| 1. |
- Bauer, Fredric, et al.
(författare)
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Mapping GHG emissions and prospects for renewable energy in the chemical industry
- 2023
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Ingår i: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering. - : Elsevier BV. - 2211-3398. ; 39
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Chemicals is the industrial sector with the highest energy demand, using a substantial share of global fossil energy and emitting increasing amounts of greenhouse gasses following rapid growth over the past 25 years. Emissions associated with energy use have increased with growth in coal-dependent regions but are also commonly underestimated in regions with higher shares of renewable energy. Renewable energy is key to reducing greenhouse gas emissions but remains a niche area when considering corporate targets and initiatives aiming at emission reductions, which instead favour incremental energy efficiency improvements. These findings point to a risk for continued lock-in to fossil energy in the industry.
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| 2. |
- Bauer, Fredric, et al.
(författare)
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Petrochemicals and Climate Change : Tracing Globally Growing Emissions and Key Blind Spots in a Fossil-Based Industry
- 2022
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- With the risk of climate breakdown becoming ever more pressing as the world is on track for 2.7 degrees warming, pressure is increasing on all sectors of the economy to break with fossil fuel dependence and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In this context, the chemical industry and the production of important basic chemicals is a key sector to consider. Although historically a driver of economic development, the sector is highly dependent on fossil resources for use as both feedstock and fuel in the production of as well organic as inorganic chemicals. The chemical industry demands both petroleum fractions and natural gas. Petroleum fractions such as naphtha and petroleum gases are used as feedstocks for building block chemicals and polymers (e.g., benzene and polyethylene), while natural gas is used for methanol and ammonia. Indeed, the sector is associated with both large process emissions as well as energy related emissions. Our results demonstrate that in 2020 direct GHG emissions from the petrochemical sector amounted to 1.8 Gt CO2eq which is equivalent to 4% of global GHG emissions. Indirect GHG emissions resulting from the activities in other industries supplying inputs for the petrochemical industry accounted for another 3.8 Gt CO2eq. The petrochemical industry is thus associated with a total of 5.6Gt CO2eq of GHG emissions, equivalent to ~10% of global emissions. Over the past 25 years, emissions associated with petrochemicals have doubled and the sector is the third most GHG emitting industry. This increase is fueled by large growth of petrochemicals production as well as growth in regions with high indirect emissions, i.e., in energy systems with high dependence on coal and other fossil fuels. Over the past decades, the industry has grown rapidly in the Asia-Pacific region especially in China which in 2020 was the source for about 47% of global GHG emissions associated with petrochemicals. USA accounts for 6% of the emissions from the industry and Europe for 5%. The BRIC group of countries, which except for China also includes Brazil, India, and Russia, currently accounts for 57% of GHG emissions from petrochemicals, showing that the emissions from this sector are more geographically clustered in these countries than emissions from other sectors.Proper disaggregated and comparative analyses of key products is currently not possible. Data confidentiality and a high reliance on proxy data limit the reliability of LCA and stands in the way of mapping climate impacts. A strong demand of chemicals life cycle inventory (LCI) data for environmental footprinting has resulted in a general increase of chemicals data in many LCI databases, but the energy demands both for heat and electricity are typically not well-documented for production processes outside the main bulk chemicals. If incinerated at end-of-life plastics and other chemical products will emit embodied carbon as CO2 and if landfilled there is a risk of slow degradation with associated methane emissions. Global estimates based on most LCA datasets will thus significantly underestimate emissions from the chemical industry.The multitude of value chains dependent on the petrochemical industry makes it an important contribution to life cycle emissions in many sectors of the economy. Petrochemicals are used as an intermediate input in many industries and the emissions associated with them thus propagate through the economy, with final demand in manufacturing industries and services being associated with the largest shares of emissions from chemicals. The impacts and emissions downstream in value chains is however poorly understood and disclosure by petrochemical producers is lacking and insufficient. While disclosure of emissions in the industry has increased over the past decades, it remains partial and shows inconsistencies over time. This is due to issues such as different reporting standards, large discrepancies in the extent of disclosure as well as various other gaps and inconsistencies in reporting. This holds for all scopes, although Scope 1 emissions are better covered. Only some firms disclose information about downstream Scope 3 emissions including end-of-life for final products. Emission targets set by firms in the industry do not correspond to the challenge of large and rapid emission reductions. Many targets include only parts of operations and transparent, standardized target-setting is lacking. Reported emission reduction initiatives to achieve targets are far from sufficient focusing mainly on efficiency improvements or insubstantial parts of the operation. Shifting to renewable energy is a key for rapid emission reductions in the industry, yet few firms report strategic targets for this shift. As the industry has historically been closely linked to and integrated with the energy sector it holds a great potential for engaging with the deployment and adoption of renewable energy, although this implies a transformation of the knowledge base and resource allocation in the industry which is still focused on fossil fuels. Roadmaps and scenario analyses show that apart from a shift to renewable energy, a transformation of the industry relies on the deployment of key technologies which are not yet fully developed. This includes new technologies for hydrogen production, e.g., electrolytic (green) hydrogen or hydrogen produced with carbon capture and storage (CCS). New chemical synthesis pathways based on captured carbon, so called carbon capture and utilization (CCU) is also highlighted, but the massive demand for renewable energy associated with this pathway is a significant barrier to its adoption in the near term. The report shows how efficiency improvements continues to be the main focus for reducing the climate impact of petrochemicals, but that this is a completely inadequate approach for achieving the emissions reductions necessary in the coming decades. Breakthrough technologies are unlikely to be deployed at a rate consistent with international climate targets, and there is a great risk in relying on the promises of technologies which are yet to be proven at scale. The large knowledge gaps that remain are key barriers for effective governance of the transition.
