Tracing carbon footprints to intermediate industries in the United Kingdom

Several decades of informed warnings about climate change have been insufficient to reverse trends of rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and ecological degradation. The global supply chains are increasingly complex, which has impaired discussions about the responsibility, power and agency of various actors for socio-ecological transition. Historically, environmental impact assessments have focused on the origin and consumption ends of supply chains, overlooking the role of powerful intermediate actors. In this study, we present a detailed analysis of the industrial contributors to the carbon footprint of United Kingdom's gross production using the multiregional input-output database EXIOBASE and product layer decomposition. We find that 54% of the GHG emissions associated with UK gross production in 2019 originate within four major source industries, including fossil fuel-based extraction, manufacturing and electricity, animal-based food, and air transport. Furthermore, the distribution of emissions and value added provides implications about mitigation capacity and spatial justice.