Evolutionary characteristics of global offshore carbon emissions network and responsibility allocation of emissions reduction

Bo Lu; Yue Sun; Lijie Fan; Xuejiao Ma; Hongbo Duan

doi:10.1016/j.patter.2023.100801

Evolutionary characteristics of global offshore carbon emissions network and responsibility allocation of emissions reduction

Patterns (N Y). 2023 Jul 31;4(10):100801. doi: 10.1016/j.patter.2023.100801. eCollection 2023 Oct 13.

Authors

Bo Lu¹, Yue Sun¹, Lijie Fan¹, Xuejiao Ma¹, Hongbo Duan²

Affiliations

¹ School of Economics and Management, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China.
² School of Economics and Management, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.

Abstract

Offshore carbon emissions from the international shipping trade are significant contributors to climate change. Based on the complex shipping trade networks, offshore carbon emissions are correlated rather than independent, and allocating responsibility for reducing emissions does not depend solely on the amount but on linkages. We use the global container shipping data covering more than 98% of routes from 2015 to 2020 to calculate the offshore carbon emissions from shipping. Subsequently, we construct an offshore carbon emissions network based on the shipping routes and emissions to identify the evolutionary tendency of network and clarify emissions reduction responsibilities by considering equity and efficiency. We discover that global offshore carbon emissions present a complicated network structure dominated by developed countries and large economies. Countries on the same continent or within the same economic organizations have closer and more frequent carbon correlations. Greater responsibilities should be allocated to countries who are at the center of the network.

Keywords: container shipping lines; offshore carbon emissions; responsibility allocation; social network analysis; spatial characteristics of offshore emissions.