As industries in green nations like Germany struggle with unaffordable green energy, China is boosting coal use.
China is pumping out carbon emissions as if COVID never happened. That’s bad news for the climate crisis
Published: July 10, 2023 6.05am AEST
David Stern, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University, Khalid Ahmed, Australian National University
Carbon emissions from China are growing faster now than before COVID-19 struck, data show, dashing hopes the pandemic may have put the world’s most polluting nation on a new emissions trajectory.
We compared emissions in China over the first four months of 2019 – before the pandemic – and 2023. Emissions rose 10% between the two periods, despite the pandemic and China’s faltering economic recovery. Power generation and industry are driving the increase.
Under the Paris Agreement, China has pledged to ensure carbon emissions peak by 2030 and reach net zero emissions by 2060. Our analysis suggests China may struggle to reach these ambitious goals.
Many believed the economic recovery from COVID would steer global development towards a less carbon-intensive footing. But China’s new path seems to be less sustainable than before. That’s bad news for global efforts to tackle climate change.
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Read more: https://theconversation.com/china-is-pumping-out-carbon-emissions-as-if-covid-never-happened-thats-bad-news-for-the-climate-crisis-207933
I admit I didn’t foresee this, I thought China’s economy is in so much trouble emissions would be stagnant.
But in retrospect the reason for this growth in emissions is obvious.
Last Summer China experienced a drought so severe one of their largest waterways, the Yangtze River, completely dried up. They also experienced severe power shortages because they had to shut down much of their hydroelectric capacity.
Given China has experienced multiple severe droughts and floods in recent years, it makes complete sense for China to amp up coal burning, to reduce their reliance on hydroelectricity.
The funniest part of this, a renaissance of coal worldwide is exactly what would happen if all the alarmist predicted climate weather disasters actually occurred.
If a superstorm smashes your solar array, or tears up your wind turbines, or if torrential floods or severe droughts wreck your hydro capacity, weather resistant coal and gas would be your only option.
Renewables are a total waste of effort, even if we accept all the absurd global warming disaster predictions we’ve seen over the years.
If China saw extreme conditions, and extreme conditions are predicted, is China actually seeing climate change? Alarmists would certainly like you to believe this, but there is a problem with this hypothesis. Every time the Yangtze dries up, it reveals countless inscriptions written by people who endured previous severe droughts, like the inscription below which was written in the year 1086.
