Critics say blaming China alone for its rampant pollution is unfair, given that developed countries source a significant amount of manufacturing there. "All the West has done," says Greenpeace, "is export a great slice of its carbon footprint to China and make China the world's factory." Pictured: A cloud of coal pollution hangs over a cluster of power lines in China's northern region.
Image: Adam Cohn, courtesy Flickr.
-
The Best Science Writing Online 2012
Showcasing more than fifty of the most provocative, original, and significant online essays from 2011, The Best Science Writing Online 2012 will change the way...
Read More »
Dear EarthTalk: Has China been making any progress reducing its output of global warming gases, and/or in tackling other environmental problems?
—Bill W., Saugus, MA
Decades of rapid-fire development and lack of government oversight has meant that China now faces some serious environmental challenges. According to research by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, China surpassed the United States as the world’s leading emitter of greenhouse gases in 2006—and hasn’t looked back. (While the Chinese emit some eight percent more carbon dioxide than their American counterparts, the U.S. still leads the world in greenhouse gas emissions per capita, due to its significantly smaller population size and higher standard of living.)
Beyond its contribution to global warming, China is also a world leader in other forms of pollution, given its huge population and its ambition to become the next international economic superpower. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), current levels of air pollution in China far exceed international environmental standards. A recent analysis found, for example, that the air in some four dozen Chinese cities contained as much as seven times as much particulate pollution—which can get lodged in human lungs and cause a wide range of health problems—as deemed safe by WHO.
But critics say blaming China for its rampant pollution is unfair, given all the manufacturing the world’s developed countries outsource to Chinese companies. Qin Gang, China’s foreign ministry spokesman, refers to China as the “world’s factory” and says: “A lot of what you use, wear and eat is produced in China… “On the one hand, you increase production in China; on the other hand you criticize China on the emission reduction issue.” Yang Ailun of Greenpeace China agrees: “All the West has done is export a great slice of its carbon footprint to China and make China the world’s factory.”
Despite its efforts to go green, China still depends on coal—the dirtiest of all the fossil fuels—for some two-thirds of its energy needs. Chinese officials have strenuously opposed the binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions set by developing countries, arguing that already industrialized nations are to blame for most of the emissions already in the atmosphere.
According to Isabel Hilton, a journalist with the UK’s Guardian, industrialized countries should feel an obligation to shoulder at least some of the burden of helping China become a greener nation. “This means drastically reducing our own emissions and helping China with the finance and technology required to move to a sustainable, low-carbon economic system.”
There is progress afoot: Meetings between top Chinese and U.S. officials earlier this year led to the creation of a joint research center to address issues related to clean energy, with each country contributing $15 million to pay for initial research efforts.
CONTACTS: Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, www.pbl.nl; World Health Organization, www.who.int; Greenpeace China, www.greenpeace.org/china.
EarthTalk is produced by E/The Environmental Magazine. SEND YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTIONS TO: EarthTalk, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; earthtalk@emagazine.com. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php. EarthTalk is now a book! Details and order information at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalkbook.
See what we're tweeting about
7 Comments
Add CommentOf course, China can not be blamed as we all consume their products which use "their" power. However, they are on the verge of robotically mass producing most of the world's PV and LiFePo4 batteries. Why can't we do that? Because we are too dam expensive (due to lawyers and fees, etc). It is also because of nimbyism (which blocks solar and windfarms). And because of corporate greed (AKA conspiracy theory). These stupid show stoppers are America's middle name. We need to stop that by demanding new laws that eradicate the old anti renewable (and anti desert solar farm) laws. When we do that, I'm sure China will have far surpassed us (anyways) in the renewables energy race (cause noth'n gets in their way)!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCan we please give the US a break. It is not the world's largest CO2 emitter (that's China), it is not the largest emitter per dollar of GDP (there are over a hundred worse offenders), and it is not (as this article erroneously claims) the highest emitter per capita, it is fifth at worst.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI know the US is such an easy target to kick, but try and resist the temptation and stick to reality.
It is true that a good portion of China's GHG emissions are due to manufactured goods bound for other countries. It is also true that this will grow in the coming years due to the misguided US cap and trade legislation. Manufacturing will flee to China in droves as the Obamites put the squeeze on emissions and taxes mushroom.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe Senate just voted to extend unemployment to 99 weeks. Be prepared for permanent unemployment as Obama continues to take over the economy.
There is a fundamental dishonesty in the excuses given here for China. China's spokesman says "you" (the West collectively) outsourced to China. Greenpeace's spokesperson says the same, "the West" did it. But the only collective state entity that had anything to do with this is China's. It is China that invites companies to outsource and use its cheap labor and lack of environmental restraints; and that asks us to import its goods without compensatory environmental tariffs. Obviously some companies will do it, as long as China encourages it, and as long as our own governments do not respond proactively with carbon-input tariffs in order to restrain it. While the blame surely is on China, its time to move beyond the blame game. Theres a simple way to do that: simply establish a tariff on the emissions-input into goods, and keep the tariff at a level that equalizes for the emissions restrictions, taxes, and indirect taxes that exist in the West. The direct and indirect (and impending) taxes on emissions are whats getting Westerners serious about cutting emissions. The equivalent tariff is the only real instrument we have to encourage Chinese to start getting serious too. And its the ONLY way to get equal justice on this matter instead of blame games.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWell, China likes its profits so much that it is even willing to supress how much colder and drier its western and northern regions are getting. As long as carbon credits seem to be of some value it would be counter productive to admit that these things are absolutely worthless, since the world grows cooler no matter how much CO2 China pumps out supplying the world with cheap industrial products.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisall this, the shape of our world,we see. knowing we keep seeing what we allow our-self and none else. (magnet generator) zero point energy .
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisChina certainly has the capital and research potential to invest in green technology, to develop and implement it totally, even over a short time-span that could leave the Copenhagen objectives looking pretty silly.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this