The influence of imports and exports on the evolution of greenhouse gas emissions: The case for The Europa Union

Identifier:  imarina:5132215

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/imarina5132215

Authors:  Pie, Laia; Fabregat-Aibar, Laura; Saez, Marc

Abstract:
Part of a country's emissions are caused by producing goods for export to other countries, but in addition, the country's own needs generate emissions in other parts of the world that are associated with the products they import. Our interest was to evaluate the influence of imports and exports of goods and services on the greenhouse gas emissions in a data panel composed of 30 countries and 21 years. We included as control variables, the gross domestic product per capita, employment, an indicator of the economic crisis and a non-linear trend. Inferences were performed using a Bayesian framework. In the results for estimates exports and imports of goods, rather than services, which were related to CO2-equivalent levels. Exports and imports of goods were very inelastic, something less in the case of the index. In summary, the more a country imports, the higher their greenhouse gas emission levels. However, it is important to point out that when employment rates are higher more energy is consumed and greenhouse gas emissions are greater. In richer countries, GDP per capita is the factor that best explains why their emissions are so high.