China pollutes more than entire developed world – but a Canadian carbon tax will save the planet

By: Greg Staley

According to a Rhodium Group report released on May 6th, 2021 China polluted more in 2019 than all developing nations combined. The report says that “China’s emissions were less than a quarter of developed country emissions in 1990, but over the past three decades have more than tripled, reaching over 14 gigatons of CO2-equivalent in 2019.”

It is worth noting that on a per person basis that China emits less C02 than countries like Canada. According to 2017 data provided by Statista, Canada produces 14.91 metric tons of carbon per capita versus China’s 6.57 metric tons.

Obviously, there are major fundamental differences between the two countries. China has a massive population (over 1.4 billion) whereas Canada’s population is less than 40 million. Canada has high emissions per capita because our country is massive with many living in rural communities.

In 2011, Stats Canada reported that 18.9% of Canadians lived in rural areas. An area is considered “rural” if it has less than 1000 residents. Many Canadians still live in small communities of less than 30,000. As a result, this requires massive amounts of energy (which emits carbon) to transport things like oil/gas that provide Canadians with the energy they need for their communities.

The issue with China is there seems to be little to no regard by the Chinese Communist Party to slow down the countries carbon emissions. In 1990, China’s emissions were less than a quarter of all developed nations but during the years between 1990 and 2019, China’s emissions tripled. While the CCP continues to come out and publicly support things like the Paris Climate Accord – their actions continue to counteract their words.

For instance, “China’s new coal power plant capacity in 2020 more than three times rest of world’s” was a headline reported by Reuters. As the rest of the world races away from coal – China continues to build more coal-fired plants that it doesn’t need. China burns 47 percent of the world’s coal, roughly equal to the amount used by all other countries combined according to the New York Times.

It isn’t just carbon that China disregards but basic protections for the environment are also disregarded in the pursuit of economic growth. According to Prof. Michael Webber from the University of Melbourne, Australia, of the 12,226 water sites monitored across the country “just 35% have water of good quality, another 32% are suitable for water supply, 20% are suitable for industrial or agricultural use – but not for human contact – and 13% are useless.”

The professor noted that “even in Shanghai, one of China’s richest, most environmentally-aware and modern cities, 52 out of 65 monitoring sites have water not suitable for human contact.” So I guess the question is – why are we punishing Canadians through a carbon tax when one of the world’s biggest populations disregards the environment altogether? We could destroy our economy in the name of “the environment” and we would still make a negligible impact on carbon output in the grand scheme of things – what’s the point?

Before the environmentalists sound off – there are much more important factors to the environment than carbon output. Things like the way you treat your water, manage your nation’s forestry, manage waste and other components critical to the good governance of the environment. Carbon emissions don’t equal the environment but are rather one small component of a much bigger picture.

The world isn’t going to “burn up” if we don’t agree to give politicians who waste our taxes more of our tax dollars. The environment changes all the time but I don’t believe in the notion of catastrophic climate change. The idea that if I don’t support a radical syphoning of the taxpayers money to the government for “green” initiatives that I’m a “climate denier.”

The state of our nations water ways, forests, air quality and wildlife is more important than carbon output. If you’re taking care of the air, water, forests and wildlife than by default your taking care of the environment.

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Photo by Photoholgic on Unsplash