Increased Pollution in China
Description:
China is fueling its frenetic economic expansion—a growth rate that has reached 8 percent per year, and is expected to rise even higher—with prodigious consumption of energy, including its own abundant supplies of coal, and, increasingly, imported oil and natural gas. In addition to the environmental impact, China’s voracious appetite for that energy is responsible for the lion’s share of the surge in demand that is driving up world crude oil prices. And, China’s rapid industrialization not only harms its own environment, but also takes a considerable bite out of its growth.
Enablers:
Inhibitors:
- China increasingly is looking to add emission-free energy sources such as nuclear power and hydropower.
- Kyoto Protocol contains a provision that allows companies in developed countries to meet their emissions limits by investing in new, clean factories in developing countries. As a result in Kyoto's implementation, China take the chance of the huge investments and their business.
Paradigms:
The government official stressed that China does not yet regularly monitor and report some important classes of pollutants, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and air toxics. He called attention to the country’s increasing desertification problem and said that China’s deserts and desertified areas cover 2.42 million square kilometers, with an annual expansion of more than 3,000 km2. More than 90% of usable natural grasslands in China, a total area of 135 million hectares, suffered varying degrees of degradation last year. China has managed to bring some sources of pollution, particularly coal smoke from power plants and industrial boilers, fairly well under control in areas such as Beijing and Shanghai. And, China has to meet the Kyoto Protocol that requires companies in developed countries to meet their emissions limits by investing in new, clean factories in developing countries.
Experts:
- http://www.zhb.gov.cn/english
- http://www.cleanairnet.org
- International Energy Agency(IEA)
Timing:
- Adopting the Kyoto Protocol in December 1997.
- The Kyoto Protocol had gone into effect from Feburary 2005.
- The first phase of Kyoto's implementation which runs through 2012.
Web Resources:
- “China Country Analysis Briefs 2004,” http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/china.html.
- “Domestic Oil and Gas Production: Pursuing a Principled Approach,” http://www.ppionline.org.