It may be surprising to know that in some instances countries are rewarded for policies that increase global emissions and punished for policies that contribute to reducing them. A solution has been presented for the problem.
An extremely useful study at Lund University has been proposed which suggests accounting for carbon emissions which enables policy makers to set national targets and evaluate their climate policies.
This study is deemed valuable because it allows consumption-based carbon footprints to be measured accurately. This allows for the adjustment of technology differences between countries in their export sectors. The study also demonstrates that carbon footprints do not credit countries for cleaning up their export industries. Instead it punishes countries with more carbon productive technology than their trading partners for engaging in trade, even if trading leads to a more carbon efficient allocation of production resources, and hence contributes to reducing emissions globally.
In this method, credit is being given to clean exports. It also highlights companies who have improved carbon efficiency and became commercially successful by making a positive contribution.
