China’s soaring greenhouse gas emissions are significantly fueled by Western consumerism. That is the conclusion of a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

According to an article in Time magazine, ’22.5% of the carbon emitted in China is actually exported to other countries’.

So in a way, unofficial ‘carbon markets’ are already well in place – with China creating more emissions by manufacturing products for export to richer, more developed nations. The rich nations effectively outsource their own greenhouse emissions via having China or other developing countries make their cars, toys and clothes, thereby driving up emissions there.

In a few rich nations, such as France, Sweden and Britain, more than 30% of consumption-based emissions could be traced to origins abroad; if those emissions were tallied on the other side of the balance sheet, it would add more than four tons of CO2 per person in several European nations.

–Time magazine

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