Virtual Air Pollution Transfer And Environmental Inequalities In China

Trade among regions or countries allows not only the exchange of goods and services but also leads to the transfer of pollution.Considering China's huge gap between developed coastal regions and less developed inland regions as well as regional air pollution,quantitative analysis that revealing the disproportional relationship between each region's emission burden and economic gains along China's domestic supply chains when participating in national productive activity,may provide a basis for determining each province's responsibility for regional pollution control.By using the latest multiregional input-output tables and the sectoral air pollutant emission inventory for 2012,we traced emissions and value added along China's domestic supply chains triggered by domestic consumption or international export.Additionally,three indexes were developed to measure the inequality relationship hidden in exchange of products among China's 30 regions.Firstly,this study built consumption-based inventories of air pollution emissions and value added by tracking air pollution and contribution to value added along the entire intra-and inter-regional supply chain in China triggered by each region's final consumption.Moreover,a regional environmental inequalities(REI)index was used to characterize environment justice in inter-provincial trade.The results show that approximately 62%-76%of the consumption-based air pollution emissions of richer regions(Beijing-Tianjin,East Coast and South Coast)were outsourced to other regions;however,approximately 70%of value added triggered by these regions' final consumption was retained within these regions.Some provinces in remote western China,like Guizhou,Ningxia and Yunnan,not only suffered pollution transfer but also lost value added when trading with rich provinces due to their import of high value added goods and service from richer provinces.Secondly,this study quantified the economic benefits and environmental costs embodied in international trade,and an economic and environmental justice index(i.e.,AG index)had been built to characterize regional environmental inequalities related to international export.The results indicated that the developed coastal regions(East Coast,South Coast and Beijing-Tianjin)seized approximately 56%of national export-induced GDP and outsourced 72%of export-related emissions mainly to less developed central and western regions.For each yuan of export-induced GDP,developed regions only incurred 0.4?0.6 g emissions,while less developed regions from western or central China had to suffer 4 to 8 times the amount of emissions(i.e.1.7-3.2 g).The less developed regions incurred more emissions than developed coastal regions when obtaining per unit export-related value added due to their heavy industry.Thirdly,when taking Pan-Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei(PBTH)region,where the air environment is interactional with each other,as example,this study compared the transfer of economic benefits and pollution control cost related to inter-provincial trade from perspective of consumption and production.An environmental justice index(CG index)also was developed to reveal the unfairness of air pollution control within PBTH region.The results show that Beijing,Tianjin and other developed provinces and metropolis have transferred the total air pollution control cost to energy-rich undeveloped provinces through the consumption of pollution-intensive products from Shanxi,Inner Mongolia,Hebei and Henan.About 70%of total air pollution control cost has been undertaken by Shanxi,Inner Mongolia and other undeveloped provinces,while only less than 20%of GDP net inflows has been received.In conclusion,environmental inequalities indeed existed between developed provinces and less developed areas within China.Developed provinces in eastern China outsourced production and associated pollution to less developed areas,however,they retained larger shares of GDP when consuming final or intermediate products supplied by less developed provinces.While less developed provinces in remote central,western China or neighbored with developed provinces lost their economic gains,though they already undertook air pollution from rich provinces through inter-regional trade.Above results could provide a basis for determining each province's responsibility for pollution control and refers for policymakers to design associated cross-regional compensation policy.