The Drivers of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Intensity Improvements in Major Economies: Analysis of Trends 1995–2009 Madanmohan Ghosh 1 , Deming Luo 2 , Muhammad Shahid Siddiqui 1 ,Thomas Rutherford 3 and Yunfa Zhu 2 Abstract This article analyses the trends in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity over the period 1995–2009 in a mix of developing and developed economies that account for almost two-thirds of global emissions. From the accounting point of view, it distinguishes between the production-based emissions (PBEs) and consumption or demand-based emissions (DBEs). Several studies find that while PBEs in many developed economies during the last decades have stabilised, the DBEs are on the rise. Understanding the relative influence of various factors that have shaped the different patterns of emissions growth can provide us with important policy insights for controlling GHG emissions. The article undertakes a decomposition exercise to understand the variations/fluctuations in both PBEs and DBEs intensities due to changes in technology and changes in economic structure (i.e., composition of aggregate production and final consumption). The main findings of this article are that, over the period 1995–2009, technological change has been the key driver of emissions intensity improvements in both PBEs and DBEs. Emissions intensity improvements in consumption activities have been Article 1 Model Development and Quantitative Research Division, Economic Analysis Directorate, Environment and Climate Change, Quebec, Canada. 2 Statistics Canada, Ottawa, Canada. 3 Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA. Corresponding author: Madanmohan Ghosh, Model Development and Quantitative Research Division, Economic Analysis Directorate, Environment and Climate Change, 200 Sacre-Coeur, Gatineau, Quebec, K1A 0H3, Canada. E-mail: madanmohan.ghosh@canada.ca Foreign Trade Review 55(3) 277–297, 2020 © 2020 Indian Institute of Foreign Trade Reprints and permissions: in.sagepub.com/journals-permissions-india DOI: 10.1177/0015732520920769 journals.sagepub.com/home/ftr