Climate Change in China Coal built China - and fuels its relentless growth today. Eighty per cent of China's electricity comes from coal 544 new coal-fired power stations are planned to meet an insatiable demand for energy.  Over the past two decades, China has put economic growth above all else, and with 200 million Chinese still living on less than a dollar a day, relieving poverty remains vital. Nearly 80% of the country's electricity comes from coal. That's twice the average, worldwide.  China is now the world's largest coal consumer, and its power plants are burning coal faster than its aging railroads can deliver it from domestic mines, most of which are in the north.  China is the world's second largest emitter of such gases, after the United States. But China's per-person energy use and greenhouse gas emissions remain far below levels found in richer countries. The emissions are, for example, roughly one-eighth of those per capita in the United States. The Sihe mine is being held up as a role model. It's one of China's largest and most modern coal mines, expected to produce 10 million tonnes of coal before the year's out. It's the first mine in China to tackle greenhouse gas emissions by capturing the methane released from the earth as the coal is mined.  China is also being pro-active with regard to CAFÉ (Corportae Automobile Fuel Efficiency) standards,  China’s red-hot economy has meant a rapid shift from bicycles to cars, and the government is taking stern measures to increase fuel efficiency. One major difference with the U.S. CAFE standards is that Chinese standards are based on weight rather than class of vehicles. The lightest vehicles in China were required to get 38 MPG in 2005, increasing to 43 MPG by 2008. Contrast that with the U.S. CAFE standard of 27.5 MPG for cars .In the southwestern province of Guangdong, a six-year drought has turned rice paddies to dust and emptied fish ponds and wells that have sustained the people for centuries. Water tables have dropped so low in Guangdong that many towns no longer have the water pressure needed for indoor plumbing, forcing residents to wash clothes in drying and increasingly polluted rivers. In Daqiao village, pictured here, a 55-year-old man said that the river that flowed under the picturesque arched bridge for which the town was named was at the lowest level he'd seen in his life.   Learn More! Click here to learn what you can do to fight global warming Resources on global warming Climate Change and Poverty Climate Change Home