Energy Policy 60 (2013) 697–704

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Energy Policy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol

Production and consumption accounting of CO2 emissions for

Xiamen, China
Jonathan Vause, Lijie Gao, Longyu Shi n, Jingzhu Zhao
Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1799 Jimei Road, Xiamen 361021,
Fujian, China

H I G H L I G H T S

EEBT production and consumption accounting conducted for Xiamen, China.

Imported and exported emissions much larger than direct emissions.

Consumption inventory total extremely sensitive to the accounting method.

Xiamen's higher per capita GDP only partly reflected in higher CO2 consumption.

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Consumption accounting of urban greenhouse gas emissions is preferable to production accounting,
Received 6 April 2013 because cities are open systems which depend on the import of large quantities of externally produced
Accepted 27 April 2013 goods. In this paper we use environmental input–output analysis to construct CO2 production and
Available online 29 May 2013
consumption accounting inventories for Xiamen, a rapidly developing coastal city in southeast China. We
Keywords: found that, in 2007, total emissions embodied in production were 21.8 Mt CO2, of which 17.1 Mt CO2 were
CO2 emissions embodied in exports and 4.7 Mt CO2 resulted from local demand on local production. If the large
Input–output analysis amounts of emissions embodied in the Xiamen reprocessing trade are excluded from the analysis, total
Xiamen imported emissions were 12.2 Mt CO2, consumption emissions were 16.9 Mt CO2, and Xiamen was a net
exporter of 4.9 Mt CO2. Although Xiamen's rapid economic growth is dependent on large-scale flows of
embodied emissions, most of these emissions are not produced or consumed within the city system.
& 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction cities should be blamed for contributing to climate change is open

The lack of an effective international agreement to reduce
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions increases the importance of
climate action at the city level (Betsill and Bulkeley, 2006). More
than half the global population live in cities and this population is
increasing at 1.85% per year (CIA, 2012), meaning that cities are
inevitably a major cause of environmental change. However,
determining the responsibility of cities for GHG emissions is not
straightforward (UN, 2011). The advantages of proximity and
economy of scale effects mean that per capita environmental
impacts of urban residents will tend to be lower than those of
suburban or rural dwellers, and one review of the published
results of city-level GHG inventories found that per capita emis-
sions in nine of the 11 cities considered were lower than the
national average (Dodman, 2009). As a result, the extent to which
n
Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 592 6190682.
E-mail address: lyshi@iue.ac.cn (L. Shi).
to debate (Satterthwaite, 2008).
City-level accounting is usually limited to ‘Scope 1’ (direct
emissions within city limits, mostly from burning fossil fuels) and
‘Scope 2’ emissions (including some emissions occurring outside the
city boundary, especially those resulting from electricity generation),
because missing or uncertain data make it difficult to calculate the
total embodied or lifecycle emissions which ultimately result from
urban consumption. Production accounting is simpler than con-
sumption accounting and can be used to inform local mitigation
efforts, but does not take into account the key role which consump-
tion plays in driving the continuing rise in global emissions. If
embodied emissions are assigned to final consumers, the total
emissions for which cities are held responsible will normally increase
(Dhakal, 2010). This is especially likely to be true in post-industrial
cities in developed countries, which tend to have lower manufactur-
ing output and a larger services sector.
At the national level, the problem of assigning responsibility for
emissions which are produced in one location to meet consumer
demand in another has received considerable attention (Peters,

