This study explores the mechanism of how trade openness (TO) affects CO₂ emissions via the scale and technique effects in the Asian region over the 1990–2015 period. The results obtained by employing cross-sectional augmented estimators indicate that: (i) trade-induced technology innovation (TI) reduces CO₂ emissions; (ii) trade-facilitated economic growth results in higher CO₂ emissions; (iii) the positive scale effect outweighs the negative technique effects. Furthermore, TO also produces a rebound effect of TI on emissions for Southern and Western Asia. The Dumitrescu–Hurlin causality test reveals that TO Granger causes economic growth and TI, which in turn cause CO₂ emissions. Besides, quadri-directional causality is observed between TO, TI, energy consumption and emissions, suggesting that these variables are mutually reinforcing. The findings suggest that the goals of environmental sustainability can be attained if the pace of national output growth is accompanied by environmental regulations and clean technology improvements when framing comprehensive trade policy.

本研究探讨了 1990-2015 年亚洲地区贸易开放 (TO) 如何通过规模和技术效应影响 CO ₂排放的机制。通过使用横截面增广估计量获得的结果表明： (i) 贸易引发的技术创新 (TI) 减少了 CO ₂排放；(ii) 贸易促进的经济增长导致更高的 CO ₂排放；(iii) 积极的规模效应大于消极的技术效应。此外，TO 还对南亚和西亚的排放产生 TI 的反弹效应。Dumitrescu-Hurlin 因果检验表明 TO Granger 导致经济增长和 TI，进而导致 CO ₂排放。此外，在TO、TI、能源消耗和排放之间观察到四向因果关系，表明这些变量是相辅相成的。研究结果表明，如果在制定综合贸易政策时，国家产出增长的步伐伴随着环境法规和清洁技术的改进，则可以实现环境可持续性的目标。