Climate change in China

This article is about climate change in the People's Republic of China. For climate change in the Republic of China, see Climate change in Taiwan.

Warming stripes of China between 1901 and 2019

Climate change is having major effects on the Chinese economy, society and the environment.[1][2] China is the largest emitter of carbon dioxide, through an energy infrastructure heavily focused on coal. Other industries, such as a burgeoning construction industry and industrial manufacturing, contribute heavily to carbon emissions. However, China's per capita emissions are greater than the world and European Union averages but less than Australia, Canada, and the U.S.[3] It has also been noted that higher-income countries have outsourced emissions-intensive industries to China.[4][5] China is now the world's largest polluter and in 2023 recorded its hottest year on record with an average temperature of 10.7 °C.[6] On the basis of cumulative CO2 emissions measured from 1751 through to 2017, China is responsible for 13% globally and about half of the United States' cumulative emissions.[7][8]

China is suffering from the negative effects of global warming in agriculture, forestry and water resources, and is expected to continue to see increased impacts. China's government is taking some measures to increase renewable energy, and other decarbonization efforts, vowing to hit peak emissions before 2030 and be carbon neutral by 2060 by adopting "more vigorous policies and measures."[9] China's GHG emissions will likely peak in 2025 and return to 2022 levels by 2030. However, such pathway will still lead to a 3 degrees Celsius temperature rise.[10]

  1. ^ World Bank. "China Country Climate and Development Report" (PDF).
  2. ^ "China National communication 3: Part III Impacts of Climate Change and Adaptation". unfccc.int. Archived from the original on 14 November 2019. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  3. ^ Ritchie, Hannah; Roser, Max; Rosado, Pablo (11 May 2020). "CO₂ and Greenhouse Gas Emissions". Our World in Data. Archived from the original on 16 August 2024. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  4. ^ Malik, Arunima; Lan, Jun (2 April 2016). "The role of outsourcing in driving global carbon emissions". Economic Systems Research. 28 (2): 168–182. doi:10.1080/09535314.2016.1172475. ISSN 0953-5314. S2CID 156212231. Archived from the original on 24 July 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021. high-income resource-poor nations such as the United Kingdom, Germany and France (...) outsource carbon-intensive production to China
  5. ^ Plumer, Brad (4 September 2018). "You've Heard of Outsourced Jobs, but Outsourced Pollution? It's Real, and Tough to Tally Up". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 25 July 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  6. ^ Regan, Helen (5 January 2024). "2023 was China's hottest year on record, marked by multiple deadly extreme weather events". CNN. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  7. ^ "Who has contributed most to global CO2 emissions?". Our World in Data. Archived from the original on 25 October 2021. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  8. ^ "The hard truths of climate change — by the numbers". www.nature.com. 18 September 2019. Archived from the original on 26 August 2022. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  9. ^ "Climate change: China aims for 'carbon neutrality by 2060'". BBC News. 22 September 2020. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  10. ^ Lui, Swithin (19 May 2022). "Guest post: Why China is set to significantly overachieve its 2030 climate goals". Carbon Brief. Archived from the original on 23 May 2022. Retrieved 24 May 2022.