0301-4215/$ - see front matter & 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2013.04.069
698 J. Vause et al. / Energy Policy 60 (2013) 697–704
2008; Peters and Hertwich, 2008a). Input–output analysis (IOA)
provides a conceptually simple and well-established method to
reassign emissions embodied in international trade from producers
to consumers, using either emissions embodied in bilateral trade
(EEBT, which uses domestic consumption to calculate domestic
emissions), or multi-regional input-output analysis (MRIO, which
allows global emissions to be assigned to final consumers) (Peters,
2008). Davis and Caldiera (2010) used MRIO to calculate that net
embodied emissions exported from China in 2004 were 1147 Mt CO2
(see also Lin and Sun, 2010; Pan et al., 2008), while Peters and
Hertwich (2008b) found that the balance of emissions embodied in
trade for Japan, Germany, the UK, France and Italy was about 15% of
the respective production emissions of each of those countries.
Global flows of embodied carbon on this scale mean that the
apparent success of some developed countries in reducing GHG
emissions is extremely dubious. Brinkley and Less (2010), for
example, used a simplified MRIO method to find that while produc-
tion emissions for the UK declined by 3% between 1990 and 2006,
consumption emissions increased by 30%, and similar results were
also found for France (production unchanged, consumption increased
by 45%) and Germany (production decreased by 13%, consumption
increased by 23%). Peters et al. (2011) found that although production
emissions in most developed countries were essentially stable
between 1990 and 2008, up to 33% of direct CO2 emissions from
developing countries were driven by consumption demand in
developed countries, and that while China was the largest emitter
of CO2 on a production basis in 2008, the USA remained the largest
emitter on a consumption basis.
The amount of goods imported into an urban economy as a
proportion of total output will invariably be higher than for a
national economy, because cities are open systems that rely on an
extensive hinterland to provide a wide range of resources. As a
result, per capita flows of embodied GHG emissions into an urban
system will tend to be higher than per capita imports to a national
system. This means that differences between production and
consumption accounting results may be much greater at the city
level than at the national level. Although consumption accounting
of urban GHG emissions is still a ‘work in progress’ (Dhakal, 2010)
and may be based on a variety of different lifecycle assessment
(LCA) or hybrid IOA-LCA methods, most studies have found that
consumption accounting does increase urban responsibility for
GHG emissions, compared to production accounting inventories.
For example, Kennedy et al. (2009) found that taking a lifecycle
approach only for fuel added between 7% and 24% to direct
Fig. 1. Xiamen location and city districts.
emissions in the eight cities for which data were available.
Ramaswami et al. (2008) developed a hybrid method to calculate
emissions from urban consumption of food, water, fuel and cement,
which increased total GHG emissions for Denver by about one-third,
compared to Scope 1 and 2 accounting. When the same method was
applied to eight other US cities, overall emissions increased by 47%
on average (Hillman and Ramaswami, 2010). Schulz (2010) used LCA
data to calculate direct and indirect emissions for Singapore, and
found that average direct GHG emissions between 2000 and 2003
were 40.74 Mt CO2-eq y−1, while net trade in embodied emissions
added another 24.73 Mt CO2-eq y−1. However, a major theme of this
research was the large uncertainties attached to estimates of
Singapore's emissions (both direct and indirect). Dhakal (2009) used
provincial energy intensity data to estimate carbon emissions for
China's major cities in 2006, and found that although the urbanisa-
tion rate in China was about 40%, urban areas contributed about 75%
to total energy consumption. However, lack of detailed local data and
methodological issues meant that these results were only regarded
as approximate.
Other city-scale research has focused on local government
activities. Larsen and Hertwich (2009) used hybrid LCA to calculate
the carbon footprint of municipal services for Trondheim, Norway,
and found that Scope 1 and 2 emissions accounted for only 7% and
8% respectively of the total footprint. As the overwhelming majority
of the carbon footprint was generated in the upstream supply chain,
these authors argued that local consumption-based accounting
would provide greater incentive for climate change action.
In this paper we present the results of input–output production
and consumption accounting of CO2 emissions for Xiamen, a rapidly
developing coastal city in south-east China. Xiamen was designated
as one of the five original ‘Special Economiz Zones' (SEZs) in 1980,
and this status has led to the compilation every 5 years of a city-level
input–output table. This table was used together with national and
local CO2 emissions data to calculate direct and embodied emissions
intensities for 135 sectors of the Xiamen economy, followed by
construction of the input–output production and consumption
accounting inventories. Although EEBT is a relatively straightforward
method to estimate flows of embodied carbon into and out of a given
system, it is not normally possible to conduct this kind of study at the
city level due to lack of data. Our results therefore add to the
literature which seeks to determine urban responsibility for GHG
emissions, and also highlight some unusual characteristics of Chinese
cities in which economic growth is being largely driven by the
manufacture of products for export.
 J. Vause et al. / Energy Policy 60 (2013) 697–704
2. Case study
2.1. Xiamen city
Since being designated as a Special Economic Zone, Xiamen
(longitude 118104'04“E, latitude 24126'46“N) has enjoyed consider-
able freedom to initiate market-driven economic reforms and to
provide tax incentives to encourage overseas investment, espe-
cially from Taiwan. The resulting extraordinary economic boom
has seen annual GDP growth sometimes exceed 20%, while rural-
to-urban economic migration has led to annual population growth
in excess of 5%. In 2007 local GDP reached 139 billion RMB,
compared to less than 2 billion RMB (inflation adjusted) in 1980
(Lin et al., 2010). The urban built-up area has spread beyond
Xiamen Island (Huli and Siming districts) onto the surrounding
mainland, and in response the municipal and SEZ boundaries have
