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Climate leader China, taxes all kinds of pollution but not CO2

Looks like China is going to apply punitive taxes all sorts of human pollution even noise pollution, but they’re not taxing CO2:

Polluters will be charged for contributing to air, water and noise pollution, according to a copy of the legislation on the NPC’s official .

But CO2 did not make the list, which includes air and water pollutants such as sulphur dioxide and sulfite, taxed at rates beginning at 1.2 yuan ($0.17) and 1.4 yuan ($0.20) per unit respectively.

It also stipulates a monthly tax ranging from 350 to 11,200 yuan ($50 to $1612) for .

China is the worlds largest emitter of CO2 and they are happy to do symbolic things for the climate, like sign the Paris agreement where they can commit to do nothing til 2030, and not much after that. But taxing carbon does  actual collateral damage on an economy. China is obviously having none of that.

For a change, the thing that apparently inspired these new laws was a real pollution problem:

The new law was precipitated after 20 cities in Northeast China went on high smog alerts, which forced the closure of factories and the removal of cars off the road. People were told to wear face masks and roads and schools were closed. Airports canceled flights. The smog alert also prompted renewed calls by China’s President Xi Jinping to research clean energy sources and make factories burn cleaner.

 What happened to China — the global climate leader?

On November 15th, Salon.com was worried  that the US had been surpassed, and that China was now the global leader in climate change reform. On December 6th, Noam Chomsky was agog at the spectacle that had unfolded in Marrakech: “The hope of the world for saving us from this impending disaster was China—authoritarian, harsh China.

Last week, the ForeignAffairs.com  gnashed teeth that the US was Ceding Climate Leadership to China. The stakes were pretty high:

“… ceding climate leadership to China would be disastrous for the United States, whose diplomatic standing and position in the race to supply the world’s clean-energy needs would fall precipitously as a result.”

Looks like Chomsky et al can relax. Beijing isn’t going to win the Miss Climate Pageant after all.

Expect green protests about China’s lack-of-carbon-tax to start in 3, 2, 1 million years.

h/t ClimateDepot and GWPF: The Daily Caller” China Won’t Tax CO2 In Pollution Control Measures

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