Tina Landis is the author of the book Climate Solutions Beyond Capitalism.
At the time of the 1949 revolution, China was largely an agrarian society with widespread poverty, famine and lack of infrastructure. Rapid development over several decades resulted in a significant rise in pollution in China.
The U.S. mainstream media never addresses the outsourcing of production to China and thus the outsourcing of pollution. Rarely are emissions accounted for based on where goods are produced versus where those goods are consumed, or population size of a country relative to emissions levels. If you take a snapshot of emissions today and ignore population and consumption of goods, China does have the highest carbon emissions with the U.S. coming in second. But China produces 30% of the world’s goods and accounts for 17.7% of global population, while the U.S. is the largest consumer of Chinese goods globally and accounts for 4.3% of global population.
When you look at per capita emissions of each country, as well as per capita consumption-based emissions, the U.S. is responsible for a much larger portion of global emissions than China.
U.S. emissions based on population size are nearly double per person than China’s, while its consumption-based emissions per person are around two and a half times higher. So every time the U.S. blames China for the climate crisis, we need to take the globalized system of goods production and consumption into account.
Emissions reductions and renewable energy expansion
Because China is led by the Communist Party with a centralized, planned economy, they have been able to shift focus to address the impacts of industrialization on air and water quality and ecological health.
Beginning in the 1990s, the Communist Party of China recognized the urgent need to align ecological sustainability with development goals. In 2003, then-Chinese President Hu Jintao pushed the concept of a “Scientific Outlook on Development” and “harmony between man and nature and the principle of all the people building and sharing a harmonious socialist society,” which was ratified in 2007 at the 17th Congress of the CPC. Since then, over 100 large-scale projects have been halted due to ecological impacts as a result of the Ministry of Environmental Protection’s environmental impact assessment process.
In 2012, under the leadership of General Secretary Xi Jinping, the CPC formally adopted the goal of building an ecological civilization into China’s constitution. Since becoming president in 2013, Xi Jinping has led the furthering of these efforts.
In 2014, China announced its “war on pollution” and by 2021 had reduced particulate matter pollution by 42%. Despite these massive reductions, China still has the 13th highest pollution levels by country globally, but such massive reductions in pollution in such a short time frame are unmatched under capitalism. Only through government control over industry and transportation can such air quality improvements occur.
To create enough power for its 1.4 billion people, China still relies on fossil fuels for around 60% of its energy production, while at the same time is leading the world in renewable energy. As of June 2024, combined wind and solar energy capacity surpassed coal for the first time. The goal of reaching 33% of energy capacity from renewables by 2025 was established through its 14th Five-Year Plan, and it is on track for solar capacity alone to surpass coal by 2026.
China also set the goal to peak emissions levels before 2030 and reach net zero by 2060, and based on their current trajectory, these goals will be achieved. In 2020, China surpassed their goal of adding 1,200 GW of wind and solar capacity by 2030, six years early. In 2024, their wind capacity increased by 18% with solar capacity jumping by 45.2%. Total power generation grew 14.6% in 2024 mainly from renewables.
Nuclear is part of China’s energy mix, which has many environmental and health impacts. They plan to integrate more small modular reactors into their energy system, which have a lower risk than large reactors. But SMRs still have the unresolved issue of radioactive waste and are a high risk to the workers tasked with dismantling these units at the end of their life. China also relies on large-scale hydropower, which has significant impacts on watershed and ecosystem health.
That said, China is leading the world in increasing solar and wind capacity, which has the least environmental impacts of any form of energy production. China, as well as all other countries, has the right to determine their own path to development free from imperialist domination and meddling. Our duty in the imperialist U.S. is to determine the path our country takes through organized struggle.
China also leads the world in electric vehicle production, accounting for around 60% of global sales. The Chinese company BYD leads globally in production of high-quality, low cost electric vehicles. Their electric car costs only $12,000, but the ever increasing tariffs imposed on China by the U.S.—which is essentially a tax on consumers—makes these cars unaffordable to purchase in the U.S.
