An Analysis of Embodied Carbon in the Sino-US Trade of Woody Forest Products

As the environmental problems in the world become more and more serious, the concept of low-carbon economy has been rooted deeply in people's minds. With the constant expanding of the Sino- US trade of woody forest products, the issue of carbon emission has caught attention in both countries. In this paper, we analyze the current trade situation of woody forest products in both China and USA. Then from the perspective of embodied carbon, we estimate the embodied carbon emission of recent 10 years in the trade of woody forest products between two countries using input-output method, and analyze the factors affecting the carbon emission in the trade of woody forest products using the method of Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) to analyze the factors. After comparison, we find that the emission of embodied carbon in the Sino-US trade of woody forest products mainly results from the problems such as the unreasonable trade structure, inferior production technologies, unbalanced intensity of emission reduction, and the lack of international cooperation. Accordingly we give policy suggestions of adjusting trade structure, actively promoting energy conservation and emission reduction, and strengthening international cooperation.