China Has Emitted Most Greenhouse Gases - Cnn Report

1. Introduction

The rising costs and impact of environmental issues have increasingly come to the attention of global leaders. In fact, the environmental externalities have cost China $250 billion annually (Srinivasan et al 2007, 1). While environmental concerns used to be deemed as a blockage towards economic growth, leaders of Asian countries have now realised that a green economy is actually the ultimate driver for sustainable growth. However, the existing ecological and environmental damage is exerting great pressure for economic transformation. Furthermore, the traditional labor intensive and pollution intensive manufacturing industries have it difficult for Asian countries to seek a way out. Therefore, original solutions have be come up with to achieve green economy for Asian countries.

In this report, the existing problems of unsustainable economic growth of Asian countries will be elaborated, and the reasons behind will be explored. Furthermore, current efforts of green economy by Asian leaders will be discussed and relevant recommendations will be made.

2. Issues

According to the authoritative online statistics center Statista (2015), 6 among the top ten emitters in 2015 are Asian countries; especially, China has emitted most greenhouse gases, accounting for 28% of total emission in 2015. From this result, it can be observed that Asian countries still suffer from an ill-balanced economic structure that relies on pollution-intensive manufacturing industries. Also, a documentary by CNN (2015) also reveals the serious smog pollution in Beijing, further collaborating the lack of green economy in China, the largest Asian country. Other Asian countries also are faced with environmentally damaging economic patterns. For instance, studies suggest that the manufacturing industries in South Korea and Japan have caused transboundary atmospheric and maritime pollution, and these countries have an unfunctional collaborative mechanism to counter the issue, causing great economic loss (Drift 2003). In India, the situation is equally worrying. It is reported that the last two decades of rapid growth in india has depleted “energy and natural resources related to water, land and forests” (Banerjee and Sood 2012, iii). Though green efforts such as hydroelectric power projects have been launched in India, they have actually resulted in further displacement and depletion of resources. Unsustainable economic practices not affect the largest Asian countries, other small countries are also victims. For example, Indonesia suffers from deforestation due to palm oil production, resulting in a loss of vital carbon sink (Gilbert 2012).

Currently, many Asian countries have already realized the seriousness of the issue and has taken many measures to shift the development pattern towards a green economy. For instance, Thailand has proposed “Sufficiency Economy”, China has been advocating “Ecological Civilization”, and Japan has initiated 3R green economy initiative. Furthermore, Cambodia, India, the Republic of Korea and others now have in place national and local strategies and action plans about green economy pathways. Statistically, renewable energy investment has increased by 47% and amounts to US$43.3 billion in Asia-Oceania region (UNEP 2015). These all signal an increasing awareness and effort of Asian countries to turn to green economy. Therefore, there is great hope for Asian countries to have original solutions to counter green issues.