China is the biggest climate sinner in the world - and is itself suffering massively from climate change
Created: 07/06/2022, 10:16 am
From: China.Table
In June, the city of Nanchang in southern China was hit by floods.
© Wang Guohong/Xinhua/Imago
Floods, drought, landslides: China is showing the full extent of climate change.
But the government in Beijing is taking countermeasures – with some surprising ideas.
China is responsible for around 30 percent of global CO₂ emissions and is itself suffering massively from man-made climate change.
The government is trying to take countermeasures – including with so-called “sponge cities”.
These should help to defy climate change.
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available to IPPEN.MEDIA
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China.Table
first published it
on July 4, 2022.
Beijing – 40 degrees Celsius and more in the north-east.
Heavy rain and flooding, which swept away cars and houses, in parts of southern China – there have also been extreme weather events recently in the People's Republic.
There were landslides as a result of the heavy rain.
Five people died after their home was swept away by the floodwaters.
In the province of Henan, with almost 100 million inhabitants, temperatures climbed to over 40 degrees for several days.
The People's Republic of China is now the biggest climate sinner and is responsible for a good 30 percent of global CO₂ emissions.
At the same time, the country is a major victim of climate change.
China threatens to lose up to 20 percent of its harvests.
Flooding threatens infrastructure and heat waves not only affect people's health but also reduce their labor productivity.
The government sees climate change as a "major risk to China's modernization," according to the new "National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy 2035."
The adjustment aims to reduce damage and economic costs.
Because even if the world community achieves its climate goals, the consequences of climate change will not disappear immediately and the damage caused by climate change will initially continue to increase.
Released CO₂ remains in the atmosphere for a long time and damages the climate for decades.
Adapting to these new conditions to mitigate harm is seen as important.
China: "sponge cities" to defy climate change
The strategy for climate protection in China contains a colorful bouquet of measures.
Due to the high rate of urbanization, a large part of the damage caused by climate change occurs in cities.
The plan provides for the expansion of other so-called "sponge cities".
They should be able to cope better with extreme rainfall and flooding.
The sealing of the cities by roads and other infrastructure is to be broken up a bit.
But the conversion of the cities into sponge cities is slowed down by financial problems.
The 16 cities that were supposed to become sponge cities in an initial pilot program have received only two billion euros in support from the central government - far too little for an effective restructuring of the infrastructure.
The new climate strategy also contains passages for better financing of measures.
But she does not give any details about the amount of funding.
More parks and gardens in the cities should also ensure that more rainwater can be absorbed and the urban climate is improved.
In addition, China wants to adapt the infrastructure to climate change.
This includes a power grid that is better protected against extreme weather.
How seriously climate change is taken is reflected in the planned adjustment of building standards.
In the future, buildings should be able to withstand stronger winds, and the foundations should be built more stably to protect the buildings against flooding.
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In the northern Chinese "sponge city" of Qian'an, a special floor covering ensures that water can drain off better.
© Mu Yu/Xinhua/Imago
China is developing heat-resistant crops and animal species
In order to ensure future food supplies, China wants to develop plants and animal species that are adapted to climate change.
Heatwaves and droughts severely threaten China's future harvests.
Chinese researchers are therefore working on research into heat-resistant species.
First successes were achieved in rice and two genes were found that could improve harvests under heat stress.
The researchers hope to implant these genes in other species as well.
In addition, the government wants to present an action plan to improve the quality of agricultural soils.
Due to the high use of pesticides and pollution from industrial processes, China's soils have suffered massively in recent decades.
The health system should also be adapted to climate change.
Due to increased and longer heat waves, older people in particular are severely affected by climate change.
The government wants to check whether the health system is prepared for this.
For example, an early warning system for climate-related diseases and damage to health is to be set up.
Early warning systems should also minimize the damage caused by climate change in other areas as far as possible.
Companies and banks should disclose their climate risks as soon as possible.
This is to prevent financial crises.
If too many companies invest in fossil sectors that will no longer generate profits in the future, the banks and then the economy would get into trouble.
These are the largest cities in China
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China: Unrealistic targets for climate predictions
China is also striving for improvements in the field of climate and weather forecasts.
Major weather events should be reliably predicted a month in advance, and global climate anomalies even a year in advance.
Experts doubt that detailed forecasts for such large periods of time are even possible.
China presented a strategy for adapting to climate change in 2013.
The strategy that has now been published does not give the responsible authorities good marks:
Existing measures for adaptation are insufficient,
the competent authorities did not yet include the issue in their work priorities,
the complexity and diverse threats to social and economic systems posed by climate change are not yet well understood.
Greenpeace East Asia's Li Shuo agrees with this assessment.
Adaptation is a difficult issue that is difficult to attract political attention and funding.
"China is only taking the first steps in adapting to climate change," said Li. After the renewal of the strategy, it remains to be seen whether the central government will be able to "mobilize all those responsible in the region and all sectors for climate change adaptation".
China: Financing the measures is problematic
So far, the regions and some responsible ministries have not paid enough attention to the issue, says Patrick Verkooijen.
"We are working to improve adaptation policies and governance at the national and regional levels," said the CEO of the Global Center on Adaptation.
The organization is an international partner of the Chinese Ministry of Environment and is involved in the implementation of the adaptation strategy and the development of adaptation strategies at provincial level.
Funding is also a problem.
In the past, the central government has provided little budgetary support for adaptation.
Funds have been approved for flood protection and drought control, but experts say that's not enough given the severity of climate change.
By Nico Beckert
Nico Beckert has been the editor for the
Table.Media Professional Briefings
since January 2021
.
His main topics are German-Chinese relations, economy and finance, the New Silk Road and Chinese climate policy.
Previously, Beckert wrote as a freelance author for the
Tagesspiegel
and the
Freitag.
This article appeared on July 4, 2022 in the China.Table Professional Briefing newsletter - as part of a cooperation, it is now also available to the readers of the IPPEN.MEDIA portals.
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