Integration of an energy and consumption scenario tools into a multi-regional environmentally extended input output model to examine the greenhouse gas consequences of domestic climate change strategies

The official way of accounting for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is established under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The UK is party to the UNFCCC agreement, but while the UNFCCC system generally takes into account all greenhouse gas emissions from UK territory, it fails to account for emissions embedded in UK imports consumed in the UK. When comparing the two ways of emissions accounting it has been found that over recent years as UK territorial emissions have reducing, consumer emissions continue to increase (T Wiedmann et al. 2010b). This paper outlines the use of an environmentally extended multi-regional input output model (EEMRIO) to examine the implications of UK climate change strategies on the UK's consumer emissions. It presents the methods used to extend and soft-link the EEMRIO with external data in order to address three key research questions: firstly what impact do territorial mitigation pathways have on the UK's consumption based emissions; secondly how can changes in consumption levels and profiles contribute to mitigation; and thirdly how much carbon leaks out of mitigation efforts due to imports from countries that operate outside the UNFCCC (defined here as non-Annex B countries)?