GEAR Group members Ángela
García-Alaminos, Mateo Ortiz, Guadalupe Arce, and Jorge Zafrilla have recently
published a new research article in Economic Systems Research.
The paper, entitled
“Reassembling social defragmented responsibilities: the indecent labour
footprint of US multinationals overseas”, presents news insights about the social
impacts embodied in multinational firms’ global value chains. Combining a socially extended MRIO model with three social
indicators (forced labour, fatal and nonfatal occupational injuries) from the
indecent labour database developed by Ángela García-Alaminos, we find that the activities of US
multinationals foreign affiliates show increasing trends between 2009 and 2013
on indecent labour, contributing with 1.1%–1.3% of the global cases. United
States affiliates located in India, China, and Brazil show the highest ratios
per unit of value-added.
This
work was awarded the “6th Emilio Fontela Research Prize in
Input-Output Analysis” by the Hispanic-American Input-Output Society (SHAIO) in
September 2019.
This
report, which reviews the situation of the sector at the national and
international level, devotes a complete section to the analysis and evaluation
of the main macroeconomic indicators of the sector. This section has been
developed, for the third consecutive year, by the GEAR research group of the
University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM).
Some of the
main data in the report place the Spanish photovoltaic sector as a leader at the
European level and sixth worldwide.
The
photovoltaic sector as a whole generates a direct impact on national GDP of
3,220 million euros (0.26% of total GDP) and a total of 58,699 jobs considering
direct, indirect, and induced employment.
The use of bicycle for commuting can lead to healthier urban environments. In this radio interview Nuria Gómez explains how public bicycle services can contribute to this aim.
GEAR Members Jorge
Zafrilla, Ángela García-Alaminos, and Fabio Monsalve have recently published a
new book chapter. You can find “The Sustainability Challenge of Dairy Livestock
Systems” inside the book Sustainable and Environmentally Friendly Dairy
Farms, edited by Santiago García-Yuste, it is part of the SpringerBriefs in
Applied Sciences and Technology book series.
The book, Sustainable
and Environmentally Friendly Dairy Farms, presents an innovative
environmental proposal. While chiefly focusing on dairy farms, the
environmental solution it describes applies to the entire livestock sector. This
book is divided into five chapters elaborated by eight authors. The first
chapter -written by the GEAR members listed above – describes the current situation of the global dairy livestock
industry under the influence and challenge of the commitments of the so-called Paris
Agreement and addresses the carbon footprint of dairy farms. Firstly, the key points of the Agreement affecting the livestock and
dairy systems are discussed within the framework of the Sustainable Development
Goals. Next, a detailed analysis of the evolution of the activity and the
greenhouse gas emissions of the industry is presented. Finally, a summary of
current environmental solutions and bioeconomy alternatives will contribute to
enriching the discussion.
This
contribution is part of the collaboration of the GEAR group in a UCLM’s multidisciplinary
research group. Together with chemists and engineers, who are working on
techniques for the capture and use of CO2.
GEAR members Mateo Ortiz, Maria Ángeles Cadarso
and Luis Antonio López carried out a study on the carbon footprint associated
with the activities of multinational companies operating in the European Union.
The paper entitled ”The carbon
footprint of foreign multinationals within the European Union” is part
of the GEAR’s project to evaluate the role of multinational enterprises as key
actors in the fight against climate change and the reduction of carbon
emissions along global supply chains. A previous paper related to this project
was already published in Nature Communications.
In this new paper, the authors reveal that,
during 2015, the emissions directly and indirectly generated by multinational’s
foreign affiliates operating within the European Union are estimated at 714 Mt
of CO2, which accounts for 17% of the total carbon footprint of the European
Union. Although most of these carbon emissions are generated by foreign
affiliates located in the United Kingdom and Germany, the findings suggest that
low-income EU-members receive higher amounts of emissions in relation to the
value added created by the foreign affiliates they host.
The paper also provides valuable insights into
the potential for multinational corporations to become actors of change in
terms of reducing global emissions by taking responsibility for the
environmental impacts of their affiliates and suppliers worldwide and by
spreading low-carbon practices across countries and industries.
We strongly encourage you to read this great
article on a very interesting topic. We hope you like it!
The
GEAR members Manuel Tomás, Luis A. López and Fabio Monsalve, have recently
published the article entitled «Carbon footprint, municipality size and
rurality in Spain: Inequality and carbon taxation» in Journal of Cleaner
Production.
In this
paper, the authors assess the Spanish households’ carbon footprint for the
2008-2017 period considering the municipality size as well as the urban or
rural residential zone. In light of the results, they test whether the carbon
footprint inequality among households could lead to asymmetric regressive
impacts based on where families live.
GEAR group members Luis Antonio López, Maria
Ángeles Cadarso and Mateo Ortiz carried out a study on the evolution of CO2
emissions embodied in Spain’s imports and exports during 2005-2014. In the
paper entitled ‘The carbon footprint of the Spanish international trade’ the
authors quantify and analyse the CO2 emissions associated with
Spain’s traded products and provide valuable insights on the role played by
international trade in the Spanish and European pursuit for low-carbon
production and consumption.
