Abstract
China’s current national policies promote high levels of economic growth, transforming China into a “world factory”, but at a high cost in terms of energy and the environment. At the same time, this growth and transformation also forms the backbone of China’s economy, underpinning social stability. China faces a dilemma to reconcile its economy, energy system and environmental security. Each aspect of this triad is discussed in this study to illuminate the challenges faced by China, and China’s dilemma in energy, economy and environment is analyzed from the perspective of its participation in current global supply chains. While China must import a significant proportion of its energy and a large proportion of primary materials, a large share of these imports are returned to the global market as industrial exports. China is bound by its own course of action and unable to radically change its position for the foreseeable future as the road to economic development and employment stability is through policies built on exports and shifting development models, presenting a tough socio-economic trade-off. China’s growth challenges are discussed as an example of challenges more broadly faced in the developing world. China’s success or failure in achieving a sustainable developmental pattern will inevitably have a significant influence on the global environment.
Highlights
China is an excellent example of the current crises faced by the rapidly developing and emerging economies of the world, but with close to 20% of global population, it is a country that stands alone in its potential to show the benefits and failures, challenges and enablers of development
A capital-intensive, export-oriented economy has led to spectacular economic growth, lifting millions of Chinese people out of poverty
China’s current national policies have promoted economic growth, and whilst transforming China into a “world factory”, this growth has come at a high energy and environmental cost
Summary
China is an excellent example of the current crises faced by the rapidly developing and emerging economies of the world, but with close to 20% of global population, it is a country that stands alone in its potential to show the benefits and failures, challenges and enablers of development. The sustainable development of developing countries is largely posited on the goal of attaining higher standards of living (including such development goals as high educational participation, good health and longevity), underpinned by improved economic performance. This economic performance in turn has largely been based to date on an industrialization pattern very similar to the path that the developed countries followed, though certain technological steps are being omitted, and the path is often being compressed in time (what took the developed countries over 200 years is being achieved in perhaps half that time in some developing nations).
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