Top greenhouse gas emitters committed to serious reductions
On Tuesday, November 11, a deal regarding greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions was announced between the United States and China. This deal, which was negotiated in secret and involved months of dialogue between the two countries, is a game-changer when it comes to global climate change policy initiatives.
U.S. president Barack Obama spoke alongside Chinese president Xi Jinping at a joint
press conference in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on the day the deal was announced. In his statement, President Obama recognized the special responsibility that the U.S. and China have- as the two largest emitters of greenhouse gases- in leading the global effort on GHG emissions.
Previous to this agreement, China has only ever stated their intention to reduce the rate of increase of their greenhouse gas emissions. In the newly announced agreement, they go further than this, pledging to cap their GHG emissions by 2030. One of the ways they will reach this goal is by increasing the use of non-fossil fuel energy sources to comprise 20 per cent of their energy production by the year 2030.
Greenhouse gas emissions are currently on the decline in the U.S., and in this agreement, the president has committed to the lofty goal of doubling the present rate of decline, resulting in GHG emissions of 26 to 28 per cent less than 2005 levels by the year 2025.
Here at home, this deal will have an effect on the way the government is addressing greenhouse gas emissions. Until now, the prime minister has maintained that our nation will keep our targets in line with our neighbours to the south. This has essentially provided an excuse for inaction when it comes to reducing GHG emissions. Now that the U.S. has set highly proactive goals regarding emissions, it is time for Canada to step up to the plate.
Right now, China is the world’s leading investor in nuclear and renewable energy sources, so it appears that with hard work, they will be able to meet the goals that they have set in this agreement.
In the case of the United States, it is predicted that there will be a lot of opposition to the goals set by the president. The U.S. Senate’s Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, was quick to call the GHG emissions targets negotiated by the president “unrealistic.” The targets are liable to come under opposition from the Republican Party, who are opposed to the kind of policies that would need to be introduced in order to reach the goals set in the agreement.
On the whole, this agreement will provide encouragement to countries worldwide when it comes to setting goals for reducing GHG emissions. The United Nations climate chief, Christiana Figueres, is calling for all countries to submit post-2020 emissions targets by the end of March, 2015. This is in the hope that a global treaty can be concluded at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, set to take place in Paris in December, 2015.
This secretly negotiated deal between the United States and China was a long time coming, but it is welcomed with open arms by environmentalists worldwide. These two nations, who account for almost half of the greenhouse gas emissions produced globally, are taking a progressive stance on climate change, setting the world stage for like-minded commitments by other countries. This deal between the U.S. and China is a perfect example of the type of international cooperation and forward thinking that is needed to stop the unsettling trend of higher and higher greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere.