Plagued by famine just a few decades ago, China has managed to lift hundreds of millions out of poverty. The price, however, has been environmental degradation. To survive, China will have to overcome its addiction to cheap and dirty coal.
 | Picture Gallery (click on the picture to start)Will China manage to balance massive growth and environmental protection? (Photo: Reuters) |
China has eclipsed the United States to become the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases. This milestone has been reached faster than most people predicted just six years ago, when China’s carbon emissions were still around 42 percent those of the United States.
The surprising increase is just another illustration of the rapid industrial and economic growth of a country that has more than quadrupled its GDP since 1980. China’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions present a challenge for both China and the rest of the world.
Effects of climate change – including desertification, sandstorms, droughts, floods, record-high temperatures and melting Himalayan glaciers – are already apparent in China. Projected future impacts include decreasing agricultural output and more flooding and storm damage along China’s east coast and large rivers as sea levels rise.
For the international community, China’s surging emissions threaten the effectiveness of current international initiatives to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, such as the Kyoto Protocol.
China ratified the Kyoto Protocol, but as an emerging nation, it is not burdened by limits on greenhouse gas emissions. Chinese officials reject the necessity of any caps with the argument that limits would impede national growth and that per capita emissions in China are still significantly lower than in industrialized countries.
But China is gradually acknowledging the need for a change of course. The government has set ambitious targets for renewable energy and energy efficiency for 2020, which has helped attract foreign investment and foster growing solar, wind, hydroelectric and biomass industries.
The country’s growing use of cars also makes China an attractive market for producers of fuel-efficient automobiles. As a result of China’s huge potential, foreign companies specializing in renewable energy technology and “green” cars have recently set up manufacturing facilities there.
editor: Valdis Wish
publishing date: August 6, 2007
updated: July 16, 2009
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