When it comes to carbon dioxide, three countries are responsible for half of the world’s emissions into the atmosphere: China, the US, and India. On a per capita basis, we are far worse than China, but its population is so huge that that it produces twice as much CO2 as the United States and nearly one-third of the world’s emissions.
So the bottom line is that China really has to be aggressive in trying to reduce its emissions. And it is.
Over the past five years, 40% of all newly added renewable energy power was generated by China. China’s investment in clean energy was greater than the total invested by the United States and all of Europe combined. China is already the world’s largest wind power producer and plans to double the number of turbines in the country over the next five years. China also has half of the world’s hydropower dams.
The Chinese government is launching major initiatives to control carbon emissions both to combat its terrible air pollution problems as well as to mitigate climate change.
Nevertheless, China has a long way to go. With nearly 1.4 billion people and constant and dramatic development, it is an incredibly energy-hungry country. It is the largest producer and consumer of coal in the world and still gets almost ¾ of its electricity from burning coal. That simply has to change.
There are many challenges to be overcome around the world to slash greenhouse gas emissions and none is greater than what is faced by China as it struggles to power the most populous country on the planet.
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China’s Investment in Renewable Energy Surpasses Europe, U.S. Combined
Photo, posted November 12, 2007, courtesy of Land Rover Our Planet via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.