Global Value Chains, Trade and CO2 Emissions in China

Global value chain (GVC) has become an increasingly dominant feature of today’s world economy. This is driven by technological progress, differences on labor costs, barriers on access to resources and markets. It is challenging our conventional wisdom on how to look at and interpret trade and, in particular, the policies developed around it.

After two decades of quick expansion, China has become the world’s largest trader as well as one of the centers of GVC. Many questions and concerns have been raised about China’s involvement in Global Value Chain. Is China’s integration in GVC making China the world’s largest CO2 emitter? Could China’s changing position in the GVC, with a lower emphasis on manufacturing, make it more likely to reach its environmental targets? The lecture is to explain how China’s integrating into GVC effect its position in the world, its relationship with major trade partners and how does this effect China’s CO2 environment.

Speaker:

Prof. Dr. Laike Yang, Professor in Economics, Faculty of Economics and Management Trade and environment, East China Normal University, Shanghai