been expanded to include the mainland districts of Haicang, Jimei,
Tongan and Xiangan (see Fig. 1).
In recognition of the major efforts made since the early 1990s to
tackle environmental pollution, Xiamen received the United Nations
Habitat Scroll of Honour Award in 2004 (see Tang et al., 2013), and
usually ranks very highly for livability and sustainability compared to
other Chinese cities (see for example Zhao et al., 2011). Xiamen was
designated as a national pilot ‘Low Carbon City’ in 2010, and has
adopted a wide ranging set of policies aimed at low carbon devel-
opment, including policies to encourage carbon sequestration and
urban lifestyle changes. As a pilot city designated by the national
Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development to promote low-
carbon urban construction, energy efficiency regulations for new
buildings have been strengthened, particularly for large apartment
blocks, commercial and government offices, luxury hotels, and
shopping malls (Zhao, 2011). As a pilot city designated by the
Ministry of Transportation for low carbon transport systems, major
projects to improve public transportation in Xiamen include con-
struction of a bus rapid transit system with dedicated right-of-way
lanes, construction of an urban rail rapid transit system which is
projected to begin operating in 2016, upgrades to existing transpor-
tation equipment, developing smart transport and promoting low
carbon modes of transport (Ministry of Communications, 2011). In
2011, Xiamen's 12th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Devel-
opment called for the establishment of professional bodies to
monitor energy consumption and conservation, as well as a specific
target to lower the energy intensity of industrial value added to
0.45 t standard coal equivalent/10,000 RMB. Current energy-saving
demonstration projects include landfill gas collection, expanded
recycling plant, efforts to promote energy management contracting,
and phasing out incandescent light bulbs (Xiamen Municipal
Commission for Development and Reform, 2011).
Widely ranging totals are often cited for Xiamen population.
This confusion results from the presence of large numbers of
migrant workers, various definitions of ‘resident’, and whether the
mainland periurban population is included. A population of
3,531,347 was recorded in 2010 by the 6th National Census of the
People's Republic of China (http://www.stats.gov.cn/); taking into
account the annual population growth rate of about 5%, we
assume that the population in 2007, including migrants and
mainland residents, was about 3.0 million.
2.2. Data
All data used in this research are for the year 2007. Input–output
data were taken from the 2007 Input–Output Tables of China (www.
cnki.net) and the 2007 Xiamen Input–Output Table (Xiamen Statistical
Bureau). National fossil fuel consumption data were taken from China
Energy Statistical Yearbook 2008 (www.chinastatistics.net).
699
Fossil fuel consumption data at the local level in China is
considered to be politically sensitive, and as a result is not
normally made publicly available. We therefore used national
direct CO2 emission intensities together with Xiamen economic
data to estimate total Xiamen direct emissions, and this estimate
was then used in combination with the Xiamen input–output table
to calculate Xiamen embodied emission intensities. Data on Xia-
men electricity consumption were also used to estimate Xiamen
direct household emissions. To ensure that these estimates of
Xiamen CO2 production were reasonably accurate, we also carried
out similar calculations using unpublished fossil fuel data, in
particular from the Xiamen Inventory of Greenhouse Gas Emissions
2005–2009, compiled by the Institute of Urban Environment,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, as part of the ‘Special research on
environmental nonprofit industry: low-carbon urban develop-
ment pathways and integrated environmental management’ pro-
ject, funded by the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
However, because this inventory has not been made publicly
available, the results we publish here are based on the national-
level data available from the Energy Statistical Yearbook.
3. Method
Our analysis is limited to CO2 emissions and excludes other
GHGs due to data unavailability. Total CO2 emissions resulting
from fossil fuel consumption and industrial activities in mainland
China, including Scope 2 emissions from electricity generation and
heating supply, were calculated from the original data following
the 9-step method described by Fridley et al. (2008), which
calculates China's CO2 emissions based on data from the Energy
Statistical Yearbook. Adjustments were made to account for carbon
sequestration and non-fuel uses of some petroleum products, and
to make the treatment of bunker and transport fuels consistent
with international standards.
The Energy Statistical Yearbook provides information on fuel
consumption in seven broad economic sectors (agriculture, indus-
try, construction, transport, commerce, households and other),
with industry being divided into 39 sub-sectors. After calculating
total CO2 emissions in each of these sectors and sub-sectors, a
mapping was performed to allocate these emissions to the 135
sectors of the national input–output table. Following Peters et al.
(2007), the emissions assigned to storage, postal and telecommu-
nications services were reduced to make the emissions intensity in
these sectors the same as the average intensity across the other
(government and services) sector, with the excess emissions then
being reassigned to the rest of the transport sector. Emission
factors for each economic sector of the national economy were
then calculated following Peters (2008), where the input–output
model of monetary transactions expressed as
xr ¼ Arr xr þ yrr þ e ð1Þ
r
where x is the vector of total output in each economic sector in
mainland China, Arr is the national matrix of industry require-
ments for domestically produced products, yrr is the vector of final
consumption of domestically produced products (including house-
holds, government and capital formation), and e is total exports.
Direct emission intensities are calculated as the row vector Fr ¼ fr/xr,
where fr is direct (Scope 1 and 2) CO2 emissions. Embodied
emission intensities for each sector of the economy of mainland
China were then calculated as
En ¼ F r ðI–Arr Þ−1 ð2Þ
n
where E is the vector of embodied emission intensities per unit
final demand, yrr+e, for each sector of the national economy, and I is
the identity matrix.
700 J. Vause et al. / Energy Policy 60 (2013) 697–704

