China accounts for 70% of new emissions each year. Because of its large rural population China will rely on coal for many years to come-Chinese official Zou Ji, NY Times, 2/26/2013

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2/26/2013, “Tough Truths from China on CO2 and Climate,” Andrew Revkin, NY Times, Dot Earth 

“The interview is blunt and crystal clear in laying out the demographic and economic realities that will, for many years to come, slow any shift from Chinese dependence on coal. Zou Ji has a remarkable resume for someone now working inside the Chinese establishment, having worked previously as the China director for the World Resources Institute….

…….

ZJ: “The international community has some misconceptions, such as believing China is now a developed nation. This could mean China ends up taking on more global responsibility than its capabilities allow. We’ve held the Olympics and sent astronauts into space, but you can’t look at the richest parts of Beijing and Shanghai and assume the whole country is like that. The welfare of hundreds of millions of rural residents isn’t yet assured. Healthcare, unemployment benefits, pensions, all of these are weak. Many Chinese people have no safe drinking water, and our per-capita GDP ranks ninety-something globally. Overall, China is still a developing nation. Another important disadvantage is the make-up of our natural resources. Brazil gets 90% of its energy from hydropower. It is fortunate enough to have those resources. If China could replace coal with oil as a primary source of energy, emissions would drop by one third. If we could replace coal with natural gas, they would drop by two thirds. But China’s main resource is coal. We only have limited amounts of other sources of energy, and obviously a reliance on imports is unrealistic. Moving to clean energy is a massive challenge….

China can only do its best as it is able. Moving too quickly will actually hold back low-carbon development….In the current world economic system, it is difficult for a developing nation to cut emissions. China currently accounts for 70% of new emissions each year and the pressure and expectations it faces are increasing. But China is still on the left-hand side of the Kuznets curve, while the EU is on the right-hand side, beyond the peak. The type of emissions of the two different stages aren’t the same, they can’t be compared. China’s high emissions come mainly from industry and are driven by investment. The EU’s emissions come mostly from building and transportation, and are due to consumption.”…

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Commenter to above NY Times article above about China and coal: Kip Hansen, St Thomas, USVI:

“China will develop, will provide electrical power and modern transportation to its burgeoning billion plus people and so will India and SE Asia and Malaysia and Africa.

No amount of politicking, pressure group pressuring, or whining on blogs is going to change that nearly overwhelming fact. They will dam rivers, burn coal, drill for gas and oil (and then burn that) to achieve that. The part that is nearly overwhelming is that no matter what the US and Europe do, it will have very little effect on CO2 levels. China currently has a population of one billion more than the US. The developing world has a population of more than 5 billion people — Africa and Asia combined — not counting underdeveloped South and Central America. That’s five times that of the Developed World (US and European Union 27) These countries will ramp up energy production and will do it with coal, oil, hydro, plus a little bit of wind and solar (if someone else pays for it).”… 

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Added: US CO2 drops 

2/7/2013, “U.S. Carbon Emissions Dip To 1994 Levels,” Russell McLendon, Mother Nature Network via Forbes

"Not since 1994 have U.S. CO2 emissions been as low as they were in 2012, according to a new report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Output of the heat-trapping gas fell 13 percent in the past five years, putting the country well on its way to meeting President Obama’s target of cutting emissions 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020. By the end of last year, U.S. CO2 emissions were already down 10.5 percent from the 2005 baseline.…Coal represented just 18.1 percent of all U.S. power sources in 2012, down from 22.5 percent in 2007.”…

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Added: ‘No other country matched US 2012 CO2 reduction’:

1/4/2013, “An American Triumph: US Carbon Emissions In 2012 Fall 4%; 12% From Peak Level In 2007,” John Hanger.blogspot.com

"Through September 2012, carbon emissions were “down every month in 2012, when compared to each of the first 9 months of 2011 and 2010. No other country matches that record. 
www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/pdf/sec12_3.pdf/sec12_3.pdf/.” 

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Added: India is planning 455 new coal plants, China 363:

1/19/2012, “More than 1,000 New Coal Plants Planned Worldwide,” Damian Carrington, UK Guardian

“More than 1,000 coal-fired power plants are being planned worldwide, new research has revealed. 

