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Han et al. Carbon Footprints 2025, 4, 25 https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/cf.2025.18 Page 17 of 20

CONCLUSION
Following China’s proposal to collaborate with other countries in building a Green Silk Road, the countries
along the B&R have played a crucial role in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, especially non-CO
2
emissions. Using compiled CH emission inventories, this study employs a MRIO analysis to compare PBEs
4
and CBEs across China and 138 countries and regions within the B&R context. The Lorenz curve and Gini
coefficient are used to reveal disparities in CH emissions among different income groups, while the decoupling
4
status of PBEs and CBEs from economic growth is thoroughly assessed. The results demonstrate that the
B&R countries contribute substantially to global CH emissions. Although CBEs are consistently lower
4
than PBEs, they are increasing at a faster pace. Significant emission inequalities exist, particularly PBEs in
H-H income groups and CBEs in L-L income groups, though the gap between PBEs and CBEs in H-H income
countries has narrowed. These findings enhance the understanding of CH emission dynamics in the B&R
4
region and offer valuable insights for policymakers seeking to address emission inequalities and implement
targeted mitigation strategies. Several limitations should be noted. First, the Eora datasets may have
constraints in terms of coverage, accuracy, and timeliness, potentially affecting the estimation of economic
interactions. Second, sectoral aggregation can mask intersectoral differences, leading to less precise
assessments of economic disparities and influencing indicators such as the Gini coefficient. Third, the
MRIO method may yield range-bound footprint analyses due to the limited robustness and reliability of the
original data, not to mention the dynamic coverage of the B&R context. Such uncertainties in data and
methods may result in deviations in the findings, which should be addressed in future research. To jointly
tackle global climate change, countries involved in the B&R Initiative are encouraged to actively engage in
CH emission mitigation and strengthen international cooperation in this area, which presents a valuable
4
opportunity for coordinated global action to reduce CH4 emissions and combat climate change.

DECLARATIONS
Authors’ contributions
Conceptualization, formal analysis, writing - original draft: Han, M.
Formal analysis, visualization, writing - original draft: Sun, Z.
Methodology, data curation: Zhao, Y.
Conceptualization, writing - review & editing: Zhang, B.

Availability of data and materials
The datasets are available in the following open-access data files: EDGAR 6.0 (http://data.europa.eu/89h/
97a67d67-c62e-4826-b873-9d972c4f670b), the UNFCCC database (https://unfccc.int), the Eora database
(https://worldmrio.com/eora26/), and the World Bank (http://data.worldbank.org).

Financial support and sponsorship
This research was supported by the National Social Science Fund of China (Grant No. 22CJY020).

Conflicts of interest
Han, M. is the Guest Editor of the Special Issue “The Race to Decarbonization in the Next Phase of
Globalization”. Han, M. was not involved in any steps of editorial processing, notably including reviewer
selection, manuscript handling, or decision making, while the other authors have declared that they have no
conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval and consent to participate
Not applicable.