Cheap Goods from China Have High Carbon Cost

中国制造带来的高碳排放

Because China relies on coal for much of its power, goods produced there can have a dirtier carbon footprint than those produced elsewhere. Christopher Intagliata reports

中国制造：便宜，但碳排放高

撰文：克里斯托弗?因塔利亚塔（Christopher Intagliata ）

翻译：马宏

审校：王娇娇

China emits over a quarter of the world's carbon--some 10 billion tons. That's twice what we pump out here in the U.S. But before the finger-wagging begins, consider that a quarter of China's CO2 emissions come from making exports--in other words, stuff for countries like us. "So we're talking about five to six percent of global emissions are in these goods being exported from China. And that may not sound like a lot, but five or six percent of 35 billion tons is a lot of CO2."

你知道么，中国的碳排放量占到了全世界的四分之一以上，差不多有100亿吨，相当于两个美国的排放量。但是别急着批判中国先，要知道其中四分之一的二氧化碳排放是因为生产出口产品，供应美国等国。“百分之五到百分之六的全球碳排放量是因为中国出口的商品而产生的。听着可能不多，但是350亿吨二氧化碳的5%可不是盖的。”

Steve Davis is a climate energy scientist at the University of California Irvine. He and his colleagues wanted to see whether outsourcing manufacturing to China--which happens to be good for our wallets--is also good for the planet. Spoiler alert: doesn't look like it.

以上言论出自史蒂夫?戴维斯之口，他是加州大学欧文分校的气候能源学家。他和他的同事正在研究把制造业外包给中国会不会在造福美国人民钱包的同时，也造福全球生态环境。

 A Chinese container ship passes under the Bay Bridge near San Francisco, Calif. in 2007. (Credit: Darin Marshall/Flickr)

一艘来自中国的集装箱货船正从旧金山的海湾大桥下驶过。图片来源：Darin Marshall/Flickr

"Because China is so reliant on coal for their energy, and because also they use less advanced technologies and processes in some cases, there's a lot more CO2 being produced than if those same goods were made in developed countries." And that's especially true in certain areas of China, like the provinces of Yunnan or Guizhou. "For every dollar of stuff being exported from those provinces, you're getting vastly more CO2." The study is in the journal Nature Climate Change. [Zhu Liu et al, Targeted opportunities to address the climate–trade dilemma in China]

“中国的能源结构非常依赖煤炭，再加上某些产业用的技术和流程不太先进，这就导致生产同样的商品时，中国要比发达国家排放更多的二氧化碳。”在某些特定地方更是如此，比如云南和贵州。“在这些省份，每生产一美元的出口商品，都会排放更多的二氧化碳。”相应的研究结果已发表在《自然?气候变化》（Nature Climate Change）上。

China does plan to launch a cap-and-trade system in 2017, which might iron out some of these regional inefficiencies. But the real issue--is our consumer culture. "At the end of the day, consumption in and of itself is driving a lot of the problems we're having environmentally. Both climate change and others." So we could either buy less--which seems unlikely--or, to avoid stuff with a dirty carbon past, this might just be one more motive to go local.

中国打算在2017年启动碳排放交易计划，并有望借此清理掉一些低效率的生产环节。但是问题的核心在于美国人的消费文化。“归根结底，消费才是导致眼下环境问题的元凶，不仅仅是气候变化问题，还包括其他方面。”所以说，要不美国人民少买点（不太现实），要不就别买导致碳排放高的产品。对于美国来说，这或许是发展本土制造业的推动力。