To estimate total embodied emission intensities for the Xiamen Calculations have shown that the differences between the
economy, the 144 sectors of the Xiamen input–output table were MRIO and EEBT allocation can be in excess of 20% for some
first adjusted to make them consistent with the 135 sectors of the countries depending on their trade structure.
national table. Direct national emission intensities were then
multiplied by total output from each sector of the Xiamen Because imports and exports are so large compared to Xiamen
economy to estimate total Xiamen direct emissions. Embodied final demand, however, the potential difference resulting from
emissions intensities for each sector of the Xiamen economy, Ex, alternative treatments of reprocessing trade emissions is much
were then calculated according to Eq. (2), where Fr is the row greater than 20%. In fact, reprocessing trade emissions were larger
vector of national direct emission intensities (assumed to be the than total direct emissions. We therefore chose to depart from
same as Xiamen direct emission intensities), and Arr is the matrix standard EEBT methods by deducting emissions embodied in the
of Xiamen industrial demand on Xiamen production. The input– reprocessing trade from the consumption accounting total. (A
output production inventory for Xiamen is then similar approach was also used by Lin and Sun, 2010, in their
r
calculation of EEBT emissions for mainland China in 2005.) In
f ¼ Ex yrr þ Ex e ð3Þ addition, because the majority of imports to Xiamen were from
mainland China, we chose to use national embodied emission
As expected, many sectors of the Xiamen economy were intensities, En, to calculate imported emissions. This was another
dominated by imports, especially raw materials extraction and departure from standard EEBT methods, which usually uses the
some heavy industry. In addition, both imports and exports were emission intensities of the economic system under investigation to
much larger than final demand in the majority of industrial estimate imported emissions.
sectors. As a result, emissions embodied in the Xiamen reproces- To calculate emissions embodied in the reprocessing trade,
sing trade (or ‘through-trade’) were very large. According to Peters total imports were decomposed as
(2008):
m ¼ Am x þ ym ð4Þ
imports into a country have three main uses: (1) direct imports m
where m is total imports, A is the direct requirement coefficient
to final consumption, and imports to intermediate consump- matrix of intermediate input from imports, Amx is imports to
tion for the production of (2) domestic final consumption and intermediate consumption and ym is imports directly to final
(3) exports (through-trade). The EEBT model allocates all consumption. Imports to intermediate consumption can either
imports to the country of import; that is, options 1, 2, and supply Xiamen final consumption or be re-exported
3 are allocated to the importing country. The MRIO model
allocates the imports to the final consumer, thus, 1 and 2 are Am x ¼ zy þ ze ð5Þ
allocated to the importing country, while 3 (through-trade) is
“passed-on” until it is eventually embodied in a good or service where zy is imports to intermediate consumption that ultimately
sold to a final consumer. supply Xiamen final consumption, and ze is re-exports. zy is equal
to yr–yrr–ym, where yr is final demand including imports. The
consumption inventory was therefore calculated as
And earlier:
r
f ¼ Ex yrr þ En ym þ En zy ð6Þ
Table 1
2007 direct emissions (ton CO2) and direct emission intensities (ton CO2/10,000
RMB) for mainland China, and estimated direct Xiamen emissions. Table 3
Breakdown of imports to the Xiamen economy (104 RMB).
Major Mainland China Mainland China direct Estimated Xiamen
economic direct emissions emission intensity direct emissions Major Total Imports to Re- Imports Imports
sector economic imports, Xiamen exported from from
sector m final imports, ze mainland overseas
Agriculture 201,944,575 0.413 120,290 demand, China
Industry 4,633,983,510 0.899 13,860,139 ym+zy
Construction 72,399,315 0.115 337,215
Transportation 442,799,210 1.442 2,646,628 Agriculture 1,414,632 507,403 907,229 1,223,234 191,398
Commerce 142,702,319 0.350 1,248,661 Industry 24,763,811 2,543,550 22,220,261 10,666,148 14,097,663
Other 232,843,085 0.193 1,460,909 Construction 2,327,707 1,618,081 709,626 2,327,707 0
Households 654,368,613 2,140,703 Transportation 502,361 −27,545 529,906 502,361 0
All sectors 6,381,040,629 21,814,546 Commerce 437,135 155,709 281,426 437,135 0
Other 219,800 880,495 −660,695 47,701 172,099
Note: calculations were performed individually for the 135 sectors of the national and All sectors 29,665,446 5,677,693 23,987,753 15,204,286 14,461,160
amended Xiamen input–output tables; the values shown here are totals or averages.

