Brodie's Public Policy and Global Governance Blog

China’s double digit growth over the last decade has required a massive amount of resources and resulted in widespread environmental degradation. In fact, the World Bank estimates that 16 of the planet’s worst cities, environmentally speaking, are in China. It appears that economic growth takes priority as we have seen mega-projects such as hydroelectric dams that have displaced millions to quench China’s insatiable thirst for energy and resources. While China’s growth has taken a heavy toll on the environment, strategies to minimize the impact of growth on the environment may have consequences for international peace and security.

In order to satisfy China’s energy needs in a manner that will be environmentally sustainable China will have to build roughly 200 nuclear power plants.   Some commentators have even gone far enough to argue that we are on the edge of a nuclear renaissance. With fears of climate change looming, nuclear power, which produces little carbon dioxide, is being touted as the panacea cure to a planet with increasing energy needs.

A nuclear renaissance will create increasing pressure on the already faltering nuclear non-proliferation regime. The more nuclear technology spreads around the globe, the stronger controls concerning the use of nuclear technology will need to be.   It is inevitable that the more nuclear technology there is around, the more likely it is that it will fall into the wrong hands. Even more pressing is the fact that peaceful nuclear technology and the technology to build nuclear weapons are almost identical. The spread of nuclear technology across the globe will mean that we will have more than just Iran to worry about.

Considering that China doesn’t have the greatest neighbours, these concerns may be even more pronounced. North Korea has agreed to allow IAEA inspectors into its nuclear facilities and abandon its nuclear weapons programs but we have heard these promises before. If China were to build over 200 new nuclear power plants there is more than a good chance that some of these components may fall into the wrong hands.

This demonstrates perfectly the law of unintended consequences. By trying to be forward and minimize the impact of China’s growth on the environment, planners may be creating greater threats to international peace and security.  We need to work to solve the planet’s problems but sometimes well intentioned efforts can lead to less than optimal consequences. This just goes to show the interconnectedness of many of today’s most pressing global challenges and highlights the need for cooperative efforts to solve collective goods problems.