Contrary to What the Washington Post Says, China is Doing a Huge Amount to Fight Global Warming

The Washington Post had a bizarre article last week in which it questioned whether China was doing much to combat global warming. While the piece noted China’s efforts to portray itself as a world leader in this effort, it commented:

“But China’s global climate leadership bid is complicated by its own enormous emissions. The country has been the world’s largest producer of atmosphere-warming greenhouse gases for nearly two decades, although the United States has released more in total since industrialization.

“China continues to rely heavily on coal power, a leading source of carbon dioxide. In the early years of climate talks, Chinese officials were often accused of spoiling deals with concerns that stronger commitments would undermine Chinese economic growth.

“Beijing also resisted pressure from Western nations before the talks this month to make an early announcement of targets to reduce emissions by 2035 and to join developed nations in contributing cash to help poor countries address the catastrophic impacts of climate change and to transition away from reliance on fossil fuels.”

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“But Beijing has done little so far to back up its statements with action. ‘To play a leadership role requires more than just saying they are committed to the Paris agreement,’ she [Belinda Schäpe, China policy analyst with the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air, a Finland-based research group] said.”

China is the world’s leading emitter primarily because, until last year, it was the most populous country in the world. Presumably the Post’s climate reporters are aware of this fact. On a per capita basis it still emits about half as much as the United States.

Also, China’s emissions figures are misleading since it has an enormous surplus in trade of manufactured goods. This means that many of the emissions that are attributed to China support living standards in Europe, the United States, and other countries with whom it runs a trade surplus. If its trade surplus were smaller, its emissions would be lower and emissions in other countries would be higher.

Also, China has made enormous progress in controlling its emissions even though it is a rapidly growing developing country catching up to Western living standards. It has invested a huge amount of money in its solar and wind industry and now has close to half the entire world’s capacity in both. It is now projected to be at or near its peak emissions level, with declines in the future. This is well ahead of its targets in the Paris Agreement.

Also, contrary to what is claimed in this piece, China is offering massive support to developing countries in their transitions to green economies. It is selling EVs, solar panels, batteries and other clean technologies at hugely subsidized prices. To get an idea of the size of this aid, suppose that China exports 10 million EVs a year(not far above its current level of car exports) at an average subsidy of $10,000 each. This would be equivalent to $100 billion in aid for the green transition. If it had comparable subsidies on solar panels, batteries and other green technologies, that would come to $200 billion a year. This is far more than is being put on the table by the United States and other wealthy countries.

It would be useful if the Post could try to do a more serious analysis in its pieces on global warming.

This first ran on Dean Baker’s Beat the Press blog.

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