Rich countries including several EU nations are "importing" about a third of their CO2 emissions, says a study.US-based researchers used a global trade database to track goods and services, and assigned emissions to the countries where they were used. Nearly a quarter of China's emissions come from goods exported to the West. Writing in the journal PNAS, the researchers say this is an ethical reason why rich countries should lead global attempts to cut emissions. "We expected to find this net flow from developing countries to the developed world," said lead researcher Steve Davis. "But what stood out was how much of the global flow is accounted for by bilateral trade between China and the US."
Rich countries including several EU nations are "importing" about a third of their CO2 emissions, says a study.
US-based researchers used a global trade database to track goods and services, and assigned emissions to the countries where they were used.
Nearly a quarter of China's emissions come from goods exported to the West.
Writing in the journal PNAS, the researchers say this is an ethical reason why rich countries should lead global attempts to cut emissions.
"We expected to find this net flow from developing countries to the developed world," said lead researcher Steve Davis.
"But what stood out was how much of the global flow is accounted for by bilateral trade between China and the US."
Renita Jablonski: China's under pressure again, but this time not by other governments or protesters. Nope, this time it's Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart says it wants its Chinese suppliers to go green. So the mega retailer is planning to get roughly a thousand of those suppliers together later this year. Ashley Milne-Tyte reports.
Ashley Milne-Tyte:Wal-Mart accounts for 30% of all foreign buying in China. Andrew Hutson is with Environmental Defense. The group is working with Wal-Mart on greening its supply chain. He says it's too early to tell what Wal-Mart will ask of its Chinese suppliers, but... Andrew Hutson: We think as an organization that any effective program is gonna require greater transparency in the supply chain, meaning just knowing where your products come from and who's making them, and what the processes are and what goes into them. That may sound basic, but Ted Fishman, author of China, Inc., says it's not when you consider what goes into making just one Wal-Mart product. Ted Fishman: Not only does Wal-Mart have the thousand suppliers it's meeting with but it has the suppliers to those suppliers. So, if you take a common product like a cell phone, there are 200 suppliers that make the pieces for a cell phone. Fishman says if Wal-Mart can get suppliers to pollute less that could help shape Chinese national environmental standards too.
Andrew Hutson: We think as an organization that any effective program is gonna require greater transparency in the supply chain, meaning just knowing where your products come from and who's making them, and what the processes are and what goes into them.
That may sound basic, but Ted Fishman, author of China, Inc., says it's not when you consider what goes into making just one Wal-Mart product.
Ted Fishman: Not only does Wal-Mart have the thousand suppliers it's meeting with but it has the suppliers to those suppliers. So, if you take a common product like a cell phone, there are 200 suppliers that make the pieces for a cell phone.
Fishman says if Wal-Mart can get suppliers to pollute less that could help shape Chinese national environmental standards too.
FT.com | Wal-Mart seeks emissions data
Wal-Mart is to ask its suppliers to measure and report their greenhouse gas emissions, in the biggest move to disclose emissions from businesses.
A 2009 May update in BusinessWeek:
Wal-Mart: Making Its Suppliers Go Green - BusinessWeek
To spur these changes, [then-CEO, H. Lee Scott Jr.] offered both a carrot and a stick. Wal-Mart pledged to work with its top suppliers to help improve their operations, teaching them how to increase energy efficiency and how to cut the amount of raw materials they use. The threat: By 2012, Wal-Mart would pull its orders from companies not meeting the new standards. <...> The results already are beginning to trickle in. With Wal-Mart's help, Jiangsu Redbud Dyeing Technology in Changshu City, Jiangsu Province, has cut coal consumption by one-tenth and is aiming to bring toxic emissions down to zero. The company has accelerated new product innovation: Redbud Dyeing has garnered more than 150 patents for its line of environment-friendly jute-based textiles. <...> Smart tactics spread quickly among factories, says Andrew Hutson, a supply chain expert at the Environmental Defense Fund, a U.S.-based nonprofit environmental group, who has been advising Wal-Mart without receiving compensation. ... Hutson argues that an eco-focus ultimately serves the company's low-price goals. By helping its suppliers cut waste and reduce spending on energy, Wal-Mart fully expects to see those savings passed on in lower prices. "Lowest cost doesn't have to come from past method--the squeeze-'em-till-they-bleed approach. If anything, that approach leads to environmental degradation." he says.
<...>
The results already are beginning to trickle in. With Wal-Mart's help, Jiangsu Redbud Dyeing Technology in Changshu City, Jiangsu Province, has cut coal consumption by one-tenth and is aiming to bring toxic emissions down to zero. The company has accelerated new product innovation: Redbud Dyeing has garnered more than 150 patents for its line of environment-friendly jute-based textiles.
Smart tactics spread quickly among factories, says Andrew Hutson, a supply chain expert at the Environmental Defense Fund, a U.S.-based nonprofit environmental group, who has been advising Wal-Mart without receiving compensation. ... Hutson argues that an eco-focus ultimately serves the company's low-price goals. By helping its suppliers cut waste and reduce spending on energy, Wal-Mart fully expects to see those savings passed on in lower prices. "Lowest cost doesn't have to come from past method--the squeeze-'em-till-they-bleed approach. If anything, that approach leads to environmental degradation." he says.
