CO2 Emissions: China vs US: Casus Belli?

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SUMMARY

In 2006, China surpassed the United States in CO2 emissions by 8%, primarily due to increased coal consumption and cement production, as reported by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. Al Gore emphasized that this shift in emissions status could lead to increased global pressure on China to address climate change, contingent upon the US taking a proactive role in international climate efforts. Despite these figures, China's per capita emissions remain significantly lower than those of countries like the Netherlands, indicating that their emissions are at survival levels rather than indicative of excess. The discussion highlights the complexities of international perceptions and the political dynamics surrounding climate change and emissions reduction.

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  • Understanding of CO2 emissions metrics and reporting
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Environmental policy analysts, climate change activists, international relations scholars, and anyone interested in the dynamics of global emissions and climate negotiations.

Andre
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It has all the potential, the eve of the emission war:

http://english.people.com.cn/200706/22/eng20070622_386680.html

...the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, said China overtook the US in emissions of CO2 by 8 percent in 2006. While China was 2 percent below the US in 2005, coal consumption and increased cement production had caused the numbers to rise rapidly.

And sure enough:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/06/21/eagore21.xml

...In an exclusive interview with The Daily Telegraph, Mr Gore said: "I think that when China is recognised as the largest emitter ...

it will produce a subtle but significant change in the pressure China feels from the rest of the world to be part of a solution to this crisis.

"But in order to apply that moral pressure, the United States has to join the world's efforts to solve the crisis. That is why I am spending so much time spending every effort to reach a political critical mass to solve the climate crisis."

There is no climate crisis, only a perception thereof. Kind of Iraqi WMD's but from the first link:

China's annual per capita figure is 3.66 tons, while for the Dutch it is 11.4 tons, about three times higher. China's emissions are just at survival levels...

...On the one hand you increase the production in China, and the other hand you criticize China on the emission reduction issue, so it is unfair...

I'm afraid that Andre's law of conservation of concern is in action here.

The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule it, H.L. Mencken
 
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Andre, I don't understand what you're trying to discuss in this thread.
 
Okay, I try to explain.

First of all http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=casus%20belli

Together with that linked thread I intended to point out that millenia of culture and centuries of objective science, humanity does not begin attempting to overcome primitive fear and herd instinct. And it's the same pattern to disaster, the eve's of all wars, that we see over and over again: create fear, exploit the enemy image and be the great victorious hero, ruling the world.

So predictable. Too sad for words.
 
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