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1 thank you for the fair coverage of China. As an African I hate the bias and hypocrisy of the west and it's finger pointing 2 it's officially Communist Party of China (CPC)
I really appreciate you bringing up the consumerist side of it, that a significant amount of China's emissions are due to them having a lot of factories, producing goods for other countries.
Yeah we basically just exported our pollution to China. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we started manufacturing there around the same time we started enacting environmental regulations.
@@HydratedBeansno. They started industrializing in the 70’s and had a cheap labor force. They didn’t get strong armed into be a producer and manufacturing hub. You’re basically doing a “oh the poor second largest economy in the world, being forced to produce things for other countries, oh the humanity!” You know having stricter regulations on their manufacturing might help with those emissions. If an argument is that america isn’t doing enough in contrast to their wealth it’s kinda dishonest not argue the same for china. Like them producing stuff is somehow to their determent.
@@brianlowe904 I don't see how this argument would help. Why don't each country do their own parts for self-correction and improvement? China has realized the issues couple decades ago and taken significant actions since then. Honestly they have done way more than any other country and are continuing to do so. There's no point sitting there doing nothing but finger pointing to others.
I like how anyone from America can say that China is being wasteful when not only does China basically supply America with every good, but America has literally been the biggest oil and petroleum proponent, even perpetuating the false notion of global warming being a myth
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Let's not forget US is outputting almost as much co2 as China, while having a 4x smaller population and industry output compared to China, who produces more than the entire world combined
I like how Europhiles arrogantly fixate on America. While neglecting the pollution, caused by burning Polish coal. And neglecting the dependency of Putin's genocidal fossil fuels, which is costing Ukrainians thousands of lives. So thank you.
@@nc3826 Europe has done more for reducing pollution than the US. It's the American influence on Europe on why they haven't done more. America is controlled by corporations rather than the people. They have made majority of Americans uneducated, impulsive and short-term thinkers. This is why America has not moved off fossil fuels, war and other industries pioneered since WW2. Every other nation has developed and progressed culturally and economically. America won't even move off the imperial measuring system
So often I hear politicians using the excuse of China's massive carbon footprint to not address the carbon footprint of their own countries. A pretty pathetic attept to get out of their own responsibilities.
classic toxic western narrative. they dumped their trash to some poor asian country such as malaysia, thailand and philippine, then the media show the public these places r dirty, toxic waste etc….disgusting western media
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China has a crumpled tectonic plate, that has brought a lot of disadvantage to cutting down carbon emission. --Natural gas reserves are rare in China due to most of them have leaked in prehistoric continental movements. Switching to cleaner natural gas power in electricity generating is simply impossible, no international gas pipelines and LNG ship fleets have nearly enough capacity. The best China can do is to promote gas heating to replace old coal stoves and heaters, but this has caused a winter gas crisis in Hebei every year since the initiative being announced. --Highways and railways frequently have steep slopes in mountainous area, which makes up half of China. Trucks have worse fuel consumption in mountainous area, and almost all Chinese locomotives disproportionately have large traction power.
I dont really hear that, alot of Eu's countries and slowly going towards 3rd world to reach these goals while china just goes full speed. We can put the blame on this and that but at the end of the day its getting warmer and that is a fact.
It's absolutely insane how close China is getting to the United states in cumulative emissions when they only really started developing as an industrial nation 30 years ago, compared to America in the 19th centuty.
Finally the acknowledgement that needs to be raised. The US and Europe are a substantial part of the climate issue, let's not point fingers at others whilst we contribute significantly to emissions elsewhere. What's more, the emissions in the US alone are outrageously high per capita... It's so ridiculous.
That's true, but it's also not exactly the fault of Americans. The reason our emission outputs are so high is because we are a car-centric culture. And we are a car-centric culture because runaway capitalism made our cities into sprawling monstrosities, while everyone else in the world lives in walkable, dense urban landscapes.
@@heychrisfox how is that not the fault of American when American emits? It is not the fault of every single American and a lot comes from historic burden yea. But isn’t every country carrying its historic burden too?
"lets not point fingers at others" -> points fingers at U.S and Europe. At least in the U.S and Europe, people can protest and complain about the government to the point of causing change. Meanwhile this very video shows a clip of the protest where they're holding BLANK PIECES OF PAPER to show that they CANNOT speak out against their government without getting arrested and "disappeared", as is what happened to those protesters afterward. When you can't criticise the government, it does not change, and so it does not ACTUALLY start reducing its emissions, instead of just lying about doing so.
If there’s a case for optimism on China’s path to decarbonization, it’s that China has had a history so far of _exceeding_ their climate targets. Just on solar and wind power alone, the government set out for a goal of 1.2 terawatts by 2030. That number is likely to be closer to 3.3 terawatts according to new projections. Not only that, their battery innovation is good. On the 21st, CATL, a reputable Chinese battery company, unveiled a 500 Wh/kg (this beats out Tesla’s 272-296 figures) that will start production this year and likely enable aircraft electrification, not to mention the possible spillover into other modes of transportation, which was also similarly promised. As always, I can imagine concerns about resource extraction and land misuse, but developments like these do give me some hope that China knows what it’s doing.
China is also building hundreds of nuclear power plants as well. Sure nuclear is green until it spills out but still much better than doing nothing. China is the biggest polluter but also the only government that doesn’t just talk abou climate change but does things. If anyone is going to make a transition it’s gonna be China. Also the developed world needs to cut their consumption. A lots of regulations and planing needs to go into this.
Commercial aviation isnt being electrified, esspecially with something that has 5% the energy density of aviation fuel. Also, china plans on building 100GW more coal power. Their path to decarbonization isn't decarbonization, it's just building more energy infrastructure. China is already scaling back some of their original emissions targets.
@@fluoroantimonictippedcruis1537 plenty of short routes that can't be serviced by trains could use (and some are already operating) electric planes An increase in density means an increase in routes where the math works
Re: coal power plants. The oldest and dirtiest cold power plants have been shut and replaced by newer and more efficient ones, often better than german ones for example. They even built a huge, efficient one (in Inner Mongolia?) which operates at higher temperatures than any other in the world closer to coal mines so that you also save CO2 in coal transport. The power is transmitted east to more populous regions by ultra high voltage power lines co-developed with Siemens i think. They also did research and development on "greener" coal technology which shows in their newest plants.
If you want to know which country is contributing most to climate change then look at carbon footprint per capita. Because each chinese individual carbin footprint is much much lower than that of US or Qatar or Britain. Obviously as a country, India & China will pollute most because they are(1) Most Populated, (2) Developing economies For an instance, China has more Population than USA , Canada, Australia, New Zealand, European Union, Norway, Russia, Britain *COMBINED*
You’re not entirely correct though. Chinese per capita emissions are much higher than many European nations, including Britain. They’re also increasing each year while emissions in the Western world are falling.
@@uweengelmann3 according to world odometers it's 7.38 for China and 5.55 for the UK. But context is important, what does the UK produce? Because the alternative is that China doesn't produce what it does and instead another country replaces it, maybe another country which has much higher CO2 per capita. Context matters. Also the USA and Canada are around 15-18 which is significantly higher than China. The only way to win is for everyone to produce less and for us to consume less as well. Unless we find some magical way to sequester carbon faster than we make it.
@@TF2_n_n But that is exact the problem which the countries face. if they try to be ecofriendly, the energy costs rise much, the industry go to a country with cheaper energy and then the ecofriendly country has not much industry. How do we get 24/7 cheap energy which is ecofriendly? Wind and PV are not 24/7.
Thank you! Finally some fair assessment of the situation. One thing we should not loose track of is China is polluting because other countries outsourced their labor to China. So yes, technically China is polluting but as consequence of 1st world countries outsourcing their labor.
Despite being a large manufacturer of the goods that the world consumes, China has lower emissions per capita than many G6 countries. That's a statistic the news media doesn't like to report on probably because of the automotive industry.
@@TF2_n_n Emissions per capita isn't exactly a metric that matters, the Earth only recognizes net emissions. Emissions per capita cannot be fairly designated because in just about any configuration, the difference in size between small countries and big countries is enormous. There's no way to have emissions per capita in countries like China or Idea even approach that of smaller, more developed countries without causing irreversible environmental damage. Countries with large populations have a unique duty to not let that huge population result in environmental destruction. (US has a high population, too.)
