China tells nations to cut their emissions by 40 percent

by Amy Judd | May 21, 2009 at 09:56 am

154 views | 28 Recommendations | 10 comments

China has told other rich nations that they should cut their emssions by at least 40 percent by 2020, as part of the new climate change developments ahead of the Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen this December.

Chinese officials stated that the wealthy nations must be the ones to lead the way on changing emissions, and that developed countries should give 0.5 to 1 percent of the annual economic growth to help under-developed nations deal with global warming and slow greenhouse gas emissions.

The Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen this year will decide on new measures to build on the current Kyoto Protocol.

Mr de Boer, the head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change said that he is hopeful about the developments leading up the to conference this December.

"We have an almost complete list of industrialised nations' pledges to cut emissions after 2012, so governments can see now, more clearly, where they are in comparison to each other, and can build a higher ambition on that basis," he said.

He added that the US had committed to a Copenhagen agreement and a "clean energy future".

"In response to the financial crisis, many national stimulus packages have been launched that include green economic objectives," he added.

"With only 200 days before Copenhagen, time gets tighter but the world is not standing still on climate change."

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Jarrett Martineau

at 10:01 on May 21st, 2009

And what forward-thinking environmental commitments is China making, we might well ask, that gives them the privilege of demanding that other countries cut their emissions?

To quote the New York Times: "China now uses more coal than the United States, Europe and Japan combined, making it the world’s largest emitter of gases that are warming the planet."

AlvarezGalloso

at 10:14 on May 21st, 2009

Great article, thanks for sharing.

M-J

at 13:44 on May 21st, 2009

Thanks for the article. While it does seem ironic that China are the ones to demand this, at least it seems to be high on the agenda for many countries at the moment.

Pythiian1

at 16:04 on May 21st, 2009

It's a bit ironic that China has proposed these measures since the country has now surpassed the US as the world's polluter.

China has steadfastly resisted any mandatory quotas on carbon emissions. The country is widely considered to have surpassed the U.S. as the world's top polluter.

But the changed U.S. position is isolating China, which has argued that the U.S. should take steps before poorer nations do. The U.S.'s new policy also raises the idea of a possible carbon tax on Chinese imports into the U.S. in order to appease U.S. manufacturers' complaints that Chinese goods could have an unfair advantage if not subjected to costly limits on greenhouse gasses.

India has also refused to accept any carbon caps, arguing like China that such caps would limit economic growth and unfairly penalize late-developing nations.

Paschen

at 16:19 on May 21st, 2009

China is correct with this statement and nothing will change if the Rich Industrial Nations do not lead by example rather then "Do has we say, not has we do."

China per Capita is of all the industrial nations the one polluting the least, would it pollute as the US do for instance per Capita then its pollution would be 280 times greater then it is now.

China does invest more in renewable energies for the last decade per Capita then the US did until now.

We have to look at each countries pollution on a per capita level in order to put it back into perspective and give us the real pollution problems or culprits.

Per Capita the US lead the way, followed by Canada.

This can be verified with the latest UN Environmental Reports and the IPCC report.

Roy C

at 16:46 on May 21st, 2009

Excuse me, but 20% of the mercury in the waters of the Northwest is FROM CHINA and I am not happy about it. RATHER PISSED OFF.

Tired of hearing excuses about China. If they had n't mired in no progress for centuries, there wouldn't be one billion of them.

Too many people is equivalent to pollution, as you need to pollute more at whatever level, and their poverty has not stopped them from putting 20 % of the mercury in our waters.

Being less industrialized, they could begin by using less polluting technologies, which are, by the way, easier to install.

The decision to use coal is a decision to keep china's workers employed, not a way to produce prospority and they work in the worst conditions, conditions we overcame a hundred years ago.

Paschen

at 18:34 on May 21st, 2009

Roy, look at the Mercury the US or Europe put out over the past two centuries, no one will ever be able to beat that. Every thing has to be put back in perspective.

Head lights for cars in North America still use mercury and are not taken into account yet.

Who will pay so China uses less polluting technology, you are putting the cart before the horse here and are not objective.

The US and European industry was the one that started this in China because Europe especially started to put heavy environmental restriction in place that would have raised the cost of production, why all manufactures went to China. We should have though about that and made sure we put an environmental import tax on those products as well, however that can not be done due to WTO rules that we in the US and Europe implemented as well.

In the end it is the West that is still the main culprit here.

The US has pushed for decades the idea that the American way and way of life is the best and should be followed by all, now they did and and America is complaining that they do as it said, now that it is realizing how bad this way of life is for our environment.

You have to keep in mind and be aware that the Politician that implemented environmental laws in order to win the elections where most often the same once that went to China and made the deals with China to let the Western Polluting industry in exchange for great technology and development so the Industrial lobby would be happy and could make more profits and at the same time the electoral was happy believing they really made a difference. The voter should not have let them self be duped so easily.

Now every one is complaining and blaming China, how convenient to leave out the details and truth.

You reap what you sow.

René

at 17:33 on May 21st, 2009

So are they going to cut their emissions by 40 percent? Otherwise, it's put up or shut up.

Art de Rivers

at 17:49 on May 21st, 2009

I recall a friend one day - looking very atmospherically wise with clouds skittering past in his eyes and he said out of the blue in between the clouds :

"The Earth does not need us you know ..."

I instantly felt endangered .. And looked up for the asteroid hurtling down.....But seriously I get a strong feeling with China in full furnace tilt we are doomed to face a human extinction event..

Its not so much a quick one either - so much as a gradual set of patterns which look set to increase in intensity . And the carbon dioxide levels are no problem for the Earth which has seen higher concentrations because all that coal itself was forests made of carbon dioxide converted to lignin etc ...