DECOMPOSITION ANALYSIS OF EMBODIED AIR POLLUTANT EMISSIONS IN CHINA'S EXPORTS

This study calculated embodied SO2, NOx and soot (dust) emissions in China's exports based on input-output tables during 2002-2012, and extended the LMDI method to decompose factors affecting these embodied emissions. The empirical results revealed that, the embodied SO2 and NOx emissions in China's exports increased respectively from 1003.20 to 1376.39 kiloton, and from 1309.56 to 1519.47 kiloton, whereas the embodied soot (dust) emissions decreased from 1726.79 to 803.21 kiloton. On the whole, the export scale effect was the key driving factor on these embodied emissions, followed by the export dependence and export structure effects. The energy intensity and emission coefficient effects had great inhibitory impacts on these embodied emissions. The sources of these embodied emissions in China's exports mainly came from the industries with large energy consumption, but the energy intensity and emission coefficient effects significantly reduced the embodied emissions in some heavy industries. Some policy implications were put forward related to our empirical results.