Summary/Abstract
Reliable carbon emissions statistics are essential for formulating responses to climate change including global negotiations such as those concluded in Kyoto in 1997 or recently in Paris at COP21. Typically, emissions statistics are compiled according to production-based or territorial emission accounting methods: measuring emissions occurring within sovereign borders. However, these estimates do not account for global production chains i.e. the fact that emissions from many countries may be implicated in the production of final goods and services. The OECD has calculated and published estimates of CO2 emissions embodied in final demand since the early 1990s as a contribution to a better understanding of how CO2 emissions around the world are driven by global consumption patterns. Using the 2015 edition of the OECD Inter-Country Input-Output (ICIO) tables and detailed IEA CO2 emissions from fuel combustion data, new estimates of emissions embodied in final demand and in international trade were generated using a more refined methodology than previous versions. After explaining the methodology in detail, some general results are described and examples given of how to use and interpret the derived indicators. Detailed results are available in OECD’s database on embodied CO2 emissions: http://oe.cd/io-co2.