7.6 - Superpowers, resources and the environment

Resource demand and environmental footprints

Large economies affect environments far beyond their own borders through the resources they buy and produce.

Food demand can drive expansion of cropland and pasture, removing habitats and releasing carbon from soils and vegetation. Irrigation can reduce river flows and groundwater stores; fertilisers and animal waste can pollute water. More meat-intensive diets can increase demand for feed crops, land and water, although effects vary by production system. Fossil-fuel extraction can fragment habitats and cause spills; combustion adds carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Mineral mining removes rock and vegetation and creates tailings, with pollution depending on the mineral, processing and regulation.

Superpower demand can generate income and jobs in an exporting country while leaving it with local pollution. The importing state may appear cleaner after relocating heavy industry, even though its consumption still depends on that production. Territorial emissions count releases inside a country's boundary; consumption-based emissions adjust for emissions embodied in imports and exports. Neither is a measure of every environmental impact.

National annual totals, emissions per person and cumulative historical emissions answer different questions. A large population can raise the total even with a lower per-person rate. Cumulative carbon dioxide helps explain long-term warming, whereas annual emissions describe the present flow. Specify the gas, period and boundary before comparing responsibility. Energy-related carbon dioxide excludes some other greenhouse gases and some land-use sources; it must not be relabelled “all greenhouse gases”.

The Joint Research Centre reported that China, the USA, India, the EU, Russia and Indonesia together accounted for 62% of global greenhouse-gas emissions in 2025, in its comparison excluding land use, land-use change and forestry. This concentration gives the actions of a few large economies major influence over the global emissions pathway. Added greenhouse gases reduce the rate at which Earth loses heat to space, contributing to warming; effects are global rather than confined to the emitting country. This greenhouse-gas total uses a different scope from energy-related carbon dioxide. JRC, 7 September 2026.

Comparing climate actions

Willingness to act is visible in treaty participation, policies, investment and measured outcomes, which need not move together.

Compare the USA and China using dated evidence. The USA's second withdrawal from the Paris Agreement took effect on 27 January 2026, according to the UNFCCC registry. China's new contribution, announced in September 2025, targets a 7–10% reduction in economy-wide net greenhouse gas emissions from peak levels by 2035, with an ambition to do better. This is a target relative to a peak, not a 7–10% cut from 2005 or a measured reduction already achieved. UNFCCC registry, Chinese government announcement, 25 September 2025.

The IEA's Global Energy Review 2026 estimates that global energy-related carbon dioxide reached nearly 38.4 billion tonnes in 2025. It reports China's emissions falling by about 0.5%, with low-emissions electricity growth and lower cement and steel output contributing. It also identifies gas-to-coal switching in the USA as a source of additional emissions. This is an estimate for a particular year and scope. Weather, industrial output and fuel prices affect outcomes alongside policy. A one-year fall alone does not establish a durable transition. IEA 2026 emissions assessment.

Why can attitudes differ? Governments balance energy security, domestic jobs, development, voters or political constituencies, and climate risk. Fossil-fuel industries may resist rapid change; renewable industries may favour it. State, provincial and city policies can differ from national policies. Past actions can also change when governments or economic conditions change. Avoid treating either country as one timeless attitude.