TITLE:
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and Its Potential Impact on Greenhouse Gas Emissions
AUTHORS:
Hirokazu Akahori, Daisuke Sawauchi, Yasutaka Yamamoto
KEYWORDS:
RCEP, Greenhouse gas, Climate Change, GTAP
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Environmental Protection,
Vol.7 No.9,
August
16,
2016
ABSTRACT: Whether trade liberalization resulting from mega free trade agreements, such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), will have an impact on the environment is the subject of ongoing debate and remains an empirical matter. In this paper, we contribute to the debate on the relation between trade and the environment by considering the case of the RCEP and examining whether it will increase or decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We measure the impact of the RCEP on GHG emissions using the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model and the GTAP CO2 and non-CO2 emissions databases. Our results suggest that the RCEP is likely to “increase” the total amount of GHG emissions in the 16 RCEP members and the world.