While China may be leading the rest of the world in the acquisition of Olympic gold medals and the emission of greenhouse gases, it seems that, like the Chinese women's gymnastics team, not all of the accolades (or condemnation in this case) for emissions are fully deserved. Or at least not fully attributable to the consumption patterns of the Chinese. In fact, the real culprit in rising Chinese emissions may be the rest of us.
A recent study by Carnegie Mellon University economics professor, Christopher L. Weber suggests that as much as 1.7 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions, or roughly 1/3 of China's emissions, are related to goods being exported and consumed in the West.
"We found that in 2005, fully one-third of China's greenhouse gas emissions were due to production of exports. This proportion has risen quickly, from 12 percent in 1987 and only 21 percent in 2002," said Weber, a research professor in Carnegie Mellon's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. - Science Daily
Chinese exports are currently at $666.6 billion in trade, a 21% increase during the last quarter alone. This export boom is literally being fueled by CO2 creating coal fired power plants. And while China is also taking a strong position on renewables, the shear size of the country and the economy have led to a coal energy dependence to the tune of 2 new power plants every week.
Record pollution and smog aside, China's contribution to climate change is cause for great concern. But whether the concern is great enough to impact our desire to take advantage of cheap Chinese goods remains to be seen.
The study highlights a shortcoming of the current international approach of setting emissions targets on a nation-by-nation basis, and at the point of production rather than consumption, amidst increasing globalisation of the world economy.
As manufacturing industries and their jobs shift from high-wage developed economies to low-wage developing economies, and more and more goods and services flow the other way, national emissions targets have less meaning. It becomes easier for Western countries' to slow the growth in their emissions and meet their targets at the expense of developing countries - in effect, exporting their emissions. - CarbonPositive
Weber believes his study raises questions about whether climate policies needs to account for developed world liability for developing world emissions. If the West is going to continue to enjoy the financial benefit of consuming goods from developing economies, we have to take responsibility for inefficient and polluting energy systems that allow us to do so.
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