The relevance of multicountry input-output tables in measuring emissions trade balance of countries: the case of Spain

Abstract

As part of national accounts, input-output tables are becoming crucial statistical tools to study the economic, social and environmental impacts of globalization and international trade. In particular, global input-output tables extend the national dimension to the international dimension by relating individual countries’ input-output tables among each other, thus providing an opportunity to balance the global economy as a whole. Concerning emissions of greenhouse gases, the relative position that countries hold among their main trade partners at the global level is a key issue in terms of international climate negotiations. With this purpose, we show that (official) Multi-country input-output tables are crucial to analyse the greenhouse gas emission trade balance of individual countries. Spain has a negative trade emissions balance for all three gases analysed, being the most negative balances those associated to the bilateral trade with China, Russia, United States and the rest of the European Union as a whole