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Realistically, there is little incentive for China to cut back on coal usage. In an ideal world China would use the funds directed to Belt and Road to green inf
by 40acres 7y ago
Realistically, there is little incentive for China to cut back on coal usage. In an ideal world China would use the funds directed to Belt and Road to green infrastructure but in terms of its own ambition and growth prospects coal is the only reliable energy source to match the scale of China's ambition.
The global economy needs China to keep on growing. Germany, arguably the most important economy in the world outside of China, India and the US is nearing recessions because of slowing Chinese consumer spending. A recession in the EU spells disaster for the rest of the world.
It's difficult to expect China to curb it's growth for the common good when more advanced economies ignored the science for decades (ie. at least since the 70S) to favor its own growth.
- ljcn 7y agoRight, but decades ago coal was the cheapest source of power. We didn't have cheap renewables in the 70s. Solar is cheaper than coal in China.* They could certainly grow (at least) no slower by building huge amounts of renewables rather than coal. *(I'm not sure if this is on a "spot" basis or annualised to account for intermittency, but then it probably doesn't account for the negative externalities of coal either so let's chalk it up to a draw.)
- julienb_sea 7y ago> Solar is cheaper than coal in China.* Bullshit. Not at the scale they need. Solar might be "cheaper" in very confined, specific contexts. But China needs on-demand capacity for a billion people. Renewables + batteries cannot accomplish this. Plus, solar is cheap partially because you don't need to source that much of it. Try to source that much solar and see what happens to the price.
- ljcn 7y agoOK, matched grid prices without subsidy, and cheaper than coal in a fifth of cases. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-019-0441-z https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-019-0441-z
- guelo 7y ago> there is little incentive for China to cut back on coal usage. Besides the destruction of our planet. They must be stopped, even if it means tanking the world economy. One of my dissapointments in things like the Green New Deal is that it ignores international trade. We should ban Chinese trade until they align with climate goals.
- hourislate 7y ago>Realistically, there is little incentive for China to cut back on coal usage. How about the 10's of millions of their citizens being poisoned or dying from pollution related illnesses? >The global economy needs China to keep on growing. They run trade imbalances with almost the entire world. The Chinese are not the best consumers. >Germany, arguably the most important economy in the world outside of China, India and the US is nearing recessions because of slowing Chinese consumer spending. Huh? >It's difficult to expect China to curb it's growth for the common good when more advanced economies ignored the science for decades How is China not a 1st world nation? Or not an advance economy?
- goatinaboat 7y agoHow about the 10's of millions of their citizens being poisoned or dying from pollution related illnesses? The CCP didn’t blink when tens of millions died in a famine they created. They will sacrifice any number to maintain their regime.
- bigpumpkin 7y ago"How is China not a 1st world nation? Or not an advance economy?" Their per capita income is 15% of Americans'?
- deusofnull 7y ago> How is China not a 1st world nation? Or not an advance economy? Whether or not you think China is a 1st world nation, a great deal of political logic in China evokes a historical animosity towards Western nations for actions during the Chinese "Century of Shame". China has certainly caught up in many ways but is still developing, and the biggest leaps in development are still only a generation or two deep.
- mlindner 7y ago> The global economy needs China to keep on growing. [citation needed]. China is on its last legs of growth. It's doing an exact repeat of what Japan did that led to their "lost decade". Either there will be a hard correction or well over a decade of no or little growth. Every year the growth rate has been going down. It's now estimated for less than 6% growth for 2019.
- sadness2 7y ago>Realistically, there is little incentive for China to cut back on coal usage. How about the world not ending?
- skyyler 7y agoDoes the world ending mean the Party ending? That might be a more compelling argument.
- goatinaboat 7y agoDoes the world ending mean the Party ending? The Party survived inflicting famine on its own people killing tens of millions. It is confident of surviving an ecological catastrophe and ruling over whatever’s left.