Coal death toll in China growing...
New research from Tsinghua University found that an estimated 670,000 premature deaths from four diseases - strokes, lung cancer, coronary heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease - were linked to air pollution.
China has some pretty heavy pollution and smog problems, causing their air to be odorous, and sickening. In large cities like Beijing authorities on occasion recommend city residents not even leaving their houses due to the thick smog.
This is causing serious health problems for the Chinese. Things are so bad that a recent study found life expectancy to be about 5.5 years shorter in the parts of the country where coal pollution is more concentrated.
Sadly, the average Chinese citizen has no control over the country's energy supply, and he or she is the one breathing in toxic air everyday.
It's easy to blame China as the bad guy for burning so much coal in the first place, however the reason they are the worlds biggest polluter is because of the western worlds continuous demand for cheap services and goods made in China. The west is far from innocent.
Pollution is now the top cause of social unrest in the country, but also dictates peoples lives up to what they wear. I reported last week about 'trendy' smog masks appearing on the runways at China's Fashion Week, and was surprised at the response the article received, with people loving the idea of fashionable smog masks.
In my mind, the entry of smog masks into fashion is a sad reminder of the world we will be living in if we do not curb our dependence on fossil fuels. China in fact have picked up their game when it comes to combatting pollution and climate change, unlike Australia.
In 2013 China introduced a new Action Plan for Air Pollution Prevention and Control to reduce fossil fuel pollution and limit the proportion of coal in China’s energy mix to 55% by 2040. Also, in 2013 China installed more renewable energy capacity than fossil fuel or nuclear. They invested US$56.3 billion in renewable energy and is now home to 24% of the world’s renewable energy capacity.
China also recently introduced seven emissions trading schemes in five cities and two provinces. China’s emissions trading schemes cover emissions equivalent to 1.1 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide , making this the second largest carbon market in the world.
These are huge commitments. The elephant-in-the-room threatening to hold China back in combatting climate change and pollution is without a doubt external influences such as the nature of consumerism and cheap labour demand to make larger profits in the West, especially in the U.S.
President Barack Obama began a three-day visit to China today for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and a formal state visit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Climate change will be high on the agenda during summit talks. Because of the need for US-China cooperation on climate change, some observers say it will be important for both countries to offer new commitments on stepping up efforts to address climate change.