As with many other nations these days, tension exists in China between climate and pollution considerations on the one hand and the desire for economic growth on the other.
Though Beijing has assured the international community any number of times that it sincerely aims to decrease pollution and cut back on emissions of greenhouse gases, its actions have spoken louder than its words and show that China’s leadership has prioritized growth, and with the heavy use of coal no less. [emphasis, links added]
When it comes to climate and pollution, Beijing has said all the right things. In November 2021, Chinese leader Xi Jinping with considerable fanfare assured the United Nations (U.N.) that his country would reach complete carbon neutrality by 2060.
At the same time, he pledged that China would significantly reduce coal consumption by 2026–30, though he failed to quantify exactly what he considered significant.
His assurances meant a lot to those battling climate change because China is the single biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, accounting for more than one-quarter of all global emissions, roughly twice the amount from the second largest emitter, the United States.
Also burnishing China’s image on the climate front is its leading position as a manufacturer of windmills, solar panels, and electric vehicles (EVs).
And indeed, China has made significant gains in these areas. In 2022, its output of solar panels totaled an estimated 340m kilowatts of capacity, half again more than in 2021. It added a record 125 GW in solar and wind capacity in 2022, about two-thirds solar.
Wind, solar, nuclear, and hydropower increased their share of all energy consumption by some 0.4 percentage points to 25.9 percent of the total.
Of course, much of the wind and solar production is for export and reflects little on domestic Chinese emissions, but China still wins plaudits for supporting climate efforts globally, though it should be clear that the income from the sale of these products is at least as important to Chinese industry as is its use in controlling greenhouse gas emissions.
Other news, however, tells a much less accommodating climate picture.
Emissions, for instance, rose in 2022 by some 2.2 percent, a remarkable jump considering that zero-COVID lockdowns kept overall real growth to a slow 3.0 percent.
The implication is that for all the development of wind, solar, and other clean energy sources, the Chinese economy’s carbon intensity shrank a mere 0.8 percent, hardly consistent with the lofty goals presented to the U.N. in 2021.
Still more troubling from a climate perspective is China’s ongoing surge in the construction of coal-powered electric generating plants.
In a recent interview, analysts at the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air told the UK’s Guardian newspaper that in the last year, China has on average granted permits for two new such power plants a week.
That is more than six times the total of the rest of the world combined and exceeds China’s previous building surge in 2015 when Beijing, to stimulate economic activity, granted local governments authority to borrow for just such a purpose.
Last year in China, coal consumption rose 4.3 percent despite the slow pace of overall economic growth. The increased use of coal occurred even as oil consumption fell 3.1 percent and natural gas use fell 1.2 percent.
Despite the rise in clean energy’s contribution to the total, coal still generated over 56 percent of China’s electricity. It is then not surprising that of the 339 Chinese cities tested for air quality, more than one-third failed.
Against this picture, it is hard to believe that Beijing is sincere about its emissions and clean air goals.
There is no suggestion here that China’s leadership is or was lying, though it has lied with alacrity in the past. Rather, this situation is simply China’s response to a reality that has unfolded since Xi made his promises in 2021.
Read the full post at Epoch Times
Words are cheap and come easy when you seek to please (mislead) the crowd in front of you. Wordsmith in chief – Xi Jinping and the crowd believes him. They are FOOLS.
China has got all of us in the West by the throat because most of our manufactured goods are made there. We think we have the advantage because of our consumer markets. That might be so if China only made say 20% of consumer goods, but I suggest we look closer and will find that percentage is much higher. In this case, the power is in the hands of China because they can simply cut supply to EVERYTHING and what can we do about it? I would expect many retailers of all sizes would have to close their doors. Job losses from ports to transport to the shops would be huge and have immediate impact.
The vast array of goods made in China has never been examined in detail as far as I know. The list would be shocking if it were to be compiled and that is the problem. We cannot survive without Chinese manufacturing !! Many countries are likely to grind to a halt.
China has started buying coal from Australia after we suggested an inquiry was needed to find out where the coronavirus originated. That means many many ships will load in Newcastle and Queensland ports all bound for China and we are happy about that, just for the money. We are not building any new coal power stations here. We are closing the few that we have.
In the meantime, here in Australia, we are closing another coal power station this month and I read (today) that Germany is closing the last of their nuclear power stations, while they reopen a number of coal power stations. What is wrong with us?
Can’t we see what’s happening? The communist party of China cannot believe their success in tricking the West into literally cutting our own manufacturing and power generating throats, all in response to the false claim that humans are causing the planet to heat up. Clearly China doesn’t believe that.
We should judge the CCP by their actions and not overlook the masssive increase in their military. Summed up, we are weakening ourselves while the Chinese communists are growing stronger by the day.
How can so many Western leaders be so stupid to allow this to happen?