A new report by WWF and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology shows that the country’s consumption is responsible for increasing China’s CO2 emissions.

“Western countries such as Norway are outsourcing pollution to China and other countries in the developing world. This is saving the European countries billions of Euros on emissions quota expenses and covering the real responsibilities for global warming,” said the report co-author Rasmus Reinvang of WWF-Norway.

The report, released in Beijing and Oslo on Monday, documents how Norway’s growing import of electronics, machinery and other products is driving the industry production, energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in China.

The report shows that CO2 emissions from China’s manufacturing of exports to Norway have almost tripled from 2001 to 2006 to reach 6.8 million tonnes. On average a Norwegian household is responsible for producing greenhouse gas emissions amounted close to the average of Chinese citizen’s at 3.8 tonnes.

“The new figures in this report should contribute to a more factual debate about the responsibility of different countries in a post-2012 global climate regime. The West bears large responsibility for CO2 emissions in China,” said Li Lin, Head of Conservation Strategies at WWF-China.

Statistics showed that greenhouse gas emissions in the western countries have generally flattened over past decade as a result of the energy-intensified industry transfer from developed countries to developing countries. Global emissions are still growing, to a large extent, due to the rapidly emissions increases in developing economies like China and India. In Europe, a regime of quota trade has been introduced, requiring industry to buy carbon quotas according to emissions.

“If the developing world’s production of consumer goods meant for Western consumers had taken place inside the European quota trade area, our rough estimates show that quota prices would amount to 51 billion euros per year. This indicates the minimum investment developed nations should make in technology transfer ensuring emission reductions in the developing world,” said Rasmus Reinvang of WWF-Norway.

For more information, please contact:

· Tan Rui, WWF-China, +86 10 6522 7100 ext. 3813, rtan@wwfchina.org
· Mag. art. Rasmus Reinvang, WWF-Norway, +47 92 03 25 15, rreinvang@wwf.no
· Dr. Glen Peters, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, +47 92 89 16 38

Editors Notes:

Report findings
· While Norway’s CO2 emissions remain fairly stable at 55-57 Mt per year, Norway’s carbon footprint abroad is growing fast (33% 2001-2006, to 39 Mt) and will in a decade surpass domestic emissions.
· China is the developing country where Norway’s carbon footprint is largest and increasing most rapidly, almost tripling from 2.4 Mt in 2001 to 6.8 Mt in 2006. The import mix of products from China shifted to more CO2 intensive products (e.g. machinery and computers).
· On average each Norwegian causes emissions of 1.5 tonnes of CO2 in China. Every Norwegian household causes emissions of 3.4 tonnes of CO2 in China. The average Chinese citizen emits 3.8 tonnes.
· Norwegian consumption is leading to more than 2 million tonnes of annual CO2 emissions from coal fired power plants in China. (In China almost half (46%) of the CO2 emissions from producing Norwegian imports came from electricity generation.)
· If Norway is to address its CO2 footprint in China, the most effective will be to assist China in reducing energy needs and developing “clean coal” technologies or renewable energy solutions that can substitute coal.
· By putting a price on Norway’s carbon footprint in developing countries using an estimated EU carbon market price of €20 per ton, the price of Norway’s footprint in 2006 can be estimated to €357 million.
· Presuming that Norway is an average OECD-country, the price of the OECD CO2 footprints in developing countries can very roughly be estimated to €51 billion (extrapolating from the fact that Norwegian GDP is 0.7% of OECD GDP).

You can download the full report “Norwegian Consumption, Chinese pollution. An example of how OECD imports generate CO2 emissions in developing countries” at http://www.wwfchina.org/english/loca.php?loca=103.