I think it stands to be said though even if China isn't doing enough the nation is doing more than the US and many countries in Europe. Ultimately this has to be a global effort but those other nations need to foot the bill too.
It's easier to lie for PR about "doing more than the US and Europe" than it is to ACTUALLY do what is being said, though. You don't not have a massive air pollution problem, just because you shut down the factories during the Olympics to temporarily clear the sky. You don't have greenery, when it is just painted on and covered with mesh, to trick satellites. You don't have electric tractors, when it only exists as 3D renders cobbled together from free assets. You don't have "green energy" with solar panels that are not even connected to anywhere. You are not "doing more" if you're not actually DOING ANYTHING.
It’s the countries who are responsible for putting the most emissions into the atmosphere who actually need to have the biggest obligation to clean up their emissions and economy. I.e. the western world.
I lived in China for six years and in that relatively short time, they shut down a lot of coal power plants and moved their factories further from the city and I saw a noticeable change in the air quality. This is something that Western media never talks about, but there is a lot being done there in response to Climate Change.
I mean, the CCP's goal might still be left to be desired, but if they decided to set the bar higher, they can do it practically right away because they aren't subjected to the demand of the fossil fuel industries, which are all state-owned anyway, meaning they aren't operating on the same profit-seeking motive as in the West. In the US, for example, it doesn't matter if the upper administration can come up with the best plan, but they still have to contend with the influence and interests of the private corporations. And this is a feature, not a bug of the US politics, it allowed profit-seekers to throw a wrench inside, which will delay whatever good plans whenever once in a full moon that exist. This caused delays and eventually a compromise that only marginally take the US towards the climate goal. And the program is more expensive in the end because the large part of the initial budgeting are being drained by wasting time talking to corporations and other politicians that worked for their interests (US politicians are even allowed to remain a shareholder themselves).
@@freedomruss Never this fast! and never caused by human activity, as proven by the fact that 1)CO2 is scientifically known to trap heat 2)more of it is now being put into the atmosphere 3)the unprecedently fast increase in global average temperature corresponds exactly to CO2 emissions. and more, but I ain't a scientist.
Oh yeah, those FAST BREEDER reactors totally won't be used to produce weapons-grade material. All those holes they've dug for ICBMs definately won't be tipped with nuclear warheads. It's to achieve zero carbon. You know, after they first stop continuing to build coal plants.
Such a good and amazingly transparent researched video. Please keep going! I love to spend time learning about the world when the base is a video like that!
Great video OCC. There's a lot of misinformation about China out there, so this deep-dive was really interesting to clear up the lack of good information I had on this issue! Of course it's easy to blame China, but in the end it's our endless consumerism in the west which is driving the manufacturing and use of all this energy in China, so I loved that you discussed export emissions. PS: I am an ecologist who makes videos about ecological/political/climate issues, I'm picking up making videos again after a bit of a break, and I have a new video coming out soon if anyone is interested in these topics! :)
China isn't producing stuff out of love for the west. If the West wouldn't buy goods from China, the CCP would do everything to shift either to other countries of fuel domestic consumption. Not to mention that blaming consumers for climate change is just as lazy as blaming China
Isn’t it their own consumerism and greed that leads them to make and sell products in a way that harms the environment? Why is their greed an excuse for their carbon foot print?
I honestly get really annoyed when people say "china is the biggest polluter" IT IS NOT. We are all human, we are all the same, literally all that matters is carbon emissions PER CAPITA it is the only relevant statistic in "blame" for climate damage. And the USA is leading big time.
@@normanclatcher I think he means that we shouldn't lump people into groups like "China" or "USA", because if we look at the individual level (aka per capita) Americans and Qataris pollute way more.
@@normanclatcher Yes all people are the same, the same level of human. the average American pollutes far more than the average Chinese. And therefore we place a greater burden of responsibility on the USA to reduce carbon emissions. To think otherwise is to believe Chinese lives are worth less than American lives.
Look out for the Big oil propaganda of individual responsibility. From those Americans that pollute a lot, many of them pollute without their consent. Their "carbon footprint " includes emissions made by big oil, big cement companies. Chances are that your carbon footprint and mine are also increased because of companies polluting "in our name". We need to stop big companies, just guilting each other will only divide us
@@Orozus sorry if this wasn't clear. I mean to hold America AS a country, to a higher degree of responsibility, exactly because of this, because of the carbon emissions produced by the government and those at the top "on behalf" of the everyday citizens. Of course it would be good if the average American would consume less. But that isn't the main culprit of US emissions. Its lobbyists for the fossil fuel and auto industry, its the military industrial complex etc etc. Stuff that goes on without the permission of citizens. I can't remember the exact statistics but, if the US military was its own county it would be in something like the top ten of global polluters or something like that. I am calling for collective responsibility.
Right, my view on China has shifted considerably, the more I learned about politics & history. Without just gobbling up the propaganda my country fed me for my entire lifetime. I'm actually... Kinda liking China? 😂❤
Well done with your pronunciation! its refreshing. 发音很好啊！ *shenzhen: 'zh' is pronounced like a 'j' If you want to pronounce it as a 'z', you would pronounce the 'sh' as an 's' too (like: senzen). The southern accent often does this, turns the 'sh', 'zh', 'ch', (retroflex) into 's','z','ts'. Shaanxi (Shǎnxī) and Shanxi (shānxī ) are the same sound but with a different tone. Shaanxi is low then high. Shanxi is both high.
Nice video. I want to add two points you missed. 1. China also strongly advances long distance energy transmission - HVDC lines. They built 3000km line from west China to east China, which enables them to use solar resources in the west to power their cities on the east. This is incredibly important, because when the sun sets on the eastern cities it still shines in the west, decreasing the need for batteries. 2. China builds and the most nuclear power stations and it also leads in new reactor research. This is incredibly important, because nuclear is our only known carbonless baseload electricity source. It will greatly help decarbonisation.
@@letransformateur6477 Thank you. HVDC power lines are amazing technology, it is surprising almost nobody knows about it. We could connect continents with it and be able to send solar power from the sunny side to the night side of the planet, no batteries needed.
Just an FYI, Polymaters China series is not good at all. It gives some accurate information but then makes rather overreaching conclusions without further evidence to back up the claim. its more sensationalising over actual facts.
@@prasanth2601 its not those but lets be honest that is a very low bar. Polymatter does his research but only a bit more than the "China over" crowd but imo still very surface level.
Thank you so much for this video! Ever since I learned about this in college I’ve been waiting for someone to put something like this out. More people need to know. Hopefully this gets out to more people.
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To clarify, BYD's EV sales [12:22] include PHEVs and EVs. When only looking at EVs, BYD still had a great 2022 but did not beat Tesla in EV sales (as the headline states).
One also has to keep in mind that in regards to industrial development, China is at least a century behind the US and Europe. Their industrialization only kickstarted after 1949 and they first need to generate wealth in order to lift their population out of poverty before handling issues like climate change. The US and Europe had centuries to generate (and steal) the wealth they own today.
Except China has the advantage of all technology already existing instead of having to invent it first. The US and Europe were the ones that came up with the technology China uses today and were in fact the people that literally built modern industrial infrastructure in China. Chinas industrialization has been extremely rapid, but being the first countries to industrialize in the world is much harder than just having to walk the beaten path.
What you’re saying around the 10:00 mark gives me an idea - What if we treat clean energy like we treated the Space Race? What if we try to one-up each other in terms of who has the biggest solar park, or who can generate the least CO2 or even go negative?
Given the “dark side of renewables” I’m curious what your opinion of nuclear energy is, as the un pointed out we can’t abstain from it if we want to reach our goals in terms climate change if I remember right.
Nah, one cruise ship emits as much as 140mn cars and even counting those transportation is a quarter of emissions. Industry and power production is a much bigger polluter.
Excellent video! I've been having a hard time forming an opinion on the current state of the CPC/CCP and this video is very good summary of their environmental record. I've previously been impressed by their greenhouse gas per capita emissions but I think in some arguments I've had with family about this topic I've let this fact blindside myself to their continual coal plant opening and their lithium mining. Can't wait for part 2!
Not only is the usage of coal for manufacturing, but it’s also a massive asset to China in case of a conflict with the US such as an oil embargo, since although China has a lot of oil it’s not enough to last years, hence coal is unfortunately a strategic asset. Though this oil vulnerability is also what pushes them to simultaneously pursue green energy so you win some you lose some
@@ellebresych5282 Why? Because they have such a history of honestly reporting numbers, that totally don't just exist on paper? Because they have fields of solar panels...that have been shown to not even be plugged into anything? Why are they not expanding that "green energy", instead opening up many new coal plants?