The environmental impacts from the mining of rare earth elements currently used in the batteries need to be considered, which is why electrifying and expanding public transit and eliminating the need for individual car ownership is crucial to scale down those negative impacts. And China is doing just that. In 2020, China was responsible for 90% of the electric bus market globally and they continue to far surpass any other country in the production of electric buses and trucks. Replacing high-polluting diesel trucks and buses with zero-emission is not only a means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but improves public health by eliminating exposure to the high level of carcinogens in diesel exhaust.
China also has the most extensive high speed rail system in the world, with around 30,000 miles of rail line currently operational, and plans to add another 7,000 miles by 2030.
These projects in clean energy and transportation can only happen due to large scale investment from the state. At the same time as these major infrastructure projects were being implemented, China also lifted 850 million of its people out of extreme poverty between 2013 and 2020 through nationwide efforts. This shows the capacity of socialism to take meaningful action based on what is needed by society and the planet, while capitalism lags far behind.
Ecological restoration on a mass scale
China is also undertaking large scale ecological restoration projects. In 1994, they began a 4 million acre project to restore depleted agricultural lands in the Loess Plateau in north-central China. The land had been degraded over thousands of years due to unsustainable livestock grazing and agricultural practices. In less than 10 years, biodiversity and ecosystem health was restored to a region equal in size to Belgium. The project resulted in 2.5 million people of the area being lifted out of poverty due to the revival of sustainable agriculture.
China has also undertaken massive afforestation projects like the Great Green Wall, which includes planting 88 million acres of drought-resistant trees and the installation of sand control mechanisms to stem desertification. Employing 600,000 workers, the Taklamakan Desert portion of the project was completed in 2022, while work along the Gobi Desert will be completed by 2050. The Taklamakan project also included the installation of one of the world’s largest solar farms that produces four GW of energy.
China has also addressed water pollution issues, such as the Erhai Lake restoration project in Yunnan Province. The 250 square kilometer lake had become severely polluted over several decades due to livestock grazing, fish farming, agricultural fertilizer and pesticide runoff and wastewater impacts from increased development and tourism. High levels of nutrients from these sources had caused blue-green algae blooms that robbed the waters of oxygen, causing a major decline in aquatic life. The high levels of pollution resulted in the lake’s water being unsuitable for human consumption or contact. Through centralized efforts led by the government, the economy of the area was reorganized to eliminate sources of pollution upstream and surrounding the lake, resulting in clear lake waters and a rebound in biodiversity. In 2022, the Erhai Lake restoration project won an “Excellent Project Execution and Delivery” award at the International Water Association event held in Denmark.
In alignment with the goals established in their constitution, China is creating over 300 eco-cities and converting 30 of their cities into sponge cities to address increasing flooding and drought that stem from climate change. Expansive parks and adjacent wetlands serve as recreation areas during drier months and act as flood control zones when heavy rains come. A healthy biosphere is a key climate stabilizer and China’s attempts to integrate urban infrastructure with the biosphere helps to mitigate climate change, increase biodiversity, build resilience to extreme weather, and improve air and water quality and the health of residents.
China’s Belt and Road Initiative is expanding this model of development on an ecologically sustainable path to the broader Global South. Unlike development programs led by the U.S. and other imperialist countries, BRI programs are based on infrastructure development, trade alliances and sharing of technologies that uplift the populations of partner countries. These development projects are based on mutual benefit, unlike IMF and World Bank assistance that come with harsh austerity measures and leave countries in debt to the Global North.
For humanity to overcome the climate crisis, this type of internationalist perspective is key to building sustainable development on the basis of collaboration and partnerships that raise the living standards of Global South countries while also addressing ecological sustainability. These types of large scale projects inside and outside of China can only be achieved under a centralized, socialist planned economy. Here in the heart of empire, we need to see past the demonization campaigns that are meant to win our support for U.S. war with China, and instead learn from the ecologically sustainable development efforts that they are leading.