Table 2
Summary economic data for the Xiamen economy in 2007 (104 RMB), with imports removed from the system.
Source: 2007 Xiamen Input–Output Table, Xiamen Statistical Bureau.

Major economic sector Intermediate consumption, Arrxr Final demand, yrr Exports, e Total output, xr

Agriculture 83,925 77,112 136,822 297,859

Industry 3,762,622 1,468,058 24,992,540 30,223,220
Construction 38,518 2,857,660 0 2,896,178
Transportation 456,921 138,463 1,561,328 2,156,712
Commerce 13,35,627 1,173,980 1,848,460 4,358,067
Other 2,457,921 1,380,612 680,381 4,518,914
All sectors 8,135,534 7,095,885 29,219,531 44,450,950
 J. Vause et al. / Energy Policy 60 (2013) 697–704
Table 4
Production and consumption emissions from the Xiamen economy in 2007 (t CO2).
Major economic Demand on Xiamen Exported, Total imported,
sector production, Exyrr Exe Enm
Agriculture 38,226 87,312 1,554,158
Industry 573,643 13,219,167 60,088,010
Construction 863,538 0 5,915,706
Transportation 140,297 2,245,530 1,174,718
Commerce 385,784 1,034,981 563,743
Other 573,975 511,391 265,511
Households 2,140,703
All sectors 4,716,166 17,098,381 69,561,846
4. Results
Total direct emissions for mainland China in 2007 were
6381 Mt CO2. This result can be compared to the total of
6785 Mt CO2 calculated for 2008 by Fridley et al. (2008) using a
similar method. Estimated Xiamen direct emissions were 21.8 Mt
CO2, a total which includes 2.1 Mt CO2 direct household emissions.
This means that per capita direct CO2 emissions were about 4.8 t
for mainland China, and about 7.3 t for Xiamen. The Kaya identity
(Nakicenovic et al., 2000) indicates that this difference can be
partly attributed to Xiamen's higher per capita GDP, which was
about 45,000 RMB in 2007, compared to about 19,000 RMB
nationally.
Direct emissions and direct emission intensities for the seven
broad economic sectors of the national and Xiamen economies are
shown in Table 1. In both cases, a majority of emissions were
generated by the industry sector (73% for mainland China and 64%
for Xiamen), and industry also had the second highest direct
emission intensity behind the transport sector. Summary economic
data for Xiamen are shown in Table 2, and the breakdown of imports
is shown in Table 3. The agriculture sector was dominated by imports
from mainland China, with a large proportion of imports being used
as inputs to food processing sectors, rather than being consumed
directly. Industry imports and exports were both slightly less than
250 billion RMB, very much larger than final demand for industry
products, which was about 40 billion RMB (if imports are included).
A majority of imports to industry were from overseas (i.e. all
locations other than mainland China, including Taiwan, Hong Kong
and Macau), but overseas imports to the agriculture, construction,
transportation, commerce and other sectors were minor or non-
existent. The largest final consumption was in the construction
sector, reflecting the continuing rapid development of the urban
built-up area and associated infrastructure.
Table 4 shows total production and consumption emissions for
the Xiamen economy across the seven broad economic sectors.
Emissions resulting from local demand on local production were
just 4.7 Mt CO2, a total which includes 2.1 Mt CO2 from direct
household emissions. Emissions embodied in exports were 17.1 Mt
CO2 and emissions embodied in total imports were 69.6 Mt CO2.
However, more than 80% of imported emissions were re-exported,
meaning that imported emissions to Xiamen final consumption
were just 12.2 Mt CO2. Total emissions on a production basis were
therefore 21.8 Mt CO2 (i.e. identical to direct emissions), consump-
tion emissions were 16.9 Mt CO2, and EEBT was a net export of
4.9 Mt CO2. Xiamen per capita consumption emissions were there-
fore about 5.6 t CO2. At the sectoral level, the majority of produc-
tion emissions were generated by the industry sector, but industry
consumption emissions were less than half the production total.
On the other hand, while production emissions in the construction
sector were very low, this sector was responsible for about 30% of
total consumption emissions.
701
Re-exported, Net imported, Production emissions, Consumption emissions,
Enze Enm –Enze Exyrr+Ene Exyrr + Enm–Enze
1,028,512 525,646 125,538 563,872
54,022,043 6,065,967 13,792,810 6,639,610
1,803,465 4,112,241 863,538 4,975,779
1,208,715 −33,997 2,385,827 106,300
248,047 315,696 1,420,765 701,480
−908,458 1,173,969 1,085,366 1,747,944
2,140,703 2,140,703
57,402,324 12,159,522 21,814,546 16,875,686
5. Uncertainty analysis
Quantifying urban GHG emissions is rarely straightforward.
Estimates of direct CO2 emissions often have significant uncer-
tainties attached, and these uncertainties will tend to multiply
when accounting is done on a consumption or lifecycle basis. It is
also likely that the accuracy of the Chinese input–output tables
and fossil fuel consumption statistics is lower than for comparable
government statistics in developed countries. For example, the
Xiamen input–output table includes an ‘other’ (in fact, statistical
error) column which shows the difference between the expected
total output based on individual column entries (intermediate and
final demand, plus net exports) and the output recorded in actual
practice. The total error across all sectors is about 3.5%, but much
larger differences were recorded in some individual sectors.
Another issue is that the method used in this paper to estimate
Xiamen direct emissions was clearly not ideal. However, when we
compared our estimate of direct emissions with unpublished data
for local fossil fuel consumption, we found that the difference
between our estimate and the total indicated by the local data was
