The Effects Of International Trade On Carbon Emissions In China

Nearly a century, the Earth is experiencing a significant change in warming climate features. So the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases which result in this phenomenon become the focus of national attention. For China, the foreign trade has played a critical role in promoting economic development, but there are environmental externalities in the process of foreign trade growth, and China’s economic growth remains extensive mode. At the same time, due to the production technology for energy-consuming sector relatively backward, it leads to a surge demand for fossil and other energies, thus emit large quantities of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases and trigger a series of environmental problems.In this context, the purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between China’s foreign trade and carbon emissions, and analyze the impacts of foreign trade on carbon emissions from the theoretical and empirical analysis based on politics, economics, trade theories and econometric methods. This helps us comprehensively understand China’s trade impact on carbon emissions, and provides theoretical basis and practical guidance on the formulation of the principle of energy saving policies, in order to promote China’s economy into the low-carbon path of development, and achieve economic development of benign cycle.On the basis of the relevant theoretical and empirical research, firstly I explained the root cause of environmental problems from an economic point of view which is the existence of externalities and market failure. And then I analyzed foreign trade impact on carbon emissions from the theoretical level, which can be divided into six effects, such as scale effect, income effect, structural effect, technical effect, the allocation effect and regulatory effect; then I calculated the quantity of carbon emissions and the total and regional characteristics of China’s carbon emissions. Used empirical econometric analysis methods, I made use of the provinces in China,2000-2009panel data to analyze the relationship between foreign trade and carbon emissions. Hereafter the panel data of all the provinces is grouped according to the foreign trade openness, and I further analyzed the relationship between openness and carbon emissions using empirical research; Second, through time-series data of China1980-2010, and I further analyzed long-term cointegration relationship of the overall carbon emissions and the structure of foreign trade goods. The corresponding conclusion is:China’s exports and carbon dioxide emissions are highly positively correlated, while imports had different effects on different results for the provinces. Export elasticity coefficient in the areas open to foreign trade is higher. With the reduction of the degree of openness, the elasticity coefficient is gradually reduced. And with the reduction of openness, the effects of import become smaller and smaller. The existence of long-term cointegration relationship among carbon emissions, the proportion of industrial exports and the proportion of imports of primary products, both have increased carbon emissions. The results provide a basis for the region to develop appropriate energy saving policies. Finally, the results of theoretical and empirical analysis help us coordinate the relationship between foreign trade and carbon emissions, and adjust the structure of foreign trade goods, achieve low-carbon trade.