Trade in Low Carbon Technology Products

Imports of low carbon technology products comprise all low carbon technology products entering the national territory. A relatively high share of low carbon technology products imports indicates that an economy purchases a significant share of low carbon technology products from other economies. Exports of low carbon technology products comprise all low carbon technology products leaving the national territory. A relatively high share of low carbon technology products exports indicates that an economy produces and sells a significant share of low carbon technology products to other economies. An economy’s trade balance in low carbon technology products is the difference between its exports and imports of low carbon technology products. Comparative advantage is a measure of the relative advantage or disadvantage a particular economy has in a certain class of goods (in this case, low carbon technology products), and can be used to evaluate export potential in that class of goods. A value greater than one indicates a relative advantage in low carbon technology products, while a value of less than one indicates a relative disadvantage. Sources: Department of Economic and Social Affairs/United Nations. 2025. United Nations Comtrade database https://comtrade.un.org; International Monetary Fund (IMF) Direction of Trade Statistics (DOTS) https://data.imf.org/en/datasets/IMF.STA:IMTS; World Economic Outlook (WEO) Database https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/Issues/2025/10/14/world-economic-outlook-october-2025; IMF staff calculations. Category: Mitigation,Transition to a Low-Carbon Economy Data series: Comparative advantage in low carbon technology products Exports of low carbon technology products Exports of low carbon technology products as percent of GDP Exports of low carbon technology products as share of total exports Imports of low carbon technology products Imports of low carbon technology products as percent of GDP Imports of low carbon technology products as share of total imports Total trade in low carbon technology products Total trade in low carbon technology products as percent of GDP Trade balance in low carbon technology products Trade balance in low carbon technology products as percent of GDP Metadata: Sources: Trade data from UN Comtrade Database (https://comtrade.un.org/). Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS) 2017. Trade aggregates from IMF Direction of Trade Statistics (DOTS) (data.imf.org/dot). GDP data from World Economic Outlook. Methodology: Low carbon technology products are estimated by aggregating HS 6-digit commodities identified as low carbon technology products based on Pigato, Miria A., Simon J. Black, Damien Dussaux, Zhimin Mao, Miles McKenna, Ryan Rafaty, and Simon Touboul. 2020. Technology Transfer and Innovation for Low-Carbon Development. International Development in Focus. Washington, DC: World Bank, and IMF research. Trade balance in low carbon technology products is calculated as low carbon technology products exports less low carbon technology products imports. A positive trade balance means an economy has a surplus in low carbon technology products, while a negative trade balance means an economy has a deficit in low carbon technology products. Total goods are estimated by aggregating all commodities. Comparative advantage is calculated as the proportion of an economy’s exports that are low carbon technology products to the proportion of global exports that are low carbon technology products. Total trade in low carbon technology products is calculated as the sum of low carbon technology products exports and low carbon technology products imports. National-accounts basis GDP at current prices from the World Economic Outlook is used to calculate the percent of GDP. This measure provides an indication of an economy’s involvement (openness) to trade in low carbon technology products, which is important for understanding how these technologies can be transferred between economies. Methodology Attachment Low Carbon Technology Harmonized System Codes