You Can’t Tell Your Worst Polluter without a Scorecard

The Middle Kingdom [China] is hurtling toward environmental catastrophe—and perhaps an ensuing political upheaval. Already, most Chinese cities make Los Angeles look like a Swiss village.

—Joshua Kurlantzick, The New Republic

When an American hockey player suffered symptoms from mercury contamination, he never expected that he might have power plants half way across the world in China to blame.

—Yale Global Online

Any discussion of the China Air-Pollution Wars must start with the most salient statistics. Here, then, is China’s horrific air-quality scorecard as compiled by respected bodies such as the World Bank and China’s own Environmental Protection Administration:

• China is home to 16 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world.

• Of China’s 100 cities with more than a million people each, fully two-thirds fail to meet World Health Organization air-quality standards.

• China is the world leader in sulfur dioxide emissions—the primary culprit responsible for smog. China’s highly toxic smog, or “chog,” not only reduces visibility, it also kills by attacking both the heart and lungs.

• China releases 600 tons of mercury into the air annually, nearly a fourth of the world’s non-natural emissions. Mercury destroys the nervous system. Children are particularly vulnerable to symptoms ranging from rashes, spasticity, and convulsions to the loss of hair, teeth, and nails—the term “Mad as a Hatter” comes from the use of mercury in hat making.

• China is the world leader in generating ozone-depleting substances. Loss of the world’s ozone layer increases cancer risks, harms plant and marine life, helps melt the polar ice caps, and contributes to rising sea levels and coastal flooding.

The World Bank estimates that pollution costs China between 8% and 12% of its more than $1 trillion gross domestic product (GDP) every year. These costs include increased medical bills, lost work due to illness, damage to fish and crops, and money spent on disaster relief.

In a study conducted jointly with the Chinese government, the World Bank has also determined that air pollution kills a staggering number of Chinese every year—some 700,000 souls. What is perhaps most interesting about this study is that, in typical totalitarian big foot fashion, the Chinese government demanded that this statistic on Chinese deaths be suppressed in the printed edition of the World Bank’s final report. Like China’s pollution, that statistic has, however, been impossible to hide.