only about 5%. As there were also some concerns related to the
accuracy and completeness of the local data, we believe that the
results presented here do provide a reasonable approximation of
Xiamen direct emissions.
Probably the biggest uncertainty is attached to total emissions
embodied in imports. As shown in Table 3, the Xiamen input–
output table distinguishes between imports from mainland China
and overseas imports from all other locations. While country/
region of origin information for overseas imports is available from
the Xiamen government website (http://www.stats-xm.gov.cn/),
this information is for total imports and does not distinguish
between different economic sectors. Countries and regions export-
ing to Xiamen in 2007 included Hong Kong (16% of total overseas
imports to Xiamen), Taiwan (16%), Japan (12%), the USA (9%) and
South Korea (8%), followed by Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines,
India and Germany (19%), and 37 other countries (20%). Because
the carbon intensity of the economy of mainland China is much
higher than the carbon intensity of most of these exporting
economies (see IEA, 2011), using mainland China emission inten-
sities to calculate emissions embodied in imports from overseas
will result in overestimation of these emissions.
Because country of origin information was not available at the
sectoral level, it was only possible to make a crude adjustment to
the amount of imported emissions to Xiamen, based on the ratio of
the overall carbon intensity of the economy of each country/region
of origin to the overall carbon intensity of the economy of main-
land China, together with the percentage of total overseas imports
which originated from each exporting country or region. Perform-
ing this calculation required us to distinguish between imports
from mainland China and overseas directly to final demand,
indirectly to final demand, and to re-export (i.e., to ym, zy and ze).
702 J. Vause et al. / Energy Policy 60 (2013) 697–704
The results indicated that the emissions embodied in imports from
overseas might be reduced by nearly 70%, compared to emissions
embodied in similar imports from mainland China.
Taking the lower carbon intensity of overseas exporting econo-
mies into account, total emissions embodied in imports would
reduce from 69.6 Mt CO2, as shown in the Results, to about 44.8 Mt
CO2, with 34.7 Mt CO2 being imported from mainland China and
10.1 Mt CO2 being imported from overseas. Re-exported emissions
would decrease from 57.4 Mt CO2 to 35.1 Mt CO2, with 26.0 Mt CO2
being re-exported emissions from mainland China and 9.1 Mt CO2
being re-exported emissions from overseas. Excluding re-exports,
imported embodied emissions to Xiamen final demand would be
reduced from 12.2 Mt CO2 to 9.8 Mt CO2, and the consumption
accounting total would decrease from 16.9 Mt CO2 to 14.5 Mt CO2,
or from 5.6 t CO2 to 4.8 t CO2 per capita.
6. Discussion
The goal of this research was to conduct production and
consumption accounting for CO2 emissions from the Xiamen
economy. Because Xiamen per capita GDP is much higher than
in the rest of mainland China, we expected that per capita
emissions on both a production and consumption basis would be
higher than national per capita emissions, and that inflows of
embodied carbon to supply consumer demand would be higher
than outflows. If reprocessing trade emissions are assigned to
Xiamen final consumption according to standard EEBT methods,
both these assumptions would be correct, but this treatment
creates an extremely misleading picture of the consumer beha-
viour of Xiamen residents. Until we began working with the data
we had not anticipated that (1) emissions embodied in the Xiamen
reprocessing trade would be larger than direct emissions, or that
(2) deducting reprocessing trade emissions from the consumption
accounting total would result in a net outflow of embodied
emissions. This second unexpected finding is likely a consequence
of the fact that, as in the rest of mainland China, Xiamen house-
hold consumption comprises a much smaller proportion of GDP
than is common in developed countries. As a result, the inflow of
goods and services to meet urban consumer demand is much
lower than would normally be expected.
Lin and Sun (2010) found that 18.8% of mainland China's
production emissions were embodied in exported goods in 2005.
Assuming a similar proportion of direct emissions were exported
in 2007, per capita emissions for mainland China would be
reduced from 4.8 t CO2 on a production basis, as stated in the
Results, to about 4.0 t CO2 on a consumption basis. This estimate of
per capita consumption can be compared to the estimate of 5.6 t
CO2 per capita consumption for Xiamen (or 4.8 t CO2 if the lower
estimate of overseas imported emissions is used). While Xiamen
per capita consumption emissions were therefore about 40%
higher than in the rest of mainland China, Xiamen per capita
GDP in 2007 was more than twice as high as national per capita
GDP (about 45,000 RMB compared to 19,000 RMB). As a result, the
‘extra’ Xiamen consumption resulting from higher GDP was less
than might have been expected. In 2007, Xiamen household
consumption was 39.5 billion RMB, compared to total final con-
sumption of 75.4 billion RMB and GDP of 138.8 billion RMB (2007
Xiamen Input–Output Table). Because household consumption was
only 28% of GDP, most of the extra wealth generated by Xiamen's
rapid GDP growth is not being used to fund high carbon consumer
lifestyles. Per capita emissions resulting from Xiamen residential
consumption are likely not much higher than in mainland China as
a whole, and are very much lower than levels commonly seen in
cities in developed countries.
