Estimating carbon footprints and economic trade-offs in Mongolia's cashmere value chain: An integrated system dynamics approach

Key Points

• This research aims to analyze the trade-offs between economic outcomes and environmental impacts in Mongolia's cashmere value chain.
• Utilized an integrated system dynamics approach to model the cashmere value chain.
• Estimated carbon footprints associated with electricity consumption and transportation processes.
• Assessed the economic impacts of prohibiting scoured cashmere exports.
• Electricity use during the dehairing process was identified as the highest contributor to GHG emissions.
• Transportation of dehaired cashmere ranked as the second-highest contributor to GHG emissions.
• Prohibiting the export of scoured cashmere would increase the economic trade-off in the cashmere sector.