For a few years, China has become the world’s largest polluter, taking the undesirable crown from the US. But according to recently released data from Chinese authorities, the country is burning out even more than previously thought – by a whopping billion tonnes more annually.
Even for a country of China’s size, that’s still a massive correction, translating into 17% more coal usage than previously thought. Coming especially days before the summit in Paris, this will help put things into perspective and shed more light on what must be done if we want to achieve sustainable levels of CO2 emissions.
It also helps explain why China’s air quality is so bad. Researchers have been trying to understand and fight smog for years, with little success.
“This will have a big impact, because China has been burning so much more coal than we believed,” Yang said. “It turns out that it was an even bigger emitter than we imagined. This helps to explain why China’s air quality is so poor, and that will make it easier to get national leaders to take this seriously.”
The adjustment, published without fanfare by China’s national agency, almost went under the radar. The revisions were based on a census of the economy in 2013 that exposed gaps in data collection, especially from small companies and factories.
“It’s been a confusing situation for a long time,” said Ayaka Jones, a China analyst at the U.S. Energy Information Administration in Washington.
Of course, this is big, bad news. The discrepancy is so large that it basically affects planetary scale planning. International agencies will have to re-think their prognosis, incoming regulation will likely have to be even stricter, and China especially has even more work to do. Even with this, China still emits significantly less per-capita than the US – the elephant in the room is just their huge population.
Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University in eastern China said:
“It’s created a lot of consternation,” he said. “Our basic data will have to be adjusted, and the international agencies will also have to adjust their databases. This is troublesome because many forecasts and commitments were based on the previous data.”
However, lingering somewhere at the bottom of this Pandora’s box, there is also a glimmer of hope. It shows that China, scolded for years for under-representing its pollution, is willing to at least accept its contribution. It’s a small step, but it may convince them to take even more action to fight climate change. China needs it, and so does the world.
“Even with this, China still emits significantly less per-capita than the US – the elephant in the room is just their huge population.” The wording of this comment makes it sound like it is perfectly okay to pollute as long as you overpopulate the Earth.
Western media would have us believe that China is a climate change villain whereas the reality is quite the opposite. It’s the rich Western countries that have been resisting the idea that they should take responsibility for all their emissions, not just the stuff they poured out yesterday, but everything they’ve poured into the atmosphere since industrialization began in 1850…and is still there.
Here is the list of per capita emissions world wide. Note China’s position:
Per capita greenhouse gas emissions in 2000
Country/Year 2000/ Tonnes of CO2e with land-use; changeYear 2000 Tonnes of CO2 ewithout land-use; changeYear 2005 Tonnes of CO2e without land-use change
Belize11,1293.98.42.8
Qatar1254.754.755.5Guyana1252.55.62
Malaysia1237.26.85.7
United Arab Emirates136.836.838.8
Kuwait30.430.435
Papua New Guinea2,12,29.21.70.7
Brunei1,1225.925.913.9
Australia25.925.626.9
Antigua & Barbuda1,1225.325.35.1
Zambia1224.62.60.2
Canada24.322.222.6
Bahrain 1223.923.925.4
United States322.924.323.5
Trinidad & Tobago1,1222.122.119.6
Luxembourg121.221.227.5
Panama1219.73.61.9
New Zealand19.318.518.8
Estonia18.216.614.4
Botswana1217.86.52.3
Ireland16.817.316.7
Saudi Arabia16.516.516.2
Venezuela15.89.910
Indonesia14.92.42.7
Equatorial Guinea1214.54.66.7
Belgium114.314.313.2
Turkmenistan114.214.218.9
Singapore14.114.111.3
Czech Republic13.913.913.7
Liberia 1213.910.1
Netherlands413.513.513.8
Russia13.513.113.7
Nicaragua 1213.42.50.8
Finland13.113.313
Oman 1212.912.912Palau1,1212.812.85.7
Brazil12.84.95.4
Denmark512.512.511.5
Germany12.312.311.9
Mongolia11.811.611.9
Israel11.811.811.5
Nauru1,1211.711.711
Norway11.412.111.2
South Korea11.11111.4
Kazakhstan1111112.7
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland111110.6
Libya1210.810.68.3
Greece10.81111.5
Japan10.710.710.5
Myanmar10.71.72.2
Taiwan1210.610.611.8
Cyprus1210.310.210.5
Slovenia10.29.710.1
Cambodia10.25.81.6
Austria1010.111.5
Iceland1101011.1
Peru9.92.72.8
Paraguay129.96.10.6
Ukraine19.89.810.3
Poland9.69.69.8
South Africa9.59.59
Argentina9.37.88.2
Slovakia9.38.79.3
Spain69.29.410.1
Italy79.29.29.7
Central African Republic1296.70.1
France88.78.89
Suriname128.68.65.3
Belarus8.688.5
Gabon128.45.53.7
Ecuador8.23.43.3
Bolivia8.13.56.9
Cameroon127.62.40.4
Iran7.67.58.2Côte d’Ivoire127.520.4
Sweden7.57.57.4
Seychelles1,2,127.47.47
Guatemala127.42.40.9
Bulgaria7.47.78.6
Serbia & Montenegro127.47.44.8
Hungary7.47.48.3
Congo, Dem. Rep.7.411.6
Uzbekistan1,127.37.36.9
Portugal97.27.87.9
Switzerland107.17.27.3
Azerbaijan6.86.85.6Angola126.75.41.3
Bahamas126.66.66.5
Benin126.51.40.3
Zimbabwe126.52.70.8
Laos6.41.93.1
Mexico6.45.46.1
Nepal6.31.31.5
Colombia6.33.83.9
Namibia126.35.11.4
Chile6.35.35.1
Malta126.16.16.5
Congo, Rep.2,1263.21.4
Madagascar1262.30.2
Croatia5.966.9
Jamaica125.94.83.8
Macedonia15.85.85.2
Barbados1,125.85.84.5
Latvia5.744.6
Mauritania1,125.65.60.6
Turkey5.65.35.5
Romania5.55.56.1
Lithuania5.44.55.7
Costa Rica125.42.81.5
Lebanon5.35.24.4
North Korea5.25.15
Thailand5.14.35.6
Jordan4.94.94.2
Honduras124.721.1
Sudan124.63.70.3
Bosnia & Herzegovina124.54.54.3
Algeria4.24.24.2
Iraq4.24.24.6
Sierra Leone124.21.20.2
Syria12442.7
China 3.93.95.5
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_greenhouse_gas_emissions_per_capita]
Now here’s a list of cumulative emissions since 1850:
Cumulative CO2 Emissions, 1850–2002: Country % of World (Rank)
United States 29.3 (1)
EU-25 26.5 (2)
Russia 8.1 (3)
China 7.6 (4)
Germany 7.3 (5)
United Kingdom 6.3 (6)
Japan 4.1 (7)
France 2.9 (8)
India 2.2 (9)
Ukraine 2.2 (10)
[http://pdf.wri.org/navigating_numbers_chapter6.pdf]
Here’s something that shows how, despite being one of the lowest contributors to the mess, China’s CO2 emissions have been plummeting lately … – Vox. [http://www.vox.com/2015/5/22/8645455/china-emissions-coal-drop]