LONDON – Just as rich nations have passed the responsibility for carbon dioxide emissions to the developing nations, so the rich provinces of China have exported the problem to the poorest regions, according to new research.

The world’s biggest single emitter of the greenhouse gas – 10 billion tons in 2011 – has undertaken to reduce the “carbon intensity” of its economy. But, according to Klaus Hubacek of the University of Maryland and colleagues, the richest and most sophisticated regions of China – those with the most stringent and specific pollution abatement targets – are buying manufactured goods from places like Inner Mongolia, a poorer region where targets are less constraining.

“This is regrettable, because the cheapest and easiest reductions – the low-hanging fruit – are in the interior provinces, where modest technological improvements could make a huge difference in emissions,” said Steven Davis of the University of California, Irvine, and one of the authors.

Tougher targets
“Richer areas have much tougher targets, so it’s easier for them just to buy goods made elsewhere,” Davis added. “A nationwide target that tracks emissions embodied in trade would go a long way towards solving the problem. But that’s not what’s happening.”

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