China Air Pollution Problem Linked to U.S. and Europe Outsourcing Manufactured Goods
ByA contributor to the China's air pollution problem may not be their fault at all, as a new report says outsourcing from the U.S. and Europe is creating plenty of greenhouse gasses.
The Guardian reported a United Nations report draft states richer countries are paying to have certain goods manufactured in China and other rising economies. The products, however, are actually consumed mostly in the U.S. and Europe.
Obtained by the Guardian, the report comes from the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It says the rise of carbon emissions in China over the first decade of the 21st century is on par with the previous three decades.
For rising economies like China, the leading cause of the rise in carbon emissions is coal burning to power factories.
"A growing share of CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion in developing countries is released in the production of goods and services exported, notably from upper-middle-income countries to high-income countries," read the report. "A growing share of global emissions is released in the manufacture of products that are traded across international borders."
Comparatively, countries with a more modest middle-income have seen their carbon emissions grow slowly while the world's poorest countries have seen nearly no growth since 1990.
Other causes for pollution in countries becoming wealthier, like China, Brazil and India, are the rise in flights, automobiles and the resulting fuel consumption. Still, their greenhouse gas emissions per capita remain lower than the U.S. and Europe.
The U.S. may be starting to feel the repercussions, as CNN reported the country's west coast is being affected by China's air pollution.
Don Wuebbles, co-author of a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, said the western U.S. gets about 12 percent to 24 percent of its daily sulfate concentrations from pollution related to Chinese exports.
"Pollution from China is having an effect in the U.S., and we need to recognize how that is affecting both our background ozone levels and also particulates that are reaching the West Coast," he told CNN.
Both the IPCC report and new study show that carbon emissions and climate change are an issue that will require a global effort. Experts say air pollution can be addressed through global compliance with more responsible practices.
"If we are just looking at our national inventory to understand the emissions trends, it is just not telling the full picture of our impacts," Cynthia Cummis, a greenhouse gas expert at the World Resources Institute, told the Guardian. "We need to understand the full life cycle of all the goods and services that we are purchasing and selling."