US-China agree on carbon emission limits

• 10 years ago (2014-11-12)
• Junior Isles

Asia 892 North America 1021

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China and the United States have agreed to new limits on carbon emissions starting in 2025.

For the first time China has agreed to a date for peak CO2 emissions and also promised to raise the share of zero-carbon energy to 20 per cent of the country’s total. Meanwhile, the US said it would cut its own emissions by 27 per cent by 2025. The US government has already pledged to cut its carbon emissions by 17 per cent by 2020.

Commenting on the accord Li Junfeng, a Chinese climate policy adviser linked to China’s state planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission said: “The statement is an upbeat signal to motivate other countries but the timeline China has committed to is not a binding target.”

The peak date was also in line with forecasts already made by several state-backed think-tanks, with the China Academy of Social Sciences saying in a study last week that slowing rates of urbanisation would likely mean that industrial emissions would peak around 2025-2030 and start to fall by 2040.

US officials said the commitments, the result of months of dialogue between the two countries, would spur other nations to make pledges and deliver “a shot of momentum” into negotiations on a new global climate change agreement expected in Paris next year.

Timothy E. Wirth, former U.S. Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs and the vice chairman of the United Nations Foundation said in a statement: “If the two biggest players on climate are able to get together, from two very different perspectives, the rest of the world can see that it’s possible to make real progress.”