Climate Change In China Case Study

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Background of the study

Climate change is defined as the long term shifts in weather patterns in a region or globally. It is due to a result of increased concentrations of GHGs in the earth’s atmosphere. As this trapped carbon pollution heats up it alters the earth’s climate patterns. The largest source of this pollution is the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil for energy use. Thus, when carbon emissions enter the air they have dangerous effects on the environment, the economy, animals, wildlife and individual wellbeing.

The rising threat of climate change is visibly evident to all states and has not gone unnoticed by the international community. In its causes and consequences climate change has implications for all of earth’s inhabitants. Yet the ability to mobilize an effective global response rest largely on a handful of

To what extent has the US and China contributed to climate change?

The US and China are the World’s two largest contributors of GHGs. Seeking climate change solutions have now become inevitable because states are more interconnected. What is done in one state does not only affect that state and so there is now greater national and global responsibilities placed upon states (economic, political and environmental). Because they are the two dominant contributors to climate change, climate change solutions are now at the forefront for both the US and China’s political agendas, and have brought them to the negotiating table to discuss environmental issues and possible solutions.

The United