Jon Coifman's Blog
You Make It, You Bought It
June 21, 2007
Posted by Jon Coifman in Greening China , Solving Global Warming
According to the Associated Press and other sources today, China is pushing back on Western observers who are spotlighting the country's rising CO2 emissions (which may or may not have surpassed ours, depending on who you believe). In the past, the government has made its case on fairness grounds, emphasizing China's status as a developing nation.
But here, the Foreign Ministry spokesman seems to take a different tack, saying that industrial nations share responsibility for the emissions because we have shifted so much of our industry to China.
In effect this view would assign responsibility for emissions to consumers rather than producers, at least at the international level -- a total reversal of today's operating practice.
I can't imagine this holds much water from any sort of legal or intergovernmental standpoint -- wherein you make it you bought it -- it is an interesting way to look at the issue. Phrased in the right way from the perspective of a domestic conversation in the US, the idea that we are indeed outsourcing our pollution may help defuse the Evil Empire rhetoric about China's emissions (coming mostly from climate action opponents, of course).
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