Emission Reduction and Employment

There has been growing unassailable evidence on the existing and possible severe consequences of global climate change and the relationship between human economic activities and the global warming (see for example Stern, 2007). The Kyoto Protocol and Bali Road Map put forward either compulsory or moral requirements for all economies, including China with the largest population size, fastest growth rate and second highest total GDP in PPP term. As Thomas (2007) estimates, assuming the ratio of CO₂ emission over GDP remains at the level of 2001, total global emissions will be as high as 25 billion metric tonnes by 2018. While world CO₂ emission will have increased by 69 per cent during the period, emission in China will increase to 9 billion metric tonnes with growth of 218 per cent, exceeding all other countries in terms of total emission. ¹