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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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State-ownership has often been discussed as one of the major causes of poor industrial energy efficiency performance. This paper utilizes long-run historical data on the energy and material use in one specific industrial sector – the iron and steel production – in countries with both central-planning and market-based system, with a particular focus on former Czechoslovakia paralleled with the developments in China. Czechoslovak productive efficiency of the iron and steel sector fluctuated below the energy efficiency frontier. Until the early 1970s, the country’s iron sector was one of the least efficient ones in our sample. It was, however, during the decades of 1970s and 1980s that efficiency measures were adopted and the energy efficiency of the Czechoslovak iron and steel sector increased significantly to, despite of a priori expectations, reach the energy efficiency frontier. Empirical results for other planned economies show similar development of catching-up to the market economies, particularly in the iron production sector during 1980s. A pattern of efficiency convergence was identified. In China, despite its move toward more market oriented economy, the productive efficiency lagged behind as recently as in 2000 (20–35 percent below the efficiency frontier). The relatively late adoption of energy conservation programs and the persistent government control of the sector in certain provinces slowed down the efficiency improvements. In the socialist economies of Eastern Europe, though, central-planners were able to achieve satisfactory productivity increases, primarily driven by efficiency and saving policies and adjustments in existing technology. It is likely, that as was the case of Eastern Europe, the adoption of vigorous energy policies with clearly defined targets accompanied by monitoring and supervision, will have a tremendous impact on the energy intensity as well as the absolute energy use of the sector in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Czechoslovak productive efficiency of the iron and steel sector fluctuated below the energy efficiency frontier. Until early 1970s, the country's iron sector was one of the least efficient ones in our sample. It was, however, during the decades of 1970s and 1980s that efficiency measures were adopted and the energy efficiency of the Czechoslovak iron and steel sector increased significantly to, despite of a priori expectations, reach the energy efficiency frontier. Empirical results for other planned economies show similar development of catching-up to the market economies, particularly in the iron production sector. Central-planning was thus able to achieve satisfactory productivity increases, primarily driven by efficiency enhancements and in spite of the slow adoption of new technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]