Still,
FT.com / Companies / Retail - Walmart to set emissions goals for suppliers
Walmart estimated the direct footprint of its global store operations in 2008 at about 21m tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, and the total has continued to rise as it continues to expand its stores. Its footprint is forecast to grow by more than 10m additional tonnes over the next five years even as it pursues its new supply chain goals. It has, however, reduced the volume of greenhouse gas emissions against sales, as it pursues a range of energy saving and alternative power initiatives. <...> The company, working with the Environmental Defence Fund, plans to produce a set of guidelines for itself and its suppliers to enable them to assess the extent of green house gas reductions. Claims will be verified by ClearCarbon, a consultancy, and reviewed by PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Walmart is also working with suppliers, academics and other parties on the creation of a single index on the environmental and social impact of products that could eventually be used in product labelling.
It has, however, reduced the volume of greenhouse gas emissions against sales, as it pursues a range of energy saving and alternative power initiatives.
The company, working with the Environmental Defence Fund, plans to produce a set of guidelines for itself and its suppliers to enable them to assess the extent of green house gas reductions. Claims will be verified by ClearCarbon, a consultancy, and reviewed by PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
Walmart is also working with suppliers, academics and other parties on the creation of a single index on the environmental and social impact of products that could eventually be used in product labelling.
"Just like the electricity that you use in your home probably causes CO2 emissions at a coal-burning power plant somewhere else, we found that the products imported by the developed countries of western Europe, Japan, and the United States cause substantial emissions in other countries, especially China," says Davis. "On the flip side, nearly a quarter of the emissions produced in China are ultimately exported." Over a third of the carbon dioxide emissions linked to good and services consumed in many European countries actually occurred elsewhere, the researchers found. In Switzerland and several other small countries, outsourced emissions exceeded the amount of carbon dioxide emitted within national borders. The United States is both a major importer and a major exporter of emissions embodied in trade. The net result is that the U.S. outsources about 11% of total consumption-based emissions, primarily to the developing world. The researchers point out that regional climate policy needs to take into account emissions embodied in trade, not just domestic emissions.
"Just like the electricity that you use in your home probably causes CO2 emissions at a coal-burning power plant somewhere else, we found that the products imported by the developed countries of western Europe, Japan, and the United States cause substantial emissions in other countries, especially China," says Davis. "On the flip side, nearly a quarter of the emissions produced in China are ultimately exported."
Over a third of the carbon dioxide emissions linked to good and services consumed in many European countries actually occurred elsewhere, the researchers found. In Switzerland and several other small countries, outsourced emissions exceeded the amount of carbon dioxide emitted within national borders.
The United States is both a major importer and a major exporter of emissions embodied in trade. The net result is that the U.S. outsources about 11% of total consumption-based emissions, primarily to the developing world.
The researchers point out that regional climate policy needs to take into account emissions embodied in trade, not just domestic emissions.
Ya' think? The march of civilizations is a series of defenses that man has put up against the dread of pure existence.
Still, glad -- and surprised -- that the BBC has actually come around to printing what Jérôme pointed to almost two years ago:
We should include taxes on imported goods reflecting the quantity of pollution and carbon emissions embedded in such imports. That would force everybody to put a price on these. After all, China's pollution is to a large extent an "outsourcing" of ours, as they manufacture the good we no longer do, but that we still buy.
More disappointing and surprising is that researchers did not publicize such findings more forcefully and at a much earlier date. The march of civilizations is a series of defenses that man has put up against the dread of pure existence.
Fang Fang, vice chairman of J. P. Morgan Asia Investment Banking division, has proposed that China develop a domestic carbon-trading system as part of its efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions. <...> In an exclusive interview with Xinhua, Fang said he made the proposal mainly for two reasons. "The first reason is that China needs to take all kinds of measures to reduce carbon emissions to fulfil its promise to reduce per capita gross domestic product carbon emission levels by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 with the year 2005 as the base year," he said. The second reason, he added, is that "China must take the initiative to reduce carbon emissions, as climate change has become an issue of significant international concern after the United Nations climate summit held late last year in Copenhagen, Denmark." <...> He stressed that it could become another issue related to China's core interests as some Western countries had proposed to levy so-called carbon tariffs against Chinese exports. <...> Some researchers had predicted a full-fledged global carbon-trading market could be bigger than the oil market.
In an exclusive interview with Xinhua, Fang said he made the proposal mainly for two reasons.
"The first reason is that China needs to take all kinds of measures to reduce carbon emissions to fulfil its promise to reduce per capita gross domestic product carbon emission levels by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 with the year 2005 as the base year," he said.
The second reason, he added, is that "China must take the initiative to reduce carbon emissions, as climate change has become an issue of significant international concern after the United Nations climate summit held late last year in Copenhagen, Denmark."
He stressed that it could become another issue related to China's core interests as some Western countries had proposed to levy so-called carbon tariffs against Chinese exports.
Some researchers had predicted a full-fledged global carbon-trading market could be bigger than the oil market.
