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The FPB’s studies cover 11 main themes: Energy, Environmental economic accounts and analyses, International economy, Labour market, Macroeconomic forecasts and analyses, Public finances, Sectoral accounts and analyses, Social protection, demography and prospective studies, Structural studies, Sustainable development, Transport.
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In international agreements, countries are considered responsible for the greenhouse gas emissions linked to their production activities. The carbon footprint provides an alternative assessment of this responsibility by attributing emissions to the country where the goods and services are consumed. This study presents the production-based CO2 emissions and the carbon footprint of the three Belgian regions for the year 2015. According to the results, the carbon footprint exceeds production-based emissions for all three regions. This implies that their contribution to global CO2 emissions is larger from a consumption perspective than from a production perspective.
The integration of the global economy has progressed over the past decades through fast growing international trade and cross-border investment. It has been pushed by technological developments, trade liberalisation and the opening up of the economies of big countries like China, India and Brazil. Nowadays, the production of many goods and services is organised in global production networks. For Belgium, this may lead to offshoring, i.e. the relocation abroad of economic activities, but it also provides the chance to attract new activities.
What are the consequences for Belgium of this enhanced economic integration? What determines our competitiveness? Do we need to fear massive relocation of jobs? How do Belgian firms integrate in global production chains? What are the possible policy responses to these challenges?
These issues are addressed in FPB work on international trade and offshoring.
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