Blocking the trend in down sizing of products for me is the easiest global change we can do, quickly and for free! The trend in our weekly food shopping of giving you less - for the same cost and same size packing is literally shipping air! Toilet rolls with bigger hole, crisp packets 1/4 full, cereal boxes 1/2 full etc... Would be easiy and cheap to force companies make more efficient use of packing! So fewer lorries and ships can carry the same amount of stuff.
This is along the lines of what i think NEEDS to happen soon, though i think its a half measure. I honestly think we need to make single use packaging illegal to produce for anything other than what is absolutely vital for medical equipment and the like. Of course this would require a significant change in infrastructure, and a lot of people would absolutely throw a fit when people who recognize the problem try to implement it, but its what we need to do if we want to see our civilization last the next 100 years.
This has done wonders for my research before a diplomatic conference. Clear, straight to the point, specific but not missing out any key details. Great video!
i used to live in china for 7 years when i was younger(im british) so this is a very interesting video for me, i remember a few times that everywhere was covered with smog n sometimes so badly that school was cancelled
Beijing saw huge improvements in air quality in the past 5 years. There are still occasional sand storms but satellite images show they come from Mongolia which China has no control of🥲
@@doctort2853 This is not what is shown. The air quality (as in, the index of the amount of pollution in it) is so high that it hits the max values of the tools used to measure it, and continues on to affect the air qualities of Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. You can't go by when they temporarily stopped factories and coal plants from running, to clear up the sky for the Olympics, as a "huge improvement".
@@Vaeldarg have you been there? I lived in Beijing for decades. The air quality saw huge improvements for the past 20 years. What you said was the old times.
@@Vaeldarg it is prolonged. 2008 made the biggest improvement. The air quality went back down just a bit after the Olympic but didn’t really go back to what it was before. And then the heavily polluted day per year steadily decreases. You can doubt the statistics, but I have totally seen it with my own eyes.
For being anti-capitalist this channel sure has a lot of links/ads that generate a ton of money (and consumerism) for the owners of the channel. What a bunch of hypocrites.
Love the contents, very objective. But as someone born and raised in Shenzhen.... I hate to point out that at 12:42 Shenzhen was misspelled to Shenzen...
Who is counting the population of China? Let me guess, the CCP. According to everybody else on, it has less than a billion with a ton of Chinese old and retired. China is in a serious problem for the next two decades. Did anybody mention their poverty? India, and not China has two billion educated citizens. Do I have to talk about tofu drag construction being biodegradable? Are you going to talk about hundreds of unemployed population? China is no longer the manufacturer of the planet.
That's not a good thing. This video is actually VERY misinformed about the true nature of China's climate infrastructure. It's a lot of literal smoke and proverbial mirrors.
5:20 For most of the time humans have been burning fossil fuels they didn't know it was killing the climate, and once they did there wasn't alternative solutions until the last few decades. So emissions over the last few decades are the most critical to take into account.
You: "Sure! China is the biggest popular today, but did you know that 200 years ago, blah blah blah blah usa bad, blah blah blah? That's why China totally, legit, no lie, *isn't* the world's biggest pollute-" Me: "K, byeeeeee"
With the CPC, its defiently an accurate statement that they say that they are "socialism with chinse characteristics" because ultimately its a transition, not instant, it takes time to transition from capitalism to socailism, They had to peddle backwards a bit, because if they didn't they would face economic sanctions as badly as the USSR except they wouldn't have a major trading ally (they would be with Cuba, Vietnam and North Korea, which are minor trading partners) edit: CPC not CCP Communist Party of China, not Chinese Communist Party Also the video even gets that incorrect
The more I learn about it the more in awe I am that China was able to outwit the US by keeping their heads down & playing the long game. I'm liking China more & more. We could learn a lot from them! What they do to rogue billionaires, for example. 👏
Given that military expenses of US took up around 3% of its GDP, cutting costs on war to the level of China's expense can support a) ambitious space projects b) be way more eco friendly
One thing to point out about the green wall of China is that they seem to have planted trees that don't grow well in arid regions, and have had to send water to keep the trees alive, all in the meantime they deforested other regions. That plan really needs to be adjusted. I'm glad they're making massive efforts tho. But yeah, it's not enough, and at times, not well planned.
Don't worry, they'll just slather on more green OIL paint on some hills. Staple more leaves (I kid you not, it's depressingly real..) onto dead trees, and throw dirt on top of concrete....
I think you are talking about China in desert management. In the past, in the north of China, there would be dust storms blowing in from the desert. Now vegetation that can easily survive in the desert is planted in the desert for sand fixation. Not trees that don't grow well. It's a sequence of different vegetation. Slowly, the desert is being turned into an oasis. This has been going on for more than 40 years. Even Alibaba's domestic e-commerce platform has a program where every user who goes and clicks will donate money to a desert treatment project.
@@Vaeldarg You're talking about two different things, he's talking about desert management. That painting the hills green, and putting dirt on the concrete, is for some local governments to deal with inspections from higher levels of government. The Chinese government has a minimum requirement for arable land, so it states that local governments cannot overexploit land that can be used to grow food. But local governments will overuse arable land for local revenue, or for some corruption issues. Then when they encounter inspections from higher levels, they will fudge.
Sending water to change the local climate does not mean deforest other areas, it depends on where the energy used coming from. If you see far, that’s a wise move
@@ilovejingle That's a big "if". The CCP don't actually see far, just as Mao did not actually see far. It's all short-sighted reactionary policies that end up being very UNwise.
What has planned obsolescence done for the climate? When do economists admit that planned obsolescence exist? Where is the data on the annual depreciation of durable consumer goods since Sputnik?
Hey dear OCC, I was thinking that it would be great if you could publish your video scripts for example on your patreon. You put so much effort and knowledge in your videos, I sometimes want to take notes and it would certainly help to be able to read the scripts after finishing a video, instead of having to rewatch it. :) Like that, people also might be able to internalize even more the content of your videos! Would love if you could think about it! Cheers
Great video! But nuclear is never mentioned. It produces as much electricity as wind in china and is an important part of the present and future energy mix
i'm so glad to hear that you'll be talking about the underbelly of the renewables movement. i feel like many people believe that renewables will save us, and any time i've mentioned that they are incredibly flawed "solutions", people seem to get mad
Is it really renewable if millions of acres of nature gets destroyed and gets replaced solar and wind farms? In the same china that paint grass and rocks green in order to make the land look healthy, just to avoid doing really something good?
Decarbonizing by electrifying our economies is never going to do good unless we drastically lower our energy consumption and end capitalism. Right now we're waiting on (fossil fuel) companies that use their profits to invest into a transition to cleaner production, profits that are made by selling polluting products. It's an environmentally harmful and paradoxal cycle.
I also want to see an end to capitalism…because it puts profit before the environment, and also is an unethical system where people exploit other people…it also allows for the needless exploitation of animals for food, clothing and entertainment…these systems of exploitation are cruel and need to end
China issued permits for two new coal power plants each week in 2022. Coal power plant permitting, construction starts and new project announcements accelerated dramatically in China in 2022, with new permits reaching the highest level since 2015. The coal power capacity starting construction in China was SIX TIMES as large as that in all of the REST OF THE WORLD COMBINED. Saying China isn't a problem IS BEYOND ABSURD. China, Europe, and the United States ALL need to be going 100% NUCLEAR.
Great video as always! But in my opinion you could have mentioned China's development of natrium-ion batteries. Compared to lithium-ion they seem to perform much better and safer, and the production is much less devastating for nature. On the other hand, I am witnessing (literally breathing in...) the cruel and sad consequences of their coal and steel industry being exported to other countries masked by investments and embracement by local puppet regime.
To be fair to the creator, I'm pretty up-to-date on most things China, and haven't heard anything about China's development of natrium-ion batteries. That's news for me, so I think that the topic is still pretty niche and not widely known in general. Cool to hear about though!
Natrium-ion batteries are a technology that people around the world have been working on for decades. It seems weird to me to attribute it to China. Their performance is also worse than Li-ion, but they're good enough for most applications so they could do a lot to bring down prices and environmental destruction.
