China and the Environment

https://www.humantruth.info/china_environment.html

By Vexen Crabtree 2026

#biodiversity #china #china_and_the_environment #deforestation #environmentalism #internationalism #japan #over-exploitation #pakistan #pollution #the_environment #USA

China People's Republic of China [Country Profile Page]
Status	Independent State
Social and Moral Index	68th best
Location	Asia
Population	1.4b₁
Life Expectancy	78.21yrs (2017)₂

China is the 3^rd-richest country for plant species diversity₃. China ranks 73rd in the world in terms of its responsibility towards the environment. This is calculated from 21 data sets. China comes in the best 20 in its forested percent change 2000-2020₄. It does better than average in its score on the Green Future Index₅ (one of the highest in Asia) and in its sign-up rate to major international accords on protecting the environment. Although in 1983 "environmental protection was declared a basic national principle" in reality, economic development often takes priority and "many environmental protection laws and policies [are] not effectively implemented or enforced"₆. Nonetheless by 2005 it had made "a big effort to protect its outstanding biodiversity with 1,757 nature reserves covering 13% of its land plus numerous zoos, wildlife centres and gene banks"₆. It has some unique environmentally-wise cultural practices, such as raising fish in irrigated rice fields, simultaneously producing fertiliser and controlling pests₆. It has gained positive commendations for its epic effort to artificially bring parts of its ancient Taklamakan Desert to productive life, which is successful enough that its absorption of CO₂ is detectable from space₇.

But, things could still be better. China does worse than average in terms of reducing annual meat consumption per person₈, reducing annual meat consumption per person₈, its environmental performance₉ and in energy to GDP efficiency₁₀. And finally, it falls into the worst-performing 20 in the rate of rational beliefs on the environment in the population₁₁ (amongst the lowest in Asia).

China's list of worsening environmental problems is formidable: biodiversity loss, disappearing wetlands, grassland degradation, overgrazing, soil erosion and desertification, trash accumulation, river flow cessation, salinization, water pollution and water shortages₃, and some of its cities have the worst air pollution in the world₁₂.

1. China's Responsibility Towards The Environment

#climate_change #the_environment

Compared to Asia (2025)₁₃
Pos.		Lower is better Avg Rank₁₃
1	Sri Lanka	34.9
2	Nepal	47.9
3	India	49.5
	...
14	Yemen	71.9
15	Pakistan	72.0
16	Turkey	75.0
17	China	75.2
18	Afghanistan	75.7
19	Syria	77.4
20	Iran	79.0
21	UAE	81.8
22	Singapore	83.3
	Asia Avg	88.09
q=51.

Responsibility Towards The Environment (2025)₁₃
Pos.		Lower is better Avg Rank₁₃
1	Sri Lanka	34.9
2	Uruguay	43.2
3	Switzerland	45.0
	...
70	Chad	74.4
71	UK	74.4
72	Turkey	75.0
73	China	75.2
74	Belgium	75.3
75	Cape Verde	75.6
76	Afghanistan	75.7
77	New Zealand	75.8
	World Avg	84.93
q=199.

We have known for a long term that we must protect the environment from habitation destruction, over-exploitation, pollution, and the emissions that cause climate change. In 1998, Greenpeace wrote that "Environment can no longer be meaningfully separated from health, quality of life, democracy, education, economy or trade"₁₄. What countries have been doing the right thing, via legislation and national culture? All countries' current and historical approach towards the environment is gauged via 21 datasets, including multiple decades of data on its forested percent change 2000-2020, its environmental performance, energy to GDP efficiency, its sign-up rate to major international accords on protecting the environment, the rate of rational beliefs on the environment in the population, reducing annual meat consumption per person and its score on the Green Future Index.

The countries that do the best (Sri Lanka, Uruguay and Switzerland) tend to have avoided the excesses of early industrial countries, and have not yet repeated the same mistakes of environmental destruction - at least, not on the same scale. The regions with the best average results per country are Central America, South America and Scandinavia. The worst are Eritrea, The Vatican City and Timor-Leste (E. Timor), and the worst regions Micronesia, Australasia and Melanesia.

For more, see:

"Countries With the Best Environmental Records" by Vexen Crabtree (2025).

