How Green Is China? And Why?

When it comes to politics – or government, a good rule to follow, when trying to figure why a candidate – or a government – is doing something is to follow the money or, perhaps even more importantly, to follow the power.  Which brings me to the question of “How green is China”?

Some “climateers” think China is great because it is building more electric vehicles than any other country, it is the world’s leading producer of solar batteries, etc.  But, look at a couple of other things.  China is, by far, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, and it has promised to start reducing its emission of greenhouse gases only in 2030.  China is also building coal-powered electricity generating plants, far more than the rest of the world combined.

It is true that China is pushing to get more energy from green sources.  As I mentioned, they are the leading producer of in solar panels, and they are building the most electric cars.  Also, they are working on improving battery technology for storing electricity.  But is China doing all of this to save the planet or is there another explanation?

I would suggest the latter.  China has virtually no domestic supplies of oil and gas.  If they want oil and gas, they have to import it.  They can get some from Russia, via pipelines, but they need more than that, and I doubt they want to become too beholden to Vladimir Putin.  So they have to buy oil and gas from other countries.  That oil and gas has to be imported in ships.  While China has a growing navy, they can’t guarantee that, in a crisis, the oil and gas ships would get through a blockade.

Which is one reason China is still building coal-burning power plants.  They have coal and they can get coal from North Korea.  Obviously, buying coal from North Korea breaches United Nations resolutions on trading with North Korea, but I doubt China cares about that.  Still, coal plus oil and gas from Russia cannot produce all of the energy China needs.

Which gets to the point of China going green: ending, or at least greatly reducing, its dependence on the outside world for energy.  If China doesn’t want to be dependent on foreign sources for energy, going green is part of the solution.  Wind and solar may not be there all the time, but they can’t be blockaded.  Electric cars still require power, but they don’t need oil.  And electricity can come from coal, when necessary, because China has coal.

In other words, China’s push for renewable energy and electric cars, etc., is not because China is committed to climate change goals.  That may sound good when Xi Jinping talks in international forums, but what China’s green push is really about is power and China not wanting to be dependent on other countries, especially potential adversaries, for its energy.