It’s now official that China will overtake the US as the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases later this year, not 2010 as was thought. Moreover, the scale of China’s surge in energy production is staggering:
Unchecked, over the next 25 years, the growth of China’s greenhouse-gas emissions is forecast to double that of all the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which includes, Europe, the U.S., Canada, South Korea and Japan.
Meanwhile, Chinese apologists say they are, in fact, tackling the issue:
Ned Helme, president of the Washington-based Center for Clean Air Policy, a nonprofit group that has been working with China on its plans to curb greenhouse gases, said it is “a myth” that China is ignoring global warming. A combination of efforts to modernize its industries and power plants and to impose tougher automobile-efficiency standards, he said, will provide reductions roughly equal to U.S. President George W. Bush’s plan to slow the growth of U.S. emissions by 2010.
But I thought the President wasn’t doing anything. If he’s not, then neither is China, surely?
Hat tip: the WSJ Energy Blog