To China's defence, they are now the largest Renewable energy producer in the world, producing more Renewable energy than the entire Europe and US combine, if anyone's not satisfied with this result, tell me which developing country has done better than China? they also has the largest tree planting project in the world, in fact they have been planting more trees than the entire world combine as well. Renewable energy is now a big problem for China, given its unstable power generation and storage, China has to order a "first use renewable energy" approach to consume it first before utilising other fossil fuel like coal, oil and gas, that leads to an awkward situation where China is paying factories and other users to consume electricity powered by renewable energy
The whole climate thing aside - and I do agree there is a lot of media distortion, especially when it comes to something like China - is it even fair to call China communist (or even socialist) when something like Tencent is a thing? In fact, we should probably make a -general- distinction between state and worker ownership of the means of production, and not repeat the historic mistakes of the USSR and so many others.
"There are three kinds of violence. The first, mother of all the others, is institutional violence, that which legalizes and perpetuates domination, oppression and exploitation, that which crushes and laminates millions of men in its silent and well-oiled wheels. The second is revolutionary violence, which arises from the desire to abolish the first. The third is repressive violence, the object of which is to stifle the second by making itself the auxiliary and the accomplice of the first violence, that which engenders all the others. There is no worse hypocrisy to call violence only the second, while pretending to forget the first, which gives birth to it, and the third which kills it." - Dom Helder Camara
wow, so untrue tho. china is not doing enough, nor it is a leader in renewable. you are only looking at what china claim it doing, you also missed the fact that china has stop water supply to the reforestation effort just to redirect those water source to run new coal powered plant. and china heavily under report its carbon emission as evident by weather probe in south korea, taiwan, and japan, and satellite data, in fact many first-tier city in china such as shanghai and shenzhen has emission per capita far higher than the most emission per capita city such as london, new york...etc. do china is indeed the biggest problem we have in climate effort. more ppl need to know the truth not the fake information publish or by group that has affiliated with the chinese gov.
If those emissions from coal plants were filtered, then coal could be carbon neutral, or maybe even negative, if that C would be burnable again (maybe) that could be achieved by making chimneys that go like a spiral and roof of that spiral could have C trappers
No , China is not doing enough. One more question, what are those pointing figures countries doing... ? They are just excusing aways saying because we are democracy and free market, we can't intervene the profit making companies decisions. Let China doing it alone
Sir this is a climate policy youtube channel designed for general audiences. That's like asking him to explain exactly why lithium ion batteries cause pollution because you are curious. It's beside the point and outside of the scope of discussion.
Either through worker cooperative type structured businesses, nationalization of industry alongside genuine democratic representation, or a mix of both.
@@adamrosendahl8090 Read the statement closer. "nationalization of industry alongside genuine democratic representation." That's a 2-part statement. Yes, the CCP has nationalized their industry, but they do not have genuine democratic representation.
news when its the peoples consumerism within the capitalistic society : 😴 news when you can blame a country. Bonus points if its china and the ccp : 😀👍😀👍😀
The map you show with high-speed rail network is inaccurate about Taiwan. Because these are not part of CCP's prerogative, but we're initiated years ago on Taiwan's government initiative.
@@notyouraverageaustrian I've had "Shiny Happy People" loaded in my boombox for years now. While I can't provide anything more incendiary, I would gladly provide the soundtrack for 2.0
Love your work. Consider adding this correction. it's Communist Party of China or CPC. the CCP acronym was invented by the orientialist western median who don't want to give China's government the respect it deserves.
@@cat-le1hf The Chinese people consider their government to be more democratic than US citizens consider their gov to be democratic. Also it's racist indignation to insist on using the wrong name for a country when you've been corrected, especially when that correction emphasizes the racial antagonisms behind the intentional error.
@@kapoioBCS it's so hard to talk to the prisoner who has only know shadows on the wall. They even become violent when they are freed. "You must force yourself to become free" -Slavoj Zizek
Jason Hickel's book 'Less Is More' is very relevant here. A fantastic read that aligns very well with the conclusion of this video; we need to degrow economies in order to lessen extraction, consumerism and wasteful practices in order to properly address to climate crisis.
I have not met a Capitalist nation that doesn't contribute to the burning of fossil fuels. I hope renewable energies keep growing across the world 🌎 Interesting video. Greetings from Germany...🍺👋
i thought germans were logic but closing their nuclear plants to build coal plants is disastreous , but oh well i know you have water problems now you shoul see the future is not pretty
🍂Do you think China is doing enough in terms of climate action?
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I'd love to have money to get Nebula and support your patreon, you do wonderful, really sharp videos
1 thank you for the fair coverage of China. As an African I hate the bias and hypocrisy of the west and it's finger pointing
2 it's officially Communist Party of China (CPC)
china is killing the planet
some form of socialism is crucial for our planet
@@timkbirchico8542 China is HyperCapitalism. Socialism is in the Nortic countries, not in China.
I really appreciate you bringing up the consumerist side of it, that a significant amount of China's emissions are due to them having a lot of factories, producing goods for other countries.
Yeah we basically just exported our pollution to China. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we started manufacturing there around the same time we started enacting environmental regulations.
They are shifting the blame to others not solving anything then playing the victim
@@HydratedBeansno. They started industrializing in the 70’s and had a cheap labor force. They didn’t get strong armed into be a producer and manufacturing hub.
You’re basically doing a “oh the poor second largest economy in the world, being forced to produce things for other countries, oh the humanity!”
You know having stricter regulations on their manufacturing might help with those emissions. If an argument is that america isn’t doing enough in contrast to their wealth it’s kinda dishonest not argue the same for china. Like them producing stuff is somehow to their determent.
And yet their emissions per person are lower than in the US.
@@brianlowe904 I don't see how this argument would help. Why don't each country do their own parts for self-correction and improvement? China has realized the issues couple decades ago and taken significant actions since then. Honestly they have done way more than any other country and are continuing to do so. There's no point sitting there doing nothing but finger pointing to others.
I like how anyone from America can say that China is being wasteful when not only does China basically supply America with every good, but America has literally been the biggest oil and petroleum proponent, even perpetuating the false notion of global warming being a myth
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Let's not forget US is outputting almost as much co2 as China, while having a 4x smaller population and industry output compared to China, who produces more than the entire world combined
I like how Europhiles arrogantly fixate on America. While neglecting the pollution, caused by burning Polish coal. And neglecting the dependency of Putin's genocidal fossil fuels, which is costing Ukrainians thousands of lives. So thank you.
@@nc3826 Europe has done more for reducing pollution than the US. It's the American influence on Europe on why they haven't done more. America is controlled by corporations rather than the people. They have made majority of Americans uneducated, impulsive and short-term thinkers. This is why America has not moved off fossil fuels, war and other industries pioneered since WW2. Every other nation has developed and progressed culturally and economically. America won't even move off the imperial measuring system
@@nc3826 The narator is American.🤔
So often I hear politicians using the excuse of China's massive carbon footprint to not address the carbon footprint of their own countries. A pretty pathetic attept to get out of their own responsibilities.
classic toxic western narrative. they dumped their trash to some poor asian country such as malaysia, thailand and philippine, then the media show the public these places r dirty, toxic waste etc….disgusting western media
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China has a crumpled tectonic plate, that has brought a lot of disadvantage to cutting down carbon emission.
--Natural gas reserves are rare in China due to most of them have leaked in prehistoric continental movements. Switching to cleaner natural gas power in electricity generating is simply impossible, no international gas pipelines and LNG ship fleets have nearly enough capacity. The best China can do is to promote gas heating to replace old coal stoves and heaters, but this has caused a winter gas crisis in Hebei every year since the initiative being announced.
--Highways and railways frequently have steep slopes in mountainous area, which makes up half of China. Trucks have worse fuel consumption in mountainous area, and almost all Chinese locomotives disproportionately have large traction power.
I dont really hear that, alot of Eu's countries and slowly going towards 3rd world to reach these goals while china just goes full speed. We can put the blame on this and that but at the end of the day its getting warmer and that is a fact.
It's absolutely insane how close China is getting to the United states in cumulative emissions when they only really started developing as an industrial nation 30 years ago, compared to America in the 19th centuty.
Finally the acknowledgement that needs to be raised. The US and Europe are a substantial part of the climate issue, let's not point fingers at others whilst we contribute significantly to emissions elsewhere. What's more, the emissions in the US alone are outrageously high per capita... It's so ridiculous.
