We Don’t Know How Much China Pollutes – but Now We Can

Everyone knows that China pollutes. The reality of Chinese smog, waste, and pollution is beyond dispute. But how much is an entirely open question.

Defining “pollution” itself is a difficult task. The concept involves a wide variety of topics, from plastics in the ocean to carbon in the atmosphere to even light in the night sky. Defining who is responsible is even tougher: if a river runs through India and China – two countries notorious for lots of pollution and little reporting of it – which country gets the blame?

This uncertainty has not stopped governments from creating sketchy statistics, which they then use to protect their own industries or target America’s. China’s government claims to have the numbers and, unsurprisingly, has been pleased to report that its pollution has been decreasing. The Global Times, a Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece, blasted those who doubted China’s numbers, pointing to random X users and the United Nations Environment Program’s declaration of the “Beijing Miracle” as examples of expert refutations. But the United Nations cannot be trusted here. China is the second-largest funder of the organization, and as such, obviously is expecting to get something for its money.

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