Chinese Pollution Is Out Of Control

By Joshua Berlinger and Gus Lubin | Business Insider – Fri, 23 Nov, 2012 1:41 PM EST

China is destroying the world.

Well, pretty much every country is having a negative impact on the environment, according to the UN's Emissions Gap Report 2012, but China is doing the most damage.

A full 22 percent of global emissions come from China, compared to 13 percent from the US and 10 percent from the EU.

China pollutes much more than the US despite having around one third as large a GDP. This can be attributed to China's rapid expansion, heavy reliance on coal, and weak regulations.

Targets to reduce emissions for China and other countries are mostly too weak or unrealistic, according to the report.

“[T]he sobering fact remains that a transition to a low carbon, inclusive Green Economy is happening far too slowly and the opportunity for meeting the 44 gigatonnes target is narrowing annually,” UN Under-Secretary General Achim Steiner said .

Check out the top 15 offenders:

Country Share of global
emissions (% world
total 2010)		  
China 22.0%  
United States 13.0%  
European Union 10.0%  
India 5.4%  
Russia 5.0%  
Indonesia 3.9%  
Brazil 3.2%  
Japan 2.8%  
Democratic Republic of Congo 2.2%  
Canada 1.5%  
Mexico 1.3%  
South Korea 1.3%  
Australia 1.3%  
Iran 1.1%  
Central AfricanRepublic 1.0%  

Don't Miss: China's pollution looks awful in comparison to the U.S. >



More From Business Insider
Search