China discovers green consumption. To achieve its climate targets and produce less waste, people are supposed to shop more mindfully. That is the conclusion of a new government plan. But many companies are merely applying a green coat of paint. Will the government succeed in creating truly sustainable consumption?
By Nico Beckert
China's power sector has gained much attention since last year. On the one hand, the People's Republic launched its emissions trading scheme in the summer, which so far has only covered the power sector. At the same time, the country was hit by a severe power crisis. Many of the causes lie in the sector's outdated structure, which is also hampering China's planned energy transition.
By Christiane Kuehl
The EU has placed decarbonization at the top of its agenda to fight climate change. To this end, it has put together the "Fit for 55" climate package. One of the main pillars of this package is emissions trading – and the associated Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). It is still at the planning phase. The EU is wrestling with the details. But one thing is clear: CBAM could hit China particularly hard.
By Ning Wang
China is the world's largest emitter of CO2 emissions. Due to the consequences of climate change, however, climate protection has also become part of the Communist Party's daily policy. The Table.Media editorial team has all the news on the topic.What are China's climate goals?China, in the person of head of state and party leader Xi Jinping, has issued the climate target that the People's Republic wants to be climate neutral before the year 2060. That the national economy only wants to emit as much carbon emissions as the country binds on the other side. Before the year 2030, the emission of carbon dioxide is to reach its peak. Currently, the People's Republic's CO2 emissions are growing rapidly.In the 14th Five-Year Plan of the Communist Party(CPC), which is valid until 2025, China has already formulated clear goals for climate protection and against climate change. Energy consumption is to be reduced by 13.5 percent and CO2 emissions by 18 percent. 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, measures to protect the environment must not be allowed to jeopardize the economic upswing in the People's Republic. Nevertheless, the world's most populous country has signed the Paris climate agreement. At the EU-China summit, the two parties also agreed to cooperate closely on key climate protection issues.In 2018, China and the EU agreed to cooperate in the areas of emissions trading, investment in climate technology of energy efficiency, low-emission transport, renewable energy and low-carbon cities in the fight against climate change and for climate protection. China's coal power intensifies climate changeBecause of enormous coal reserves, China relies primarily on coal-fired power. This type of energy accounts for about 70 percent of primary energy production and about 60 percent of energy consumption. Some 90 new coal-fired power plants have been added in 2019 and 2020, according to the Global Coal Plant Tracker. China accounts for half of the world's coal consumption.However, in December 2020, Xi Jinping announced that China wanted to do more to protect the climate in the area of energy production. The share of non-fossil energy sources is to rise to 25 percent - from the current level of around 15 percent. This fits in with the fact that the People's Republic has invested around $20 billion in the expansion of renewable energies since 2019, according to the data analyst Energy Policy Tracker. However, the same amount also flowed into subsidies for fossil energy sources. How much money does China have to invest in climate protection?The Climate Change Research Institute at Tsinghua University in Beijing has calculated that China would have to invest 18 trillion euros 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 one of the reasons why China is increasingly relying on green bonds to finance climate protection. Compared to the previous year, their volume will increase to 23.2 billion dollars in 2021.Because of these enormous investments, experts from the economic analysts at Refinitiv also believe that the national economy in China will be able to grow by four to five percent per year despite this structural change. The company sees great opportunities for decarbonization and growth in equal measure, especially in the areas of renewable energies, transport and hydrogen. China is already the world market leader in solar and wind power and in electric cars. China: Climate protection through the world's largest emissions trading systemIn the fight against climate change, China also began trading emission rights (ETS) in July 2021. China's national emissions trading 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 will be allocated a permitted amount each year, which is expected to decrease in the coming years. Those who produce in an environmentally friendly way can sell surplus certificates. The starting price of a ton of CO2 was 6.39 euros.The companies that already have to buy emission rights when certificate trading opens in China emit around one-seventh of global CO2 emissions. However, they operate exclusively in the energy sector. In the next five years, companies from the chemical, iron and steel, building materials, paper, metals and aviation sectors will also be included in emissions trading. How much CO2 does China emit?Since 2008, China has been the largest emitter of the greenhouse gas CO2. In 2019, emissions amounted to 11.3 billion tons. That is nearly thirty percent of global CO2 emissions and more than twice as much as the United States (5.3 billion tons). Germany ranked sixth globally in 2018 with 753 million metric 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 a picture of China's responsibility when it comes to climate protection and climate change. For a correct classification, historical CO2 emissions, CO2 emissions per capita and outsourced emissions must all be considered. This is the only way to analyze and solve the problem efficiently. What are the per capita CO2 emissions in China?China's CO2 emissions per capita are 7.1 metric tons per year in 2019, which puts it in 48th place globally, mainly because the People's Republic is the world's most populous country with 1.4 billion people. The list is topped by smaller Caribbean and Gulf states. The USA ranks 14th with 16 tons of CO2 per inhabitant per year, according to figures from the Global Carbon Project.It is important to know, however, that carbon dioxide can persist in the atmosphere for several hundred thousand years until it is broken down. Only a small portion can be absorbed by oceans and forests. Forty percent 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 percent of CO emissions are attributable to China. Europe (26.9 percent) and the United States (25.5 percent) have emitted twice as much greenhouse gas. What is the difference between the producer and consumer principle in CO2 emissions?The distinction between the producer principle and the 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 the CO2 for consumers in other countries. In other words, vicariously. So the smartphone, the semiconductors and the plastic toys are produced in China, but used in Germany, for example.If China's CO2 balance is adjusted for the consumer principle, the emissions of the People's Republic fall by ten percent. Germany 's would rise by 14 percent, America would have to account for 6.3 percent more greenhouse gases and Switzerland a whopping 225 percent. However, this effect is increasingly diminishing. China is increasingly turning to complex high-tech products and strengthening its domestic economy. In the mid-2000s, China was still exporting twenty percent of its CO2 emissions. What is produced in China?China produces mainly electrical appliances and electrical engineering. These goods accounted for 27.4 percent of exports. China was the world export champion in 2020, with a volume of 2.27 trillion euros. Machinery (17% of exports) and clothing and textiles (9.4% of exports) ranked second and third, respectively. The most important single product was cell phones. Exported cell phones had a total value of 110.5 billion euros in 2020.China is also the largest producer of plastic toys. About 70 percent of all global toys come from China. However, the People's Republic only exports toys for around ten billion dollars per year. The average production price of a plastic toy in China is 50 cents. About 607,000 Chinese are employed in this industry and generate a turnover of about 40 billion dollars. News about climate protection in ChinaClimate change and climate change mitigation measures are a major 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 on this.
