China’s incredible economic expansion has earned it the status of the world’s largest CO2 emitter. While the Asian country’s economy is second only to the U.S.’ its emission of greenhouse gasses far outstrips its competitors . Partly it can be attributed to globalization because emissions as a result of the production process are attributed to the origin country, not to foreign consumers. Another reason for China’s status as the world’s largest polluter is the cheap and relatively inefficient production processes. Rampant environmental pollution motivated Beijing to decouple economic growth and fossil fuel consumption in 2015 when Beijing pledged to cut energy intensity by 15 percent from 2016 to 2020. The country was on track in the first three years, but by 2019 the goal was lowered to 13 percent. The slowing economy at the end of 2019 created room for the easing of restrictions. The Coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated […]