Shouyang Wang

Feb 12, 2025 | nature.com | Xiaoxu Zhang |Yuze Li |Kunfu Zhu |Kang Lin |Shouyang Wang

With the rise of labor costs in China, constraints on resources and environment, and ongoing geopolitical conflicts, the global manufacturing hub is facing relocation. India has emerged as the most likely candidate to undertake industrial relocation. This shift could reshape the global carbon emission landscape. However, ex ante measurement of the environmental effects of such industrial relocation is poorly understood. As an illustrative case, we first measure the impact on carbon emissions from shifting iPhone production to India and find that such a move would double the carbon footprint of production. We then extend our analysis to the general industrial chain and examine the implications of such shifts on a broader scale. We find that India’s process of becoming the global manufacturing hub will lead to increased carbon emissions and reduced global economic growth. The carbon burden surpasses the emission reductions achieved by the EU since the Copenhagen Climate Conference. At the sector level, the computer, basic metals, electronic equipment, and automotive sectors are the largest sources of incremental carbon emissions. To offset the extra emissions, it is essential to ensure that the industrial structure of these sectors temporarily remains unchanged while promoting technological progress in developing countries are essential to offset the extra emissions.

May 24, 2024 | nature.com | Yutong Sun |Shouyang Wang |Shangrong Jiang

Mining diamond poses significant and potentially underestimated risks to the environment worldwide. Here, we propose a Diamond Environmental Impacts Estimation (DEIE) model to forecast the environmental indicators, including greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, mineral waste, and water usage of the diamond industry from 2030 to 2100 in the top diamond production countries under different Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs). The DEIE projection results indicate that the annual GHG emissions, mineral waste, and water usage of the global diamond industry will reach 9.65 Mt, 422.80 Mt, and 78.68 million m3 under the SSP1-1.9 scenario, and 13.26 Mt, 582.84 Mt, and 107.95 million m3 under the SSP2-2.6 scenario in 2100, respectively. We analyze the environmental impact heterogeneities and the associated driving factors across the major diamond production countries identified by our DEIE framework. In addition, we find that lab-grown diamonds can reduce annual GHG emissions, mineral waste, and water usage by 9.58 Mt, 421.06 Mt, and 66.70 million m3 in 2100. The lab-grown diamond substitution policy can annually save 714 million cubic meters of landfill space, harvest 255 million kilograms of rice, feed 436 million people, and lift 1.19 million households out of hunger. The lab-grown diamond substitution policy could contribute to the diamond industry’s GHG mitigation and sustainability efforts in a cost-saving manner.