2. Data Sets

2.1. Forest Area Change 2000-2020

#biodiversity #deforestation #environmentalism #forests #over-exploitation #the_environment

Forest Area Change 2000-2020 Higher is better₄
Pos.		Total₄
1	Guernsey	82.6%
2	Bahrain	75.2%
3	Iceland	64.7%
	...
9	Kuwait	28.9%
10	Uzbekistan	23.3%
11	Algeria	23.1%
12	China	23.0%
13	Vietnam	23.0%
14	Ireland	22.8%
15	Syria	20.0%
16	Guam	16.7%
	Asia Avg	3.2%
	World Avg	-0.1%
q=234.

China is 12th-best in the world when it comes to its forested percent change 2000-2020.

Forests are carbon sinks, mitigating against climate change₁₅_,₁₆. Unfortunately, we are destroying over 70,000 km² of forest each year₁₇. In the last few thousand years, we've removed 30-40% of the Earth's forest cover₁₈_,₁₆, mostly to clear space for agriculture, and for logging₁₉_,₂₀. The produce from both is shipped from poorer countries to richer ones. Half-hearted government efforts and company obfuscation of supply chains makes it almost impossible for consumers to tell which foods and products are from sustainable sources, and which ones are encouraging irresponsible deforestation, meaning that there is little incentive for companies to relent.

The effects are catastrophic. 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions are the result of deforestation₂₁_,₁₉. It brings soil erosion from wind and rain which, over time, can almost-permanently stop any hope of growing food₂₂, and spreads desertification. Entire ecosystems are collapsing as a result, including ones that we depend upon₂₃. The water cycle is driven by forests, and their loss reduces ordinary rainfall, increases flooding, removes an abundant source of water filtration, and contributes to a rise in water levels.₂₄.

Some regions of the world are increasing their forest cover₁₆; the best from 2000-2020 are Scandinavia (13.8% ), The Balkans (11.0% ) and Baltic States (7.6% )₄. There is an overall trend that developed countries gathered their riches by using up their natural resources, and now, they pay poorer countries to use up theirs instead, whilst they can afford to slowly rebuild their natural environments. But it's not wholly that simple - some rich regions are still burning through what they've got. The regions clearing their forests fastest are Central America (-12.8% ), Africa (-9.1% ) and North America (-2.9% )₄.

For more, see:

"Deforestation" by Vexen Crabtree (2024).

China has gained positive commendations for its epic effort to artificially bring parts of its ancient Taklamakan Desert to productive life, a 337 000 square-kilometre stretch of "relentless dunes, choking dust and extreme isolation"₇. After a multiple-decade effort, large portions of the area are now green with life and are sites of large-scale carbon absorption. NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) satellites have captured the faint near-infrared glow that occurs when plants photosynthesize when carbon dioxide is absorbed; "the gains are modest, but they are measurable"₇. Atmospheric physicist King-Fai Li says that "this is not a rainforest [but] a shrubland like Southern California's chaparral. But the fact that it's drawing down CO₂ at all, and doing it consistently, is something positive we can measure and verify from space"₇.

Not including Taklamakan, from 2000 to 2010, China restored its forest cover by 13%, from 177 001 thousand hectares to 200 610 thousand; this was five times more than any other country's restoration in absolute hectares. It added a further 10% by 2020, in total setting an impressive precedent in Asia and for the world. That, however, is not the whole story.

Many rich countries, including China, are increasing their forest cover whilst they import foods and goods that result from deforestation elsewhere. Tracing supply chains is difficult and supply firms obfuscate the chain of production so it's difficult to tell what products are to blame, and, some governments are particularly reluctant to fund investigations into the deforestation footprint of imports.

“Keiichiro Kanemoto and Nguyen Tien Hoang, of the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature in Japan, combined data on global forest loss with that on international trade between 2001 and 2015. They calculated that rich-country demand [...] contributed to a net loss of 20,000 square kilometres of forest in the rest of the world in 2015 alone.”
The Economist (2021)₂₅

Of the worst countries, China's timber and rubber imports in particular "has helped to wipe out forests in Indochina"₁₆ and the USA should take deforestation more seriously and re-engage in international efforts, as the negative effects of deforestation will affect us all, but cannot be handled well by countries working alone.

