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A lot of the critical data here [1]. China has been a model for growth and poverty reduction; but its cumulative emissions are 15% of the global share at ~15% o

A lot of the critical data here [1]. China has been a model for growth and poverty reduction; but its cumulative emissions are 15% of the global share at ~15% of the world population. While these are only a fraction of the cumulative emissions of Europe or North America, they are still too high. The big question is how can the rest of the world - Africa, South America and large parts of Asia grow without emitting a lot. I don't think its possible without large amounts of technology transfer, and I am not sure if the "developed" world is going to do it. [1] https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-metrics https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-metrics

melling 3y ago
Cumulative emissions at 15% but 30% every year now. How long before they pass the United States?
- abdullahkhalids 3y ago
  China's absolute emissions are expected to peak this year and then decline. Their population also possibly peaked last year. So, it's quite likely that they will never exceed the USA.
aurareturn 3y ago
but its cumulative emissions are 15% of the global share at ~15% of the world population. This is quite meaningless because China has been the world's factory. Therefore, other countries have simply exported their carbon emissions to China.
- abdullahkhalids 3y ago
  It's not quite easy to determine how much this is true [1]. China's production-based emissions were 10.96 billion tonnes in 2020, and consumption-based emissions were 10.03. Not a large difference. But, these metrics don't really compute how much of the infrastructure built in China is for export products. Eg, if a factory produces goods for both China and export, these metrics don't say that X% of the emissions from the factory's construction or from the workers driving to work or the roads to the factory are to be accounted as not for China. But certainly, China's internal cumulative emissions are somewhat smaller than 15%. [1] https://ourworldindata.org/consumption-based-co2 https://ourworldindata.org/consumption-based-co2

melling 3y ago

Cumulative emissions at 15% but 30% every year now. How long before they pass the United States?

abdullahkhalids 3y ago
China's absolute emissions are expected to peak this year and then decline. Their population also possibly peaked last year. So, it's quite likely that they will never exceed the USA.

aurareturn 3y ago

but its cumulative emissions are 15% of the global share at ~15% of the world population. This is quite meaningless because China has been the world's factory. Therefore, other countries have simply exported their carbon emissions to China.

abdullahkhalids 3y ago
It's not quite easy to determine how much this is true [1]. China's production-based emissions were 10.96 billion tonnes in 2020, and consumption-based emissions were 10.03. Not a large difference. But, these metrics don't really compute how much of the infrastructure built in China is for export products. Eg, if a factory produces goods for both China and export, these metrics don't say that X% of the emissions from the factory's construction or from the workers driving to work or the roads to the factory are to be accounted as not for China. But certainly, China's internal cumulative emissions are somewhat smaller than 15%. [1] https://ourworldindata.org/consumption-based-co2 https://ourworldindata.org/consumption-based-co2