The uneven geography of emissions in European value chains: a subnational analysis of carbon elites-ghettos

This article brings new, compelling regional-level evidence on the environmental degradation brought about by intra-European value chains. It postulates the presence of pollution havens as a consequence of European production integration. We identify a clear elites-ghettos divide in carbon emission intensity per unit of production across the European Union regions: While capital-cities and Northern regions form a carbon elite club of contained emissions, Eastern regions converge towards systematically higher intensities. Our results derive from a novel construction of the intra-European emission network at the subnational level for the period 2008–2018. The uneven geography of carbon emissions is the direct consequence of distinct specialization profiles enhanced by European GVCs, with mid-stream manufacturing regions structurally locked into higher emission intensity, which serve as pollution havens for the European carbon elites.