I am so glad China is proving betting on renewable energy isn’t only morally the right thing to do but also economically the smartest thing to do. That will really help battling climate change now the US walked out.
China is also opening new coal plants iirc. A few years ago I heard that if my home country (Sweden) stopped all co2 emissions today, the co2 savings would have been wiped out in a week, by China opening new coal plants.
The US might have gone dumb, but that does not make China good.
I am by no means a fan of the Chinese government, but they are leagues ahead when it comes to these issues compared to many western nations. Yes, they still open new coal plants, yes, they still run a lot of dirty industries and yes, I’d take most numbers coming out of china with a load of salt.
BUT they also have about 1/7 of the global population to take care of, while at the same time handling manufacturing for a good chunk of the rest of the world and their environmental footprint per person is lower than most western nations that aren’t even manufacturing anymore.
The US might have gone dumb, but that does not make China good.
Totally agree, my point is that there are a lot of countries who don’t have the wealth to stop their co2 emissions overnight and because of China’s massive investments in production facilities the cost of solar and battery tech has come down by so much that new fossil fuel energy plants are increasingly less interesting.
Renewables aside, there is also a greyscale when it comes to fossil fuel: old coal plants are worse than new ones (just like with a car). Going from coal to oil or gas can also lower emissions. But either way, the fact that China has access to cheap fossil fuels really counters the progression. It’d be better to stop using fossil fuels altogether.
The west (previously including thd US) also did a lot in that regard, but the reason I wanted to say I’m glad with China (about this) is, that if it were just Europe pulling the cart, Earth would be screwed.
I am so glad China is proving betting on renewable energy isn’t only morally the right thing to do but also economically the smartest thing to do. That will really help battling climate change now the US walked out.
China is also opening new coal plants iirc. A few years ago I heard that if my home country (Sweden) stopped all co2 emissions today, the co2 savings would have been wiped out in a week, by China opening new coal plants.
The US might have gone dumb, but that does not make China good.
I am by no means a fan of the Chinese government, but they are leagues ahead when it comes to these issues compared to many western nations. Yes, they still open new coal plants, yes, they still run a lot of dirty industries and yes, I’d take most numbers coming out of china with a load of salt.
BUT they also have about 1/7 of the global population to take care of, while at the same time handling manufacturing for a good chunk of the rest of the world and their environmental footprint per person is lower than most western nations that aren’t even manufacturing anymore.
I think that this should always be viewed per capita of course, but you should really check your numbers BC they don’t add up.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_per_capita
Check this for either overall per capita or consumption based in the second part
Totally agree, my point is that there are a lot of countries who don’t have the wealth to stop their co2 emissions overnight and because of China’s massive investments in production facilities the cost of solar and battery tech has come down by so much that new fossil fuel energy plants are increasingly less interesting.
Renewables aside, there is also a greyscale when it comes to fossil fuel: old coal plants are worse than new ones (just like with a car). Going from coal to oil or gas can also lower emissions. But either way, the fact that China has access to cheap fossil fuels really counters the progression. It’d be better to stop using fossil fuels altogether.
The west (previously including thd US) also did a lot in that regard, but the reason I wanted to say I’m glad with China (about this) is, that if it were just Europe pulling the cart, Earth would be screwed.