China’s admission that it is the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, just ahead of the climate change talks at Cancun next week is significant because it means that China enters the talks knowing that climate change is not a matter it can ignore any more on the plea that it is still a relatively poor country.
To be sure, China is not the world’s biggest polluter in per capita terms. The west still holds that record by far. The rest of the world has been paying the price for the profligacy of the West. Yet, China’s predicament shows that the world has to work together on this.
As populations move to better standards of living in developing countries, the pressure on the planet will increase. It may be unfair to expect the poorer countries to remain backward because their growth worsens the environment, but then, this cannot be a licence to pollute at high levels.
Just as China has to agree to change its ways, the developing world has to recognise its responsibilities. Unlike some other challenges we have faced, when it comes to the planet, we’re all in it together. Like it or not.
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