China's Approach Towards Global Warming

The West and the countries that are starting to get richer now, including China and India, don’t agree on how to address the problem of global warming. While everyone agrees that it is a problem, the “what” should be done, “how much” should be done by different countries, and how much the West should “pay” the still developing countries to switch to less polluting (but more expensive) technologies are highly contentious topics.

 

It was in that context that I was reading Rakshit Shetty’s post on China’s steps. While they, like India, argue with the West on all of the above, the Chinese know they can’t continue doing things they’ve always been done either. China today tops on both fronts: (1) largest CO2 and greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter; and also (2) largest capacity for renewables and hydroelectricity. It is also the second-largest for nuclear power and expected to be the leader in biofuel production.

 

The West can talk about putting a limit on how much CO2 and GHG they will produce partially because they are already well-off, and their economic growth rate is not too high. China, on the other hand, still has miles to go to be rich and its growth rate is still quite high. Therefore, China doesn’t agree with putting caps (limits) on CO2 and GHG. Instead, China talks of limits on “CO2 intensity” and “energy intensity”. What do those terms mean?

“(They) stand for the CO2 emissions and energy consumption per unit of GDP, respectively.”

 

With that as their policy, China has gone hard after its industries that consume a lot of energy and also have high emissions. Put differently:

“(China’s focus is on) transitioning towards low-carbon infrastructure while phasing out polluting industries.”

There have been years where China’s emphasis has been more on reducing energy consumption; in other years, it’s been on reducing emissions.

 

The way I read all this is that China’s approach is (and needs to be) different from the West’s approach. China focuses on some aspects at a time, see how it goes, then adjust and shift approach as needed. The Chinese approach makes a lot of sense. While individual policies and actions can be wrong, the big picture idea is correct. Flexibility and willingness to course correct is a good sign. And yes, the approach is and has to be different from what the West does.

 

I hope India’s policymakers look at China’s approach. Maybe we need to do something similar since we too are yet rich, and are still growing. Possibly we can learn from China’s mis-steps. Probably, we will come up with different ideas appropriate to our country based on the needs and actions of China, a country that is comparable (in many ways) to us in terms of where it stands economically.