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By: Thomas Cisney Summary. China is one of the largest contributors of carbon emissions on earth, with over one billion people within the limits of the country, it may seem like it wont get much better. If acted upon now, China may be able to prevent irreversible damage to Earth. The Chinese president Xi Jinping had made a statement of "Dual Carbon Goals" which promises to "phase down" the use of coal power plants and fossil fuels starting in five years. This plan also means to attempt to be neutral in greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide. China has indeed been decommissioning many coal plants around the country, and even some Chinese controlled coal plants outside of their borders have been halted. However even though this all seems nice, china's coal energy output increased by a net 29.8 gigawatts. These increases in coal powered energy output tallies more than the rest of the worlds reduction in coal use combined. On top of this China's carbon dioxide emissions where higher than pre-pandemic levels. China has definitely buckled down on climate changes before, excelling in production and use of electric vehicles so this may just be hiccup in their plans or this could be a coal powered statement. Either way being completely neutral within 30 years as pledged by Chinese president Xi Jinping is a interesting goal, and is going to be very hard task to accomplish. In the end this is going to unfortunately be something we have to sit back and see if the Chinese government keeps their word on, and if they do its going to be a great step in the right direction. Why we should care? Creating some of the most carbon emissions in the world how they treat the damage they've done and plan to change in the future is important when attempting to be a role model for clean energy.  Photo Credit: Mark Schiefelbein/AP Example Article. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/china-climate-change-cop26/2021/09/21/c166a69a-1133-11ec-baca-86b144fc8a2d_story.html I found this article interesting since it high lights multiple climate factors that china has contributed to negative and positive. Highlighting the Chinese commitments to renewable energy, while also creating a discussion of the negative positions such as coal plants and how the Chinese government plans on tackling the possible irreversible impacts. Also mentioning how important it is to push forward with green energy and the likes is very impactful to readers that want to learn more about our own efforts and that of foreign governments. I also think criticizing governments and their policies is always important for progress even if a majority is agreed upon. Science in Action.
Steven Mufson is a reporter covering the business of climate change. Steven Mufson has continually covered climate change issues and topics over the course of his career and has a degree from Yale in economics and political sciences. He has done articles on climate agreements, climate goals, and the recent COP26 agreement. I think he is one of the best researchers to take on these hard hitting environmental science issues. Also Steven shared the pulitzer prize for his climate change series 2C: Beyond the limit, lending more credibility to his words about environmental impacts affecting us all. In addition he speaks some Chinese, which will allow him to feel the tones set by government officials in that he studies.
7 Comments
Meghan Richardson
11/29/2021 13:43:35
Even before reading this post, I had assumed that China was responsible for a decent portion of the world's emissions. However, I believed it to be mostly due to their population size. It was really shocking to find out that China uses more coal energy than the rest of the world combined. I am happy to hear that China is implementing new regulations and setting new goals to reduce their environmental impact.
Jackson Gifford
11/29/2021 20:51:21
I think that situations like this are really tough to navigate because there isn't an entity in place to enforce any country's climate 'goals'. There are things like COP where people can unite internationally to talk about these things, but most of these discussions don't create substantial change.
Eric Domenico
12/1/2021 20:03:16
Too bad China wouldn't do anything quickly enough to resolve the negative impact of their incessant urban expansion and production of cheap goods, laced with lax building regulations and exploited labor force. Whatever puts the dollar in the pocket will come first, and sadly I only assume any measures that have been taken are merely to save face. Xi would turn the other way all day long otherwise.
Hailey Finnen
12/5/2021 16:13:38
The biggest emitting countries, the US, China, and India, are so important in the fight for climate change. It is so important that these three countries act now and act together to save the planet. I was glad to hear about the Chinese president's Dual Carbon Goals, but it is really disappointing that they failed. I do want to have hope that within 30 years, all of the countries will be finally getting serious about cutting emissions and halting climate change.
Abbey O'Connor
12/6/2021 15:53:32
Hey Thomas, super interesting article! I had heard about China's plan to limit it's use of cola power plants and this was super informative about that. As one of the most populated countries in the world, I agree that they have a huge responsibility to tackle climate change with other large countries like the US.
Tori Poma
12/21/2021 23:49:13
It is weird to think that one country out of the many that are emitting pollutants can have such an impact on cutting their carbon footprint, just from their actions alone. I also believe that other countries like America should take action as well. China and America are both responsible for some of the highest amounts of carbon emissions in the world.
Sobhie Nazal
12/21/2021 23:53:08
This was a really interesting blog post to read and learn about. I really like how you used a balanced dynamic of positive impacts and negative impacts caused by this situation. However, I do think countries like China should be fought for more and advocated for more. I can see where this can be somewhat confusing considering the balance of impacts and really making it hard to establish a main focused goal or set of sequence to follow in order to make situations like these the best they can be for places like China. I also like how you touched base on how this relates to climate change. Leave a Reply. |
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