WHAT ABOUT CHINA? The largest emitter of greenhouse gases or the driver of the green transition?

Fossil vs Future

China is often called out for its excessive contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions, predominantly due to its huge reliance on coal power. However, at the same time it is the world leader in renewable energy generation and has a rapidly expanding electric vehicle industry.

In this episode, James and Daisy discuss China’s centrality to global climate action. Is China slowing down its use of fossil fuels? Should we be concerned about our high dependence on China for minerals and other resources? What can we learn from China’s approach to transition?

SOME RECOMMENDATIONS:

• China Dialogue was founded by Isabel Hilton, an international journalist, in 2006. It is an independent non-profit committed to accurately portraying China’s development impacts across the Global South through geopolitically even-handed reporting and constructive dialogue. It is a useful place to get informed on what is going on in China.
• Climate Action Tracker – an independent scientific project that tracks government climate action and measures it against the globally agreed Paris Agreement. It tracks 39 countries and the EU, evaluating climate change mitigation targets, policies and actions. It is a great resource for seeing how countries are progressing towards achieving their climate goals.

OTHER ADVOCATES, FACTS, AND RESOURCES:

• WRI: “China is the biggest emitter at 26.4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, followed by the United States at 12.5%.” However, this was as of 2019. According to Our World in Data, it looks like China’s contribution to global emissions may have risen to 30.68% in 2022. This webpage also has some interesting graphs showing a breakdown of China’s CO2 emissions by source.
• Rocky Mountain Institute: “China produces three-quarters of all lithium-ion batteries and 70 percent of cathode capacity and processes and refines more than half of the world’s lithium, cobalt, and graphite.”
• Visual Capitalist has some nice graphs on the wind and solar power scale-up: “85% of solar PV is manufactured in China.”
• Our World in Data: “On the basis of cumulative CO2 emissions measured from 1751 through to 2017, China is responsible for 13% globally and about half of the United States' cumulative emissions.”
• IEA: “China accounts for almost 60% of new renewable capacity expected to become operational globally by 2028.”

• Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – a massive China-led infrastructure project seeking to connect Asia with Africa and Europe via land and maritime networks. Read more about it in this explainer from Chatham House.
• Soltecture (formerly Sulfurcell) was the German company James referred to that develop and produce thin film solar cells.
• Jack Ma co-founded Alibaba, one of the world’s largest e-commerce businesses.
• Lauri Myllyvirta is a Senior Fellow at the China Climate Hub, a global non-profit dedicated to understanding Asia through policy, arts, and education.
• Jeanne-Marie Gescher – one of the world’s leading experts on China. We recommend her book All Under Heaven: China’s Dreams of Order.

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Music: “Just Because Some Bad Wind Blows” by Nick Nuttall, Reptiphon Records. Available at https://nicknuttallmusic.bandcamp.com/album/just-because-some-bad-wind-blows-3

Producer: Podshop Studios

Huge thanks to Siobhán Foster, a vital member of the team offering design advice, critical review and organisation that we depend upon.

Stay tuned for more insightful discussions on navigating the transition away from fossils to a sustainable future.