TY - JOUR
T1 - Environmental-social-economic footprints of consumption and trade in the Asia-Pacific region
AU - Yang, Lan
AU - Wang, Yutao
AU - Wang, Ranran
AU - Klemeš, Jiří Jaromír
AU - Almeida, Cecília Maria Villas Bôas de
AU - Jin, Mingzhou
AU - Zheng, Xinzhu
AU - Qiao, Yuanbo
PY - 2020/12/1
Y1 - 2020/12/1
N2 - Asia-Pacific (APAC) has been the world’s most dynamic emerging area of economic development and trade in recent decades. Here, we reveal the significant and imbalanced environmental and socio-economic effects of the region’s growths during 1995–2015. Owing to the intra-regional trade of goods and services, APAC economies grew increasingly interdependent in each other’s water and energy use, greenhouse gas (GHG) and PM2.5 emissions, and labor and economic productivity, while the environmental and economic disparity widened within the region. Furthermore, our results highlight APAC’s significant role in globalization. By 2015, APAC was engaged in 50–71% of the virtual flows of water, energy, GHG, PM2.5, labor, and value added embodied in international trade. While the region’s final demand and trade grew less resource- and emissions-intensive, predominantly led by China’s transformations, APAC still lags behind global averages after two decades. More joint efforts of APAC economies and attention to sustainable transformation are needed.
AB - Asia-Pacific (APAC) has been the world’s most dynamic emerging area of economic development and trade in recent decades. Here, we reveal the significant and imbalanced environmental and socio-economic effects of the region’s growths during 1995–2015. Owing to the intra-regional trade of goods and services, APAC economies grew increasingly interdependent in each other’s water and energy use, greenhouse gas (GHG) and PM2.5 emissions, and labor and economic productivity, while the environmental and economic disparity widened within the region. Furthermore, our results highlight APAC’s significant role in globalization. By 2015, APAC was engaged in 50–71% of the virtual flows of water, energy, GHG, PM2.5, labor, and value added embodied in international trade. While the region’s final demand and trade grew less resource- and emissions-intensive, predominantly led by China’s transformations, APAC still lags behind global averages after two decades. More joint efforts of APAC economies and attention to sustainable transformation are needed.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85090383505&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41467-020-18338-3
DO - 10.1038/s41467-020-18338-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 32901036
AN - SCOPUS:85090383505
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 11
JO - Nature communications
JF - Nature communications
IS - 1
M1 - 4490
ER -