Averages by decade for China (for the ranks, lower is better):

Forest Area Change 2000-2020	2000s Average	2010s Average
China:	13.3%	9.7%
World Rank:	14th	⇡ 10th
World Avg:	0.6%	-0.7%

2.2. Environmental Performance

#climate_change #energy #sustainability #the_environment

Environmental Performance Higher is better₉
Pos.		2018₉
1	Switzerland	87.4
2	France	84.0
3	Denmark	81.6
	...
117	Zambia	51.0
118	Grenada	50.9
119	Tanzania	50.8
120	China	50.7
121	Thailand	49.9
122	Micronesia	49.8
123	Libya	49.8
124	Ghana	49.7
	Asia Avg	54.5
	World Avg	56.4
q=180.

China ranks 120th in the world regarding its environmental performance.

The Environmental Performance Index 2018 data includes 24 indicators including air pollution, water and sanitation, biodiversity, ecosystems and environmental health, combined into a single score by country, by the Yale University Center for Environmental Law & Policy.

China's emissions to wealth efficiency started out poor, but improvements in organisation and changes in culture meant that between the 1970s and the 1990s, it approached the global average:

Source: Peake & Smith (2009)₂₆

2.3. Energy to GDP Efficiency

#energy #sustainability #the_environment

Energy to GDP Efficiency Lower is better₁₀
Pos.		2022 Avg₁₀
1	Rwanda	0.25
2	Chad	0.26
3	Tanzania	0.31
	...
133	S. Korea	1.67
134	Tajikistan	1.67
135	Mongolia	1.68
136	China	1.68
137	UAE	1.73
138	Zimbabwe	1.74
139	Saudi Arabia	1.76
140	Serbia	1.79
	Asia Avg	1.50
	World Avg	1.23
q=165. Also scored for 1960s-2010s.

China comes 136th in the world in terms of energy to GDP efficiency.

GDP per unit of energy consumption is often called 'Energy Intensity'. It's how efficient countries are at producing GDP in terms of primary energy use. It represents primary energy consumption using the substitution method, per unit of gross domestic product (GDP). A lower value means that less energy was used to maintain the country's GDP.

Averages by decade for China (for the ranks, lower is better):

Energy to GDP Efficiency	1960s Average	1970s Average	1980s Average	1990s Average	2000s Average	2010s Average
China:	1.72	2.51	2.31	2.21	2.25	1.98
World Rank:	34th	⇣ 47th	⇣ 107th	⇣ 108th	⇣ 131st	⇣ 140th
World Avg:	2.05	2.13	2.10	2.15	1.60	1.30

2.4. International Accords on the Environment

#environmentalism #internationalism

International Accords on the Environment Higher is better
Pos.		Total Avg Rate
1	Sweden	83%
2	Canada	82%
3	Norway	81%
	...
61	Congo, DR	65%
62	Sri Lanka	65%
63	Madagascar	65%
64	China	64%
65	Malaysia	64%
66	Botswana	64%
67	El Salvador	64%
68	Iran	64%
	Asia Avg	55.4%
	World Avg	57.5%
q=197. Also scored for 1970s-2020s.

Regarding its sign-up rate to major international accords on protecting the environment, China comes 64th in the world. China was one of the 19 countries that signed the Basel Convention on its very first day, and one of the 30 who signed the Convention on Biological Diversity on its first day. But despite some of these early adoptions, in general it has been historically destructive. When toxic substances are banned in 1^st-world countries, China was often happy to take on production regardless of the risks to its workforce and to global chemical pollution₂₇.

Each country is scored using a formula that takes the date each country took up major international environmental agreements, as a ratio of maximum possible days. The agreements covered are: (1) the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, (2) the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for certain hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides, (3) the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, (4) the Waigani Convention (for those countries that are eligible), (5) the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), (6) the Kyoto Protocol and (7) its successor, the Paris Agreement, (8) the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), (9) the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and finally, (10) the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer.

For more, see:

"Countries With the Best Environmental Records" by Vexen Crabtree (2025).

