Industrial Emission and Climate Change

Industrial Emission and Climate Change
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Industrial Emission and Climate Change
Climate change is one of the major concerns of the 21st Century due to increased urbanization, industrialization, and other anthropogenic activities. The world’s population is growing at an exponential rate resulting in massive industrialization, growth of cities, and large-scale resource extraction. Environments, economies, and communities have been profoundly affected by large-scale extraction of natural resources and industrialization (Franks et al., 2014). The industrial revolution has been particularly accompanied by an uncontrollable emission of greenhouse gases that have caused global warming. The mining and use of fossil fuels have also contributed to significant harmful emissions that have negatively impacted the economy. China is the fastest-growing economy in the world and has since 1978 experienced an average of 10 percent annual growth. The growth of China’s economy is attributed to the larger number of industries and cities established in the country. At present, China is the largest contributor to global industrial and automobile emissions due to its massive population, large cities, and industries. China’s pledge to address its industrial emission, as the largest producer of greenhouse gases, is inadequate relative to the degree of actions to mitigate climate change and the individual consumers in the country have not recognized their role in mitigating the global warming.
Problem 1: The World’s Largest Greenhouse Emission
China has adopted an aggressive economic strategy characterized by the rapid development of cities and the establishment of industries that excessively release greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. Previous studies indicate that over the past two decades China has become the world’s largest carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases emitter (Shi et al., 2017). Chinese industries are the major contributors of greenhouse emissions in China followed by automobile exhaust. Industrial emissions in China have increased sharply because of the continued establishment of industries in China. Increased emissions have devastating global consequences that include reduced air quality, pollution, climate change, and global warming which have caused natural disasters and unpredictable weather patterns. In the 2015 Paris Climate Change Conference, the Chinese government pledged that it would develop and implement low-carbon policies and strategies to level off the emission of carbon dioxide by 2030 (Harris, 2017). However, China’s pledge at the conference is inadequate relative to the scale of actions required to slow down climate change and global warming. Critics suggest that China’s pledge was primarily driven by its quest for international relations and politics, business, economic development, and its domestic politics on pollution but not because it was concerned with climate change and global warming.
Solution 1: Stronger and Mandatory Climate Change Policies
There is a need for stronger and mandatory policies that would compel China to have big cuts for its carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases emission. China’s pledge at the 2015 Paris Climate Change Conference is not adequate to reverse its rising tide of pollution that has contributed to global warming. Therefore, China should take responsibility and be accountable for its industrial emission as the world’s second-largest economy. The country should recognize that climate change and global warming possess an urgent and irreversible threat to the globe including countries and human societies (Paris Agreement, 2015). China needs appropriate and effective international participation in the climate change mitigation. The Chinese government should also recognize that extreme reductions in industrial and automobile emissions are required to meet the ultimate goals of development especially mitigating climate change and global warming. Leaders and diplomats from both affluent and developing nations should come together and ensure that China follows stricter climate policies to reverse the rate of climate change.
The new policies should ensure that China’s effort to mitigate climate matches the intensity of industrial emission. China should adopt new policies at the industrial level by encouraging companies and large industries established in the country to take corporate social responsibility and remain conscious about the impact of their activities on the environment. Companies need to adopt business models that help them make economic decisions with climate change concerns and meet corporate standards of accountability (Mason & Mason, 2012). Chinese companies are encouraged to adhere to climate change policies and publish their corporate environmental and sustainability reports at least once every year to ensure accountability and efforts to mitigate climate change. For example, ExxonMobil is a fossil fuel company that has been at the forefront of ensuring environmental sustainability. The company publishes its environmental and sustainability reports each year and is committed to supplying chemical products and energy essential for economic development and modern life in a way that protects the communities it operates in, the people, and the environment (ExxonMobil, 2019). The company is guided by local climate change policies in the United States. China also needs to set standards of operations for its industries to cut back the emission of greenhouse gases as a strategy to mitigate climate change and global warming.
Problem 2: Reluctance of Chinese Consumer to Fight Climate Change
Most Chinese consumers have not realized that they need to be part and key participants in the movement to slow down climate change and global warming. The exponential economic growth of China is characterized by increased demand for energy and industrial products (Harris, 2017). The production of the highly demanded industrial products has been accompanied by increased carbon emission that causes global warming. However, the Chinese consumers have remained oblivious of the contribution to the emission of greenhouses and the actions they ne...