That's true, but it's also not exactly the fault of Americans. The reason our emission outputs are so high is because we are a car-centric culture. And we are a car-centric culture because runaway capitalism made our cities into sprawling monstrosities, while everyone else in the world lives in walkable, dense urban landscapes.
@@heychrisfox ok excuses now fix them and shut up
@@heychrisfox it's the military not cars.
@@heychrisfox how is that not the fault of American when American emits? It is not the fault of every single American and a lot comes from historic burden yea. But isn’t every country carrying its historic burden too?
"lets not point fingers at others" -> points fingers at U.S and Europe. At least in the U.S and Europe, people can protest and complain about the government to the point of causing change. Meanwhile this very video shows a clip of the protest where they're holding BLANK PIECES OF PAPER to show that they CANNOT speak out against their government without getting arrested and "disappeared", as is what happened to those protesters afterward. When you can't criticise the government, it does not change, and so it does not ACTUALLY start reducing its emissions, instead of just lying about doing so.
If there’s a case for optimism on China’s path to decarbonization, it’s that China has had a history so far of _exceeding_ their climate targets. Just on solar and wind power alone, the government set out for a goal of 1.2 terawatts by 2030. That number is likely to be closer to 3.3 terawatts according to new projections.
Not only that, their battery innovation is good. On the 21st, CATL, a reputable Chinese battery company, unveiled a 500 Wh/kg (this beats out Tesla’s 272-296 figures) that will start production this year and likely enable aircraft electrification, not to mention the possible spillover into other modes of transportation, which was also similarly promised.
As always, I can imagine concerns about resource extraction and land misuse, but developments like these do give me some hope that China knows what it’s doing.
China is also building hundreds of nuclear power plants as well. Sure nuclear is green until it spills out but still much better than doing nothing. China is the biggest polluter but also the only government that doesn’t just talk abou climate change but does things. If anyone is going to make a transition it’s gonna be China. Also the developed world needs to cut their consumption. A lots of regulations and planing needs to go into this.
Tesla partners with CATL
Commercial aviation isnt being electrified, esspecially with something that has 5% the energy density of aviation fuel.
Also, china plans on building 100GW more coal power. Their path to decarbonization isn't decarbonization, it's just building more energy infrastructure. China is already scaling back some of their original emissions targets.
@@fluoroantimonictippedcruis1537 plenty of short routes that can't be serviced by trains could use (and some are already operating) electric planes
An increase in density means an increase in routes where the math works
Re: coal power plants. The oldest and dirtiest cold power plants have been shut and replaced by newer and more efficient ones, often better than german ones for example.
They even built a huge, efficient one (in Inner Mongolia?) which operates at higher temperatures than any other in the world closer to coal mines so that you also save CO2 in coal transport. The power is transmitted east to more populous regions by ultra high voltage power lines co-developed with Siemens i think.
They also did research and development on "greener" coal technology which shows in their newest plants.
If you want to know which country is contributing most to climate change then look at carbon footprint per capita.
Because each chinese individual carbin footprint is much much lower than that of US or Qatar or Britain.
Obviously as a country, India & China will pollute most because they are(1) Most Populated, (2) Developing economies
For an instance, China has more Population than USA , Canada, Australia, New Zealand, European Union, Norway, Russia, Britain *COMBINED*
This is an important statistic that is not often talked about.
You’re not entirely correct though. Chinese per capita emissions are much higher than many European nations, including Britain. They’re also increasing each year while emissions in the Western world are falling.
China has a higher carbon footprint per capita than UK. UK has 5,15t CO2/Capita and China has 8,05t CO2/Capita both in 2021. It is not even close.
@@uweengelmann3 according to world odometers it's 7.38 for China and 5.55 for the UK. But context is important, what does the UK produce? Because the alternative is that China doesn't produce what it does and instead another country replaces it, maybe another country which has much higher CO2 per capita. Context matters. Also the USA and Canada are around 15-18 which is significantly higher than China. The only way to win is for everyone to produce less and for us to consume less as well. Unless we find some magical way to sequester carbon faster than we make it.
@@TF2_n_n But that is exact the problem which the countries face. if they try to be ecofriendly, the energy costs rise much, the industry go to a country with cheaper energy and then the ecofriendly country has not much industry. How do we get 24/7 cheap energy which is ecofriendly? Wind and PV are not 24/7.
Thank you! Finally some fair assessment of the situation. One thing we should not loose track of is China is polluting because other countries outsourced their labor to China. So yes, technically China is polluting but as consequence of 1st world countries outsourcing their labor.
Yes and china reduced its environmental laws in order to profit from such outsourcing. They didn’t say no..
Despite being a large manufacturer of the goods that the world consumes, China has lower emissions per capita than many G6 countries. That's a statistic the news media doesn't like to report on probably because of the automotive industry.
Oh no, poor China willingly does the labor to get filthy rich. It's not their fault they were blinded by mass amounts of money guys.
China is outsourcing labour to Africa. 🤷♂️
@@TF2_n_n Emissions per capita isn't exactly a metric that matters, the Earth only recognizes net emissions. Emissions per capita cannot be fairly designated because in just about any configuration, the difference in size between small countries and big countries is enormous. There's no way to have emissions per capita in countries like China or Idea even approach that of smaller, more developed countries without causing irreversible environmental damage. Countries with large populations have a unique duty to not let that huge population result in environmental destruction. (US has a high population, too.)
I think it stands to be said though even if China isn't doing enough the nation is doing more than the US and many countries in Europe. Ultimately this has to be a global effort but those other nations need to foot the bill too.
It's easier to lie for PR about "doing more than the US and Europe" than it is to ACTUALLY do what is being said, though. You don't not have a massive air pollution problem, just because you shut down the factories during the Olympics to temporarily clear the sky. You don't have greenery, when it is just painted on and covered with mesh, to trick satellites. You don't have electric tractors, when it only exists as 3D renders cobbled together from free assets. You don't have "green energy" with solar panels that are not even connected to anywhere.
You are not "doing more" if you're not actually DOING ANYTHING.
It’s the countries who are responsible for putting the most emissions into the atmosphere who actually need to have the biggest obligation to clean up their emissions and economy. I.e. the western world.
@@indrinita And if that argument is used as an excuse to do nothing it is as misguided as pointing at China.
China (and India) do much more than any Western country ever did to save the climate.
Look at all these bug sandwich eating motherfukerz in the comments😂😂
I lived in China for six years and in that relatively short time, they shut down a lot of coal power plants and moved their factories further from the city and I saw a noticeable change in the air quality. This is something that Western media never talks about, but there is a lot being done there in response to Climate Change.
Business as usual politics and thinking are one of the biggest issues with climate change. And its common with the imperial core
As an African, when politicians try to implement change, the west usually funds their opposition or delegitimises their government
I mean, the CCP's goal might still be left to be desired, but if they decided to set the bar higher, they can do it practically right away because they aren't subjected to the demand of the fossil fuel industries, which are all state-owned anyway, meaning they aren't operating on the same profit-seeking motive as in the West. In the US, for example, it doesn't matter if the upper administration can come up with the best plan, but they still have to contend with the influence and interests of the private corporations. And this is a feature, not a bug of the US politics, it allowed profit-seekers to throw a wrench inside, which will delay whatever good plans whenever once in a full moon that exist. This caused delays and eventually a compromise that only marginally take the US towards the climate goal. And the program is more expensive in the end because the large part of the initial budgeting are being drained by wasting time talking to corporations and other politicians that worked for their interests (US politicians are even allowed to remain a shareholder themselves).
The climate has been changing for 5 billion years though...
@@freedomruss Never this fast! and never caused by human activity, as proven by the fact that 1)CO2 is scientifically known to trap heat 2)more of it is now being put into the atmosphere 3)the unprecedently fast increase in global average temperature corresponds exactly to CO2 emissions. and more, but I ain't a scientist.
@@freedomruss Correct, and this is the first time that humans have changed it. That's why we call our current era the Anthropocene.
You forgot to mention China’s nuclear plant strategy, a key part of a zero carbon economy
Zero carbon is impossible on a planet covered in carbon based life. Unless you want to NUKE everything of course. 😂
@@freedomruss Yeah, he should have said carbon neutral ecomomy but he has a point
He recently released a video full of lies about nuclear power. I don't think he has anything good to say about it.
@@freedomrussSemantics Lord. Come on you knew what they meant
Oh yeah, those FAST BREEDER reactors totally won't be used to produce weapons-grade material. All those holes they've dug for ICBMs definately won't be tipped with nuclear warheads. It's to achieve zero carbon. You know, after they first stop continuing to build coal plants.
