Environment

3925 readers

14 users here now

Environmental and ecological discussion, particularly of things like weather and other natural phenomena (especially if they're not breaking news).

See also our Nature and Gardening community for discussion centered around things like hiking, animals in their natural habitat, and gardening (urban or rural).

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

China’s carbon emissions have now caused more global warming than EU, report says (www.carbonbrief.org)

submitted 3 days ago by 0x815@feddit.org to c/environment@beehaw.org

17 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/4928706

Archived link

While developed countries have used the majority of this budget, the analysis shows that China’s historical emissions reached 312GtCO2 in 2023, overtaking the EU’s 303GtCO2.

China is still far behind the 532GtCO2 emitted by the US, however, according to the analysis.

The findings by Carbonbrief come amid fraught negotiations at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, where negotiators have been invoking the “principle of historical responsibility” in their discussions over who should pay money towards a new goal for climate finance – and how much.

[...]

Historical CO2 emissions matter for climate change, because there is a finite “carbon budget” that can be released into the atmosphere before a given level of global warming is breached.

For example, in order to limit warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, only around 2,800GtCO2 can be added to the atmosphere, counting all emissions since the pre-industrial period. (This is according to a 2023 study updating figures from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.)

Cumulative emissions since 1850 will reach 2,607CO2 by the end of 2024, according to Carbon Brief’s new analysis, meaning that some 94% of the 1.5C budget will have been used up.

[...]

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] 0x815@feddit.org 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

As I said multiple times, this is one reason among others why we need transparent supply chains. It is exactly China which opposes this. This is bad for world (and bad for China, too).

[–] DdCno1@beehaw.org 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I think both of you are overlooking that a significant portion of China's CO2 emissions are solely caused by their wasteful construction of useless buildings that solely exist as investments and will never be occupied by anyone.

[–] beedog@beehaw.org 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I may have overlooked but I did not find specific data in the article on the breakdown of building construction and/or cement production versus emissions for other categories. Can you cite the source with data that helped you reached your conclusion?

[–] DdCno1@beehaw.org 2 points 2 days ago

I've read this a number of times over the years, but here's a good article on the topic of cement:

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46455844

A recent article (one of many) on how the wasteful building and deceptive investment practices that are rampant in China are impacting ordinary people:

https://news.sky.com/story/inside-chinas-derelict-housing-developments-and-the-bleak-reality-for-families-13181026

This statement from a former official illustrates the absurd scale of the problem:

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/23/business/china-too-many-homes-for-1-4-billion-people-intl-hnk/index.html