Читать книгу The Political Economy of the BRICS Countries - Группа авторов - Страница 65

Even though China is the largest economy in BRICS and the second largest in the world, with the highest fixed capital, its overall performance leaves much to be desired. China’s argument against cutting down of carbon emissions has been that it needs to grow fast for a longer period of time to remove poverty and unemployment. Hence, its performance cannot be expected to be moving to a sustainable path, at least in terms of carbon emissions. China has the highest carbon dioxide emissions in the world, and its economic efficiency (despite phenomenally high growth rates) has been poor. It implies that energy efficiency would be low, and the ability to use resources well, including labor, would be below par. This is revealed in the value for social efficiency too. Despite having the highest input value, its mean efficiency is only 56%. Poverty reduction, energy efficiency, creation of greater equality, and better management of urbanization remain challenges that will hold back China from transitioning to a sustainable development path in the near future.

China’s sustainable development strategy covers four broad areas. They are overall macropolicies, social development, sustainable economic development, and protection of natural resources. These four areas are further divided into nine priority areas covering capacity building, sustainable agriculture, cleaner industry, cleaner energy, conservation of nature, pollution control, poverty reduction, population control, and biodiversity conservation. These broad goals and priorities are embodied in the 5-year plans of China as formulated by the national government.

China faces a severe resource shortage, and in important resources such as land, water, and petroleum its per capita resource base is far lower compared to the global average. Also, many of the natural resources are distributed unevenly across China, leading to problems of demand and supply in regions. China’s environmental and ecological damage is quite severe. In some cities, air pollution has marked negative health effects on citizens. Water shortage in many regions has compromised the quality of drinking water for residents. The desertification of land and grassland has been occurring at an astonishing pace. China has realized that it requires substantial legal reforms to ensure that its sustainable development strategies can be implemented without too many legal hurdles and costly litigation. China has also taken initiatives to report on a regular basis to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Hence, its emissions and sinks of green-house gases would be known publicly: the steps taken as well as the results arising from them.