Such a good and amazingly transparent researched video. Please keep going! I love to spend time learning about the world when the base is a video like that!
Great video OCC. There's a lot of misinformation about China out there, so this deep-dive was really interesting to clear up the lack of good information I had on this issue! Of course it's easy to blame China, but in the end it's our endless consumerism in the west which is driving the manufacturing and use of all this energy in China, so I loved that you discussed export emissions.
PS: I am an ecologist who makes videos about ecological/political/climate issues, I'm picking up making videos again after a bit of a break, and I have a new video coming out soon if anyone is interested in these topics! :)
Sounds really interesting I think you earned a subscriber
@@Solstice261 thank you!
China isn't producing stuff out of love for the west. If the West wouldn't buy goods from China, the CCP would do everything to shift either to other countries of fuel domestic consumption. Not to mention that blaming consumers for climate change is just as lazy as blaming China
Isn’t it their own consumerism and greed that leads them to make and sell products in a way that harms the environment? Why is their greed an excuse for their carbon foot print?
@@solarpunkalana and there's video about animals , 2 subscribers.
I honestly get really annoyed when people say "china is the biggest polluter" IT IS NOT. We are all human, we are all the same, literally all that matters is carbon emissions PER CAPITA it is the only relevant statistic in "blame" for climate damage. And the USA is leading big time.
>we are all the same
>the USA is leading big time
pick one
@@normanclatcher I think he means that we shouldn't lump people into groups like "China" or "USA", because if we look at the individual level (aka per capita) Americans and Qataris pollute way more.
@@normanclatcher Yes all people are the same, the same level of human. the average American pollutes far more than the average Chinese. And therefore we place a greater burden of responsibility on the USA to reduce carbon emissions. To think otherwise is to believe Chinese lives are worth less than American lives.
Look out for the Big oil propaganda of individual responsibility. From those Americans that pollute a lot, many of them pollute without their consent. Their "carbon footprint " includes emissions made by big oil, big cement companies. Chances are that your carbon footprint and mine are also increased because of companies polluting "in our name". We need to stop big companies, just guilting each other will only divide us
@@Orozus sorry if this wasn't clear. I mean to hold America AS a country, to a higher degree of responsibility, exactly because of this, because of the carbon emissions produced by the government and those at the top "on behalf" of the everyday citizens.
Of course it would be good if the average American would consume less. But that isn't the main culprit of US emissions. Its lobbyists for the fossil fuel and auto industry, its the military industrial complex etc etc. Stuff that goes on without the permission of citizens.
I can't remember the exact statistics but, if the US military was its own county it would be in something like the top ten of global polluters or something like that.
I am calling for collective responsibility.
Glad that more and more English media is sharing fair comparison and reasonable findings, and NOT selective reporting. Thumbs up.
Right, my view on China has shifted considerably, the more I learned about politics & history. Without just gobbling up the propaganda my country fed me for my entire lifetime. I'm actually... Kinda liking China? 😂❤
@@JaseekaRawr Yikes. Gobbling up the propaganda of China's government, while not learning about THEIR politics and history, is nothing to be proud of.
@@JaseekaRawr Welcome to Shanghai for a tour 😁
More like "selective reporting that I agree with"
@@JaseekaRawr Wel come to beijing
Well done with your pronunciation! its refreshing.
发音很好啊！
*shenzhen: 'zh' is pronounced like a 'j'
If you want to pronounce it as a 'z', you would pronounce the 'sh' as an 's' too (like: senzen). The southern accent often does this, turns the 'sh', 'zh', 'ch', (retroflex) into 's','z','ts'.
Shaanxi (Shǎnxī) and Shanxi (shānxī ) are the same sound but with a different tone. Shaanxi is low then high. Shanxi is both high.
Nice video. I want to add two points you missed.
1. China also strongly advances long distance energy transmission - HVDC lines. They built 3000km line from west China to east China, which enables them to use solar resources in the west to power their cities on the east. This is incredibly important, because when the sun sets on the eastern cities it still shines in the west, decreasing the need for batteries.
2. China builds and the most nuclear power stations and it also leads in new reactor research. This is incredibly important, because nuclear is our only known carbonless baseload electricity source. It will greatly help decarbonisation.
Wow very interesting!
@@letransformateur6477 Thank you. HVDC power lines are amazing technology, it is surprising almost nobody knows about it. We could connect continents with it and be able to send solar power from the sunny side to the night side of the planet, no batteries needed.
Just an FYI, Polymaters China series is not good at all. It gives some accurate information but then makes rather overreaching conclusions without further evidence to back up the claim. its more sensationalising over actual facts.
Style over substance eh?
I don't think so. His china's series aren't like typical UA-cam china collapse content.
@@prasanth2601 its not those but lets be honest that is a very low bar. Polymatter does his research but only a bit more than the "China over" crowd but imo still very surface level.
Thank you so much for this video! Ever since I learned about this in college I’ve been waiting for someone to put something like this out. More people need to know. Hopefully this gets out to more people.
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BYD is not a state owned company as claim but a public listed company. Even Berkshire Hathaway owned share in this company.
Excellent video, sharp, clear and truthful. Fantastic work!!!
Thankyou do much for this video. I cannot wait for part 2
Thanks you so much for a fair view ! And well done for the video !
Splendid video as always, Charlie! Thank you!
To clarify, BYD's EV sales [12:22] include PHEVs and EVs. When only looking at EVs, BYD still had a great 2022 but did not beat Tesla in EV sales (as the headline states).
One also has to keep in mind that in regards to industrial development, China is at least a century behind the US and Europe. Their industrialization only kickstarted after 1949 and they first need to generate wealth in order to lift their population out of poverty before handling issues like climate change. The US and Europe had centuries to generate (and steal) the wealth they own today.
"Law of the handicap of a head start"
Except China has the advantage of all technology already existing instead of having to invent it first. The US and Europe were the ones that came up with the technology China uses today and were in fact the people that literally built modern industrial infrastructure in China. Chinas industrialization has been extremely rapid, but being the first countries to industrialize in the world is much harder than just having to walk the beaten path.
Love the video dude
Pffffttt their saying China is putting the economy first before the climate when they are doing it themselves as well, that's so hypocritical
Thanks for a balanced discussion of Chinese energy and greening policies.
Thanks for a great video. I've been waiting for an indept video on china's emissions and why they ate high and compare between other countries.
Love how you split the difference between 'in-depth' and 'inept'.
Wow, that blurb for Polymatter's China, Actually series does not induce confidence.
What you’re saying around the 10:00 mark gives me an idea - What if we treat clean energy like we treated the Space Race? What if we try to one-up each other in terms of who has the biggest solar park, or who can generate the least CO2 or even go negative?
That would be inspirational
I am feeling kindof optimistic after watching the video, maybe we can fix this after all.
We can fix it
no we dont is not enough
no western country takes actions...tehy just point fingers at china...
Given the “dark side of renewables” I’m curious what your opinion of nuclear energy is, as the un pointed out we can’t abstain from it if we want to reach our goals in terms climate change if I remember right.
Everyone driving is the issue that's why the first month of the lockdown was the best the air had ever been overall climate
Nah, one cruise ship emits as much as 140mn cars and even counting those transportation is a quarter of emissions. Industry and power production is a much bigger polluter.
@@HydratedBeans No, cruise ships does not pollute that much. This is only somewhat true for SOX emissions.
@@HydratedBeans cruise ships are probably something humanity does not need to survive though
Coal based power production is the biggest culprit.
Mass transit systems would certainly help.
Excellent video! I've been having a hard time forming an opinion on the current state of the CPC/CCP and this video is very good summary of their environmental record. I've previously been impressed by their greenhouse gas per capita emissions but I think in some arguments I've had with family about this topic I've let this fact blindside myself to their continual coal plant opening and their lithium mining. Can't wait for part 2!
dont support the ccp dude
They're the world's leading green energy producer by far
Not only is the usage of coal for manufacturing, but it’s also a massive asset to China in case of a conflict with the US such as an oil embargo, since although China has a lot of oil it’s not enough to last years, hence coal is unfortunately a strategic asset. Though this oil vulnerability is also what pushes them to simultaneously pursue green energy so you win some you lose some
@@ellebresych5282 Why? Because they have such a history of honestly reporting numbers, that totally don't just exist on paper? Because they have fields of solar panels...that have been shown to not even be plugged into anything? Why are they not expanding that "green energy", instead opening up many new coal plants?
