http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-12/we-need-to-be-in-step-with-china-and-us-reduction/5886998
China and the United States have agreed on a set of ambitious greenhouse gas emission targets, with Beijing setting a goal for its emissions to peak “around 2030”.
It is the first time China, the world’s biggest polluter, has set a date for its emissions to stop increasing, and the White House said China would “try to peak early”.
At the same time the US set a goal to cut its own emissions of the gases blamed for climate change by 26-28 per cent from 2005 levels by 2025.
The declaration came as president Barack Obama met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for talks in Beijing.
China will look to “increase the non-fossil fuel share of all energy to around 20 per cent by 2030”, the White House said.
Scientists argue that drastic measures must be taken if the world is to limit global warming to the UN’s target of two degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels, and failing to do so could have disastrous results.
China and the US, which together produce around 45 per cent of the world’s carbon dioxide, will be key to ensuring that a global deal on reducing emissions after 2020 is reached in Paris next year.
Mr Obama said the deal showed that when China and the US worked together, it was good for the world.
“I believe that president Xi and I have a common understanding about how the relationship between our nations can move forward,” he said.
“We agree that we can expand our cooperation where interests overlap or align.
“When we have disagreements we will be candid about our intentions and we will work to narrow those difference where possible.”
Latest agreement fraught with challenges
China and the US have long been at loggerheads over global targets, with each saying the other should bear more responsibility for cutting emissions of gases blamed for heating up the atmosphere.
While the US, which never ratified the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, pledged to cut emissions in the past, goals have shifted or been missed altogether.
Announcement a nudge to Australia
By ABC environment online editor Sara Phillips
China and the USA’s combined climate announcement has been met with a chorus of approval from around the world.
The two largest greenhouse gas emitters have finally agreed to clean up their energy sources and make a symbolic joint announcement, which is just the tonic the stalled international negotiations on climate change need.
For so long, it has been easy for the US and China to duck action on climate, arguing that the other must surely go first.
Australia has joined in this game of ‘apres vous’, often using the excuse that without those heavyweights any climate action is meaningless.
The joint US-China announcement today puts paid to those excuses, nudging Australia towards adopting a stronger emissions reduction target.
Australia’s climate target is officially listed as a 5 per cent cut in carbon emissions by 2020 (compared to 1990 levels), or up to 25 per cent by 2020 if other legally binding cuts are agreed.
Direct Action is the current policy designed to meet these commitments.
As yet, questions have gone unanswered as to whether Direct Action will be an effective strategy to meet the 5 per cent target.
With firmer international commitments now looking more likely by the end of the 2015 UN climate meeting, it is doubtful whether Direct Action will have the ability to meet an expanded target.
Australia’s already tarnished reputation on climate action may only deteriorate further.
Its greenhouse gas emissions increased last year, despite Washington setting emissions reduction goals during a climate summit in 2009.
The deadline for Mr Obama’s new pledge is in more than a decade’s time, but he only has two years left in his presidency and faces a Congress controlled by Republicans in both houses, which will make passing crucial environmental legislation more difficult.
Much of his action on climate change so far has been done with executive orders rather than cooperation from an often confrontational legislature.
While it was the first time China agreed to a target date for emissions to peak, the commitment was qualified, leaving considerable room for manoeuvre.
China has trumpeted its efforts to reduce dependence on coal and oil in the past, and is the world’s largest hydropower producer, with a growing nuclear sector.
But economic growth remains a vitally important priority and has seen demand for energy soar.
The European Union pledged last month to reduce emissions by at least 40 per cent by 2030 compared with 1990 levels.
But efforts to make meaningful progress on climate change will by stymied unless the US sets “a concrete and ambitious” goal to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, Connie Hedegaard, the EU climate commissioner, said in October.
The EU accounts for 11 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, compared to 16 per cent for the United States and 29 per cent for China.
US Republican leader criticises ‘unrealistic plan’
The US Senate’s Republican leader slammed Mr Obama’s proposed greenhouse gas reductions as an “unrealistic plan”.
“This unrealistic plan, that the president would dump on his successor, would ensure higher utility rates and far fewer jobs,” Mitch McConnell said of Mr Obama’s proposal.
Mr McConnell, who is set to lead a Senate which Obama’s Democrats lost control of in mid-term elections, said the country had had enough of Mr Obama’s strategies.
“Our economy can’t take the president’s ideological war on coal that will increase the squeeze on middle-class families and struggling miners,” Mr McConnell said.
“The president said his policies were on the ballot, and the American people spoke up against them.
“It’s time for more listening, and less job-destroying red tape.
“Easing the burden already created by EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] regulations will continue to be a priority for me in the new Congress.”
Calls strengthen for Australia to act
Environment Minister Greg Hunt welcomed the deal between the US and China, but Labor warned Australia was at risk of international embarrassment.
Mr Hunt said Australia was already delivering on its own commitment to reduce emissions by 5 per cent by 2020 and will take into account actions by other major nations when setting future targets.
But Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the Abbott Government’s views were out of step with world leaders.
“We are now irrelevant to the great economic debates of our age,” he said in a statement.
“While the United States and China show global leadership, Tony Abbott is sticking his head in the sand.
“At the G20 this week, Australia will hold the embarrassing title of being the only nation going backwards on climate change.
“Any argument for inaction, because the rest of the world isn’t acting, is clearly false.”
Greens leader Christine Milne welcomed the US-China agreement and urged Mr Abbott to tackle climate change.
“This should be a massive wake-up call to Tony Abbott. His continued climate denial and his destruction of the environment is reckless,” she said.
“Tony Abbott is so busy unwinding Australia’s climate policies that he failed to notice the global economy is changing around him.”
Mining boss lauds US-China climate deal
Rio Tinto chief executive Sam Walsh said the agreement was “exciting” and Australia needed to keep in step with what was going on elsewhere in the world.
Mr Walsh is currently in Brisbane for a meeting of top business leaders, the B20, ahead of the G20 leaders’ summit later this week.
The mining boss said China and the US were setting the pace in terms of technology development around carbon emission reduction.
“Obviously, they have a vision of what they can achieve over the next 10 years and it’s important that Australia play its part in this,” he told the ABC’s 7.30 program.
Mr Walsh pointed to the CSIRO’s work on carbon reduction as an important Australian initiative.
Asked about recent comments by Mr Abbott that coal was “good for humanity”, Mr Walsh agreed that coal would continue to be important but said that Australia also needed to focus on other renewable avenues, such as wind and solar.
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