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by Barbara Finamore, Qian Jingjing and Robert Watson In statements of his opposition to the Kyoto Protocol, President George W. Bush has frequently singled out China for special attention, saying it would be unfair for the United States to agree to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions while China does nothing to reduce its own. This June 2001 NRDC analysis shows that there is good basis to argue that in fact over the last decade China has done more than the United States to combat global warming. By Barbara Finamore, director of NRDC's China clean energy project; Qian Jingjing, environmental consultant; and Robert Watson, NRDC senior scientist. Conventional wisdom holds that China's greenhouse gas emissions are growing rampantly and that the country soon will overtake the United States as the world's largest contributor to climate change. The facts, however, show otherwise. According to analyses by the U.S. Energy Information Administration and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, China's emissions of carbon dioxide -- the main contributor to global warming --have declined 17 percent since 1997, despite economic growth of 36 percent over the same time period. China has achieved these impressive results principally by restructuring its economy, switching to cleaner energy sources, and improving energy efficiency. By 2020, China's CO2 emissions are projected to be lower than U.S. emission levels in 1990. In statements of his opposition to the Kyoto Protocol, President George W. Bush has frequently singled out China for special attention. "The world's second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases is China," he said in a speech on June 11. "Yet, China was entirely exempted from the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol." The president argues that it would be unfair for the United States to agree to reduce its emissions while China does nothing to curb its own emissions. While it is true that only developed countries would be subject to binding emission targets in the Kyoto Protocol's first emission control period (2008 to 2012), it is wrong for the Bush administration to imply that China is doing nothing to reduce its emissions. There is good basis to argue that China has done more to combat climate change over the past decade than has the United States. Want to know more. Global Warming: In Depth: Analysis http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/achinagg.asp
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