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National Flag of the People's Republic of China
Flag of the Republic of China

The People's Republic of China is led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and headed by Xi Jinping. The Chinese political system does not consist of freely elected leaders. Both elections and removals are decided by the National People's Congress (NPC) by majority vote.[1] This means that someone can only be elected at the local level and not the national level.[1] The NPC is the highest state body in China.[2] China is only one of the few places that do not hold free and fair elections at a national level. The NPC has the power to remove the President and other state officials from office.[3] The current President of the People's Republic of China is Xi Jinping. He became China's Presidential leader in 2013, after being hand-picked to become the heir of predecessor Hu Jintao.[4] President Xi is currently the seventh President of the People's Republic of China. President Xi is allowed to stay in power for his lifetime which means he can be President until he dies or unless he takes the unlikely decision to step-down for health or other personal reasons. Either way, President Xi will only be replaced should he chose to be replaced. However, there is always the chance of political coup in China, albeit very unlikely given the current social climate and nationalism contained in country.

China is currently the number one country in the world in terms of overall population size. As of May 18th 2022, China currently has 1.4 billion citizens.[5] India has a close second behind China in their population size. According to The Economic Times, "Chinese demographers say India will become the world's most populous country earlier than the United Nations' projection of 2027, surpassing China where a steady drop in the birth rate has been recorded in the last few years". [6] Given the population size of China, it has the potential to make an immediate impact on the global climate crisis. If China is able to make a shift and have all of their citizens only use electric vehicles instead of gas, that would help relieve some of the climate crisis and make a positive impact on the climate emergency. China needs to demonstrate on the world stage that they are committed to doing their part to cure the climate. While China has stated that they have aspirations to achieve a new carbon footprint, by 2060 it still remains to be seen if China will be able to achieve its goals. China's population makes up 18.47% of the world's population not including any other country.[4] Even if only China and India use electric vehicles, they would still have a combined population sizes that make up 36% of the world.[7] This would be a step in order for the rest of the world to follow in their footsteps and help solve the climate crisis. Given the current climate, government imposed lockdowns and Chinas policy around zero tolerance for COVID-19 cases that may have a major impact on their ability to achieve. On one hand, every day factories are closed in China due to the virus it is another day that the earth gets to breathe. On the other hand, it has global implications which are driving supply challenges for the rest of the world. In addition to the complications in China at the time of this writing, the world is in an uneasy position with the invasion of Russia to Ukraine cutting off supply lines of gas to other parts of the world. While commitments have been made by other countries to reduce carbon emissions, it appears that the world is not prepared to quickly move off of its reliance on fossil fuels.

Impact on climate

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This is a photo of a Tesla electric vehicle charging station in San Diego. It shows how many vehicles are charging. It also shows that all charging stations are full. There are were also people waiting in vehicles for their turn to charge. Demonstrating a high demand for faster charging stations and or greater availability.

Electric Vehicles in China is not a new concept. Electric Vehicles have helped reduce carbon emissions over the past few years in China. China is not fully electric yet, but has taken measures to ensure that they are heading in that direction. China currently has almost all of their public transportation (buses and taxis) electric. China offers strong incentives (reimbursements) to those who are supportive of purchasing electric vehicles. Alternatively, they have adopted a plan to disincentive consumers who choose to drive gas/fuel power vehicles. China has made promises in the Paris Agreement to be a leader in the net carbon neutral initiative. While China promises to be a leader in this area, it should be understood that use a lot of fossil fuels and energy including coal. There is a high demand for energy given the vast number of manufacturing facilities. Almost all of the city’s 22,000 cabs are electric.[8] showing great promise in making strides toward the goal. It is predicted that 30 percent of China's vehicles in 2050 will be powered by electricity. [9]

History

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Cars and other forms of transportation have historically been gas powered. Electric vehicles, while not new to the stage are under leveraged in their utilization and consumer understanding. An electric vehicle is still considered a vehicle with the same bells and whistles. The only thing it lacks, is a that it does not emit carbon emissions. An electric vehicle works by using a battery. This battery does need to be plugged in, in order for it to be charged. It is the charging that acts as the "fuel" to move the vehicle. Depending on the vehicle and the speed of the charging station, this process of recharging can take anywhere from 30 minutes to more than 12 hours.[10] The electric vehicle did not just happen one day. The first mass produced recognized electric vehicle was named a Prius. This electric vehicle was manufactured by Toyota and released in Japan in 1997.[11] Electric Vehicles have become more and more popular throughout the years.

China made the switch to electric vehicles by starting with their public transportation in Shenzhen. Shenzhen is the second-largest city and has a quickly growing metro system. Shenzhen was able to rapidly switch over its bus fleet due to investment at multiple levels of government.[12] There wasn’t much needed for the city of Shenzhen to go electric. Shenzhen was able to go electric relatively fast. Shenzhen was chosen due to their relative adoption of technology. Shenzhen officials were able to flip the system to electric vehicles without needing to alter routes.[12] This process made it easier for the city to go electric.

