It by no means meaningless.
The rush to cut China some slack for being the world's highest emitter is highly entertaining. It's like...the USA should know better but the second most populous country on Earth? Well they don't have much of a choice, do they? It's Big Oil vs Big Government.
China's drop of 1.2%, now that's a real "climate emergency" number. /s
Who's 'rushing to cut China some slack'? Certainly not me - I'm just countering the misrepresentations with
relevant facts, like any good skeptic would. The fact is that even with a one party state China can't eliminate fossil fuel usage overnight. But it has a plan to reach peak emissions by 2030 (only 3.5 years away) and it's starting to bear fruit. If they keep at it they have a good chance of achieving that target
before 2030, and then we will see an accelerating decline.
Meanwhile the rest of the world needs to do their bit too. While China is the largest
single GHG emitter in the world, the rest of the world emits more. Countries which are doing a lot to help should be praised, while those who don't shouldn't be (even if they have done a lot in the past). The US has largely reduced its contribution by exporting manufacturing to China. The US is also the largest producer of oil in the world, and the third largest coal producer (just behind India). Cheap US fossil fuel exports are contributing to emissions from other countries.
Another large factor to consider is that China produces most of the technology other countries are using to reduce their emissions. Burning fossil fuels to do that is bad, but needs to be done to get the ball rolling. Once renewable energy production takes over the renewable energy products being produced will be be greener too, further accelerating the transition.
A certain amount of freeloading can be tolerated, but the more there is the harder it will be for the rest of us. We are all in this together, and
everyone should do what they reasonably can to reduce emissions. The important thing is to reduce emissions
everywhere, not just in China. A gram of CO
2 is a gram of CO
2, no matter where in the world it's emitted.
Climate policy of China
Another study showed that around 1/3 of emissions from China in 2005 were due to exports. Over half of those emissions driven by demand from the West are from transnationals taking advantage of China's developmental policies favouring heavy manufacturing over regions with more developed environmental laws and enforcement. This includes many of the Walmart-suppliers and other foreign-owned factories that stock department store shelves, particularly in the US.
:
: 1,429,404,000
: 1,404,890,000
) (Our World in Data)
