Climate

China is the world's largest emitter of CO₂ emissions. Due to the consequences of climate change, climate protection has also become part of the Communist Party's daily politics. The Table.media editorial team has all the news on the topic. What are China's climate targets? China's head of state and party leader Xi Jinping has set the climate target that the People's Republic wants to be climate-neutral before 2060. This means that the national economy only wants to emit as much carbon emissions as the country binds on the other side. Carbon dioxide emissions are set to peak before 2030. In the 14th Five-Year Plan of the Communist Party (CP China), which is valid until 2025, China has already formulated clear goals for climate protection and combating climate change. Energy consumption is to be reduced by 13.5% and CO₂ emissions by 18%. However, this is per unit of gross domestic product, not overall. Real emissions are likely to continue to rise. What is China doing for the environment? Climate protection has now become part of China's daily politics. However, environmental protection measures must not jeopardize the economic upturn in the People's Republic. Nevertheless, the world's most populous country has signed the Paris Climate Agreement. At the EU-China summit, both parties also agreed to cooperate intensively on key climate protection issues.In 2018, China and the EU agreed to cooperate in the fight against climate change and for climate protection in the areas of emissions trading, investments in climate technology for energy efficiency, low-emission transport, renewable energy and low-carbon cities. China's coal power exacerbates climate change Due to its enormous coal reserves, China relies primarily on coal power. This type of energy accounts for around 70% of primary energy production and around 60% of energy consumption. Around 90 new coal-fired power plants were added in 2019 and 2020, according to the Global Coal Plant Tracker. China accounts for half of global coal consumption, but in December 2020, Xi Jinping announced that China wanted to do more to protect the climate in the area of energy production. The proportion of non-fossil energy sources is to increase to 25% – from the current level of around 15%. It is fitting that the People's Republic has invested around USD 20 billion in the expansion of renewable energies since 2019, as reported by the data analyst Energy Policy Tracker. However, the same amount has also been spent on subsidies for fossil fuels. How much money does China need to invest in climate protection? The Climate Change Research Institute at Tsinghua University in Beijing has calculated that China would have to invest EUR 18 trillion in climate protection, green technologies and the structural transformation of the economy over the next thirty years in order to achieve the goal of climate neutrality. This is another reason why China is increasingly relying on green bonds to finance climate protection. Compared to the previous year, their volume will increase to USD 23.2 billion in 2021, and experts from the economic analysts at Refinitiv also assume that these enormous investments will enable the Chinese economy to grow by four to five percent per year despite this structural change. The company sees great opportunities for decarbonization and growth in the areas of renewable energies, transport and hydrogen in particular. China is already the world market leader in solar and wind power and electric cars. China: climate protection through the world's largest emissions trading scheme In the fight against climate change, China also began trading emission allowances (ETS) in July 2021. China's national emissions trading scheme is considered the largest in the world. Initially, 2,225 Chinese companies from the energy sector will have to buy pollution certificates on the platform. They are allocated a permitted quantity each year, which is set to decrease over the coming years. Those with environmentally friendly production can sell surplus certificates. The starting price of a tonne of CO₂ was EUR 6.39, and the companies that have to buy emission rights at the start of certificate trading in China emit around one seventh of global CO₂ emissions. However, they operate exclusively in the energy sector. Over the next five years, companies from the chemicals, iron and steel, building materials, paper, metals and aviation sectors will also be included in emissions trading. How much CO₂ does China emit? China has been the largest emitter of the greenhouse gas CO₂ since 2008. In 2019, emissions amounted to 11.3 billion tons. That is almost thirty percent of global CO₂ emissions and more than twice as much as the USA (5.3 billion tons). Germany ranked sixth in the world in 2018 with 753 million tons. While CO₂ emissions are falling in many industrialized nations, they are still rising in China, but looking at annual CO₂ emissions alone is not enough to get an idea of China's responsibility when it comes to climate protection and climate change. Historical CO₂ emissions, per capita CO₂ emissions and outsourced emissions must all be taken into account in order to classify the issue correctly. This is the only way to efficiently analyze and solve the problem. How high are CO₂ emissions per capita in China? CO₂ emissions per capita in China were 7.1 tons per year in 2019, putting China in 48th place globally. This is mainly due to the fact that the People's Republic is the most populous country in the world with 1.4 billion people. The list is topped by smaller Caribbean and Gulf states. The USA is in 14th place with 16 tons of CO₂ per inhabitant per year, according to figures from the Global Carbon Project, but it is important to know that carbon dioxide can remain in the atmosphere for several hundred thousand years until it is broken down. Only a small proportion can be absorbed by oceans and forests. 40% of man-made CO₂ emissions since 1850 are still in the atmosphere. However, China has only been producing significant amounts of CO₂ since 2001. Historically, only 13.7% of CO emissions are attributable to China. Europe (26.9%) and the USA (25.5%) have emitted twice as much greenhouse gases. What is the difference between the producer and consumer principle when it comes to CO₂ emissions? The distinction between the producer and consumer principle also plays a role in the question of China's responsibility for climate change and climate protection. Although China emits an enormous amount of greenhouse gases, the People's Republic is the world's leading exporter. This means that China, as a producer, emits CO₂ for consumers in other countries. In other words, as a proxy. This means that smartphones, semiconductors and plastic toys are produced in China but used in Germany, for example, and if China's carbon footprint is adjusted for the consumer principle, the People's Republic's emissions fall by ten percent. Germany's would increase by 14%, America would have to account for 6.3% more greenhouse gases and Switzerland a whopping 225%. However, this effect is becoming increasingly smaller. China is increasingly turning to complex high-tech products and strengthening its domestic economy. In the mid-'00s, China was still exporting twenty percent of its CO₂ emissions. What is produced in China? China mainly produces electrical appliances and electrical engineering. These goods accounted for 27.4% of exports. China was the world export champion in 2020 with a volume of EUR 2.27 trillion. Machinery (17% of exports) and clothing and textiles (9.4% of exports) followed in second and third place. The most important single product was cell phones. Exported cell phones had a total value of EUR 110.5 billion in 2020.China is also the largest producer of plastic toys. Around 70% of all toys worldwide come from China. However, the People's Republic only exports around ten billion dollars worth of toys per year. The average production price of a plastic toy in China is 50 cents. Around 607,000 Chinese people are employed in this industry, generating a turnover of around USD 40 billion. News on climate protection in China Climate change and climate protection measures are an important issue in China and the rest of the world that will shape politics and the economy for decades to come. The Table.Media editorial team brings you all the relevant news.