China Joins U.S. in Pledge of Hard Targets on Emissions

[TomCADem]

Source: NY Times

BEIJING — The Chinese government said Thursday that it had set a target to slow the growth of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 even as its economy continues to grow. China is aiming to reduce so-called carbon intensity by 40 to 45 percent compared with 2005 levels, according to Xinhua, the state news agency.

The target was praised by some environmental advocates in China, but falls short of a goal that some negotiators in the United States and Europe are pushing for: China, they say, should reduce its greenhouse gas emissions relative to economic development by at least 50 percent.

China’s announcement came a day after the White House announced a provisional target for reductions in overall greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. President Obama discussed climate change with Hu Jintao, the Chinese president, when the two met in Beijing on Nov. 16. Officials from the two countries were in talks on the issue while former president George W. Bush was in office, but President Obama earlier this year made climate change a top priority in diplomacy between the two governments.

The back-to-back announcements by the United States and China amounted to politically safe opening bids in what is likely to be a long, tough process of negotiations on concrete steps the two countries should take to address climate change. With its enormous population and breathtaking pace of economic development, China surpassed the United States two years ago as the largest emitter of greenhouse gases. However, it resisted earlier demands from American and European negotiators to adopt binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions, arguing that environmental concerns must be balanced with economic growth and that developed countries must first demonstrate a significant commitment to reducing emissions.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/27/science/earth/27climate.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1259269354-5CtJjodWTeYKBSp/TFtzDQ

---

What I don't understand is why China is still referred to as a developing country? Developing countries do not host the most expensive Olympics ever.

[GMA]

1. They do if they host them on the backs of their

millions of poor.

[FreakinDJ]

2. China will never comply

They'll claim they can't afford carbon reductions

[endless october]

3. i don't believe them.

[AusDem]

4. good for you

meanwhile, they will leapfrog the US in terms of new energy related technology and manufacturing, and continue along their merry way to being the next superpower.

you think they see this whole climate change thing as a problem? I think the chinese are much more pragmatic than that. They see that its not going away, and consider the best way to make money off it. Sadly its the one competitive advantage they have over democracies, their response time to significant large challenges is swift and focused.

china doesn't have an opposition party that does, or doesn't believe in global warming. The government is free to assess the challenge purely as such:

- What is the cost benefit analysis of doing nothing, versus doing something?

they have clearly decided that there is more to be gained from acting than not acting.

I think anyone trying to bring people around to climate change should utilise the same sort of tactics. Make populations feel as though if they do nothing, they are actually missing out on an opportunity to make a lot of money, and will be overtaken in new tech by other countries who have decided to invest.

[endless october]

5. i don't want to do nothing.

i think we should end the war and use the money to build nuclear, solar, and wind power plants. more than we need. and then tear down the coal plants.

build them like we built the interstate highway system.

cap and trade nonsense is just going to waste money. it will make those in charge of the carbon credit trading rich, and it will be one more incentive to send manufacturing jobs to countries that cheat. fuck that.

we either do or do not want to solve the problem. cap and trade won't solve the problem.

[Psephos]

6. Major perception management alert. The Chinese are talking about a "carbon intensity" goal.

If you don't know what that is, here's a gloss: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_intensity

Chinese GDP is currently (yes, in this recession) growing at >8%. The efficiency target is static, but an economy growing at 8-10% is compounding its emissions year-over-year. In other words, it's a power law relationship that means the "intensity" goal will soon be overwhelmed by the total emissions.

Bottom line: Under such a framework, the Chinese will end up increasing the total amount of C02 emitted, but they will sex it up statistically by making it a more "efficient" emission compared to GDP.

US politicians are trying to save green face by assuming the rubes are going to swallow this B.S. In their world, it's not the result that matters, but merely the appearance of a result.