Working Time, Global Climate Justice, and Carbon Emissions Embodied in International Trade

• In Event: 50620 - Section on Environmental Sociology Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 12: Environmental Temporalities and Transitions

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between countries’ working time and carbon dioxide emissions embodied in international trade, using a sample of 34 high-income countries from 1995 to 2019. Employing multi-regional input-output analysis and dynamic panel regression models with two-way fixed effects, we investigate two mechanisms linking working time to emissions: the scale effect and the compositional effect, and how, through these mechanisms, working time in high-income countries is associated with total emissions embodied in their imports. Additionally, we decompose the embodied emissions into sub-components based on the income levels of trade partners and the types of goods traded, and investigate how various sub-components are differentially associated with the importing countries’ working time. Based on the empirical findings, we discuss the impacts of working time in high-income countries on the transnational displacement of carbon emissions, and how reducing working time can be a multi-dividend approach to sustainability and global climate justice. This study centrally engages with the themes of climate change and the future of work.

Authors

• Xiaorui Huang, Boston College

• Jared Fitzgerald, Oklahoma State University

• Ryan Thombs, Boston College

• Andrew K. Jorgenson, University of British Columbia

• Juliet B. Schor, Boston College

• Orla Kelly, University College Dublin