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> China's cavalier attitude ... and the cavalier attitude of those buying China's exports. "A significant portion of Chinese emissions of air pollutants in re
by chishaku 10y ago
> China's cavalier attitude
... and the cavalier attitude of those buying China's exports.
"A significant portion of Chinese emissions of air pollutants in recent years has resulted from the manufacture of goods intended for export, new research by a team of Chinese and international scholars found, reflecting the increasingly global nature of China’s environmental crisis."
"The U.S., as a major buyer of Chinese-made goods, has a stake in China curbing its emissions. For each of the pollutants examined—including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and black carbon—about 21% of export-related emissions in the year 2006 were tied to Chinese exports to the U.S, the researchers found."
“If all the emissions were reallocated according to where goods are consumed…emissions of many of China’s trade partners would be much higher,” they wrote. In the case of the U.S., for example, emissions of the four pollutants analyzed would have been 6-19% higher in 2006 “if the emissions embodied in its trade with China were included.”
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2014/01/21/u-s-exports-its-factories-and-pollution-to-china/ http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2014/01/21/u-s-exports-it...
- peyton 10y agoEvery country exports goods. Manufacturing these goods will produce some amount of pollution. For an individual importing from China, it is rare to impossible to get accurate figures on the environmental impact of what you're importing. Lax environmental oversight is the CCP's choice and the CCP's choice alone.
- Retric 10y agoMost of this air pollution is from poorly designed and operated coal powerplants and poorly maintained cars not factory's. It's a problem of poor regulation not exports.
- seanmcdirmid 10y agoWell, it isn't poor maintnence, but cheap maintnence. If you follow the rules and your competitors don't, you are quickly out business. A classic prisoner's delimna. For cars, the cars are fine but the gas they put in them is not.
- epynonymous 10y agonice, you hit the nail on the head with this reply.
- jeffdavis 10y agoTrue, but not particularly useful. Trying to control pollution through purchasing decisions is a very crude tool and only works when the buyer has good information. Taxing or prohibiting pollution is a much more direct way to influence the situation, and that's up to China.