Linkages Among Resources, Climate, and Asian Growth

Abstract

. . . it would be impossible to reduce amounts of CO2 considerably without lowering the levels of global material consumption. Therefore, dematerialized development scenarios are necessary from both resource and climate perspectives. In 2005, China surpassed the United States in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuels and cement production; since then, it has been the largest CO2 emitter in the world.1 China’s emissions have rapidly increased during the last decade— they have doubled over the last 7 years. In 2008, CO2 emissions from China, India, and the “Asian tigers” (Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea, and Taiwan) accounted for about 34% of global emissions: 24% for China, 5% for India, and 5% for the Asian tigers. As far back as the 1990s, China left the United States and Japan behind in crude steel production.2 Its growth rate has been astonishing: In 2008, China’s crude steel production (500 million tons) was five times greater than that of either the United States or Japan, where the amounts of production have remained almost unchanged since the 1970s, at about 100 million tons. Asia accounted for 56% of global crude steel production in 1998: 38% for China, 9% for Japan, and 4% each for India and Korea. According to recent news,3 China’s crude steel production reached 570 million tons in 2009 (47% of global crude steel production). China is also the largest producer of cement; the nation accounted for about half of global ce-