Frederic J Brown / AFP
China, the world's leading emitter of greenhouse gasses, announced Thursday that will
set specific targets
for reducing emissions at next month's climate change conference in
Copenhagen. China will pledge to reduce "carbon intensity," the amount
of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of economic growth, by 40 to 45
percent by 2020. The plan is an unusual one compared to most other
countries, which pledge to reduce the specific tonnage of greenhouse
gas emissions rather than pegging it to economic growth.
- Could Actually Increase Carbon The Guardian's Bryony Worthington explains. "[B]ecause economic forecasts already predict that China's economy will
become less carbon intensive in the next decade, the country's pledge
actually only amounts to a cut of between zero and 12% off business as
usual emissions in 2020 (depending on what version of the future you
choose to compare it with). That is roughly a 40% increase in CO2
emissions on current levels," she writes. "The US's number, as
environmentalists, frustrated by the lost decade under President Bush,
are keen to point out, amounts to only a 4% cut in emissions compared
with 1990 levels."
- Tactical Win for Obama The Daily Beast's Richard Wolffe credits
President Obama with securing the agreement during his recent visit to
China. "Beyond the photo ops and press statements, Obama was pushing
President
Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the kind of climate
deals that eluded him at the G8 summit in Italy in the summer – and
have eluded international negotiators for the last decade. China and
India have played central roles in blocking past agreements, alongside
the US, in a seemingly intractable dispute between fast-developing
economies and the older, wealthier polluters."
- Silver Lining? The Guardian's Jonathan Watts reports that this may just be an opening bid. "But Xie Zhenhua, the country's most senior climate negotiator, hinted
at the possibility of faster steps if the developed nations provided
more assistance. 'It will be difficult because it is already tough for
us to achieve our target," he said. "If we receive technical and
financial support, we might be able to reach our target at an earlier
date.'"
- Just Not Enough Treehugger's Daniel Kessler laments
the odd strategy. "[I]ts emissions will actually increase over time
because its economy is
expanding so rapidly. As the world's Number 1 Polluter (but far down
when it comes to per capita emissions), China's goal is not enough," he
writes. "It should be noted, however, that China is making massive
investments
in renewable energy and increasing its standards for efficiency."
- U.S. Should Do More The Guardian's Isabel Hilton weighs
the Chinese commitment. "It certainly counts: according to a recent
calculation from the
International Energy Agency, if China reaches all of its 2020 targets
more than 1bn tons of carbon dioxide emissions would be avoided – 25%
of what the world needs," she writes, but blasts the U.S. pledge as too
weak. "From the scientific perspective, the total of all these offers
falls
far short of what is required to keep the temperature rise below 2C and
the catastrophic changes that could trigger. There is little doubt
that, had the US acted, China would have felt obliged to raise its own
game."
