Net export of embodied energy in international trade from China has grown in recent years because of the country's trade surplus, according to a study released yesterday.

Embodied energy refers to that required for raw material procurement, manufacture, transport, construction, maintenance and repair.

A new report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) with the support of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) was delivered on the sidelines of the UN climate change conference in Bali.

"The embodied energy in import and export has always been ignored in studies on international trade and mitigation scenarios, even in international climate change negotiations," said Pan Jiahua, deputy director of the Research Center for Urban and Environmental Studies under CASS.

His studies showed that in 2002, the net export of embodied energy in international trade from China was about 240 million tons of coal equivalent, accounting for 16 percent of the world's total primary energy consumption. In 2006, that figure became 630 million tons of coal equivalent, accounting for 25.7 percent of primary energy consumption.

"The figures showed a tremendous growth of net export of embodied energy from China, no matter in absolute value or increase rate," the report said.

The consumption of embodied energy leads to a large degree of greenhouse emission.

In 2006, the amount of the embodied emission from China's export was around 1,846 million tons of coal equivalent, and that from import was around 800 million tons of coal equivalent. So the net export was more than 1,000 million tons of coal equivalent, Pan said in his report.

The rapid increase in China's emission is not only driven by domestic demands, but also by international trade because of China's position as the world's processing factory, the report said.

(China Daily December 11, 2007)