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[Saya]

https://qz.com/1105119/watch-what-x...-congress-work-report-said-on-climate-change/

Speaking at the opening session of the 19th Communist Party congress on Wednesday (Oct. 18), Xi turned early in his remarks to “ecological civilization.” He noted that China had made major efforts to reduce consumption and save resources, and that these steps were paying off domestically—and setting an example globally.

“Taking a driving seat in international cooperation to respond to climate change, China has become an important participant, contributor, and torchbearer in the global endeavor for ecological civilization,” said Xi, about 15 minutes into the start of a three-hour-plus speech known as a “work report.” (The remarks were accompanied by simultaneous English translation on the CGTN livestream.)

In many ways, Xi’s remarks on the environment at the leadership reshuffle meeting, which evaluates the previous five years and sets priorities for the next five years, were couched in more emotional terms than those used by then president Hu Jintao at the last party congress in 2012. While both leaders spoke of the importance of protecting the planet for future generations, Xi said (about 67 minutes in) that China must “cherish our environment as we cherish our own lives.”

“Any harm we inflict on nature will eventually return to haunt us… this is a reality we have to face,” Xi told the congress about an hour from the end, adding that China must “develop a new model of modernization with humans developing in harmony with nature.”

 

[anonymous_abc]

.

 

[Woetyler]

Pshhhhhhhhhh nooooo.

 

[Mii]

China care

 

[Slayven]

Who would have thought China was the good guy environmentalists

 

[somesayyea]

great words, i hope their actions will match them

 

[Majine]

I read that while Xi has made climate change a bigger topic in China, he has also renewed censorship rules and made himself the most powerful chinese leader since Mao.

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

China do care?

 

[nelsonroyale]

Well he is using the right rhetoric...I am not really convinced China is anywhere near that goal (and neither is the UK where I live). To be honest it is already hurting China...check ridiculous air pollution levels. It is no wonder it is a major issue on the agenda.

I mean the scale and the type of development China has mostly championed contradicts what he said. As does there investment in massive dams which overall have a devastating impact on local and regional ecosystems...

 

[gutter_trash]

so China cares for something else than profits?

I will believe it when we see the end of Tiger poaching

 

[Siyou]

Lest we forget the trash.

 

[Wilsongt]

good sentiment, but I await the day sharks, tigers, and rhinos rise up to start harvesting humans for ancient animalia medicine.

 

[PsychoSoldier]

It's amazing how easy we've made it for China to appear virtuous despite it still being pretty messed up in a lot of ways.

 

[Nipo]

Trump is giving China the best chance they've ever had to be the dominant voice in global issues. Trump's reign could be what sets off the next 200+ years of Chinese leadership.

 

[ReAxion]

That's a great way to look at it.

 

[SuperBanana]

I'm so glad to see not all autocrats are fully insane.

He's still a piece of shit but just not on this topic.

 

[BasicMath]

so China cares for something else than profits?

I will believe it when we see the end of Tiger poaching

I think they're moving into renewable. So no. They don't give a damn.

 

[trembli0s]

He's lying through his teeth and people are lapping it up because they want him to play the foil to Trump.

The dude is building hundreds of dirty coal plants in China and is hooking up third world countries with dirty coal plants as part of his foreign development initiatives.

Giving him positive press on the issue is a disservice to those who actually are trying to resolve their energy mixture problems.

 

[SentientStone]

I am really hopeful for the future and really hope all can go as I imagine it, because harmony with nature is one of the basic traditional Chinese values that I see aligning with the development of future green tech that the world seems to be aiming towards. However with the population and need to develop at the same time, it will be interesting how the future generations are educated and how the country continues to develop with a harmony with nature approach. Fossil fuel based energy will not ceased to be used tomorrow, but I can see gradual solutions.

 

[HStallion]

From some of the reports China has to care about its environment because its done a lot of harm to their country at large in its rise as a world power. I believe there were reports out about how a lot of their farmable land was hugely contaminated with everything from Mercury to toxic waste. That isn't even talking about the air pollution and other things going on so its kind of a must for the country unless they want to face things like sky rocketing issues with cancer and other illnesses and diseases.

 

[HawksWinStanley]

Meanwhile in China

 

[frontovik]

Thanks, Chairman Obvious.

 

[BlackLagoon]

Who would have thought China was the good guy environmentalists

Well, it kinda forced itself to the front after they did the FUCK EVERYTHING INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS NOW for decades and literally ruined the air quality in their major cities. He is basically just describing the situation they're finding themselves in going forward.

