Peak Oil is You
Donate Bitcoins ;-) or Paypal :-)
Page added on May 7, 2021
China is out-polluting the world
They say climate change is a global issue, something that the entire world is responsible for. But for more that two centuries, western countries went on a pollution spree. The west was a powerhouse of emmissions with its trains, factories, oil refineries and much more.
Most of the pollution we see today is from that era. This is because Climate Change doesn’t take place immediately. Today’s pollution builds up for disaster in future.
We are told that every country is equally responsible. It’s an excellent bit of propaganda. US and Europe polluted the world and made big money.
But now, China is out-polluting the world. China accounted for 27 per cent of Greenhouse emissions in 2019. This is more than the US, India, the EU and Japan put together. In fact if we leave India and developed nations, they would fall short of China.
Where is china headed? Where does this leave the battle against climate change? And what role will the west play?
Question number one, Where is china headed?
President Xi Jinping says China’s emissions will peak by 2030. So to answer the question. China’s emissions are heading up. In 2020 they surged 1.7 per cent. Notably, this surge was recorded during the pandemic year. Global emmissions during this period dropped. But China’s went up.
What about per capita numbers?
China usually scores well on this indicator. It helps when you have 1.4 billion people to share the massive load. But in 2019, that wasn’t the case. The developed world reported 10.5 tonnes per capita. China came close with 10.1 tonnes.
They were at 7.18 tonnes in 2016. So the rise has been exponential. In the last two decades Chinese per capita emission tripled.
If this trend holds. China will overtake the US before 2030.
Where does this leave China’s climate commitments? Peak emissions by 2030. Net zero by 2050. That’s what Xi Jinping has promised.
How realistic is this?
Last year Beijing cleared coal power projects worth 474 million dollars. These are all investments outside China
What about inside the country? More than half the energy demand is still met using coal. So Beijing is using the western playbook.
In fact they are perfecting it. Exporting pollution. And at the same time burning coal at home.
Question number two, where does this leave the battle against Climate Change?
Chinese officials have ranked their priorities. Economic growth beats pollution. On this most of the developing world is in agreement. But china’s pace is worrying. It makes up nearly 18 per cent of world population. But 27% of emissions. A Climate Change conversation without china is pointless.
So far they have promised a lot. But with china promises don’t matter.
Which brings us to the third question.
What can the west do?
To be honest they have done enough damage. So it would be better for them to stay away. We are still paying for their centuries of pollution.
A graph of cumulative emmissions from 1750 to 2019 shows developed world accounting for 1,000 gigatonnes of emissions.
What about China? Somewhere around 200. That’s how far ahead the west is. The developing world would take decades to catch up.
But here’s the thing, countries like India don’t want to catch up. They are exploring green alternatives. But china is steaming ahead with coal. There are 1,058 coal plants in the country. More than half the global capacity is in China.
What about their Paris Accord goals?
Climate trackers have called the progress highly insufficient. So that’s where things stand. The west is still the big villain. They must foot the bill for reversing climate change. But China is catching up fast. If they don’t turn away from coal. You can add climate change to the list of things China must pay for.
7 Comments on "China is out-polluting the world"
Theedrich on Sat, 8th May 2021 4:47 am
Yup. Only the U.S. is allowed to pollute. China should understand that “international law” (as laid down by Yankees) gives only America exclusive rights to kill, destroy and cripple not only whole peoples and nations, but the planetary environment as well. You would think that the Chinese would have understood that after the Opium Wars and the West’s theft of Hong Kong from the Middle Kingdom. But no. The nerve of them!
All we want of them is cheap goodies that Americans cannot make for the low wages the Orientals earn. And, of course, we need more fentanyl and whores — also cheap.
So China should be a good vassal, just like the European nations and Japan after we mass-murdered them.
Cloggie on Sat, 8th May 2021 5:37 am
“China is out-polluting the world”
China has 1.35 billion people.
