Global Labor Strategies

China's Challenge: Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gases

Labor movements around the world are beginning to confront the consequences of global warming. Big changes are in store over the next few decades whether humanity acts, or fails to act, to effectively address global warming.  What happens in China, the world’s fastest growing economy and now the largest total emitter of greenhouse gases, matters to people everywhere. But like the rest of the world, China seems trapped in an unsustainable economy with dire consequences for us all.

A toxic haze

In our last post, following our return from a trip to China in April and early May, we wrote about some of the environmental consequences of China’s rapidly growing dependence on private automobiles.  The exhaust fumes from those cars mingles with the smoke from the mills, factories, and coal fired power plants that ring China’s big cities to form a toxic haze that takes a high toll in lives and money. The World Health Organization estimates that about 656,000 people each year die prematurely as result of all types of air pollution.

Air pollution is a major public issue in China, one that elicits public protests, press attention, and increasingly, government action.  The old idea of industrialization first, environment later is slowly giving way to a more nuanced approach to development. The Chinese government is taking steps to reduce air pollution. Higher quality gasoline is now being sold in China; automobile emission controls and tougher mileage standards are being phased in; new scrubbing technology is being built into (some) new coal power plants; more efficient boilers are coming on line in buildings and factories; new energy saving building codes have been enacted in Beijing and elsewhere; public transport systems are expanding; and some steel mills and power plants are being moved away from big cities.

Global attention is focused on Beijing’s air pollution as this year’s Olympics Games draws near. Athletes have expressed concerns about the health hazards of breathing Beijing’s air: world record marathoner Haile Gebrselassie, has actually opted out of running the marathon.  In response, authorities in Beijing have instituted additional measures to reduce pollution: construction will temporarily be halted to keep down dust and fumes; alternate day car use schemes will be put in place to reduce traffic; and the operation of polluting mills, factories, and power plants will be halted or curtailed.

Driving Dangerously

(GLS staff members have returned from a visit to Beijing and Shanghai in April and early May. This is the first of a number of posts prompted by the trip that will appear over the next month or so.)

According to a new report, China has now surpassed the US as the world’s largest total emitter of greenhouse gasses. (Of course, the US retains the dubious honor of leading the world in per captia emissions.) This raises the question: is it possible for China and the developing world to find a path to sustainable development at a pace necessary to raise hundreds of millions of people out of poverty while reducing greenhouse gas emissions? Given the current development trajectory, there is reason to worry.

One thumbnail measure of how aggressive a country is in combating global warming is how easy it is to cross a city street. This tells you a lot about which mode of transportation is privileged by law and public policy: do non-polluting pedestrians and bicycles have the right-of-way, or do carbon spewing motor vehicles? In China, the answer in cities like Beijing and Shanghai becomes clear as soon as you step onto the street on the walk signal: cars, trucks, and buses, utilizing the right on red rule, regularly honk and push through the throngs of people on the cross walks. Pedestrians and bicyclists beware.

China has plunged headlong into the automobile culture and on China’s roads, the car is now king. Gone are the massed pelotons of workers riding bicycles home at rush hour, replaced now by traffic jams of cars, taxis, and buses and (on a more positive note) subway cars loaded to “crush” capacity. While bike lanes are still a fixture on Chinese roads, and many in Beijing and Shanghai still ride bikes or electric mopeds, one now has to travel to European cities like Copenhagen and Amsterdam to find genuinely bicycle friendly big cities.

While Beijing and Shanghai both have clean and efficient subway systems that would be the envy of any city, they are hopelessly overburdened and do not yet provide adequate coverage in these rapidly sprawling cities. New public transport is desperately needed and some is on the way.

But, China has massively invested in the internal combustion engine. It has built a world class road and highway system in much of the country. Automobile production is growing by double digits every year: according the Beijing Review, production in the first quarter of this year was up 20% and by 24% in March.  Each day 1300 new cars join the 3.35 million vehicles already on Beijing’s roads.