 

[Quonny]

Not only will it be good for the environment, but if they get a strangehold on renewable energy they will earn whatever money they invested into it thousands of times over.

 

[dionysus]

Just words. Their track record is the exact opposite. The central government acts like the good guys but then lets the regional governments violate all the rules with impunity, except for a few high profile examples normally on people who have fallen out of favor of the ruling clique. They have a bunch of environmentally friendly rules that they do not enforce at all. It is still all about economic growth over there, everything else be damned.

There are some great documentaries out there about the difference between what is said and how things actually work in China.

 

[ClosingADoor]

Good to see China taking this seriously. Of course they have to, since even more air pollution and desertification could mean unrest in the country.

 

[Yoshimitsu126]

Don’t mess with the Deer God!

 

[Dopus]

He's lying through his teeth and people are lapping it up because they want him to play the foil to Trump.

The dude is building hundreds of dirty coal plants in China and is hooking up third world countries with dirty coal plants as part of his foreign development initiatives.

Giving him positive press on the issue is a disservice to those who actually are trying to resolve their energy mixture problems.

Only this is bullshit because they've been investing heavily into renewables and hitting their targets. Coal consumption in China has been declining for the last 3 years straight. They're on track to hit their 2030 goal.

 

[trembli0s]

Only this is bullshit because they've been investing heavily into renewables and hitting their targets. Coal consumption in China has been declining for the last 3 years straight. They're on track to hit their 2030 goal.

I'm incredibly skeptical of any government reported numbers run through the Chinese government. It isn't even that the main government is always looking to brighten up data, which it often does anyway, but that the local governments are so corrupt they frequently report false information up the chain to Beijing. This from the NYT:

But new data on the world’s biggest developers of coal-fired power plants paints a very different picture: China’s energy companies will make up nearly half of the new coal generation expected to go online in the next decade.

These Chinese corporations are building or planning to build more than 700 new coal plants at home and around the world, some in countries that today burn little or no coal, according to tallies compiled by Urgewald, an environmental group based in Berlin. Many of the plants are in China, but by capacity, roughly a fifth of these new coal power stations are in other countries.

Over all, 1,600 coal plants are planned or under construction in 62 countries, according to Urgewald’s tally, which uses data from the Global Coal Plant Tracker portal. The new plants would expand the world’s coal-fired power capacity by 43 percent.

So yes, you'll excuse me if I think the Chinese leadership are full of shit on the issue.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/07/01/climate/china-energy-companies-coal-plants-climate-change.html

 

[Dopus]

I'm incredibly skeptical of any government reported numbers run through the Chinese government. It isn't even that the main government is always looking to brighten up data, which it often does anyway, but that the local governments are so corrupt they frequently report false information up the chain to Beijing. This from the NYT:

So yes, you'll excuse me if I think the Chinese leadership are full of shit on the issue.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/07/01/climate/china-energy-companies-coal-plants-climate-change.html

Sure, okay. Let's say we can't trust any of the official statistics. What we can see is that they have made shifts in their official stance over the last 5 years in addition to the more important point of investment into renewable energy which they have done and at an increasing manner. It's healthy to be skeptical.

 

[Madness]

It's amazing how easy we've made it for China to appear virtuous despite it still being pretty messed up in a lot of ways.

They love that someone like Trump is there. I mean there was a recent thread/poll that talked about how Germans see China as better than the US. The US has pretty much given the silicon valley industry of the 21st century (clean energy) to China while they still try to keep clean coal a priority. China has clamped down on rare earth mining which has devastated them ecologically and Chinese citizens who can barely go outside due to smog now see the folly of being the worlds dumping ground and producer of goods for two decades. I think they have cleaned the air enough were Indian cities are now top 10 in the world in pollution.

You are going to see Chinese energy companies develop high speed and light rail, solar and wind plants in latin america and africa and asia all while the US still wants to pretend coal and oil pipelines are really the future.

 

[demosthenes]

How are the major chinese city air quality indexes doing today?

edit: I welcome change though.

 

[TyrantII]

good sentiment, but I await the day sharks, tigers, and rhinos rise up to start harvesting humans for ancient animalia medicine.

Hey now, America is destroying it's fish stocks, starving polar bears, and wants to go back to killing off wolf populations.

No country is off the hook on what consumerism has done to the earth.

 

[Eylos]

At least they say its important and want to change, lets see If they will obtain success in it, and its not only speech.

 

[Lunar15]

As with any politician who says things, actions speak louder than words. I see a lot of good things coming out of China, but also a lot of not-so-great things, environmentally speaking.

