this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2025
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We could all hope that China would lead the world in climate change as the country is the world's biggest polluter (with coal consumption still on the rise as I wrote just in another thread).
However, China's is far away of any leadership when it comes to reduce carbon emission.
The scientists from the Climate Actions Tracker call China's recent announcement to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 7% to 10% by 2035 as 'disappointing' as China - given the country's size and economy - would need to cut emissions by around 30% for the world to be on track to the Paris goal.
According to the scientists, no country is on track to Paris, but while the EU and Brazil's climate actions are insufficient, China and India's are considered highly insufficient.
So it doesn't look like leadership.
It seems unfair to compare the pollution per capita of an industrial economy that is exporting lots of industrial goods with that of the service economy that is importing most of those industrial goods. To compare a region that is exporting solar panels to be with a region that is importing them.
There are undoubtedly corrections you can make to fairly compare China and Europe, and I don't know for sure if China is more green by those standards. But you're definitely not saying something meaningful.
@Tiresia@slrpnk.net
I wrote that recently in another thread, and it's true also here.
Your view is oversimplified to a degree that it is outright false.
However, it is not necessary to engage in such a discussion as it is not relevant here when we look at the data and how it is calculated.
According to the scientists at the Climate Action Tracker (CAT) cited in the linked report, China is behind by any metric, including by what the CAT scientists call a country's "fair share." This reflects the “common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in the light of different national circumstances”, as stated in the Paris agreement (Article 4.3),
Here you can find China's CAT rating. As you can see, China's 'policy and actions against fair share' is rated as insufficient, with its overall rating highly insufficient.
As you can also see in the CAT rating, no country is on track, but China is among those countries most behind by any comparative standards.