Please, CLICK HERE
to read the full paper (only available in Spanish). We hope you like it.
ICE, Journal of Economics is an academic
journal published by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism of Spain whose
scope is to contribute to the debate of economic policy.
The GEAR members Luis Antonio López (UCLM) and Guadalupe Arce (Complutense University), in collaboration with Xuemei Jiang (Capital University of Economics and Business of Beijing), have recently published “Mapping China’s flows of emissions in the world’s carbon footprint: A network approach of production layers” in Energy Economics.
In this paper the authors propose a combination of the environmental extended Multiregional Input-Output Model (EE-MRIO), applying a Structural Path Analysis, with the complex network analysis to adequately identify different types of communities or clusters of sector as boost and suppliers of carbon emissions by type of sector (processing exports, non-processing exports and China normal production), type of final demand (consumption and investment) and the different stages of production.
This approach is an important novelty in the input-output literature because, in our opinion, the research is useful to assess the scope of possibilities that companies of different sectors have regarding reducing their carbon footprint and the limit implied for the transmission of technology between companies in the same sector or companies that relocate their production to China.
Some members of the GEAR
Group have recently published a new research article in PLOS ONE.
The paper, entitled “Unmasking social
distant damage of developed regions’ lifestyle: A decoupling analysis of the
indecent labour footprint” presents news insights about the indecent labour
footprints. Using the indecent labour database developed by Ángela García-Alaminos
to assess the indecent labour footprint, we propose a decoupling analysis to evaluate
whether global consumption chains are currently on the decoupling path or not, from
a social point of view.
The paper has been written by
Ángela García-Alaminos, Fabio Monsalve, Jorge Zafrilla and María Ángeles
Cadarso.
The 15th
Conference of the Spanish Association for Energy Economics (AEEE) was held at
the University of Castilla-La Mancha, at the lovely city of Toledo, from 29th
to 31st January 2020.
Since our University would be
hosting the event, some GEAR members led the organization of the 2020 edition
of the conference in close collaboration with Leticia Blázquez, from the UCLM’s
Talavera and Toledo Campuses. All together worked hard to successfully ensure a
wonderful conference for all the attendees and speakers.
GEAR members participated
not only as organizers but also as speakers in the academic sessions of the
conference. The research works presented by GEAR members at the conference
were:
«Emission Taxes, Feed-in Subsidies and the Investment in a Clean Technology by a Polluting Monopoly». García-Alaminos, A., and Rubio, S. J.
«Unequal rural and urban household carbon footprint in Spain and the impact of carbon taxation», Tomás, M. Á., López, L.A. and Monsalve, F.
«The carbon footprint of Spain’s photovoltaic industry». Zafrilla, J.; Arce, G. and Monsalve, F.
«Environmental and economic impacts of Brexit in the consumption of vegetables and fruits in the UK», López, L.A., Tobarra, M.A., Carrascal, A. and Ortega, R.
«Towards energy transition: sustainability assessment of a hybrid solar thermal – Biomass gasifier power plant in Tunisia». Banacloche, S., Herrera, I. and Lechón, Y.
«Triple bottom line analysis of the Spanish solar photovoltaic sector: A footprint assessment». Zafrilla, J., Arce; G., Cadarso, M.-Á., Córcoles, C.; Gómez, N., López, L.-A., Monsalve, F. and Tobarra, M.-Á.
«Economic and environmental impacts of decarbonization through a hybrid MRIO multiplier-accelerator model», Dejuan, O., Ortiz, M. and Portella-Carbó, F.
«The European Union’s carbon emissions under the control-based criterion». Ortiz, M., López, L.A., and Cadarso, M.A.
«Viabilidad económica y medioambiental de la estrategia de ecoinnovación “CO2-AFP Strategy”». Gueddari, A., Zafrilla, J., García-Yuste, S., Alonso-Moreno, C., Canales-Vázquez, J. Paper awared with the best flash session prize of the conference. Congrats Abde!
Inter-institutional research project: «Red Temática de Modelización Energética para una Transición Energética Sostenible (MENTES)». Coordinated by Cadarso, M.A. and presented by Arocena, P.
Reaffirming
our commitment to the environment and sustainability, the GEAR group promoted a
sustainable conference from the organization and did our best to get the
provisions needed during the conference from eco-friendly suppliers. Moreover,
we assessed the carbon footprint of the event and found that it reached 10.2
tonnes of CO2, approximately. The estimate covered all the direct and indirect
carbon emissions generated in the organization and by all attendees. These
findings were presented at the closing ceremony, where it was announced that
the conference’s carbon footprint would be totally compensated by the Vice-rectorate
for Research of the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM).
Finally, we
also want to highlight the remarkable achievements reached by two GEAR young
members, Ángela García-Alaminos and Santacruz Banacloche, who received two of
the Energy Economics Young Researchers Awards of the conference. Santacruz
obtained a travel grant for his outstanding work and Ángela was awarded the 1st
Prize for Young Researchers for the article with the highest quality and relevance in the field of
Energy Economics.
Congratulations
to Ángela and Santacruz for their prizes and all GEAR members and Leticia
Blázquez for making possible such a great conference!
