Time to Get Tough with China?

 

In some provinces you can't go into bars or restaurants without a vaccine "passport," proof that you have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine. Next month Canadians will be able to travel to the States again but, likewise, you'll need to have that vaccine passport. Airlines require it. So too do most foreign nations allowing Canadians to visit. 

China recently announced it was backsliding on its promise to slash greenhouse gas emissions in line with the international consensus. Instead, China will continue expanding its extensive network of thermal coal electricity generating plants, promising, sort of, that it'll catch up later. This with just two weeks to go before the opening of the COP 26 climate summit in Glasgow.

China's intransigence is bad enough. Worse still is the effect it may have on other nations also dependent on coal-fueled power plants. That, in turn, is compounded by the critically tight deadlines we're on to decarbonize the global economy - 50 per cent by 2030, net zero by 2050. 

Meeting those reductions within these narrow timelines will take a powerful consensus. The Montreal Protocol to restore the damaged ozone layer would have been hobbled without a similar consensus.

China poses a serious threat to the climate consensus. Waiting for China to climb back aboard is not  realistic or tolerable.  Maybe it's time to tell China that superpower doesn't work as it did for the US after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

A couple of ideas. A cap on fossil fuel sales to China, a twist on the "polluter pays" idea. If China won't wean itself off coal, give them a reason to rethink their refusal. Match that up with stiff carbon tariffs on Chinese exports, the whole shebang. Put a carbon price on Chinese goods. 

China says it's going back to coal to protect its economy. Fine, go after its already wobbly economy. Tell China it can't prop up its economy on the backs of humanity, not when there's so much at stake. This may be our only chance to defend the Paris consensus. Who knows, it might even send a message to some other countries.

Comments

  1. Carbon tariffs, not just for China but for all imports, seem like the way to go, Mound. My guess is they will never happen. Domestic populations would be outraged at paying higher prices and would take it out on their politicians.

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    Replies
    1. I agree it will never happen. We don't have the sand for that sort of thing, Lorne, and we never will so long as our leaders are acolytes for neoliberal globalism. As you point out we've become enfeebled from the consumer/citizen to the highest offices in the land.

      Can you imagine what awaits if, as many American pundits contend, Trump is returned to the White House in 2025?

      Delete
  2. On a positive note

    https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/oct/14/skelleftea-swedish-plywood-eco-town-20-storey-wooden-skyscraper-worlds-tallest

    TB

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    Replies
    1. Ah, those pesky Swedes. Vancouver has approved a 21-storey tower. We'll up them by one full storey. So there!

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    2. I bet a sheet of plywood you raised me a 2 x 4.
      Any takers on sheet of OSB ?

      The eco attitude of the city that the building has been built in is quite unlike anything around here in pipeline country.

      Whilst witnessing the destruction of Lytton after the fire I saw the all steam ahead pipeline crews working down the Fraser Valley.
      Today I was on the site where these guys will , and have, operate.
      http://wcmrc.com/

      Last fall I was on the worksite where these guys were working with Canadian Coastguard to contain the spill from a 1960' s shipwreck.
      The dovetailing of the operations left no doubt in my mind that the Canadian Government and the oil industry are part and parcel of the same organisation!!

      Apologies for wandering off subject.

      TB

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    3. They are joined at the hip, TB, especially when you add in the RCMP.

      Delete

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