Impact of Emerging Markets on the Global Natural Environment - Essay Example

Impact of Emerging Markets on the Global Natural Environment Emerging markets comprise those markets that are promising for doing business in future but do not match the economic characteristics of developed countries’ markets. Emerging markets are attractive and favour operations of international corporations. Today, China and India are considered among the top emerging markets. Although important to global economy, the economic rise of China and India significantly influences different global aspects. This paper discusses the influence of the economic growth of China and India to the global natural environment and shows that overall, the economic growth of China and India contributes more to harming the global natural environment than preserving it. Different specific factors make China and India to be considered emerging markets. First, India and China are large countries and their land mass accounts for a significant portion of the total world’s land. Additionally, the population of China and India combined account for above 30 percent of the total population of the world. Furthermore, the economic characteristics of China and India are highly favourable, even as the Gross Domestic Product of China and India together stand at $16.3 trillion (Lynn, Wang and Mehlum 21). Most importantly, China and India are considered to exhibit a significant level of stability, thus it is predicted that these two countries will experience a long-term economic growth. China and India are the world countries with the largest and rapidly expanding segments of the middle class in their populations. It is projected that in the next three years, the middle class population of China and India will have doubled, and in the next ten years, this will be at approximately 800 million (Lynn, Wang and Mehlum 21). This implies that the demand for consumer goods, real estate and other goods and services in these two countries will increase significantly. The high economic capability of China and India coupled with an enormous segment of the middle class population will result to creation of immense wealth and make these two countries more competitive and attractive as future global markets. Although this is an important economic aspect that should be viewed as advantageous to the global community, a major concern that remains is: what is the implication of all this to the global natural environment? This is mainly because there is an association between the concepts of environment and sustainability, and production and consumption. Environmental conservation and sustainability concept continues to receive great focus by different world countries today, even as the world grapples with the consequences of global warming. For the survival of future generations, countries continue to be encouraged to practise environmental conservation and sustainability in order to alleviate the severity of global warming. Both China and India are currently expanding economically and reaching out into other continents including Africa. This means that China and India have operations in international countries and they will expand to more countries. In this case, it implies that the natural environment of the host countries across the world will be under the influence of the economic operations of China and China. The rise of China and India as economically powerful countries continues to have a major impact on the global natural environment. However, China unlike India has the greatest environmental impact across the globe. In the year 2006, it was announced that China had become the world’s number one emitter of Greenhouse, a position that was previously held by the U.S. (The Economist Web). Today, China remains the world’s worst polluter, and this poses immense risks to the global natural environment. The rise of China as an economic powerful country was accompanied with increased industrialization level. The high pollution level in China is a universal problem. No matter what country or continent a person lives on, pollution in other areas across the world will affect them, as the whole world shares the same atmosphere, thus people breathe the same air. Therefore, even the greenest country in the world will be affected by pollution from the world’s worst polluter. The increased levels of industrialization and urbanization in China require it to utilise a large amount of energy in order for effective industrial operations. China relies highly on coal as its major source of energy for its energy needs despite the fact that coal is the “dirtiest” source of energy. This has made China to become the highest consumer of coal in the world wide, and consequently making it the greatest emitter of greenhouse gases with an increase of 10 percent green house gasses emission every year (The Economist Web). The air quality in China is poor; people breathe air that is loaded with poisonous substances, and this has led to an increase in deaths from cancer and respiratory diseases. Findings of a research conducted by Nature Communications indicate that the high level of pollution in China has a significant influence on the weather patterns across the world. In total, the pollution from the Asian continent rises six miles into the upper atmosphere and in return has an effect on the intensity of storm and formation of clouds and eventually influences the climate and air circulations of the whole world. This study also confirmed that the 7 percent increase in the level of precipitation in the northwest Pacific area as well as the increased intensity of winter cyclones in this area were as a result of the high level of pollution from the Asian continent, of which China makes the most contribution (Jakuboski Web). The countries neighbouring China such as Japan and South Korea have become concerned about the natural environmental condition of China, as this has begun to affect them. China’s neighbours often experience acidic rains and smog that results from the pollution in China, and this is affecting their populations in a detrimental manner. In the year 2003, this environmental issue led to China, Japan and South Korea to add air pollution and climate change as one of the major diplomatic issues between them that they needed to address (Xu Web). This therefore, shows that the pollution resulting from the economic advancement of China affects other countries and not China alone. A 2013 study by Lin Jintai et al had findings that indicate that the air pollution in China has a high influence on the United States and the global natural environment. The researchers noted that the high level of pollution in China is due to the large-scale manufacture of products for foreign consumption. In their analysis of the effect of the economic-related air pollution in China on the natural global environment, Lin Jintai et al linked atmospheric chemical transport modeling and an economic-emission analysis (1736). Findings show that in the year 2006, more than 20% of carbon monoxide, close to 40% of anthropogenic sulphur dioxide, almost 20 %of black carbon and 27% of nitrogen oxides that China emitted were linked with the manufacture of products for export to foreign countries. Additionally, the study found that for each of these pollutants, more than 20% accounted for the manufacture of goods for export to the US market (Jintai et al 1738). The atmospheric modeling results of Jintai et al study indicated that in the year 2006, the transport of export-related emissions in China accounted for 3 – 10% of annual mean surface sulphate concentrations and up to 1.5% of ozone over western U.S atmosphere. Furthermore, this export-related pollution of China caused Los Angeles and many regions in the eastern U.S to experience one or more days of noncompliance with the US Ozone standard. The western U.S was more affected, even as in 2006, the