For 15 years China has been the largest creator of man made emissions.
Beijing talks Green but doesn’t walk the talk.
The current five year plan calls for a rapid expansion of the world’s largest concentration of coal fired power generating plants.
If that is achieved – and China has a track record of meeting its targets – it will be a catastrophe. Not just for China’s heavily polluted air, but for the global climate.
It’s time Beijing was confronted. The lunacy of it’s growth obsessions need to be highlighted. It cannot continue on this self destructive path.
Along with soaring emissions from coal fired electricity generation, coal fire steel production is increasing every year.
Last year President Xi Jinping said China would be ‘carbon neutral’ by 2060.
Can that be done? Forty years is a long time and the climate is already changing, much faster than most expected.
For China to become carbon neutral some existing industries, like coal, would have to be closed down – almost entirely. Other industries, such as renewables and the trend toward greater electrification would have to be expanded dramtically.
China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of electricity, outpacing the United States.
Four fifths – 80%! – of China’s energy currently comes from fossil fuels. Moreover demand is climbing fast.
For China to become carbon neutral, 86% will have to come from renewables and other low or non carbon technologies. And the market is going to be more than double the current size!
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