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KICK THE HABIT
THE CYCLE – REDUCE
158
COUNTRIES
As with everyone else, the bottom line for countries is to save money, and
one way of doing that is by saving energy. An example is China, which has
announced that it will invest 1.5 trillion yuan (US$193 thousand million) by
making existing buildings more energy efficient by 2020 so as to save mil-
lions of tonnes of coal. Warning that wasted energy was slowing economic
growth, the Vice-Minister of Construction, Qiu Baoxing, said 350 million
tonnes of coal could be saved in 15 years if existing buildings were renovated
to make them more efficient, and if new buildings met green standards.
From 1980 to 2006 China’s energy consumption increased by 5.6 per cent an-
nually, boosting the 9.8 per cent annual growth in its economy. But energy con-
sumption for every 10 000 yuan of GDP dropped from 3.39 tonnes of standard
coal in 1980 to 1.21 tonnes in 2006, an annual energy-saving rate 3.9 per cent.
Tonnes of carbon
per Intl.$* 1 million
more than 2000
from 1000 to 2000
from 200 to 2000
from 100 to 200
no data
less than 100
Source: World Resources Institute CAIT Database,
2007 (data for 2000); Wikipédia.
Greenhouse gas intensity of national economies
The national greenhouse gas intensity measures the quantity of GHG emissions in relation to the economic output of a
country and is independent of the absolute quantity of GHG emitted. Other ways to represent GHG emissions are
emissions per capita or in total per country. In both cases the picture changes completely. Countries with high absolute
emissions may have relatively low intensities and vice versa, as with growing economic productivity efficiency tends to
increase, and economic activities shift from industrial to the service sector. On the other hand, countries with high intensity
may well have very low per capita emissions. See pages 22 and 48 for alternative rankings of emitters.
* The international
dollar takes into
account the
purchasing
power parities of
countries and the
average prices of
commodities.