Previous posts on this blog have sought to debunk the myth that China is somehow a leader in "green energy" and that the United States should seek to emulate Chinese policies. (See here, here and here, for instance.) A new report (discussed here and here) from British Petroleum further rebuts the myth and suggests that China is further solidifying its distinction as the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases. The report concludes that China, which has a GDP less than half that of the United States, has nonetheless surpassed America as the largest consumer of energy derived from all sources. (China now consumes 20.3 percent of the world's energy, while the United States consumes only 19 percent.) The report also concludes that, in the last year, China increased its own energy consumption by 11.2 percent and its coal consumption by 10 percent. As a result, the report says, China now accounts for 48 percent of the world's annual coal consumption. In short, as previously explained on this blog, China's output is far more carbon intensive than that of the United States, undermining any assertion that China is a "leader" in green energy.
