Trade pattern change impact on industrial CO2 emissions in Taiwan

Input–output structural decomposition analysis (I–O SDA) is applied in this paper to analyze the sources of change in industrial CO2 emissions in Taiwan from 1989 to 2001. Owing to the fact that Taiwan is an export-oriented, trade-dependent economy, the focus is on trade transformation over the past decade and its effect over industrial CO2 emissions. Change in trade patterns has significantly impacted many aspects of the Taiwan economy, subsequently resulting in various influences on industrial CO2 emissions, as shown by empirical analysis results. Change in export level increased industrial CO2 emissions, above all other effects, by 72.1%. However, changes in export mix and import coefficients imposed effects of dragging down industrial CO2 emissions by 5.7% and 11.7%, respectively.