A far more realistic ranking is CO2-emissions per capita
(2018 data)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_per_capita
“List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita”
KSA…………18.6 (wtf, not for space heating)
Canada………16.1
USA…………16.1
Germany……..10.2
Japan………..9.9
EU…………..8.2
China………..3.4
India………..1.9
Nigeria………0.6
Biden's hairplug on Sat, 8th May 2021 6:12 am
Taiwan, the coming change of the guard in geopolitics.
“Thinking the unthinkable – Australians aren’t used to a defence minister like Peter Dutton speaking to us like adults.”
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/thinking-the-unthinkable-about-china-and-taiwan-is-part-of-deterrence/news-story/0eee328f13d7864fe702a27faacbe2e5
“China needs to make a plan to deter extreme forces of Australia”
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202105/1222899.shtml
Given that Australian hawks keep hyping or hinting that Australia will assist the US military and participate in war once a military conflict breaks out in the Taiwan Straits, and the Australian media outlets have been actively promoting the sentiment, I suggest China make a plan to impose retaliatory punishment against Australia once it militarily interferes in the cross-Straits situation.
An often overseen fact here is that Taiwan was made Chinese (that is Han Chinese) by the Dutch, who imported them from mainland China, let’say as “guest workers”:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Formosa
The time of Dutch rule saw economic development in Taiwan, including both large-scale hunting of deer and the cultivation of rice and sugar by imported Han labour from the Ming Empire. The Dutch also attempted to convert the aboriginal inhabitants to Christianity, and suppress aspects of traditional culture that they found disagreeable, such as head hunting [*], forced abortion and public nakedness.
[*] – “head hunting” here is explicitly NOT related to career advancing activities, but rather short cutting those, pun intended.
makati1 on Sat, 8th May 2021 4:49 pm
Cloggie, we agree on this point, pollution should be measured by per capita, but that would not be anti China, as the US MSM propaganda machine wants the Western world to believe.
Fred on Sun, 9th May 2021 5:22 am
China is producing a lot of stuff for Western countries so the associated pollution should be counted as pollution emitted on behalf of those Western countries, right?
Why is it so hard for us to have an honest look at how we all are going to reduce our consumption of virtually everything? This obviously has to start top down with the richest having to reduce the most. There’s very little to “reduce” if you’re living off a few $ a day.
The people in rich mostly Western countries can reduce their consumption and thus reduce the associated pollution significantly, yet everyone is scrambling to get life “back to normal”, which new iGadget to get next or which polluting holiday destination to tick off the bucket list next.
Sometimes I have the feeling of living amongst humans with the brain capacity of chickens (and that might be insulting chickens).
There is no planet B. Either we learn to live within our regenerative means of our planet or we dont’t (ie. we’ll no longer be able to live on this planet).
Is your polluting and consuming lifestyle really so much more important than a liveable planet for our children? How will you be able to look your children (or other young people) in the eye in 10-20 years from now?
Do you really believe that you can use the atmosphere, the land and the sea as a limitless dumpster and get away with it?
Stop kicking the can down the road.
Cloggie on Sun, 9th May 2021 5:42 am
“China is producing a lot of stuff for Western countries so the associated pollution should be counted as pollution emitted on behalf of those Western countries, right?”
Indeed, blaming won’t solve anything.
The only real solution is developing renewable energy technology and getting rid of fossil fuel. The world’s elites are already on that path with their Paris Accords.
The world slowly running out of easy fossil fuel, like oil and gas, accompanied by rapid price increases due to increased scarcity, will only accelerate the transition.
And then there is the prospect of autonomous driving that could eliminate private car ownership.
And new building technologies that completely eliminate the necessity of burning fossil fuel for space heating.
https://deepresource.wordpress.com/2021/05/07/2226-heating-with-light-humans-and-devices-only/
makati1 on Sun, 9th May 2021 4:22 pm
Cloggie, you really do live in dreamland.
Perhaps the first Russian nuke will take out the Netherlands and those Amerikan nukes you store there for them?. The EU is right up there with Amerika, the UK, and Australia in insanity. It seems to be a race to the bottom. Is there something in the water? LOL