Kyoto and the Carbon Footprint of Nations

A country's carbon footprint refers to the CO₂ emissions caused by domestic absorptionactivities. Trade in goods drives a wedge between the footprint and local emissions. Weprovide a panel database on carbon footprints and carbon net trade. Using a differencesin-differences IV estimation strategy, we evaluate the Kyoto Protocol's effects on carbonfootprints and emissions. Instrumenting countries' Kyoto commitment by their participationin the International Criminal Court, we show that Kyoto reduced domestic emissionsin committed countries by 7%, has not lowered footprints, but increased the share ofimported over domestic emissions by 17 percentage points. This indicates carbon leakage.