Another Example Of Why Stopping Climate Change Can't Happen Without China

If you think that there can be a reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions without China, think again. According to a new report by Greenpeace, China's three biggest power companies emit more greenhouse gas than the entire nation of Great Britain. And China is also reported to have recently passed the United States as the world's largest producer of greenhouse gasses.

The reason is China's reliance on burning coal to produce electricity, nearly 60% of their electricity comes from coal, while Chinese power plants are far less efficient, pumping out more CO2 than their Western counterparts.

China though has been reluctant to take greenhouse gas reduction seriously. During recent talks on a follow up agreement to the Kyoto Protocols, the agreement aimed at tackling global warming that is set to expire in 2012, China continued to argue that as a 'developing economy' they shouldn't be held to the same standards as the United States/Western Europe/Japan and refused to agree to any hard targets for greenhouse gas reduction. This despite the fact that China, by most accounts, has passed Japan to become the world's second-largest economy.

While the Chinese government has ambitious plans for hydroelectric, nuclear and wind-power generation, they are still, on average, opening one or two new coal-fired power plants per week to fuel their expanding economy.