The impact of energy trade patterns on CO2 emissions: An emergy and network analysis

Fossil fuel is considered to be the major cause of CO2 emissions, and it flows across countries through the international energy trade. In this paper, we analyse the impact of energy trade patterns on CO2 emissions for a global sample from 2000 to 2014. We construct an international fossil fuel trade network based on emergy theory and calculate some corresponding structural parameters. Then, we systematically evaluate the impact of energy trade on CO2 emissions from the trade volume and trade relationships perspectives. We obtain the following results: (1) Trade strength mainly affects CO2 emissions through the scale effect, composition effect and technique effect. (2) Trade security and trade-centre status of one country will significantly affect CO2 emissions. (3) For high economic-level (HE) countries, concentrating the trade volume on several finite countries will destroy the environment; low economic-level (LE) countries that are proximal to the important countries of the energy market will experience an increase in pollution. This research also discusses some implications for policy makers.