True cost of China's coal: $250 billion in pollution, environmental damage, and social ills
Jeremy Hance, mongabay
October 28, 2008
Every year China is spends 250 billion in hidden costs due to its reliance on coal, according to a report compiled over three years by top Chinese economists. These hidden costs are in the form of both environmental degradation and social ills.
Commissioned by Greenpeace China, WWF, and the Energy Foundation, the report shows that the hidden cost of coal is present in almost every aspect of Chinese life, including air pollution, water shortages, polluted soil, ecosystem degradation, widespread human illness, and injuries or deaths related to mining accidents. Over half of the coal consumed in China is for public consumption, while the remaining 38 percent goes to industry.
Proven coal reserves by country
According to the report, air pollution from coal has become so bad in China that chronic respiratory disease has become a leading cause of death. In addition to air, coal has also impacted China’s water availability. For every ton of coal produced two-and-a-half tons of water become polluted; already 71 percent of the coal mines in China are facing water shortages. When rain falls it is often unusable. Acid rain, due largely to coal production, is now recorded in thirty percent of China. China’s land is not left unaffected. Mercury from the coal has seeped into China’s soil and landslides due to mining are not uncommon. Mining accidents leading to injury or death are common in China where little has been invested in miner safety; according to the BBC, 3,700 miners died in accidents in 2007 alone.
The report, however, states that the most important issue regarding the use of coal is climate change. China recently overtook the United States as the world’s largest emitter of CO2, largely due to its reliance on coal. Eighty percent of China’s carbon dioxide comes from burning coal. Due to the difficulty of currently measuring the true cost of climate change, the report left that out of its estimate of 250 billion (or seven percent of China’s GDP).
“However, there is no doubt that if we took into account climate change impacts, the external costs of coal would be significantly higher,” states a briefing on the paper.
In order to change China’s culture of coal, the report recommends the price of coal reflect its environmental, social, and economic losses. In other words, the market must sell coal-powered energy at its true cost.
Foreign ministry spokesman Jiang Yu defended China’s energy policy today by pointing to China’s efforts in clean technology. According to AFP, Yu told reporters: “The Chinese government attaches great importance to the development and exploration of clean energy…It has been making great efforts to increase the share of clean energy in the energy mix…We have reissued a renewable energy law and encouraged development of all sorts of renewable energies, including green energy, solar energy, water and hydro energy, thermal energy…We also attach importance to the clean use of coal, and we have done a lot to control the emission of pollutants produced in burning coal."
In 2007 China consumed 1311 million tons of coal. The United States came in second, consuming almost 574 million tons.
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