China Admits Its Greenhouse Emission Surpassed the US, And Now What?

A week ago, China's environment official hinted at a press conference that the country's level of greenhouse emission has caught up with the US. Western media like Reuters and Irish Times jumped on the story: "China for the first time admitted it has surpassed the US and became the largest greenhouse emitter in the world!"

This has been a secret that everybody knows since 2006. Why "come out of the closet" now? It might be another example to show China is taking a tougher stance in defending itself on global events.

Although the US, after being pointed to the nose as the biggest greenhouse emitter in the world for the last 100 years, is able to finally say China is "the bad guy," the real question is who is going to make the bigger sacrifice in curbing the emission in the future. The power didn't shift the other way after China's announcement. On the other hand, it might even tilted towards China more.

By being number one emitter in the world, China is still able to argue that developed countries have emitted almost all the greenhouse gas that is currently in the air and therefore are obliged to shoulder more responsibilities.

As long as China maintains its developing country status, Kyoto Protocol will not require it to have a cap on the level of emission. This is exactly what the US hates. The US refused to sign the Protocol during the last round negotiation unless China promised to take more responsibilities. China didn't budge.

China now admitted itself as the biggest greenhouse gas emitter and it even went on to say that the emission level, due to the continuing effort of poverty elevation in the country, is not going to go down any time soon. It's like saying: yeah, I am the bad guy, and so what?