Britain merely 'outsourcing' carbon emissions to China, say MPs

Source: The Guardian

Britons' consumption of goods such as TVs and mobile phones made in China has "outsourced" the UK's greenhouse-gas emissions, and is leading to a net increase in global emissions, according to a report from an influential committee of MPs.

While the UK's own greenhouse-gas emissions have been tumbling, people and businesses have been buying an increasing proportion of manufactured products from overseas, where regulations on carbon emissions are often much weaker than within the EU. As a result, the increase in carbon emissions from goods produced overseas that are then used in Britain are now outstripping the gains made in cutting emissions here.

Tim Yeo, chairman of the energy and climate change committee, said: "Successive governments have claimed to be cutting climate-changing emissions, but in fact a lot of pollution has simply been outsourced overseas. We get through more consumer goods than ever before in the UK, and this is pushing up emissions in manufacturing countries like China."

However, while China has become the world's biggest producer of greenhouse-gas emissions, it has also become the world's second biggest economy on the back of the enormous exports from its vast manufacturing sector. This means that, in effect, consumers from developed countries have paid China to take on responsibility for more greenhouse-gas emissions.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/apr/18/britain-outsourcing-carbon-emissions-china