The huge planned expansion comes despite warnings from politicians, scientists and campaigners that the planet’s fast-rising carbon emissions must peak within a few years if runaway climate change is to be avoided and that fossil fuel assets risk becoming worthless if international action on global warming moves forward…. 

The capacity of the new plants add up to 1,400GW to global greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent of adding another China – the world’s biggest emitter.”…

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Added: Big banks finance coal:

1/19/2012, “More than 1,000 New Coal Plants Planned Worldwide,” Damian Carrington, UK Guardian 

JP Morgan Chase has provided more than $16.5bn (£10.3bn) for new coal plants over the past six years, followed by Citi ($13.8bn). 

Barclays ($11.5bn) comes in as the fifth biggest coal backer and the Royal Bank of Scotland ($10.9bn) as the seventh. The Japan Bank for International Co-operation was the biggest development bank ($8.1bn), with the World Bank ($5.3bn) second."…

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Added:

1/29/2013, “China Uses Nearly as Much Coal as Rest of World Combined, EIA Says,” Wall St. Journal, Cassandra Sweet 

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Added: Growing irrelevance of US climate policy, China’s growing coal use overwhelms any CO2 reduction US EPA might obtain. Coal to pass oil as world’s leading energy source by 2017 per IEA:

1/31/2013, “The Growing Irrelevance of U.S. Climate Policy,“ Marlo Lewis, GlobalWarming.org

“Today’s Climatewire (subscription) summarizes data and projections from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) from which we may conclude that EPA regulation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) is increasingly irrelevant to global climate change even if one accepts agency’s view of climate science.

Basically, it all comes down to the fact that China’s huge and increasing coal consumption overwhelms any reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions the EPA might achieve. 

From the Climatewire article: “Chinese coal consumption surged for a 12th consecutive year in 2011, with the country burning 2.3 billion tons of the carbon-emitting mineral to run power plants, industrial boilers and other equipment to support its economic and population growth. In a simple but striking chart published on its website, the U.S. Energy Information Administration plotted China’s progress as the world’s dominant coal-consuming country, shooting past rival economies like the United States, India and Russia as well as regional powers such as Japan and South Korea.China’s ravenous appetite for coal stems from a 200 percent increase in Chinese electric generation since 2000, fueled primarily by coal.”…

 

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Added: Obama EPA nominee Gina McCarthy in 2013 admitted EPA rules won’t reduce global CO2, that the problem is China and India, not the US: 

3/8/2013, “Obama’s EPA chief pick known for dogged pursuit of anti-climate change policies,” McKelway, Fox News

“Yet even many of those who oppose her agenda describe the Boston-born (Gina) McCarthy as honest. (Sen. James) Inhofe recalls her response to his pointed question years ago, when he chaired the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. He asked whether costly EPA air quality regulations would actually have any effect on reducing carbon dioxide levels worldwide.

“She said, no, it wouldn’t because this isn’t where the problem is. It’s in China, it’s in India,” Inhofe said. “Well, that took a lot of courage to be that honest.””

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Added:

2/27/2013, “Germany to Add Most Coal-Fired Plants in Two Decades, IWR Says,” Bloomberg, Stefan Nocola

“Germany will this year start up more coal-fired power stations than at any time in the past 20 years as the country advances a plan to exit nuclear energy by 2022.”

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Added: UN IPCC data was misrepresented to US Congress in 2012:

8/1/2012, “IPCC Lead Author Misleads US Congress,” RogerPielkeJr blog 

“The politicization of climate science is so complete that the lead author of the IPCC’s Working Group II on climate impacts feels comfortable presenting testimony to the US Congress that fundamentally misrepresents what the IPCC has concluded. I am referring to testimony given today by Christopher Field, a professor at Stanford, to the US Senate.

This is not a particularly nuanced or complex issue. What Field says the IPCC says is blantantly wrong, often 180 degrees wrong. It is one thing to disagree about scientific questions, but it is altogether different to fundamentally misrepresent an IPCC report to the US Congress. Below are five instances in which Field’s testimony today completely and unambiguously misrepresented IPCC findings to the Senate. Field’s testimony is here in PDF.”…