Promises and pitfalls in environmentally extended input–output analysis for China: A survey of the literature

As the world's largest developing economy, China plays a key role in global climate change and other environmental impacts of international concern. Environmentally extended input–output analysis (EE-IOA) is an important and insightful tool seeing widespread use in studying large-scale environmental impacts in China: calculating and analyzing greenhouse gas emissions, carbon and water footprints, pollution, and embodied energy. This paper surveys the published articles regarding EE-IOA for China in peer-reviewed journals and provides a comprehensive and quantitative overview of the body of literature, examining the research impact, environmental issues addressed, and data utilized. The paper further includes a discussion of the shortcomings in official Chinese data and of the potential means to move beyond its inherent limitations. - Highlights: • Articles in 2012–2013 more than doubled that published between 1995 and 2011. • CO₂ and energy are the most common topics, frequently associated with trade. • Data from the National Bureau of Statistics is widely used but seen as flawed. • Climate change, water supply, and food security drive the future of the literature