Sep 28, 2020 05:53 AM
(This post was last modified: Sep 28, 2020 08:35 PM by C C.)
Cynical Sindee: While Green morality in this collectivist's wet-dream Social Utopia can likewise consist of celebrating impotent promises and righteousness posturing... At least China probably won't be wasting money on otiose projects that merely further the appearance of accomplishing something. Stingy, reigning MarxMen are aware that noble talk alone is sufficient. (I.e., no need to stage a benevolent extravaganza to con voters when you're the only real Party in town.)
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'Two-headed beast': China's coal addiction erodes climate goals
https://phys.org/news/2020-09-two-headed...ction.html
INTRO: China's surprise pledge to slash its carbon footprint to zero by 2060 was met with cautious applause, but fresh spending on coal to rev up a virus-hit economy threatens to nullify its audacious bid to lead the world into a low carbon future.
The fossil fuel has powered China's economic surge over the last thirty years, and the nation burns about half the coal used globally each year. Between 2000 and 2018, its annual carbon emissions nearly tripled, and it now accounts for nearly a third of the world's total greenhouse gases linked to global warming.
Despite pledges to wean the economy off coal with the world's most ambitious investment in renewables, China's coal consumption climbed back in June this year to near the peak levels seen in 2013. That was in part due to a pivot back to coal after geopolitical uncertainty in the Saudi peninsula, China's main oil supplier.
But the coronavirus, which saw the Chinese economy contract for the first time in 30 years, also opened the taps from government lenders to build new coal plants to revive flatlining provincial economies... (MORE)
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'Two-headed beast': China's coal addiction erodes climate goals
https://phys.org/news/2020-09-two-headed...ction.html
INTRO: China's surprise pledge to slash its carbon footprint to zero by 2060 was met with cautious applause, but fresh spending on coal to rev up a virus-hit economy threatens to nullify its audacious bid to lead the world into a low carbon future.
The fossil fuel has powered China's economic surge over the last thirty years, and the nation burns about half the coal used globally each year. Between 2000 and 2018, its annual carbon emissions nearly tripled, and it now accounts for nearly a third of the world's total greenhouse gases linked to global warming.
Despite pledges to wean the economy off coal with the world's most ambitious investment in renewables, China's coal consumption climbed back in June this year to near the peak levels seen in 2013. That was in part due to a pivot back to coal after geopolitical uncertainty in the Saudi peninsula, China's main oil supplier.
But the coronavirus, which saw the Chinese economy contract for the first time in 30 years, also opened the taps from government lenders to build new coal plants to revive flatlining provincial economies... (MORE)