Factory to the World | Years of Living Dangerously

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SIGOURNEY WEAVER (VOICEOVER): China has changed a lot since I first came here in the late '70s. What used to be sleepy villages are now thriving mega cities. Back then, China's most valued asset was cheap labor, and so they became a factory to the world, growing their economy 70-fold in less than four decades. Think about that. Nothing like it has happened before in the history of mankind. To power it all, China built more than a thousand coal plants which contribute to an energy sector that pumps out an astounding 20% of the gases warming the planet.

SIGOURNEY WEAVER: I like this one.

KEVIN MO: Try it. Nice. That looks nice on you. Is it me? Yeah?

KEVIN MO: Looks nice on you.

SIGOURNEY WEAVER: Were you born in China?

SIGOURNEY WEAVER (VOICEOVER): Kevin Mo is a top climate adviser to the American and Chinese governments. He came down from Beijing to meet with me.

KEVIN MO: In the Walmart, a lot of "Made in China" stuff, exactly like here. That's why they are saying this is a factory of the world. Yeah. And so that's what China becomes now.

SIGOURNEY WEAVER (VOICEOVER): He tells me if China's going to quit coal, it will have to pivot away from so much reliance on manufacturing and dirty industry. So how will the economy have to adjust? How will it change? Well, now you have to transition it to a service-based economy, which is finance.

• Finance.

• IT.

OK. Insurance. Those kind of things.

Yeah, got it. It's not like energy intensified industries, like steel, cement, those kinds of things.

SIGOURNEY WEAVER: Yeah, got it. So it's different. So if they can make that transition--

KEVIN MO: If they can make that transition, the economic growth will be more sustainable and consume less energy, but generate more revenues.

OK. In your opinion, can they do it? And can they do it as fast as they hope to?

KEVIN MO: Well, let's say this. If China doesn't make all these changes and still use the previous growth model, economic growth model, then the scenario would be by 2050, China's carbon emissions would be more than the current total carbon emissions in the world.

Oh my goodness.

SIGOURNEY WEAVER (VOICEOVER): That much carbon dioxide in the air would make life on earth unbearable. But Kevin claims China's leaders acknowledge this threat, and are making plans to ensure that doesn't happen. The problem is that if China shifts away from manufacturing, other countries-- including ones that burn lots of coal-- will be picking up the slack, and so the benefit to the climate is unclear.