export-related Chinese pollution increased the sulphate percentages in this region by almost 25% daily (Jintai et al 1739). On the other hand, as compared to China, the pollution levels of India are significantly low and have no major impact on the global natural environment as China’s. In 2007, India was ranked as the third emitter of carbon dioxide in the world, with China and the US taking the first and second positions respectively. However, the gap between the emission of India and China was high, as India emitted 1610 million tonnes while China emitted 6538 million tonnes of Carbon dioxide (Saraswati and Mukherjee Web). In India, New Delhi is the most air polluted city and its pollution level almost levels with that of Beijing (The Economist 2015, Web). The impact of India’s environmental pollution from its economic activities is however felt more at the local level than global level as in the case of China. Overall, the consumption level of the world is high, and being world producers, this puts pressure on China and India to produce more, thus increasing their emission levels from factories and eventually contributing to the degradation of the global natural environment. Evidently, the high economic growth in China and India translate into greater environmental degradation even at the global level. Currently, climate change and global warming is a major concern for most world countries and this has led different countries to re-evaluate their environmental strategies. The level of environmental awareness has increased in the world, since the global natural environment has been threatened. For instance, in January 2013, there was public concern over the new high pollution level that had caught up with China, leading to a total of 2.5 million posts on “smog” on different social media platforms. Additionally, more than a quarter of demonstrations in China are about the deteriorating environment in the country (The Economist Web). This shows that more people became aware of this environmental issue. Similarly, the high economic growth in China and India has led to considerable protective measures being adopted globally. In 2013, after China hit a new high of air pollution, the Chinese government adopted additional green-policies. For instance, the first carbon market in China was put in place, prosecution of environmental crimes became easier, and local officials were made to be more accountable for any air-quality problems that would rise in their areas, among other reforms that help to restrict air pollution in the country. Additionally, the Chinese government devoted to spend $275 on cleaning its air in the next five years (The Economist Web). On the other hand, India has adopted many strategies to promote environmental protection. For instance, there is adoption of anti-smog campaigns such as “Let Delhi Breathe.” The Ministry of Environment has also ensured the installation of monitors on chimneys in industries to collect data on emissions. India is also conducting a research that proposes the replacement of chimneys with brick kilns for smoke reduction. Subsidies have also been cut on fuel in India in order to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gasses emission (The Economist, 2015, Web). Nonetheless, different countries have adopted specific reforms and policies to promote environmental conservation but have failed terribly at implementing them effectively. The rising production and consumption in China and India as well as other emerging markets has significant influence on the local environments. Most of the emerging markets do not practice sustainable production and consumption. Since most emerging markets are highly industrializing and highly populated, this implies that production and consumption in these countries is high. Production in China is extraordinarily high because the U.S. and other countries outsource it for manufacture of a variety of their goods. Being a producer and a major emerging market, India also has a high level of production of goods. Some of the major markets in Africa are also involved in production but at a level lower than India and China. Production requires resources, of which mostly are raw materials drawn from the natural environment. Such raw materials include wood, minerals and food resources, among others. In most countries in Africa, the level of deforestation has shot due to the use of wood as a raw material the production process; yet deforestation degrades the environment. The level of mining has also increased in different producing countries, as minerals are used as raw materials in the production process. Since overconsumption is high, the demand for goods is equally high, therefore, the raw materials must be in plenty in order to match the production level that will satisfy the high demand in the market (SERI 20), resulting in the over-use of natural resources. For instance, minerals are non-renewable resources, and these are slowly getting depleted due to high production levels today, hence jeopardizing the survival of future generations (Saskatchewan Eco Network Web). Production takes place in mostly in factories and other plants, which require energy to function. China, India and other major markets in Africa are yet to adopt green energy as these rely mostly on fuel and coal, and China remains the largest consumer of coal in the world. Although China produces approximately half of the world’s coal, it still imports coal. Additionally, the amount of coal that China uses in production increases every year due to increased production. Fuel and coal are environmentally unfriendly as these are high in emission of greenhouse gases, hence their use by emerging markets pollute the local environment. Furthermore, the use of such non-renewable energy sources depletes them, and this is detrimental to the local environments of the producing countries (Hertwich Web). Conclusively, this paper has shown the effect of the economic rise of India and China as emerging markets on the global natural environment. Evidence shows that this has a detrimental effect on the global natural environment, with China being the worst polluter of the two countries. The high consumption levels have resulted in mass production of goods in these countries and this contributes to the emission of greenhouse gases which affect the environment adversely. This detrimental effect on the global natural environment by emerging markets has resulted in more environmental awareness among people across the globe and led o the adoption of various green policies, which however have faced a challenge in the implementation process. Nonetheless, although emerging markets bear economic advantages, it is necessary that stringent environmental international policies be adopted to regulate their production and environmental impact. Works Cited Hertwich Edgar et al. “Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Consumption and Production.” UNEP. 2010. Web. Jakuboski Samantha. “The Impact of Asian Air Pollution on the World’s Weather.” Green Science. 2014. Web. Lin Jintai et al. “China’s International Trade and Air Pollution in the United States.” Current Issue, Vol. 111, No. 5. Pp. 1736 – 1741. 2014. Lynn David, Wang Tim and Mehlum Cassondra. “Investing in Emerging Markets: China, India and Brazil.” Insider’s Perspective, Vol. 36, No. 2. Pp.21 – 26. 2011. Saraswati Lopamudra and Mukherjee Protap. “Impact of Population, Urbanization and Consumption Pattern on Environmental Degradation: A State-level Analysis of India.” 2014. Web. Saskatchewan Eco Network. “What you can do to reduce mining’s environmental impacts.” 2014. Web. SERI. “Overconsumption: Our Use of the World’s Natural Resources.” PDF. The Economist. “The East is Grey.” August 13, 2013. Web. The Economist. “Breathe Uneasy.” February 7, 2015. Web. Xu Beina. “China’s Environmental Crisis.” Council on Foreign Relations. 2014. Web. Read More