Fig. 3: Regional and sectoral composition of outsourcing by SDG proxy.

There are eight selected proxies shown in this figure. For each proxy the interpretation is as follows: top two rows represent outsourcing regions and sectors, and bottom two rows represent source regions and sectors for selected SDG proxies. For each SDG proxy (each column) from bottom to top: production by industry in source country (\({F}_{i\bullet ,t}^{\,q,{p}_{1}\bullet \bullet }\)), exports from source country by destination (\({F}_{\bullet \bullet ,t}^{\,q,{p}_{1}\bullet s}\)), imports into outsourcing country by origin (\({F}_{\bullet \bullet ,t}^{\,q,s\bullet {p}_{2}}\)), production in outsourcing country by industry (\({F}_{i\bullet ,t}^{\,q,{p}_{2}\bullet \bullet }\)), in which i denotes producing (extracting, emitting) industries, and s refers to buying (consuming) regions. Some examples of traded products are provided in the second row. EECCA refers to Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia. Logical flow for each of the SDG proxies from bottom to top: adverse production increases in source countries, for the sake of providing exports, destined for imports in outsourcing countries with low and declining adverse production. For example, territorial biodiversity impacts in Burundi are increasing (bottom row) and also the embodiment of these impacts in Burundi’s exports are increasing. A commodity that often features as Burundi’s exports is tea, which eventually lands in countries worldwide (for example, China) for final consumption. China’s biodiversity impacts embodied in imports are increasing. Credit: icons from the UN Sustainable Development Goals (https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment).