Reducing disparities between carbon emissions and economic benefits in Guangdong’s exports: A supply chain perspective

Abstract Structurally adjusting inputs and reducing supply chain emissions in the production of exports are two effective ways to reduce disparities between export-related carbon emissions (ECE) and export-related value-added (EVA). Thus, it is important to determine the sources of disparities induced by different intermediate inputs and to identify which supply chains are crucial for reducing emissions. We invoke subsystem analysis to examine the sources of disparities between ECE and EVA caused by intermediate inputs used to produce exports in China’s Guangdong Province during 2002–2012. We apply multi-temporal structural path analysis to extract crucial ECE paths and corresponding EVAs and investigate variations in priorities to reduce path emissions. The results indicate, first, that both inter- and intra-sector dimensions show disparities in ECE–EVA derived from sectoral spillovers. Second, disparities in spillover components are caused by two factors: differing intensities between direct carbon emissions and the direct coefficient for value-added and the expansion of economic multipliers. Third, fragmentation in production increases the difficulty of mitigating supply chain emissions and enhances disparities in ECE–EVA among high-production tiers (Tier 3→∞). Fourth, an amplification effect influences path disparities in ECE–EVA and determines priorities for reducing path emissions except in cases of emission-shifting.