Dhakal (2009) highlighted Xiamen as being a typical member
of a group of Chinese coastal cities which benefitted from a
favourable climate and developed service industry sector, enabling
these cities to achieve high economic output while keeping energy
consumption relatively low. Cities in the centre and west of China,
by contrast, tended to be characterised by high energy consump-
tion and low economic output. However, Tables 2 and 3 make clear
that Xiamen's economy is still dominated by industrial production,
and that the services sector remains small by comparison. In fact,
while our analysis of unpublished local data indicates that the
direct CO2 intensity of Xiamen industrial production may be lower
than in mainland China as a whole, it is the reprocessing trade
which appears to be the most important factor in reducing the
carbon intensity of the city economy. This is because the reproces-
sing industry tends to import goods and materials which already
‘contain’ large amounts of embodied emissions, and then adds a
relatively high economic value to these products while emitting a
relatively small amount of additional direct emissions.
Although Xiamen residents do not consume a high amount of
embodied CO2 emissions and per capita direct emissions within
city limits are relatively low, it is still true to say that Xiamen's
impressive economic growth comes at a high ultimate cost in CO2
emissions. This is because the city's economic model remains
heavily dependent on the import of carbon intensive products
from other regions, and reprocessing these products for export to
final consumers elsewhere. Because the reprocessing stage of the
manufacturing process typically has a low carbon intensity and
final consumption occurs outside the city boundary, most of the
emissions embodied in these final products are not counted in
either the Xiamen production or consumption inventories. This
does not seem entirely reasonable, especially because the repro-
cessing trade will generate significant international transportation
emissions which are usually excluded from GHG inventories by
international convention (Peters and Hertwich, 2008a). When
constructing an emissions inventory for an economic system
which has a large reprocessing trade, a very strong case could
obviously be made for the desirability of calculating international
transportation emissions, and adding emissions which result from
shipping exported goods to the production inventory, and emis-
sions which result from shipping imported goods to the consump-
tion inventory.
Xiamen has made significant progress towards creating an
effective regulatory framework to control direct emissions and to
improve energy efficiency, and is seeking to reduce heavy industry
in favour of expanding the tertiary sector. This can be understood
as a natural progression in the ‘love and hate’ relationship
between cities and industry, in which the desire to remove
obvious pollution sources tends to result in industry being pushed
away from the city centre and relocated either into industrial
parks on the city outskirts, or to another city altogether
(Bai, 2007). Relocation to industrial parks has already largely taken
place in Xiamen, but if industry continues to be displaced to other
cities, there is an obvious potential for overall emissions to
increase. In the same way that relocating manufacturing industry
from developed countries to China will usually result in produc-
tion becoming more carbon intensive, displacing industry from
Xiamen (where regulatory capacity is improving and policies to
improve energy efficiency are now in place) to less developed
parts of China (where regulatory capacity and energy efficiency
will usually be lower) will almost inevitably result in an increase
in total emissions. The result is an absurd situation where high-
carbon industries continue to be pushed out of regions where
regulation is strong and carbon intensity of production is low, and
into regions where regulation is weak and carbon intensity is high.
The fact that a production accounting mindset is evidently a
contributing factor to this perverse outcome (certainly so in the
 J. Vause et al. / Energy Policy 60 (2013) 697–704
case of Xiamen, where a specific policy goal is to relocate energy
intensive industry outside city limits as part of the drive to become
a ‘low carbon city’), adds to the arguments presented in the
Introduction in favour of increased use of consumption accounting
at the city level.
Because Xiamen direct household consumption of embodied
CO2 is much lower than levels commonly seen in developed
countries, it does not seem reasonable to expect Xiamen residents
to make lifestyle changes to reduce their consumption emissions.
Instead, the policy challenge will be to avoid the large increases in
consumption emissions which will very likely occur in future if
Xiamen residents aspire to consumer lifestyles similar to those
enjoyed by people in developed countries, and if disposable
incomes continue to increase in line with future GDP projections.
In this regard it is worth noting that national policy is currently
seeking to decrease China's reliance on export-led growth in
favour of increased domestic consumption. If this policy is suc-
cessfully implemented in Xiamen, emissions resulting from house-
hold consumption could increase substantially from their current
low base. Because most of this increased demand will be met by
imported products from outside the city system, city authorities
will only have limited ability to manage these imported emissions.
However, possible areas in which city authorities could take action
include: (1) reducing emissions resulting from the generation of
