Taiwan has shifted to being a net CO₂ exporter since the mid-1990s

With the integration of the global economy and increased international trade, CO₂ emissions embodied in trade have attracted broad attention. In this study, we examined Taiwan's CO₂ emissions embodied in its imports and exports with its 167 trade partners from 1970 to 2015 using the emissions embodied in bilateral trade (EEBT) method. The results show that since the mid-1990s, Taiwan has shifted to being a net CO₂ emissions exporter. The share of Taiwan's CO₂ emissions exported to developed countries has decreased. However, the share exported to Mainland China, Hong Kong special administrative region and many developing countries in Southeast Asia has increased. The results of a structural decomposition analysis show that emissions intensity changes were the main driving force for Taiwan's exported CO₂ emissions during 1970-1996, while increased export volumes were the largest driving force for Taiwan's exported CO₂ emissions during 1996-2015. Emissions intensity changes and population growth are the main driving factors for Taiwan's CO₂ emissions produced and consumed by itself increases. Based on the SDA results, environmentally friendly policies, such as energy efficiency and industrial structure optimization, are suggested to help Taiwan shift towards a sustainable economy.