My friend went over to mainland china to do some business with factories over there, only to find out that the city he went to had shut down all of the factories for a week for EPA air-quality testing. The government compensated the businesses for losses.

 

[weepingangelz]

China pumps 361 billion dollars into green energy:

http://www.motherjones.com/environm...s-dollars-new-renewable-energy-projects-2020/

 

[nelsonroyale]

China pumps 361 billion dollars into green energy:

http://www.motherjones.com/environm...s-dollars-new-renewable-energy-projects-2020/

Let's just say their outlook is better than the US, that is undeniable at this stage.

 

[Madness]

China pumps 361 billion dollars into green energy:

http://www.motherjones.com/environm...s-dollars-new-renewable-energy-projects-2020/

And think about what the US is doing instead and then think about who will be poised to dominate energy projects around the globe? If Nigeria needs a solar plant, they will look to China guaranteed. Hillary may not have said it in a proper way, but she was absolutely right,those US coal miners will lose their jobs. But instead of mining coal or working on pipelines, let's build factories developing Tesla style batteries, let's get American companies manufacturing solar energy on a large scale. Invest and subsidize now so they are poised to dominate 20 years from now.

 

[CornBurrito]

Uh who cares about the planet when Elon Musk will allow wealthy millionaires to go to Mars?

 

[titiklabingapat]

Please do something about traditional medicine driving species' to extinction.

 

[VAD]

I think I believe him given that iirc air quality in China drastically improved recently. They may be on a path of improvement. I may be wrong and too lazy to check sources though.

 

[Arkanius]

Everyone is saying Chairman Obvious and other jokes, but China took the brute of the climate change and polution done to their country.

They are obviously taking some lessons from that.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't

 

[curiouscharles]

This was a nice thing to read this morning to be sure, but it's naturally a lot easier to be "woke" to the realities of global warming when they're literally unfolding in front of your eyes / being sucked down your lungs every day.

Still, good news makes Charles happy this morning, thanks China.

 

[Principate]

They love that someone like Trump is there. I mean there was a recent thread/poll that talked about how Germans see China as better than the US. The US has pretty much given the silicon valley industry of the 21st century (clean energy) to China while they still try to keep clean coal a priority. China has clamped down on rare earth mining which has devastated them ecologically and Chinese citizens who can barely go outside due to smog now see the folly of being the worlds dumping ground and producer of goods for two decades. I think they have cleaned the air enough were Indian cities are now top 10 in the world in pollution.

You are going to see Chinese energy companies develop high speed and light rail, solar and wind plants in latin america and africa and asia all while the US still wants to pretend coal and oil pipelines are really the future.

Coal power generation is nonsensical even if you wanted to continue down the fossil fuel path. There's a reason why the form of power generation is deemed as ancient. Gas is the current and future until renewables manage to completely replace it. High energy efficiency through the use of CCGT or CHP and you can potentially get both you electricity and heating needs resulting in minimal waste heat if the infrastructure is there.

Coal is deader than a fucking dodo, one more of Trump's lies to add to the bottomless list.

 

[dramatis]

I'm sure Xi has a lot to say, but I can't imagine having to sit through a 3-hour speech.

 

[darscot]

This was a nice thing to read this morning to be sure, but it's naturally a lot easier to be "woke" to the realities of global warming when they're literally unfolding in front of your eyes / being sucked down your lungs every day.

Still, good news makes Charles happy this morning, thanks China.

How much more in your face does it have to be before it's naturally easier in the US?

 

[Principate]

How much more in your face does it have to be before it's naturally easier in the US?

That's impossible, it would require competent leadership.

 

[PanicFreak]

They love that someone like Trump is there. I mean there was a recent thread/poll that talked about how Germans see China as better than the US. The US has pretty much given the silicon valley industry of the 21st century (clean energy) to China while they still try to keep clean coal a priority. China has clamped down on rare earth mining which has devastated them ecologically and Chinese citizens who can barely go outside due to smog now see the folly of being the worlds dumping ground and producer of goods for two decades. I think they have cleaned the air enough were Indian cities are now top 10 in the world in pollution.

You are going to see Chinese energy companies develop high speed and light rail, solar and wind plants in latin america and africa and asia all while the US still wants to pretend coal and oil pipelines are really the future.

This right here pisses me off. Though, it makes more sense for China to make this pivot because the US has incredibly large fossil fuel reserves. China does not.

 

[Any Questions]

good sentiment, but I await the day sharks, tigers, and rhinos rise up to start harvesting humans for ancient animalia medicine.

Good point

 

[turmoil]

Thanks, Chairman Obvious.

Better than Delusional President