12 Mar 2010 09:03:01

EU 'outsourcing' emissions to emerging economies

Consumers of goods from emerging economies should take responsibility for emissions created in production and manufacturing, according to the authors of a new report.

The study from the Carnegie Institution of Science found that the EU was effectively "outsourcing" a third of its emissions to poorer countries, such as China and India.

In the case of Switzerland, there were more emissions outside of the country than in its borders as a result of its consumption of imported goods.

The USA was outsourcing around 11 percent of its total consumption-based emission.

Author Ken Caldeira said that these findings suggest that future international agreements have to recognise the impact of production and recalculate their carbon footprints.

He said: "Where CO2 emissions occur doesn't matter to the climate system. Effective policy must have global scope.

"To the extent that constraints on developing countries' emissions are the major impediment to effective international climate policy, allocating responsibility for some portion of these emissions to final consumers elsewhere may represent an opportunity for compromise."

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