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| 3. |
- Baumert, Nicolai, et al.
(författare)
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Global outsourcing of carbon emissions 1995–2009: A reassessment
- 2019
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Policy. - : Elsevier BV. - 1462-9011. ; 92, s. 228-236
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Increasing global production fragmentation allows for outsourcing of emissions, which may undermine national climate policies. Researchers focusing on the gap between consumption-based and production-based emissions have concluded that developed countries are systematically outsourcing emissions to developing countries. However, asymmetries in emissions embodied in trade may emerge due to differences in carbon intensity of energy and production between different countries, and need not be evidence of outsourcing. This study investigates if previous results concerning emission in –and outsourcing of developed and developing countries hold when emission flows are adjusted for technological differences. Two striking results are demonstrated: first, the magnitude of outsourcing is significantly smaller than previous studies have suggested, and, second, there is no clear divide between developing and developed countries. Large developed Anglophone countries (US, UK, Canada and Australia) were increasingly outsourcing emissions between 1995 and 2009 by shifting toward more carbon-intensive goods in their imports and less carbon intensive goods in exports, whereas other developed countries (i.e. the Nordics, advanced Asia and even the aggregate EU-27) maintained a positive emission trade balance. Among major developing countries, China is a major insourcer of emissions, while other emerging economies show no consistent pattern (e.g. India, Turkey and Brazil) or marginal outsourcing (e.g. Indonesia and Mexico). These results contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the impact of international trade on global carbon emissions.
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| 4. |
- Baumert, Nicolai, et al.
(författare)
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Technology-adjusted carbon accounting
- 2022
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Ingår i: Handbook on Trade Policy and Climate Change. - 9781839103230 ; , s. 256-271
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present technology-adjusted consumption-based accounting (TCBA) – a measure of shared responsibility for global greenhouse gas emissions. Unlike in conventional consumption-based accounting (CBA), countries are assigned the emission responsibility for the technology they use to produce their exports. This ensures that national emission responsibilities are not driven by differences in export production technology. If the technology for exports is less (more) carbon-intensive than world average for the relevant product group, the exporters are credited (penalized) for providing the world with these goods. By comparing the evidence on TCBA trends to conventional findings on CBA and production-based accounting (PBA) for the period 2000–2014, the map of emission responsibility is redrawn – albeit not in a way that systematically favors developed or developing countries. Lastly, we discuss how TCBA has been received in academia and among policy makers since its conceptualization.
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| 5. |
- Dietzenbacher, Erik, et al.
(författare)
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Measuring the effects of energy transition : A structural decomposition analysis of the change in renewable energy use between 2000 and 2014
- 2020
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Ingår i: Applied Energy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0306-2619. ; 258
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study investigates the growth in global renewable energy use between 2000 and 2014. To identify its main contributors and their geographical distribution, a structural decomposition analysis is applied to global multi-regional input-output tables. A new variant of this type of analysis is developed that introduces energy transition (i.e. the substitution of non-renewable energy by renewable energy) as one of the contributors. Global renewable energy use rose by 22.1 Exa Joules (EJ), from 57.8 EJ in 2000 to 79.9 in 2014. The contribution of energy transition at the global level to this 22.1 EJ increase was small and positive (+1.3 EJ). As for the geographical distribution of the effects, positive effects are found for the European Union and the United States, negative effects for China, India, and the Rest of the World (which includes many developing and emerging countries). Trade structure changes also had a small effect on global renewable energy use (+1.1 EJ). The main contributions were the worldwide changes in: technology and overall energy efficiency (−23.6 EJ); consumption per capita (+32.2EJ); and population (+11.0 EJ).
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| 6. |
- Jakob, Michael, et al.
