Does Exporting Improve Firms' CO₂ Emissions Intensity and Energy Intensity? Evidence from Japanese manufacturing

         
Author Name JINJI Naoto  (Faculty Fellow, RIETI) /SAKAMOTO Hiroaki  (Chiba University)
Creation Date/NO. November 2015 15-E-130
Research Project A Study on Trade/FDI and the Environment/Energy
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Abstract

Using Japanese firm-level data, we investigate the firm-level relationship between export status and environmental performance in terms of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions intensity and energy intensity. As in previous studies, we first find that exporting firms have significantly lower CO₂ emissions/energy intensity. We then investigate the effects of exporting on CO₂ emissions/energy intensity by employing the propensity score matching (PSM) method, and find that the effects significantly vary across industries. Whereas exporting significantly improves environmental performance in most industries, exporting actually increases CO₂ emissions/energy intensity in the iron & steel industry. This finding suggests that the effect of exporting varies across industries.