Of Course It’s Our Fault
Sometimes it’s quite amazing the level of mental contortions the global socialists will put themselves through in order to blame the Civilized World for every woe experienced on this planet. In this particular case it’s the lengths that the Anthropocentric Global Warming alarmists will go through in order to blame developed nations for the actions of the less developed and civilized nations’ voluntarily chosen courses of action.
From the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research – Oslo (CICERO) via Green Biz:
Rich countries’ invisible emissions
Almost half of the emission increase in China is due to production of exports, most of it to western countries, according to a new report.
Rich countries are contributing to the emission increases in developing nations, but this is not accounted for in international negotiations.
The report “Journey to world top emitter”, to be published in Geophysical Research Letters, states that Chinese CO2 emissions increased by 45 percent from 2002 to 2005. Half of the increase was due to export production, 60 percent of which was exported to western countries. Electronic commodities and metals are important products.
Only 7 percent of the emissions increase was triggered through househould consumption in China, the researchers from the University of Cambridge, CICERO, Carnegie Mellon University, and University of Leeds found.
Global system
– This makes us reflect on how we are a part of a global system, and how we partly drive emissions in other countries. It is important to take at least some responsibility for problems that we cause indirectly in other countries, says Glen Peters, researcher at CICERO – Center for Climate and Environmental Research in Oslo.
Electronic products, metals, chemicals, and machinery are export products contributing largely to the emissions increase.
– This doesn’t mean that trade is a bad thing. The problem is rather the type of products and how they are produced. It wouldn’t be so bad if China used its comparative advantage to produce products that meet global environmental objectives, he says.
Carbon leakage
International climate agreements do not account for how emissions cross national borders because of imports and exports. In the Kyoto Protocol, every country is responsible for emissions on its own territory.
The process where a country reduces emissions on its own territory but increases imports is known as «carbon leakage».
– We do not need to completely redesign Kyoto, but we could include incremental changes that address carbon leakage and competitiveness concerns. Climate policy could be designed in similar ways to existing tax policy. For example we could design carbon taxes in a similar way to value-added taxation which covers imported products. In that way the consumer would pay for the emissions caused by his or her consumption, Glen Peters says.
Following exports, capital formation – primarily construction – is the second largest driver of the emissions increase in China.
Putting aside the argument that Anthropogenic Global Warming is nothing but a sham for moment, this attempt to blame the “rich nations” for China’s emissions is still nothing but a very poorly disguised attempt at global socialism. It’s just another Leftist dream of robbing the wealthier and more developed nations in order to redistribute their earnings to poorer and less civilized countries.
Not one single person outside of the PRC, much less any civilized nation, demanded that China take the shortest, easiest, and messiest road to industrial and international commercial might. The Chinese decided all on their own how to progress into a more modern industrial / commercial model.
But of course it’s our fault; it always is in the minds of these people.
Tags: China | Global Warming | Globalism | Socialism | Society | The Environment
March 26th, 2009 at 6:10 am
“Not one single person outside of the PRC, much less any civilized nation, demanded that China take the shortest, easiest, and messiest road to industrial and international commercial might. The Chinese decided all on their own how to progress into a more modern industrial / commercial model.”
Effectively, they ARE demanding that. By constantly demanding lower and lower prices, with greater output and quicker turnaround, it’s emphasising the “ideal” that profits should be placed far ahead of people, and certainly the environment.
By the way, I really like how you refer to the “Leftists”, it’s almost as funny as people who say “‘They’re’ out to get them”. Big shadowy groups of ‘The Enemy’ are so much easier to deal with, aren’t they? 🙂
March 26th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Did China have to meet those consumers’ demands? Were they forced into it, or did they choose both to capitalize upon those desires and choose the which means to use to do so?
You seem in your comment to be saying that because people wanted something, they’re responsible for how a foreign agency out of their control provided it.
You also seem to be saying that the Civilized World’s desire for consumer goods forced China to provide them.
If that’s what you mean, I strongly disagree with both points. Of course I could easily be misreading your comment. You’re British or Australian and I’m American; we’re separated by a common language. 😉