China's Embodied SO2 Emissions and Aggregate Embodied SO2 Intensities in Interprovincial and International Trade

•A hybrid approach was used to calculate embodied SO2 flows in each province.•This study calculated the aggregate embodied SO2 emission intensity at the provincial level.•This study presented an up-to-date and comprehensive analysis of embodied SO2 flows in 2015.•With Tibet data, this study provided a comprehensive examination of the the equilibrium of the inflow and outflow balance of embodied SO2 and value added flows in China's 31 provinces. Reducing SO2 emissions remains crucial for China in terms of controlling air pollution. There is great heterogeneity in SO2 emissions across provinces in China due to trade. This paper applies a hybrid approach to study SO2 emission transfer among 31 provinces (including Tibet) in China in 2015. The differences of SO2 emissions are compared from the perspectives of pollution transfer in the domestic supply chain and international supply chain. Moreover, this paper calculates the aggregate embodied SO2 emission intensity (ratio between embodied SO2 emissions and embodied value added) from demand perspective. The results show an inequitable distribution of SO2 emissions and embodied intensities in China's 31 provinces. The provinces in the eastern region account for a large proportion of interprovincial import trade and international exports. For the provinces in the western region, the proportions of embodied SO2 are higher than those in the central region. Under the consumption-based principle, the eastern region is the main contributors to SO2 emissions. In addition, the emission intensity in the eastern region is much lower than that in the western region. The SO2 emission intensity generated by international export trade is lower than that generated by interprovincial trade. Therefore, China should strengthen both the joint management in various provinces and international cooperation, so as to promote the coordinated management of the industrial chain.