ZHOU Jinfeng: A New Discourse System to Support Addressing Climate Change Issues from the Consumer Side

Recently, Dr. ZHOU Jinfeng, the Secretary-General of China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) introduced the viewpoint on a new discourse system to support addressing climate issues from the consumer side. He mentioned that this new discourse system is a new direction for addressing the climate crisis and is of great significance, with the aim of "changing the consumer side and stopping waste". The following is a summary of Dr. Zhou's views.

 

Everyone is born with carbon equality, which emphasizes the equality in the face of carbon emission rights and carbon responsibility. Regardless of who it is, everyone should take appropriate responsibility for their own carbon emissions and make efforts to reduce them. The responsibility for carbon emissions should be measured based on the perspective of "changing the consumer side and stopping waste".

 

When considering historical responsibility and differences between different countries, it is necessary to recognize that developed countries have emitted a large amount of carbon dioxide during their industrialization process, which has a greater impact on global climate change. These emissions have caused the accumulation of global greenhouse gases, leading to the intensification of climate change. In contrast, some developing countries have lower carbon emissions because their industrialization process is relatively new.

 

Meanwhile, when considering the responsibility for carbon emissions, the responsibility cannot be placed solely on the producing or exporting countries, because these products are ultimately used by the consuming countries. Therefore, we need to attribute these carbon emissions to the importing or consuming countries that actually consume these products.

 

Similarly, a person's carbon emissions are closely related to their socio-economic status and consumption level. The affluent class in society usually have higher levels of consumption, leading to higher carbon emissions. The consumption level of the general social class is relatively low, so they generate less carbon emissions. Therefore, the affluent social class with high consumption should also bear more responsibility for the carbon emissions caused by their high consumption, and provide more financial and action support for industrial transformation and social stability.

 

Original Chinese Article: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/OpyXNFotbWhAIq5AAwpACw

Translator: Sara

Checked by: Richard

Editor: Sara     

Contact: v10@cbcgdf.org; +8617319454776

 

 

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