{"id":1115835,"date":"2021-12-13T19:43:42","date_gmt":"2021-12-14T00:43:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1115835"},"modified":"2021-12-13T19:43:48","modified_gmt":"2021-12-14T00:43:48","slug":"china-begins-walking-back-promises-to-reduce-pollution-in-the-2030s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/china-begins-walking-back-promises-to-reduce-pollution-in-the-2030s\/","title":{"rendered":"China Begins Walking Back Promises to Reduce Pollution in the 2030s"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fchina-begins-walking-back-promises-to-reduce-pollution-in-the-2030s%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1115835&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\"><span>Communist China frequently placates climate activists by promising to cut pollution in the 2030s and strive for \u201ccarbon neutrality\u201d by 2060. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The <\/span><i><span>South China Morning Post<\/span><\/i> <span>(SCMP) on Monday <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/diplomacy\/article\/3159418\/caution-carbon-china-realises-key-role-coal-energy-mix?utm_source=rss_feed\">quoted<\/a> senior Chinese officials already walking back those promises, recasting them as vague aspirations that might have to be put on hold until Beijing achieves its industrial goals.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p><span>The climate change movement has always been remarkably credulous when it comes to China. At the big COP26 \u201cclimate summit\u201d in Scotland in October, China actually \u201cpledged\u201d to <\/span><span>increase <\/span><span>its carbon pollution over the coming decade \u2013 but the response was mostly <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2021\/10\/29\/china-pledges-to-increase-pollution-for-another-decade\/\"><span>muted grumbling<\/span><\/a><span> from activists who demand immense short-term sacrifices from the Western world.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>At the conclusion of the Glasgow summit, the Biden administration <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2021\/11\/11\/biden-signs-joint-statement-with-worlds-worst-polluter-china-on-seriousness-of-climate-change\/\"><span>released<\/span><\/a><span> a joint statement on reducing carbon emissions with Beijing, hailed by climate envoy John Kerry as a \u201croadmap for our future collaboration.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"8.019801980198\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Climate change: China\u2019s decarbonisation policy fine-tuning lifts shares of renewable energy, grid solutions providers <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/CIGlmb9mG7\">https:\/\/t.co\/CIGlmb9mG7<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 South China Morning Post (@SCMPNews) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SCMPNews\/status\/1470364405179240457?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 13, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p><span>Two months later, the Chinese are backing away from that road map, as the <\/span><i><span>SCMP <\/span><\/i><span>reported:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"25\">\n<p><span>Addressing a forum in Beijing on Saturday, former finance minister Lou Jiwei said that while China had said it would \u201cstrive to\u201d reach peak carbon emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060, there was a difference between this and \u201censuring [those targets would be achieved]\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWe are a developing country. We should bear common but differentiated responsibilities that are different from developed countries,\u201d Lou told the gathering organised by the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Han Wenxiu, from the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs, was similarly cautious, saying the two targets were complex and long-term tasks that required full consideration of the country\u2019s energy and industrial structure.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201c[The carbon targets] should not affect the country\u2019s overall economic and social development,\u201d Han said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>The day before those comments were made, Chinese dictator Xi Jinping and his Politburo issued a statement that said reaching carbon neutrality will require \u201cunwavering efforts,\u201d but success \u201ccan\u2019t be achieved in just one battle.\u201d&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_18972178\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" readability=\"36\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2021\/12\/GettyImages-683263328.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-18972178 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/GettyImages-683263328-1024x768-1.png\" alt=\"BEIJING, CHINA - MAY 15: Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a news conference at the end of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation on May 15, 2017 in Beijing, China. The Forum, running from May 14 to 15, is expected to lay the groundwork for Beijing-led infrastructure initiatives aimed at connecting China with Europe, Africa and Asia. (Photo by Nicolas Asfouri-Pool\/Getty Images)\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a news conference at the end of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation on May 15, 2017 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Nicolas Asfouri-Pool\/Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>The same statement made it clear that China will not stop burning coal to generate electricity. The Chinese are currently <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/national-security\/2021\/02\/03\/china-built-three-times-as-much-coal-power-in-2020-as-the-rest-of-the-world-combined\/\"><span>pouring<\/span><\/a><span> record amounts of coal into record numbers of power plants to meet the soaring energy needs of their industrial sector. As several Chinese analysts explained to the <\/span><i><span>SCMP, <\/span><\/i><span>critical power shortages in the latter half of 2021 frightened communist leaders away from any thoughts they might have been entertaining about eliminating coal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWind and solar power account for about 9 percent of China\u2019s electricity generation. The dominant role of coal in China\u2019s power and energy structure cannot be changed in a short time,\u201d Lin Boqiang of the China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy at Xiamen University explained.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Ma Jun of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs in Beijing said the statement by Xi and the Politburo on Friday was a sign that \u201creplacements have not been building up and we cannot phase out fossil fuels in a quick way.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p><span>Ma thought the latest Communist Party statements on climate were nevertheless \u201cmeaningful\u201d and carbon emissions would eventually be capped, but perhaps not on the timeline China has been <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2021-08-10\/how-china-plans-to-become-carbon-neutral-by-2060-quicktake\"><span>promoting<\/span><\/a><span> at the last few climate conferences.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>David Meale, charge d\u2019affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/economy\/china-economy\/article\/3159393\/coal-central-chinas-zero-carbon-goals-top-us-envoy-beijing\"><span>insisted<\/span><\/a><span> on Monday that China is still offering \u201cengagement\u201d and a \u201ccollaborative relationship\u201d with the United States on climate change \u2013 but he indicated the U.S. was prepared to cut China a great deal of slack for its gigantic coal consumption.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cCoal is absolutely central to getting China to enhance its ambition and accelerate its timelines,\u201d Meale said at an embassy exhibition of American \u201cstreet art\u201d related to climate change.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWhen you have an economy that is overwhelmingly dependent on coal as a fuel and when you have enormous expertise that is capable of pointing out rather easy and straightforward ways to address that dependence, there is plenty of room for new ambition, plenty of room for speeding up the process to getting to that peak number, and for thinking about when and how to restructure the reliance on different fuel sources,\u201d Meale said optimistically.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>One of the assumptions behind Western environmentalists\u2019 indulgence of China \u2013 generally unspoken, but strongly implicit in Meale\u2019s remarks \u2013 is that Xi\u2019s authoritarian regime can act more quickly and decisively than messy Western democracies, so it is not a big problem if China continues as the world\u2019s worst polluter for another decade or two. When their industrial goals are achieved and they feel comfortable with letting go of coal, Xi and his Politburo can simply snap their fingers and make it so.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The <\/span><i><span>SCMP\u2019s <\/span><\/i><span>quotes from Chinese officials make it plain that China\u2019s willingness to compromise its industrial power in the name of climate change is questionable, there is no real plan in Beijing to hit \u201cpeak carbon\u201d in 2030 or \u201czero-carbon\u201d in 2060, and \u2013 even if Communist Party leaders do become interested in keeping the promises they made to the Biden administration \u2013 the sheer inertia of all that coal mining and coal plant construction would be hard to overcome, even for iron-fisted tyrants. After all, China still <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/6090732\/china-coal-power-plants-emissions\/\"><span>plans to build<\/span><\/a><span> dozens <\/span><span>more <\/span><span>coal-fired plants next year.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Communist China frequently placates climate activists by promising to cut pollution in the 2030s and strive for \u201ccarbon neutrality\u201d by 2060. The South China Morning Post (SCMP) on Monday &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1115835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1115835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1115835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1115835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1115835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1115835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1115835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}