Averages by decade for China (for the ranks, lower is better):

International Accords on the Environment	1970s Average	1980s Average	1990s Average	2000s Average	2010s Average	2020s Average
China:	0%	32%	69%	85%	99%	100%
World Rank:	52nd	⇣ 73rd	⇡ 11th	⇣ 49th	⇡ 8th	⇡ 1st
World Avg:	8.5%	23.3%	45.0%	74.4%	90.7%	95.0%

2.5. Rational Beliefs on the Environment

Rational Beliefs on the Environment Higher is better₁₁
Pos.		2011 %₁₁
1	Argentina	78.3%
2	Greece	77.6%
3	Brazil	77.1%
	...
134	Tunisia	19.3%
135	Czechia	16.0%
136	Estonia	15.9%
137	China	15.1%
138	Denmark	14.9%
139	Libya	14.6%
140	Iceland	13.1%
141	Uzbekistan	11.3%
	Asia Avg	37.9%
	World Avg	39.9%
q=145.

China ranks 9th-worst in the world regarding the rate of rational beliefs on the environment in the population (amongst the lowest in Asia).

2.6. Meat Consumption

#animal_rights #animal_welfare #diet #food #health #meat #veganism #vegetarianism

Meat Consumption Lower is better₈
Pos.		2021 kg₈
1	Congo, DR	03.0
2	Burundi	03.5
3	Bangladesh	04.3
	...
108	Bulgaria	61.8
109	Moldova	61.9
110	Costa Rica	62.2
111	China	63.6
112	Uruguay	62.8
113	Jamaica	63.4
114	Slovakia	63.5
115	China	63.6
	Asia Avg	46.7
	World Avg	52.5
q=185. Also scored for 2010s.

Regarding reducing annual meat consumption per person, China comes 115th in the world.

There are six key arguments in favour of vegetarianism which accrue even from partial adoption: (1) Vegetarian diets have notable health advantages over carnivorous diets, especially for heart and cardiovascular issues₂₈_,₂₉_,₃₀. (2) It is morally better to avoid killing or harming animals. (3) Plant-based diets use much less water than carnivorous ones, to the extent that agricultural and water management scientists urge governments to encourage people to switch₃₁. (4) Vegetarian food production uses substantially less land₂₈_,₃₂_,₃₃. (5) Growing vegetables for direct consumption is more efficient than using them to raise animals for meat in terms of resources, time and nutrition (including proteins). And, (6) vegetarianism is better for the environment than meat-production for emissions, sewerage, pollution and chemicals usage.₂₈_,₃₂. A plant-based diet causes 75% less greenhouse gas emissions than a typical carnivorous diet₃₃. The global food industry causes about 1/3 of all planet-heating emissions, and so "to slow the worst climate effects, the United Nations has called for a drastic reduction in meat consumption"₃₃. Despite this, "reducing appetites for carbon-intensive meat and dairy is incredibly hard"₃₄ and as countries get richer, they tend to eat more meat.

On average throughout the 2010s, China's rate was 60.6.

2.7. Green Future Index

#climate_change #energy #sustainability #the_environment

Green Future Index Higher is better₅
Pos.		2023 Score₅
1	Iceland	6.7
2	Finland	6.7
3	Norway	6.4
	...
24	Costa Rica	5.3
25	S. Africa	5.2
26	Uruguay	5.1
27	China	5.1
28	Japan	5.1
29	Hungary	5.1
30	Chile	5.1
31	Czechia	5.0
	Asia Avg	4.3
	World Avg	4.8
q=76.

Amongst the best in Asia in terms of its score on the Green Future Index, China is 27th in the world.

The Green Futures Index (GFI) has been running since 2021, and looks at 23 data sets for over 70 countries, with a focus on effectiveness, policy and planning 'for a low carbon future. It is complementary to existing goals and frameworks for sustainable development'. Datasets include qualitative appraisals and quantitative measurements on carbon emissions across multiple sectors, renewable and nuclear energy, recycling capabilities, green technologies used in building and construction, transport, scientific and industrial green innovations and patent quantities, climate action and climate policies. Each country is then ranked by their final score.₃₅.

The 2023 edition of the Green Futures Index found that China's nuclear energy production growth has recently been higher than any of the other countries it reviewed (except Japan and Pakistan), helping its transition towards sustainability.₃₅