3 ms·
Why would China cut co2 emissions when the largest polluter(per capita) isn’t doing anything?
by adrr 7y ago
Why would China cut co2 emissions when the largest polluter(per capita) isn’t doing anything?
- thaumasiotes 7y agoThey might cut CO2 emissions as a side effect of achieving something that matters to them, like cutting particulate emissions. There's no reason they would cut CO2 emissions for their own sake.
- bryanlarsen 7y agoThey're the biggest consumer of electric cars, biggest consumer of solar panels and the biggest consumer by far of electric buses. They'll also cut CO2 emissions as a side effect of an attempt to corner the market on green technologies.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- chrisco255 7y agoSure, because it would make a marginal difference on global temperature while it makes a major difference in economics to embrace fossil fuels. Simple cost / benefit equation.
- rdlecler1 7y agoHave you seen China’s air quality? This has become a social problem it’s not about climate change for China.
- seanmcdirmid 7y agoCO2 is different from AQI problems. One is a silent problem of long term consequence, difficult to get people fired up about because they can’t grasp the threat so easily. The other is “my day really sucks, they should fix this now!” Kind of problem. The problems have different solutions; e.g. the USA has largely solved its AQI problem by using lots of natural gas, but that still contributes to the CO2 problem.
- rb808 7y agoWhy would anyone cut emissions? Its a tragedy of the commons.
- avocado4 7y agoWhat do you have against Luxembourg?
- matthewdgreen 7y agoChina has ~1.4bn people they have to feed. If things go pear-shaped with the climate and food-growing cycle, their ability to do that could be substantially impaired. In a (not terribly unrealistic worst case) that could mean hundreds of millions of starving, unhappy citizens revolting and hanging their leaders from lampposts. I don't expect the CCP to deal with climate issues out of benevolence, but I do expect them to tend to their own survival.