China is the enemy of the free world
Bro is getting extra social credit score for this
murikkka points for this comment too
Blocking the trend in down sizing of products for me is the easiest global change we can do, quickly and for free!
The trend in our weekly food shopping of giving you less - for the same cost and same size packing is literally shipping air!
Toilet rolls with bigger hole, crisp packets 1/4 full, cereal boxes 1/2 full etc...
Would be easiy and cheap to force companies make more efficient use of packing! So fewer lorries and ships can carry the same amount of stuff.
This is along the lines of what i think NEEDS to happen soon, though i think its a half measure. I honestly think we need to make single use packaging illegal to produce for anything other than what is absolutely vital for medical equipment and the like. Of course this would require a significant change in infrastructure, and a lot of people would absolutely throw a fit when people who recognize the problem try to implement it, but its what we need to do if we want to see our civilization last the next 100 years.
This has done wonders for my research before a diplomatic conference. Clear, straight to the point, specific but not missing out any key details. Great video!
i used to live in china for 7 years when i was younger(im british) so this is a very interesting video for me, i remember a few times that everywhere was covered with smog n sometimes so badly that school was cancelled
Beijing saw huge improvements in air quality in the past 5 years. There are still occasional sand storms but satellite images show they come from Mongolia which China has no control of🥲
@@doctort2853 This is not what is shown. The air quality (as in, the index of the amount of pollution in it) is so high that it hits the max values of the tools used to measure it, and continues on to affect the air qualities of Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. You can't go by when they temporarily stopped factories and coal plants from running, to clear up the sky for the Olympics, as a "huge improvement".
@@Vaeldarg have you been there? I lived in Beijing for decades. The air quality saw huge improvements for the past 20 years. What you said was the old times.
@@Vaeldarg it is prolonged. 2008 made the biggest improvement. The air quality went back down just a bit after the Olympic but didn’t really go back to what it was before. And then the heavily polluted day per year steadily decreases. You can doubt the statistics, but I have totally seen it with my own eyes.
@@doctort2853 I know your propaganda playbook. It doesn't work on those who know it. What I'm saying is CURRENT times.
I got here from your appearance on The Deprogram. Enjoyed the video, thanks for sharing
Not often is my mind changed in such a good way .
Really interesting video ! Inspiring work
For being anti-capitalist this channel sure has a lot of links/ads that generate a ton of money (and consumerism) for the owners of the channel. What a bunch of hypocrites.
Love the contents, very objective. But as someone born and raised in Shenzhen.... I hate to point out that at 12:42 Shenzhen was misspelled to Shenzen...
Who is counting the population of China? Let me guess, the CCP. According to everybody else on, it has less than a billion with a ton of Chinese old and retired. China is in a serious problem for the next two decades. Did anybody mention their poverty? India, and not China has two billion educated citizens. Do I have to talk about tofu drag construction being biodegradable? Are you going to talk about hundreds of unemployed population? China is no longer the manufacturer of the planet.
Amazing video!! You definitely have shifted and have me reevaluating my look into chinas climate infrastructure
That's not a good thing. This video is actually VERY misinformed about the true nature of China's climate infrastructure. It's a lot of literal smoke and proverbial mirrors.
5:20 For most of the time humans have been burning fossil fuels they didn't know it was killing the climate, and once they did there wasn't alternative solutions until the last few decades. So emissions over the last few decades are the most critical to take into account.
Your report is 90% psychology and 1% accurate
You: "Sure! China is the biggest popular today, but did you know that 200 years ago, blah blah blah blah usa bad, blah blah blah? That's why China totally, legit, no lie, *isn't* the world's biggest pollute-"
Me: "K, byeeeeee"
With the CPC, its defiently an accurate statement that they say that they are "socialism with chinse characteristics" because ultimately its a transition, not instant, it takes time to transition from capitalism to socailism,
They had to peddle backwards a bit, because if they didn't they would face economic sanctions as badly as the USSR except they wouldn't have a major trading ally
(they would be with Cuba, Vietnam and North Korea, which are minor trading partners)
edit: CPC not CCP
Communist Party of China, not Chinese Communist Party
Also the video even gets that incorrect
The more I learn about it the more in awe I am that China was able to outwit the US by keeping their heads down & playing the long game. I'm liking China more & more. We could learn a lot from them! What they do to rogue billionaires, for example. 👏
@@JaseekaRawr Indeed, billionares in the west get a slap on the wrist while billionares in China get what they desserve
@@JaseekaRawr Is a death penalty a bit extreme for abusing your power as a billionaire?
@@iceyboinah
Great video. Look forward to more!
Given that military expenses of US took up around 3% of its GDP, cutting costs on war to the level of China's expense can support a) ambitious space projects b) be way more eco friendly
Absolutely. One way to have a eco-friendly world is cutting costs on military expenses of US .
Great video. Thanks for making it:)
Refreshing to get past those one sided narratives, something I try to do in my shows...
One thing to point out about the green wall of China is that they seem to have planted trees that don't grow well in arid regions, and have had to send water to keep the trees alive, all in the meantime they deforested other regions. That plan really needs to be adjusted. I'm glad they're making massive efforts tho. But yeah, it's not enough, and at times, not well planned.
Don't worry, they'll just slather on more green OIL paint on some hills. Staple more leaves (I kid you not, it's depressingly real..) onto dead trees, and throw dirt on top of concrete....
I think you are talking about China in desert management. In the past, in the north of China, there would be dust storms blowing in from the desert. Now vegetation that can easily survive in the desert is planted in the desert for sand fixation. Not trees that don't grow well. It's a sequence of different vegetation. Slowly, the desert is being turned into an oasis. This has been going on for more than 40 years. Even Alibaba's domestic e-commerce platform has a program where every user who goes and clicks will donate money to a desert treatment project.
@@Vaeldarg You're talking about two different things, he's talking about desert management. That painting the hills green, and putting dirt on the concrete, is for some local governments to deal with inspections from higher levels of government. The Chinese government has a minimum requirement for arable land, so it states that local governments cannot overexploit land that can be used to grow food. But local governments will overuse arable land for local revenue, or for some corruption issues. Then when they encounter inspections from higher levels, they will fudge.
Sending water to change the local climate does not mean deforest other areas, it depends on where the energy used coming from. If you see far, that’s a wise move
@@ilovejingle That's a big "if". The CCP don't actually see far, just as Mao did not actually see far. It's all short-sighted reactionary policies that end up being very UNwise.
very good video, few actually look at things from both perspectives!
What has planned obsolescence done for the climate? When do economists admit that planned obsolescence exist?
Where is the data on the annual depreciation of durable consumer goods since Sputnik?
While these are fine questions to ask, this is kinda irrelevant to the topic at hand...
12:22 BYD isn't private own, not state own
Man this one will ruffle some feathers.
Sort by 'new' comments & grab your popcorn 🍿😂 it's great lol
Why?
Great presentation on the subject.
Hey dear OCC,
I was thinking that it would be great if you could publish your video scripts for example on your patreon.
You put so much effort and knowledge in your videos, I sometimes want to take notes and it would certainly help to be able to read the scripts after finishing a video, instead of having to rewatch it. :)
Like that, people also might be able to internalize even more the content of your videos!
Would love if you could think about it!
Cheers
The video has English subtitles and you can play it at 2x speed
Upvote for a comrade.
Great video! But nuclear is never mentioned. It produces as much electricity as wind in china and is an important part of the present and future energy mix
BYD is not state owned, Warren Buffet owns at least 10% of it. It's commonly traded in stock markets in Chinamainland and hongkong
Every company in China is state owned when it comes to it. That's what you get in a fascist state capitalist system.
correction BYD is not a state owned company, but a private owned co, the even American invest warren buffet has shares in.
i'm so glad to hear that you'll be talking about the underbelly of the renewables movement. i feel like many people believe that renewables will save us, and any time i've mentioned that they are incredibly flawed "solutions", people seem to get mad
Talking about picking the lesser evil here.
@@iWantPeace838 definitely, i agree. but i have met a lot of people who seem to think that electric everything will save us
Is it really renewable if millions of acres of nature gets destroyed and gets replaced solar and wind farms? In the same china that paint grass and rocks green in order to make the land look healthy, just to avoid doing really something good?
