Foreign trade and declining pollution in Sweden: a decomposition analysis of long-term structural and technological effects

Astrid Kander, M Lindmark

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This article examines whether there exists any causal relationship between foreign trade and declining pollution in developed countries. In other words, do developed countries outsource their problems to less developed countries rather than solve them? The case study is the Swedish economy and the two environmental indicators employed are energy consumption and CO2 emissions. No causal relationships are found, since Sweden has long been a net exporter of embodied energy and CO2 and continues to be so after 1970, when energy consumption stabilizes and CO, emissions decline. In addition, the ratios of net exported energy and CO2 to total consumption remain stable, which means there were no effects on the energy intensity or CO, intensity either. These results suggest that internal forces, like efficiency improvements, changed consumption patterns and transformation of the energy system, have been crucial for relative environmental improvement in Sweden, while foreign trade has played no role. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1590-1599
JournalEnergy Policy
Volume34
Issue number13
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2006

Subject classification (UKÄ)

  • Economic History
  • Social Sciences Interdisciplinary

Free keywords

  • environmental kuznets curve
  • carbon dioxide
  • energy foreign trade

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Foreign trade and declining pollution in Sweden: a decomposition analysis of long-term structural and technological effects'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this