electricity which is consumed inside city limits, e.g. by support for
micro-scale renewable energy generation within the city, includ-
ing roof-top solar panels; (2) improved energy efficiency, which
may require public awareness campaigns as well as effective
enforcement and additions to the new regulations described in
Sections 2.1; and (3) controlling emissions from the transportation
sector, with particular emphasis on reducing the need to travel by
private car, together with continuing efforts to upgrade and
improve public transport.
Efforts already undertaken to create a low-carbon public
transportation system have certainly reduced the incentive for
people to travel by private car. However, because 43% of trips were
still being made on foot or by bicycle in 2011 (National Energy
Administration, 2012), improvements to public transportation are
only likely to reduce Xiamen's total carbon emissions compared to
business-as-usual scenarios, while in absolute terms transporta-
tion emissions will continue to grow. Similarly, no matter whether
Xiamen's total CO2 emissions are calculated on a production,
consumption, or per capita basis, they will almost certainly
continue to rise for the foreseeable future due to population
growth and increasing prosperity.
Because 2007 Xiamen household consumption was low and
exported emissions were high, consumption emissions would
have been very much lower than production emissions had there
not been a net import of 4.1 Mt CO2 to the Xiamen construction
sector. However, this is evidently a temporary phenomenon
resulting from the current phase of rapid urban built-up area
expansion and redevelopment of ‘old town’ low-rise areas in the
city centre. As this period of intense urban construction and rapid
population growth gradually comes to an end, imported emissions
to the construction sector are likely to decrease substantially. To
some extent, this may serve to offset the expected future increase
in household consumption emissions.
7. Conclusions
This paper took Xiamen as a case study to investigate urban
responsibility for climate change. Although several aspects of the
Xiamen economy are likely to be very different to urban econo-
mies in other regions which are at different stages of economic
development, Xiamen is likely to be quite similar to many other
703
coastal Chinese cities in which the economy is dominated by an
export-oriented industrial sector and there is a significant repro-
cessing trade. The results of a city-level carbon inventory for
Xiamen show that, in 2007, per capita production emissions were
7.3 t CO2, compared to about 4.8 t at the national level. There were
large import flows to the Xiamen agriculture, industry and con-
struction sectors, and total embodied emissions imported to Xia-
men were much larger than direct emissions within city limits.
Assigning embodied emissions to final consumers will nor-
mally increase the urban responsibility for climate change. How-
ever, our results show that Xiamen is an exception to this rule. If
national emission factors are used to calculate emissions embo-
died in imports and emissions embodied in the reprocessing trade
are excluded, per capita consumptions emissions were about 5.6 t
CO2, substantially lower than direct emissions. One important
reason for this relatively low consumption total is that Xiamen
household consumption only comprises 28% of GDP. Although
Xiamen's economic model is dependent on the import, processing
and re-export of goods containing very large amounts of embodied
emissions, the majority of the emissions are produced and con-
sumed outside the city system.
City-level mitigation efforts which focus on the control of direct
emissions may lead to perverse incentives and negative outcomes.
Although Xiamen's efforts to improve energy efficiency may
achieve significant reductions compared to future business-as-
usual scenarios, attempting to construct a low-carbon city by
relocating carbon-intensive industries outside the Xiamen city
boundary will very likely result in an increase in overall emissions.
Policymakers should realise that, from a consumption accounting
perspective, Xiamen already is a low-carbon city, due to (1) per
capita CO2 consumption being much lower than levels typical in
developed countries, (2) a large proportion of consumption emis-
sions being imports to the construction sector, which is clearly a
temporary phenomenon resulting the current phase of rapid
urban development, (3) household consumption not being a major
driver of CO2 emissions despite relatively high per capita GDP,
(4) Xiamen's status as a net exporter of embodied emissions, and
(5) the total carbon intensity of GDP being relatively low, thanks to
the large low-carbon/high value added reprocessing trade.
Although the city government has developed a comprehensive
set of policies in an attempt to control Xiamen direct emissions,
both production and consumption emissions will continue to
increase in future due to population growth and greater affluence.
Per capita production and consumption emissions will likely
remain above national levels due to Xiamen's relatively high per
capita GDP, and Xiamen household consumption emissions may
increase substantially in future if the national policy to increase
household consumption as a proportion of total GDP is success-
fully implemented.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by ‘Special research on environ-
mental nonprofit industry: low-carbon urban development path-
ways and integrated environmental management’ (201009055)
and ‘Special project on remote sensing survey and assessment of
national ecological environment change in ten years (2000–2010)’
(STSN-11-02).
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