Decarbonizing by electrifying our economies is never going to do good unless we drastically lower our energy consumption and end capitalism. Right now we're waiting on (fossil fuel) companies that use their profits to invest into a transition to cleaner production, profits that are made by selling polluting products. It's an environmentally harmful and paradoxal cycle.
I also want to see an end to capitalism…because it puts profit before the environment, and also is an unethical system where people exploit other people…it also allows for the needless exploitation of animals for food, clothing and entertainment…these systems of exploitation are cruel and need to end
while destroying the planet more by drilling, mining, refining 😂.. did you know why Europe not digging they own continent? cuz of that..
very comfortable view with clear demostractions
How much does the CPR pay you to make such videos? 😂
The editing of this video is really something
Would love to see the ranking of carbon footprint per capita.
Fantastic work!
The title to this video is wrong. It should read, "Why China isn't to blame"
China issued permits for two new coal power plants each week in 2022. Coal power plant permitting, construction starts and new project announcements accelerated dramatically in China in 2022, with new permits reaching the highest level since 2015. The coal power capacity starting construction in China was SIX TIMES as large as that in all of the REST OF THE WORLD COMBINED. Saying China isn't a problem IS BEYOND ABSURD. China, Europe, and the United States ALL need to be going 100% NUCLEAR.
Great video as always! But in my opinion you could have mentioned China's development of natrium-ion batteries. Compared to lithium-ion they seem to perform much better and safer, and the production is much less devastating for nature.
On the other hand, I am witnessing (literally breathing in...) the cruel and sad consequences of their coal and steel industry being exported to other countries masked by investments and embracement by local puppet regime.
To be fair to the creator, I'm pretty up-to-date on most things China, and haven't heard anything about China's development of natrium-ion batteries. That's news for me, so I think that the topic is still pretty niche and not widely known in general. Cool to hear about though!
Natrium-ion batteries are a technology that people around the world have been working on for decades. It seems weird to me to attribute it to China. Their performance is also worse than Li-ion, but they're good enough for most applications so they could do a lot to bring down prices and environmental destruction.
@@heychrisfox China has made some recent breakthroughs, not enough to industrialize, but showed some promises.
@@Rhaegar19 yes it is not a new topic and certainly not Chinese exclusive. But there are recent breakthroughs in China that shows Promises
“Local puppet regime” lol
Great video as always.
To China's defence, they are now the largest Renewable energy producer in the world, producing more Renewable energy than the entire Europe and US combine, if anyone's not satisfied with this result, tell me which developing country has done better than China? they also has the largest tree planting project in the world, in fact they have been planting more trees than the entire world combine as well.
Renewable energy is now a big problem for China, given its unstable power generation and storage, China has to order a "first use renewable energy" approach to consume it first before utilising other fossil fuel like coal, oil and gas, that leads to an awkward situation where China is paying factories and other users to consume electricity powered by renewable energy
Thanks for the video
CCP is western used name btw, i am pretty sure its CPC
It's kind of interesting because the Chinese (中国共产党) puts the words in the order "CCP", but the official English name they chose is "CPC".
It's Northern Han Neanderthal crime family and they have been marked for extermination. Psalm 21 KJV
The whole climate thing aside - and I do agree there is a lot of media distortion, especially when it comes to something like China - is it even fair to call China communist (or even socialist) when something like Tencent is a thing? In fact, we should probably make a -general- distinction between state and worker ownership of the means of production, and not repeat the historic mistakes of the USSR and so many others.
Double emission, quadruple population. I'm no math expert , but just look at the numbers. Americans love their cars and farting cows.
And China loves making fish species extinct and planting millions of trees in a climate similar to Arizona. Both places are bad.
Clear, Concise and Comprehensive
"There are three kinds of violence. The first, mother of all the others, is institutional violence, that which legalizes and perpetuates domination, oppression and exploitation, that which crushes and laminates millions of men in its silent and well-oiled wheels. The second is revolutionary violence, which arises from the desire to abolish the first. The third is repressive violence, the object of which is to stifle the second by making itself the auxiliary and the accomplice of the first violence, that which engenders all the others. There is no worse hypocrisy to call violence only the second, while pretending to forget the first, which gives birth to it, and the third which kills it." - Dom Helder Camara
Excellent video
wow, so untrue tho. china is not doing enough, nor it is a leader in renewable. you are only looking at what china claim it doing, you also missed the fact that china has stop water supply to the reforestation effort just to redirect those water source to run new coal powered plant. and china heavily under report its carbon emission as evident by weather probe in south korea, taiwan, and japan, and satellite data, in fact many first-tier city in china such as shanghai and shenzhen has emission per capita far higher than the most emission per capita city such as london, new york...etc. do china is indeed the biggest problem we have in climate effort. more ppl need to know the truth not the fake information publish or by group that has affiliated with the chinese gov.
Good informative content.
If those emissions from coal plants were filtered, then coal could be carbon neutral, or maybe even negative, if that C would be burnable again (maybe) that could be achieved by making chimneys that go like a spiral and roof of that spiral could have C trappers
Not sure the UA-cam algorithm is gonna like the title or the content of the vid here
Fantastic video !! Keep up the good work
No , China is not doing enough. One more question, what are those pointing figures countries doing... ? They are just excusing aways saying because we are democracy and free market, we can't intervene the profit making companies decisions. Let China doing it alone
"Full worker control of our economy."
You might want to rephrase that, or, even better, *explain* it in detail.
Sir this is a climate policy youtube channel designed for general audiences. That's like asking him to explain exactly why lithium ion batteries cause pollution because you are curious. It's beside the point and outside of the scope of discussion.
Either through worker cooperative type structured businesses, nationalization of industry alongside genuine democratic representation, or a mix of both.
@@veemie8148 Too bad China does none of those things.
@@heychrisfox sure they do. China has mass nationalization of industry. Get it together man. Jeez.
@@adamrosendahl8090 Read the statement closer. "nationalization of industry alongside genuine democratic representation." That's a 2-part statement. Yes, the CCP has nationalized their industry, but they do not have genuine democratic representation.
beautiful video
news when its the peoples consumerism within the capitalistic society : 😴
news when you can blame a country. Bonus points if its china and the ccp : 😀👍😀👍😀
The map you show with high-speed rail network is inaccurate about Taiwan. Because these are not part of CCP's prerogative, but we're initiated years ago on Taiwan's government initiative.
"TANKIE TANKIE REDFASH" probably most of the comments in a few hours
If any tankies roll in, I'll be there with my grocery bags. And maybe a giant rubber duck.
@@normanclatcher are you also gonna set soldiers on fire?
@@notyouraverageaustrian I've had "Shiny Happy People" loaded in my boombox for years now. While I can't provide anything more incendiary, I would gladly provide the soundtrack for 2.0
@@normanclatcher 💯 this video is intellectually honest and unbiased. Unlike tankies 😂
@@veemie8148 Keep in mind that this channel subscribes to another channel called "Marxism Today" which is run by a by Stalinist.
Love your work. Consider adding this correction. it's Communist Party of China or CPC. the CCP acronym was invented by the orientialist western median who don't want to give China's government the respect it deserves.
@@cat-le1hf The Chinese people consider their government to be more democratic than US citizens consider their gov to be democratic.
Also it's racist indignation to insist on using the wrong name for a country when you've been corrected, especially when that correction emphasizes the racial antagonisms behind the intentional error.
@@kapoioBCS It's hard to compete with Western Capitalist Dogma.
@@RedFischRevolution ok bot
@@kapoioBCS it's so hard to talk to the prisoner who has only know shadows on the wall. They even become violent when they are freed. "You must force yourself to become free" -Slavoj Zizek
A government who creates concentration camps surely deserves respect huh?
Jason Hickel's book 'Less Is More' is very relevant here. A fantastic read that aligns very well with the conclusion of this video; we need to degrow economies in order to lessen extraction, consumerism and wasteful practices in order to properly address to climate crisis.
I have not met a Capitalist nation that doesn't contribute to the burning of fossil fuels.
I hope renewable energies keep growing across the world 🌎
Interesting video.
Greetings from Germany...🍺👋
Ah yes, Germany. The country that replaced functioning nuclear plants with *coal plants*
i thought germans were logic but closing their nuclear plants to build coal plants is disastreous , but oh well i know you have water problems now you shoul see the future is not pretty
I have not met a socialist nation that doesn't contribute to the burning of fossil fuels. Or a fascist one like China.
Great video. Just please use a de-esser on your voice