Emissions in China may upset global greenhouse stabilisation

Emissions in China may upset global greenhouse stabilisation

China has to create 20 million new jobs every year for the emerging work force. She is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Will the environment suffer? You bet it will.

I was in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other cities last month.... Fuzhou was the worse. I was not so concerned about carbon but very worried about the water pollution full of sewage and factory runoff. It was terrible. The sky was yellow and so was the water.... This amount of pollution will start killing people soon if they don’t control it. I think it has become an emergency crisis. Factories and people MUST stop polluting the water and air. Carbon is a small issue compared to the chemicals.........

Pollution? What Pollution? Beijing to Close Factories for Olympics...
:cool:
Factories to Shut to Clean Beijing’s Air
Apr 14, 2008 - Beijing to stop construction, close factories in bid to cut pollution for games; Beijing Dirty Air Should Be Under Control; Other Problems Loom

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Construction will halt, heavy industries will close, and even spray painting will stop in order to clean Beijing’s polluted air for the Olympics — an issue that suddenly has taken a back seat to political protests.

An aggressive plan to temporarily shutter belching steel and chemical plants, cut back emissions by 30 percent at 19 heavy-polluting companies and stop excavation and pouring of concrete at hundreds of sites around the city was explained Monday by the city’s Environmental Protection Bureau. “From the suggestions of experts we think that we need to take these measures to guarantee the air quality of Beijing," said Du Shaozhong, the bureau’s deputy director.

The measures are severe and will be in effect officially for two months — July 20-Sept. 20 — although reports a few months ago suggest some production cutbacks may come even sooner. Officials also are expected to ban about half of Beijing’s 3.3 million vehicles for the Aug. 8-24 Olympics. Du said specific details would be announced later.

A month ago, pollution looked like the biggest threat to the Olympics, which are supposed to mark the emergence of China as an economic and political power. Since then, deadly riots in Lhasa have triggered worldwide demonstrations by pro-Tibet and human rights groups, threatening the country’s image on a stage it has spent billions to build.

More [url:
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=4646025[/url]

See also:


China 'now top carbon polluter'
Monday, 14 April 2008 - China has already overtaken the US as the world’s biggest polluter, according to a new report by US scientists.

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The research suggests the country’s greenhouse gas emissions have been underestimated, and probably passed those of the US in 2006-2007. The University of California team will report their work in the Journal of Environment Economics and Management. They warn that unchecked future growth will dwarf any emissions cuts made by rich nations under the Kyoto Protocol.

The team admit there is some uncertainty over the date when China may have become the biggest emitter of CO2, as their analysis is based on 2004 data. Until now it has been generally believed that the US remains “Polluter Number One”.

Provincial data

Next month’s University of California report warns that unless China radically changes its energy policies, its increases in greenhouse gases will be several times larger than the cuts in emissions being made by rich nations under the Kyoto Protocol

The researchers say their figures are based on provincial-level data from the Chinese Environmental Protection Agency. “The only solution is for a massive transfer of technology and wealth from the West” - Dr Max Auffhammer, Lead researcher

More [url:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/asia-pacific/7347638.stm[/url]

Gonna cost a lotta money to clean up the greenhouse gases...
:eek:
$45 Trillion Needed to Combat Warming
June 6, 2008 - New study calls for $45 trillion to cut greenhouse gases in half by 2050

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The world needs to invest $45 trillion in energy in coming decades, build some 1,400 nuclear power plants and vastly expand wind power in order to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to an energy study released Friday. The report by the Paris-based International Energy Agency envisions a “energy revolution” that would greatly reduce the world’s dependence on fossil fuels while maintaining steady economic growth.

“Meeting this target of 50 percent cut in emissions represents a formidable challenge, and we would require immediate policy action and technological transition on an unprecedented scale," IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka said. A U.N.-network of scientists concluded last year that emissions have to be cut by at least half by 2050 to avoid an increase in world temperatures of between 3.6 and 4.2 degrees above pre-18th century levels.

Scientists say temperature increases beyond that could trigger devastating effects, such as widespread loss of species, famines and droughts, and swamping of heavily populated coastal areas by rising oceans. Environment ministers from the Group of Eight industrialized countries and Russia backed the 50 percent target in a meeting in Japan last month and called for it to be officially endorsed at the G-8 summit in July.

More [url:
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/GlobalWarming/wireStory?id=5012532[/url]