Climate Change Mitigation Attempts in China - Research Paper Example

? Final Research Paper Introduction Climate change is considered as one of the key issues in the world. Climate change, as an issue, encompasses bothenvironment and economic growth. As stated by “United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change” (UNFCCC), a major portion of traditional and present international emissions is generated by developing nations. In order to satisfy the social and the developmental requirements, global emissions will increase considerably from developing nations. UNFCCC stipulates that every nation must protect the climate system for the welfare of present as well as future generations. On the basis of common and discriminated accountabilities and individual abilities, developed nations must play a key role in fighting climate change and its negative impacts. As a developing nation, China is required to provide considerable importance to the subject of climate change (China.org.cn., n.d.). The paper will describe climate change issues in China which has faced significant condemnation from other nations. The objective of the paper is to understand how China has been dealing with climate change issues. Climate Change Mitigation Attempts in China In China, “The National Coordination Committee on Climate Change” has issued a range of policies and requirements in relation to climate change. China is ranked in the second position among nations with respect to carbon emission mainly because of high level of fossil fuel emission. It is being claimed by global leaders that China’s population, which is nearly four times larger than that of the United States, is the biggest emitter of carbon. The business related decisions in China have intensely impacted the level of international carbon emission and these decisions are inspired by trends of financial growth, local environmental safety and technological development. In order to make reformation in the economy, China has commenced wide-ranging efforts for ensuring energy effectiveness and use of renewable power sources, resulting in lessening of energy concentration. China has recognized that economic development cannot be sustained in the long run without reversing the damage to the environmental resources, national structure, farming output and national environment. Ignorance of these aspects leads to environmental pollution and resource diminution. In the year 1990, China had developed “Inter-ministerial National Climate Change Coordinating Committee”, making it accountable for policies and measures to mitigate the climate change (Chandler, Schaeffer, Dadi, Shukla, Tudela, Davidson, & Alpan-Atamer, 2002). China’s Economic Responsibilities towards Climate Change China has confronted numerous environment-related issues due to its rapid economic development with respect to aviation, ports, energy resources and land resources among other aspects. China’s complex and corrupt bureaucratic system has faced criticisms for ineffective environmental policies. In the year 2006, China’s carbon emissions surpassed by 8% those of the United States. This has generated immense pressure from other nations calling for strengthening of the climate policy of the nation (PBL, 2007). China has also faced immense stress due to climate issue internally. The public of China have expressed grievances because of environmental issues. In China, the penalties for violation of carbon emission are too light. The organizations of China need to pay a maximum of one million Yuan for violating the rule of climate policy which is quite low in comparison to developing a waste treatment plant, costing approximately ten million Yuan (Liu, 2007). Thus, these low amounts of fine effectively enable organizations to violate federal instructions on environment. Several analysts suggest that the carbon emission in China can be as much as 20% more than the expectation. With respect to greenhouse gas emission, China has already surpassed the United States. According to the national figures, carbon emission of China increased almost 7.5% annually from 1997 to 2010. In contrast, the cumulative emission of every Chinese province had risen by 8.5% in the year 2010 representing 9.08 billion tonnes of carbon (Guardian News and Media Limited, 2012). China’s Policies on Climate Change China’s reluctance to limit the effect on climate change is a significant element for the requirement of expansion of policies on climate. The specialists in China are quite concerned about the negative impact of climate change on the welfare and the future of the country. Due to climate change, China has already faced numerous natural calamities such as flooding, increase of water level in ocean, shrinkage of icebergs in Western China. Overall, China is highly susceptible to the issue of climate change. The increased awareness of harmful effects of climate change is a recent trend in China. However, there is increasing concentration on requirement of developing more stringent activities for mitigating climate change in China (Heggelund, 2007). The climate policy in China was being stagnant due to its constant resistance to emission reduction responsibilities. The climate change policies in China are influenced by interests and primacies of the few major players. Before economic reformation in the year 1998, the responsibility for developing policies for preventing climate change and environmental protection rested with “China Metrological Administration” (CMA). Nowadays, CMA and “Chinese Academy of Sciences” (CAS) both play a vital part in taking action against climate change. Considering the natural disasters such as flood, drought and other dangerous climate-related matters, the CMA and other associations arguably receive more attention. Chinese investigators are also involved in preparing national and global cooperation plans related to climate change problems (Heggelund, 2007). In multicultural policy context, Chinese administrators have to distinguish the climate change issue from numerous viewpoints. The involvement of China in the “Clean Development Mechanism” and utilization of renewable energy have influenced it to choose the “no-regret strategy” which focuses on mitigation of environmental issues. Irrespective of enduring resistance of China to environmental commitment, the nation has been accustomed with the climate policy in a timely fashion. China has reacted significantly to the growing global pressures on climate change issues (Chen, 2012). The objective of climate policy of China is to react to the climate change subjects and to achieve substantial accomplishments in regulating the carbon emission. The greenhouse gas emission in China is related to unconditional increase of production in the economy. Therefore, China has developed numerous policies related to energy, transportation and environment. China has enacted several principles and procedures for ensuring safety of natural environment. Substantial developments have been presented in the climate policy with compulsory implementation of “Euro Standards” in the cars. China has also banned the manufacturing of leaded petrol cars and the diesel cars must conform to the “Euro II Emission Standard”. The major intention behind these changes is to diminish the rate of air pollution in developed cities of China. China has also started to consider the environmental pollution at national level by car registration and proprietorship instruction. However, these aspects are not enforced properly. China has also implemented different measures for improving the energy efficiency. Yet, the energy policies of China necessitate strong regional, sectorial and departmental guidelines in order to implement them properly (Richerzhagen & Scholz, 2007). Conclusion In conclusion, it can be stated that the climate change policies in China are quite weak in comparison with other developed nations. The environmental programs in China have only been applied due to directorial measures. Despite enormous efforts to improve the climate, the actions of government of China are quite weak because of absence of encouragements and conflict of interests of different organizations which result in carelessness in environmental actions. The regulations with respect to climate are quite broad in nature and do not furnish local administrators with precise direction on operation. Thus, in comparison with Western policies, Chinese regulations must be narrowed down and more mechanisms must be developed so that organizations are bound to obey the rules on environmental protection. Besides, China should also increase the awareness of the people along with business enterprises to make them learn about the negative impact of climate change and devise and articulate appropriate targets for environmental reforms. References China.org.cn. (n.d.). National climate change program. Retrieved from http://www.china.org.cn/english/environment/213624.htm#14 Chandler, W., Schaeffer, R., Dadi, Z., Shukla, P. R., Tudela, F., Davidson, O., & Alpan-Atamer, S. (2002). Climate change mitigation in developing countries. Retrieved from http://www.c2es.org/docUploads/dev_mitigation.pdf Chen, G. (2012). China's climate policy. United Kingdom: Routledge. Guardian News and Media Limited. (2012). Climate change rate could be faster than thought, study suggests. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jun/11/climate-change-china-carbon-emissions Heggelund, G. (2007). China’s climate change policy: domestic and international developments. Asian Perspective 31(2), pp. 155-191. Liu, J. (2007). Can China make the polluter pay? Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7000336.stm PBL. (2007). Chinese CO2 emissions in perspective. Retrieved from http://www.pbl.nl/en/news/pressreleases/2007/20070622ChineseCO2emissionsinperspective Richerzhagen, C., & Scholz, I. (2007). China’s capacities for mitigating climate change. Retrieved from http://www.die-gdi.de/CMS-Homepage/openwebcms3.nsf/(ynDK_contentByKey)/ADMR-7BRFAV/$FILE/ScholzRicharzhagen22-2007.pdf Read More