The carbon footprint of Chinese multinationals’ foreign affiliates

Abstract As China’s outwards foreign direct investment (OFDI) has grown dramatically, the environmental impact of the production activities of Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs) has received substantial attention. Using a multiregional input-output model reflecting firm heterogeneity, this study measures the carbon footprint (CF) and value-added (VA) of Chinese MNEs’ foreign affiliates to quantify the trade-off between economic benefits and environmental damage. The results show that Chinese MNEs’ affiliates’ CF is not large but grows quickly, mainly driven by investment and scale effects. The CF of foreign affiliates is primarily distributed in resource-intensive countries. The economic-environmental effect of Chinese MNEs’ foreign affiliates is heterogeneous across countries and sectors. The best performance is found in the manufacturing sectors of most developing countries, with the worst performance in the service sectors of developed countries. Chinese MNEs’ affiliates can transfer clean technology from developed host countries to China through reverse technology spillovers.