Investigating Iranian Foreign Trade of carbon dioxide from an Environmental Perspective: The Application of an Input output Table (IOT)

Scientists believe that one of the major causes of instability in global climate conditions is the increase in greenhouse gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide. In this regard, the present study seeks to examine the sustainability of Iran's foreign trade from an environmental perspective using the input-output model. The results show that, in 2016, Iran exported about 33.5 million tons and imported 56.5 million tons of virtual carbon, and the net import of virtual carbon was, thus, 22.9 million tons. In other words, carbon emissions outside Iran's borders to meet the needs of Iranian consumers were about 68% higher than the carbon emissions inside Iran's borders to meet the needs of foreign consumers. Among the economic sectors, the largest exporter of virtual carbon was the chemical materials manufacture sector with an export of about 9.4 million tons, and the largest importer was the metals sector with about 17.4 million tons). In addition, the coke and petroleum products sectors were the largest net exporters, and the basic metals sector was the largest net importer of virtual carbon However, in 2016, the amount of virtual carbon export and import was 173.9 and 93.2 million tons, respectively, and therefore, unlike 2011, Iran this year specifically exported 80.8 million tons of virtual carbon. This year, the largest carbon exporter is the mining sector and the largest importer is the "machinery and equipment not classified elsewhere" sector (91.1 and 18.3 million tons, respectively).