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Four system boundaries for carbon accounts

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

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Authors

Liu, Zhu 
Feng, Kuishuang 
Hubacek, Klaus 
Liang, Sai 
Anadon, Laura Diaz 

Abstract

Knowing the carbon emission baseline of a region is a precondition for any mitigation effort, but the baselines are highly dependent on the system boundaries for which they are calculated. On the basis of sectoral energy statistics and a nested provincial and global multi-regional input–output model, we calculate and compare four different system boundaries for China's 30 provinces and major cities. The results demonstrate significant differences in the level of emissions for the different system boundaries. Moreover, the associated emissions with each system boundary varies with the regional development level, i.e. richer areas outsource more emissions to other areas, or in other words boundary 4 emissions are higher than boundary 1 emissions for rich areas and vice versa for poor areas. Given these significant differences it is important to be aware of the implications the choice of an accounting system might have on outcomes.

Description

Keywords

Carbon emissions, Carbon footprint, Consumption-based emission, Multi-regional input-output analysis, Embodied emissions, China

Journal Title

ECOLOGICAL MODELLING

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0304-3800
1872-7026

Volume Title

318

Publisher

Elsevier BV