Today, there are more electric vehicles in China compared to years past. Buses and taxis were first to go electric. Chinese consumers have lately been more interested in owning/purchasing an electric vehicle. This is due to the government pushing electric vehicles over gas. Chinese consumers are more inclined to buy an electric vehicle if they know they can actually be allowed to drive the vehicle and if the government subsidies you for buying an electric vehicle. Due to the overcrowding on China’s roads, the government picks and chooses who can and cannot have a permit to drive their vehicle. Permits are granted to residents after winning a lottery to see if they are approved to drive their vehicle. The odds of winning are low, but even lower if you don’t request a permit for an electric vehicle.[8] This is one way China is creating the demand for its citizens to choose electric powered vehicles over gas.

Citizen response

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There are mixed reviews of Chinese consumers on electric vehicles. The consumers that drive their cars to work see electric vehicles as a win, win. For example, those who work in an office building that commute and park their cards for the day. These consumers were able to reduce their carbon footprint and get subsidies from the government. Other consumers who make a living driving, for example long-haul drivers, ride share vehicles do not share the belief that electric vehicles are a benefit. Some disadvantages to having an electric vehicle is having to charge it. As I stated above, the process of recharging can take anywhere from 30 minutes to more than 12 hours.[10] This charging time is inefficient for taxi drivers who make a living being available all the time. The process of recharging takes a lot of time, but that also does not include the time that taxi drivers have to wait for a charging station to become available. Additionally, the availability of changing stations can be limiting. Unlike Gas stations, that are available frequently to continue travel, electric charging stations are not readily available which limits the amount of miles one can commit to driving in a day. Taxi drivers can spend most of their day waiting in a charging line instead of driving and making money. This current system is quite inefficient and has made it harder for some to make the living they are used to. Additionally, those who live in rural areas do not benefit as the infrastructure of charging stations does not support. China seems to focused on those who live in inhabited cities where congestion is an issue, but fail to acknowledge those who live on the outskirts in the countryside.

Environment

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Carbon Emissions

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China has not always been the best at limiting carbon emissions. China’s emissions were mostly fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas).[13] China has been and still is known to be one of the world’s biggest polluters. For more than a decade, it emit the most greenhouse gases and used more coal than the rest of the world combined.[14] China's choice to reduce carbon emissions and go electric is one stepping stone to having a cleaner world. China announced their pledge in their Paris Agreement to peak admissions by 2030 after which CO2 levels would decrease.[15] The Paris Agreement is an agreement by multiple countries (200) including China. This agreement makes all leaders come together to announce their plan in coming years on how they intend to limit global warming in their country. This is called an individual emissions target. [16] At the most recent Paris Agreement in 2016, President Xi Jinping announced that China's intent was to be carbon neutral by 2060. [15] Since then, China has manufactured and produced thousands of solar panels and electric vehicles.

This is a photo of a Wind farm. Wind farms as well as solar parks provide a lot of benefits to China's economy. Wind farms are used to help reduce air pollution.

Electricity usage

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China has been and still is the leading consumer of fossil fuels and primary energy. [17] China has already started to put wind farms on the shore of the ocean in order to reduce air pollution.[18] The demand for electricity has become overwhelming. More than any other country, China is trying to add more wind farms and solar parks. [14] Even with China's efforts, there needs to be an increase in wind farms as well as solar parks around the world. We all need to come together to ensure that we don't destroy our planet even more. Wind farms as well as solar parks bring a lot of benefits to China's economy. They are usually located in a countryside and poorer area of the country. The production and manufacturing of wind farms has given the opportunity for new jobs within this development. China's usage of fossil fuels and primary energy has been significant. Without China's willingness to help the environment, we would be even further along in ruining the earth. We need to stop burning fossil fuels, start building wind farms and solar parks but allow the benefit of wind farms and solar parks to all people in China, not just those living in major cities and consider reducing the price of electric vehicles to those who are considered low or middle income.

Indirect pollution

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People believe that Electric vehicles are zero emission vehicles. While the actual vehicle is zero emission, the process to make the car is not. During the manufacturing stage of an electric vehicle, there is mining that is done to extract rare materials from the earth in order to make the batteries for this vehicle.[19] This is process of mining does not help the climate crisis, nor produce zero emissions. The thought behind an electric car for the long-run is a good idea. If we were to compare the emissions from an electric vehicle to a gas consuming vehicle, we would still be able to find that the electric vehicle is still more efficient and better for the climate crisis in the long run. While we believe we are doing good things for the earth, we must be mindful of the destruction of the earth to get the materials to make the batteries. Hopefully there has been a cost/benefit analysis and the mining is more favorable than the long term usage of gas. China is well known to have human rights violations and tolerates poor treatment of its citizens. The world must keep an eye on China to ensure we are not further perpetuating human rights violations or encouraging modern slavery. Other countries must be swift to act and should be intolerant of this behavior despite the need to have China onboard.

