From Caijing:
Jarred by news of recent environmental incidents, the time has come for China to start caring about environmental issues – issues that few people have discussed – and not just the volatility of the stock market.
A spate of problems including sewage-fed algae in the Taihu Lake region and the forced suspension of a PX chemical project in Xiamen focused attention on this seldom-mentioned concern.
China formally enacted a national measure on climate change on June 4. Three days later, a G8 summit opened in Germany, where a consensus was reached on the same issue. The eight countries agreed to seriously consider reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent before 2050. [Full Text]
Read also China now no. 1 in CO2 emissions; USA in second position by Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency:
… Since 2006, China’s CO2 emissions from fossil fuel use and industrial processes (cement production) have been larger than the emissions of the USA. With approximately 8% higher emissions than those of the USA, China now tops the list of CO2 emitting countries. In 2005, the CO2 emissions of China were still 2% below those of the USA. The EU-15, with a volume of emissions about half of that of China, occupies the third position, followed by Russia, India and Japan.
Cement clinker production is the largest CO2 source among industrial processes, contributing about 4% of global total CO2 emissions from fuel use and industrial activities. However, for China with its large and increasing share in global cement production of about 44% in 2006, the share of CO2from cement production in national total CO2 emissions is almost 9% (550 megatonne out of a total of about 6200 megatonne CO2). For the USA these figures are about 5800 megatonne CO2 in total, of which 50 megaton from cement production. [Full Text]