(författare)
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How trade policy can support the climate agenda
- 2022
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Ingår i: Science (New York, N.Y.). - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 1095-9203 .- 0036-8075. ; 376:6600, s. 1401-1404
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Economic analysis has produced ample insights on how international trade and climate policy interact. Trade presents both opportunities and obstacles, and invites the question of how domestic climate policies can be effective in a global economy integrated through international trade. Particularly problematic is the potential relocation of production to regions with low climate standards. Measures to level the playing field, such as border carbon adjustments (BCAs), may be justified for specific emissions-intensive and trade-exposed sectors but need to be well-targeted, carefully navigating tensions that can arise between the desire to respect global trade rules and the need to elaborate and implement effective national climate policies. The conformity of specific trade measures with international trade and climate change law is not entirely clear. Yet, clarity is needed to ensure that the industry actors affected will find the rules predictable and be able to adhere to them.
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| 7. |
- Jiborn, Magnus, et al.
(författare)
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Consumption versus Technology: Drivers of Global Carbon Emissions 2000–2014
- 2020
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Ingår i: Energies. - : MDPI AG. - 1996-1073. ; 13:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study utilizes recently published environmental extensions to the World Input–Output Database (WIOD) to compare production-based, consumption-based and technology-adjusted carbon emissions for 44 countries and country groups for the period 2000 to 2014. Results show some significant shifts in global emission trends compared to similar studies of the period before 2009. For 20 European Union (EU) countries and the US, emissions decreased over the period regardless of measure, and the same was true for the EU. Since GDP grew in 18 of these countries, the results provide unambiguous evidence for absolute, albeit modest, decoupling of economic growth from carbon emissions. The large increase in global emissions that nevertheless occurred during the period was driven almost entirely by increasing consumption in China and developing countries.
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| 8. |
- Jiborn, Magnus, et al.
(författare)
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Decoupling or delusion? Measuring emissions displacement in foreign trade
- 2018
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Ingår i: Global Environmental Change. - : Elsevier BV. - 0959-3780. ; 49, s. 27-34
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In a world where climate goals are global but action remains firmly in the hands of states, reliable methods are needed to ensure that emissions reductions on a national level are not offset by carbon leakage. Appropriate indicators are needed to help policy makers set accurate targets for the carbon balance of their foreign trade and monitor the development of trade in a meaningful way. This paper proposes a new displacement indicator – the technology adjusted balance of emissions embodied in trade – that improves on existing ideas by separating out the effects of scale and composition of trade from the effects of different technologies and energy systems. The new indicator is calculated for Swedish and UK trade from 1995 to 2009, a period when both countries have reported decreasing territorial emissions together with sustained economic growth. One key finding is that, for both countries, outsourcing of emissions is less serious than what conventional analysis of emissions embodied in trade suggests. For Sweden, the technology adjusted balance of emissions embodied in trade is positive throughout the studied period, implying that its exports reduce emissions abroad more than what is generated by its imports. However, we also find that both countries have changed the composition of their imports and exports during this period: imports have become more carbon intensive and, exports less so, compared to the world economy at large.
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| 9. |
- Kander, Astrid, et al.
(författare)
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International Trade and Energy Intensity during European Industrialization, 1870-1935
- 2017
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Ingår i: Ecological Economics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0921-8009. ; 139, s. 33-44
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Previous research suggests that there is an inverted U-shape curve for energy intensity in the long-run for Western Europewith a peak in the early 20th century. This paper tests the hypothesis that the increase of German and British energy intensity was an effect from the concentration of heavy industrial production to these countries, although the consumption of a significant share of these goods took place elsewhere. We use an entirely new database that we have constructed (TEG: Trade, Energy, Growth) to test whether these countries exported more energy-demanding goods than they imported, thus providing other countries with means to industrialize and to consume cheap-energy demanding goods. We find that the U-shape curve is greatly diminished but does not disappear. The pronounced inverted U-curve in German energy intensity without trade adjustments is reduced when we account for energy embodied in the traded commodities. For Britain the shape of the curve is also flattened during the second half of the 19th century, before falling from WWI onwards. These consumption-based accounts are strongly influenced by the trade in metal goods and fuels, facilitating industrialization elsewhere.
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| 10. |
- Kulionis, Viktoras
(författare)
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Energy Embodied in Trade, 1970–2014
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Ongoing globalisation combined with the rapid pace of technological change have generated significant growth in economic activities and have improved the welfare and living standards of many people around the world. e opening up of the world economy has also led to unprecedented surges in international trade and has fundamentally transformed the way that goods and services are produced, exchanged and consumed. In addition, the increasing separation of production and consumption activities has been accompanied by an increase in energy, resource and carbon content embodied in international trade. In general all economic activity requires the use of energy, which has a variety of environmental impacts. is dissertation examines how the relationship between energy use and economic growth evolved in high-income countries from 1970 to 2014 and the role of trade in this. e approach involves looking at the factors driving the change, how the importance of these factors has changed over time and how it differed across countries.
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