Growth of Electric Vehicles in China

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The growth of Electric vehicles in China has been enormous. China's seriousness about electric vehicles was shown when the biggest car brand Audi decided to make a fully electric car. German automaker Audi is building its first fully electric car designed especially for the Chinese market.[8] Audi wanted to make sure that China would still sell their product. In order for China to continue selling Audi's in China, the German automaker needed to start making electric cars. Audi plans to launch 30 hybrid and electric models around the world by 2025. China is Audi’s biggest market. It would be devastating to Audi if they didn't start making electric cars. [8] Manufacturing and producing electric cars is one way that we can reduce our carbon footprint. This is a win-win as China's consumers demand foreign upscale goods such as Audi, and Audi needs to be a good business partners to the Chinese government by demonstrating support of their goal to go carbon neutral.

Manufacturing

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Manufacturing is a key to the delivery of goods. Manufacturing consists of using labor and machinery to make a product. We all rely on products and goods being manufactured. Everything that you touch in your daily life is manufactured from somewhere. Manufactures are all around the world and in every country. According to SCMO, there was an estimated 10 million manufacturing factories in the world in 2019.[20] The continent that manufactured the most in 2019 was China.[21] China was at the top in terms of manufacturing output and the percentage of its national output that is generated by that sector.[22] In 2019, China accounted for 28.7% of the global manufacturing output in 2019.[21] According to Statista, China is accounted for 28.7% of the global manufacturing in 2019.[23]Each and every manufacturing facility produces around 54% of the world's carbon emissions. [24] About a quarter of carbon emissions are produced from manufacturing factories in the United States.[25] This is low compared to other countries like China whose manufacturing carbon emission are around almost three times the United States. The United States does not manufacture goods as it does in the past and relies on many imports, most of which come from China.

The most common manufacturing label we see in the United States is either "Made In China" or "Made in Taiwan". These labels are usually put on products that are imported from other countries. Today, manufacturing has slowed down due to the COVID-19 pandemic which stopped production for quite a while in different countries. Once the pandemic ends, there is fear that manufacturing factories will continue to not only produce at the previous rate but faster due to countries having supply shortages. In 2020, there were around 399.4 thousand operational manufacturing factories operational in China alone. [26] The United States has become more and more dependent on China's manufacturing factories. The reason that The United States is facing a supply shortage in the because the US has shut down may production facilities due to having to compete with the pricing in China. We are dependent on other countries for goods that we need. If manufacture factories are reduced in China, their carbon emission production would reduce but it feels as though the United States does not technically produce manufacturing carbon emissions but they put the weight on China. So is China really producing X amount of Carbon emissions from their factories or are they taking the "blame" for another country. The lack of production facilities in the US became commonly known throughout the pandemic as consumer goods became difficult to obtain. Prior to the pandemic it seems that many did not realize the amount of goods, parts or pieces that are imported to the United States. Not only does it take fuel to make products in a production facility, but to ship them around the world in both ships, railcars and trucks to get to their final destination adds to the total carbon footprint. If the consumers of the world demand these low-cost products from China, they must acknowledge that they have contributed to expanding the carbon footprint. This is one reason why the United States in pockets around the country has started "Buy American" campaigns. This is more noticeable in the middle part of the United States where manufacturing plants have been shut down for years and there is a push to reopen to make the United States more self sustainable.

Future

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China

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The future of electric vehicles looks different in each country. Thus far, the electric vehicle industry in China is thriving. There are more and more car manufacturers that are willing and able to make electric vehicles for consumers. China has already made their transportation system in Shanghai China all electric including the cities almost 22,000 cabs.[8] With the rate China is moving with electric vehicles, China might actually meet one of their Paris Agreement goals. Due to the pandemic, manufacturing companies as well as regular businesses have been closed all around the world. Only recently have businesses started to open and do business again with customers. It is projected for China to catch back up to their previous projected growth in less than four months.[27] The continuation of manufacturing and population growth in China is not a good sign for carbon emissions. What is a good sign is the electric vehicle industry in China. The consumers demand for electric vehicles is high. China may reduce emissions in one way but not in others, but every act of reduction is one step in the right direction.

