regional consumers are likely to benefit from such production. Moreover, where there is a geographical and supply chain gap between producers and final consumers, it may be difficult to identify precisely „whose‟ carbon footprint emissions should be allocated to.
AB - Targets for CO2 reduction tend to be set in terms of the amount of pollution generated within the borders of a given region or nation. That is, under a "production accounting principle". However, in recent years there has been increased public and policy interest in the notion of a carbon footprint, or the amount of pollution generated globally to serve final consumption demand within a region or nation. That is, switching focus to a "consumption accounting principle". However, this paper argues that a potential issue arising from the increasing focus on consumption-based "carbon footprint" type measures is that while regional CO2 generation embodied in export production is attributed outside of the region (i.e. to the carbon footprints of other regions/nations), regional consumers are likely to benefit from such production. Moreover, where there is a geographical and supply chain gap between producers and final consumers, it may be difficult to identify precisely „whose‟ carbon footprint emissions should be allocated to.
KW - ecological economics
KW - carbon footprint
KW - production accounting principle
UR - http://www.management.stir.ac.uk/research/economics/?a=26187
U2 - 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2012.02.001
DO - 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2012.02.001
M3 - Article
VL - 79
SP - 70
EP - 78
JO - Ecological Economics
JF - Ecological Economics
SN - 0921-8009
ER -