By Hanna Zedlacher
Head of Programs
We have been hearing that we need to act, to decarbonize and to use clean energy in order to cut down our emissions. Change never comes easy; actually, change very often feels deeply uncomfortable. A common reaction among many of us – especially in small countries like my home country, Austria – is to cry out: “But what about China?” Since China has been an emerging economy with around 1.4 billion inhabitants, we feel that given the sheer size of the population they actually need to act, to decarbonize and use clean energy in order to cut our global emissions.
Yes, but what about China? It is naturally true that China still heavily depends on fossil fuel energy (also for the future as the country plans to deploy coal plants on a massive scale) and is responsible for nearly a third of annual global emissions. But here it is: If you look at per capita emissions, China is behind North America and Europe. And to add to that: The above numbers refer to domestic emissions. In my opinion, it is even more interesting to look at consumption-based emissions as countries export and import goods from abroad, therefore we have to take the emissions of these imports and exports into account as well. China is a net-exporter of emissions due to the fact that they export more goods and therefore more of the CO2 that is needed to produce these goods. By the way, most Western countries are net importers of emissions.
China’s doing what?!
Experts are excited about China’s deployment of renewable energy on a big scale. Almost three-quarters of all solar and wind power projects being built globally are in China, says a recently published report by San Francisco based NGO Global Energy Monitor. To give you some impressions, check out these photos of the scale of China’s solar power projects. Carbon Brief just recently published an analysis reporting that China’s clean energy growth helped decreasing China’s CO2 emissions by 1 % year-on-year during the first half of 2025 – even though there was an increase in electricity demand in the country.
It’s not just about China
My point is: Reality is not black and white, but probably 50 shades of grey (pun intended). The “What about China?” argument certainly is true as the country needs to do its part of cutting emissions. But I argue that our consumption patterns are very much connected to Chinese emissions. And all of us – especially the ones living in highly industrialized countries – need to take climate action and try to implement more climate-friendly practices. Emissions, pollution and climate change are not limited to borders. And certainly, we cannot do it on our own (this is another topic to go into detail for another blog post), but the beautiful thing about climate action is that each and everyone of us can do something in that matter on a daily basis. In highly industrialized countries, it means for instance to cut down your meat intake or choosing public transport. Changing to a green energy provider also makes a huge difference. And if you cannot think of anything, check out our Pump for the Planet Workout. You’ll be surprised how much you can do – and how your actions matter, for you and the whole world.
CREDIT image: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2016), processed by ESA