Globally

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This is a photo of the Electric Vehicles Stock Globally. There are four categories total listed on this graph. Three countries are named which are China, The United States and Europe. The other category on this graph is the rest of the world not including the three countries listed above. This shows an increase in the stock amount throughout the years for Electric Vehicles. In 2020, the stock surpassed 10 million. https://www.statista.com/chart/17178/global-electric-car-ownership/

The market for electric vehicles has not only risen in China but globally. Around 6.5 million electric vehicles (EVs) were sold worldwide in 2021.[28] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the total amount of electric vehicles being produced is due to supply shortages. These supply shortages consist of key battery materials from lithium and cobalt to nickel and graphite.[29] A lot of companies have had to close due to the pandemic. China is now in another lockdown due to an increase in COVID cases. The demand for electric vehicles was already high but now having manufacturers shutting down in order to protect the country is another problem. Shanghai China is one place where Tesla manufactures electric vehicles come from. Currently in Shanghai there is another lockdown on their residence which prevents people from going out (to work, grocery shopping). In order for Tesla to get around these restrictions, Tesla’s Shanghai workers will sleep in the factory in order to restart production.[30] The recent lockdowns have delayed Tesla production by approximately 40,000 cars.[30] This work around that Tesla is doing is making sure they are following China's rules by shutting down production (people travel from home to work) and by not letting the electric vehicle market get anymore behind on production than they already are.

The electric vehicle industry has been growing as well as demand for the last couple years. Demand for electric vehicles stayed strong in 2021, but many more would have been sold had it not been for the chronic component shortages still affecting every car maker around the world.[28] The majority of the demand for electric vehicles have been in China and Europe.[28] There has also been an increase in stocks around the world for electric vehicles. People are getting more and more invested in purchasing and owning electric vehicles. Companies that had not previously made electric vehicles are also working to make their cars electric. Recently a known American Motor Company Ford stated that they will be producing a new line of electric passenger vehicles in Europe starting in 2023.[31] This is a big step for the American Motor Company Ford. Ford is known to usually make gas guzzling trucks and vehicles that produce enormous amounts of pollution. The graph on the left side of this Wiki page shows the growth of electric vehicles stocks globally. Three countries are specifically named in this graph. These countries are China, The United States and Europe. The other category on this graph is including the rest of the world. This graph shows an increase in the electric vehicle stock throughout the years. In 2020, the stock surpassed 10 million which is an all-time high for electric vehicle stocks.[32] This increase in stocks is a good sign for electric vehicle companies like Tesla as well as solving the climate crisis. As more people transition to electric vehicles instead of gas fuel vehicles, the more we can start moving towards solving the climate crisis. The first step in doing so is by having well-known, or "popular" car companies make the push. Once more electric vehicles that have popular brand names become available for consumers to purchase, I believe that we will see a further increase in electric vehicle purchases, which will result in better climate control.

Paris Agreement

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President of the People's Republic of China, President of the United States and the Secretary-General of the United Nations at The Paris Agreement 2016.

The Paris Agreement is an international treaty that is focused on climate change. The Paris Agreement is the first-ever universal, legally binding global climate change agreement.[33] The Paris Agreement sets out a global framework to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2°C and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C.[33] In 2016, China agreed to sign the Paris Agreement along with 175 parties. [34] List of parties to the Paris Agreement.

The Paris Agreement is important because this agreement is between multipole countries in order to try and reduce carbon emission. The reduction of carbon emissions is important because according to the world's best climatologists, we need to fix our ways. For a long time scientists said that we should stay under 1.5 degrees Celsius but we would be ok if its under 2 degrees Celsius. Now scientists are saying that this isn’t right. [35] If there is no change seen, and we hit the top line, scientists are predicting that there will be a spike in mass migration, wildfires, deadly heat stress and it will cost us trillions of dollars and millions of lives irreversible.[35]

China committed to doing four (4) things by the year 2030 in their latest Paris Agreement.[36]
1. Peak carbon dioxide emissions.
2. Lower carbon dioxide intensity by 60-65% from the 2005 level.
3. Increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to 20%.
4. Increase the forest stock volume by 4l5 billion cubic meter from the 2005 level.

Looking at the Paris Agreement and what China has accomplished thus far, we can see that China is significantly far back in their progress to do all four things by the year 2030. The CAT (Climate Action Tracker) gives China an overall rating of “Highly Insufficient”.[37] China’s climate commitments in 2030 are also rated as “Highly Insufficient” when compared to fair share, as emission levels expected under the most binding peaking and non-fossil share NDC targets are compatible with warming levels.[37] This type of progress is not enough to consider China being even half way to meeting its goal by 2030. Countries need to take the climate crisis seriously and pledge to do their part to solve the climate crisis. If all countries were to pledge to their reduction of carbon emissions and pledge to do this for years to come, we wouldn't have to worry about hitting the 2 degree Celsius limit. In the end, all countries need to work together to try and solve this climate crisis. If not, there could be detrimental consequences for the world. Despite China being a leading world emissions polluter, China should be commended for their commitment to take the lead in driving the world to fulfill its obligations to solving the climate crisis.

References

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