Analysis Of Carbon Emissions Embodied In Trade And Driving Factors Of Global Apparel Industry

With the rapid growth of clothing consumption in the past decade,the negative impact of the apparel industry on the environment cannot be ignored.And the developed countries have transferred the environmental impact（including pollution and resource consumption）of the clothing production process to developing countries through international trade.Therefore,it is of great practical significance for the low-carbon and sustainable development of the global apparel supply chains to accurately calculate the carbon emissions of the apparel supply chains from production-based and consumption-based among different countries/regions all over the world and quantitative the driving factors of changing carbon emission.This study used the global multi-regional input-output（MRIO）tables in 2004,2007,2011and 2014 to account carbon emissions of the apparel supply chains from production-based and consumption-based among different countries/regions all over the world.On this basis,conducting the structural decomposition analysis（SDA）to quantitative the driving factors of changing carbon emission of the global apparel industry as well as the changing production-based and consumption-based carbon emission of the apparel supply chains among different countries/regions all over the world from 2004 to 2014.The main results include:（1）The carbon emissions of global apparel industry increased from 276 Mt in 2004 to394 Mt in 2014.The carbon emissions caused by global clothing consumption mainly occurred from developing countries;at the same time,the increasing carbon emissions also came from developing countries（China and India with a significant increase in growth as well as Bangladesh and Pakistan with the fastest growth rates）,while the carbon emissions of developed regions were on a downward trend.（2）In 2004,the carbon emissions driven by clothing consumption in the three major developed regions（North America,developed regions in Europe and developed regions in Asia and Pacific）were 172.2 Mt CO₂,accounting for 62%of carbon emissions of global apparel industry;the carbon emissions of clothing consumption per capita of the three developed regions are 3.4 times the global average（144 kg CO₂/person）.（3）More than 50%of carbon emissions were embodied in trade of global apparel industry,and the carbon emissions embodied in trade in developing countries has increased significantly especially the emissions embodied in South–South trade.And it is characterized by a shift from developed countries to developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region.（4）The reduction of carbon emission intensity contributed the most to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.The changes in carbon emission intensity in relatively developed regions have contributed to the reduction of carbon emissions of global apparel industry from2004 to 2011.And the main contribution was concentrated in developing countries from 2011to 2014.（5）The increase in per capita clothing consumption was the main driving factor for the growth of carbon emissions of global apparel industry from 2004 to 2014.And the largest per capita clothing consumption effect was China.Finally,the reasonable policy recommendations were put forward,such as from the perspective of cleaner production,the global apparel supply chain is guided to develop in a green and low-carbon direction through optimizing the energy structure and providing manufacturing technical support to the developing countries;from the perspective of global responsible consumption,consumers in developed and developing countries to construct sustainable consumption concepts at the personal level was guided.