Facts and figures about China and climate change.
 | Facts from the Allianz/WWF Climate ScorecardGreenhouse gas emissions in China by sector and energy sources (Graphic: Allianz/WWF) |
CHINA'S CARBON FOOTPRINT AT A GLANCE
Country: People's Republic of China
Population: 1.3 billion people (world's largest)
Estimated CO2-Emissions: 4.15 billion tons (in 2003; world's 2nd largest)
10 FACTS ABOUT CHINA AND CLIMATE CHANGE
01. China is the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases. The Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency says this milestone was reached as far back as 2006, when Chinese emissions reached 6.2 billion tons. Just six years ago, China's national carbon emissions were still only 42 percent that of the United States.
02. Despite China's status as the world's biggest carbon emitter, average annual per capita carbon emissions are substantially smaller (6 tons of carbon emissions) than in the United Kingdom (11 tons) and the United States (25 tons).
03. Sixty four percent of China's energy supply comes from coal-fired power plants. China burns more coal - an estimated 1.9 billion tons per year - than the United States, the European Union and Japan combined, and builds a new coal-fired electricity plant every 7-10 days.
04. In 2006, there were around 20 million cars on the road in China, compared to 6 million in 2000. Private vehicle ownership in 2006 also increased by over 23 percent from the previous year.
05. According to the World Bank, 16 of the 20 most-polluted cities in the world are in China, while air pollution reportedly causes an estimated 400,000 premature deaths in the country each year.
06. Environmental pollution caused China about 64 billion US dollars in economic losses in 2004, which amounted to around 3 percent of GDP.
07. The National Energy Strategy Policy (2003) states China's aim to quadruple GDP by 2020, while only doubling energy consumption. To meet this ambitious goal, however, China would still have to expand all areas of energy production: doubling both coal and large-scale hydropower capacity, quadrupling nuclear capacity, and increasing non-hydro renewable energy production by 100-fold.
08. China added power capacity in 2006 equivalent to the entire power grids of the United Kingdom and Thailand combined - 90 percent of which is coal-based. New coal plants added to the Chinese power grid in 2006 alone increased the country's carbon dioxide emissions by 500 million tons - adding 5 percent of the entire world's coal-fired CO2 output in one year.
09. Reuters reports that almost a million tons of Gobi Desert sand blows into the Chinese capital Beijing each year. Extensive deforestation and desertification in the arid northern regions cause the dust storms.
10. According to the Worldwatch Institute, China's renewable energy targets for 2020 could create a market worth around 100 billion dollars.
Sources: UN Millennium Development Indicators, Energy Information Administration (US), Worldwatch Institute, Forbes, New York Times, World Resources Institute, Financial Times, Reuters
editor: Valdis Wish
publishing date: August 6, 2007
updated: July 16, 2009
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