Volume 1: Energy Innovations: Accelerated Deployment, New Concepts, and Emerging Technologies

Nation-based accounting method to identify key sectors on embodied carbon contribution using network of networks model Feng An, Xiangyun Gao, Nanfei Jia

Abstract

To better account the contribution of various industries around the world to embodied carbon emissions, this study proposes a new accounting method from a global perspective. Unlike traditional accounting methods, our proposed accounting method considers all industries in a country as a whole. The embodied carbon emissions of the country are first accounted for and distributed to each sector within the country according to the contribution of each industry to the country’s inherent carbon emissions. To achieve this goal, we propose a network model and algorithm for the global embodied carbon network. Based on our proposed models and algorithms, we recalculated the contribution of inherent carbon emissions in various industries. Unlike traditional accounting results, we find that supportive industries such as education, health care, and public services contribute a lot to embodied carbon emissions. Not just embodied carbon-related research, our accounting methods, and NoN models provide a model basis for other research, such as international trade and global input and output.

Keywords embodied carbon, key sectors, complex networks, network of networks