Australia’s foreign minister, Julie Bishop, has played down the significance of China unveiling its post-2020 emissions reduction target, saying Beijing’s position has been known “for some time”.
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Professor Nicholas Stern (below), an influential figure on climate change, warned last month: “It seems unlikely that the pledges from all countries before the Paris summit will collectively be sufficient to bridge the gap to an emissions pathway that is consistent with the limit of 2°C”.
South Korea said it would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 37 percent below business-as-usual levels, deeper than its earlier intention.
Samantha Smith, leader of WWF’s Global Climate and Energy Initiative says China, as a developing country, has shouldered a significant contribution to reducing carbon pollution. “China has broken the mold for climate pledges by explaining not only what it will do but also how it will implement its plans”.
China, the world’s largest carbon emitter and consumer of energy, will aim to get at least 20 percent of its energy from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030.
“Today’s news sets the stage for the development of a strong worldwide climate treaty later this year”, said Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council in a statement.
Following his first summit with top European Union officials, Li declined to say whether Beijing could come to Greece’s aid with loans, but commented: “China is ready to play a constructive role”.
CSE experts believe that under this, India can double or even triple its targets for renewable energy, setup programme for super efficient appliances, public transport and electric vehicles, double its target for afforestation and also pledge to reduce emissions intensity of its GDP by 60 per cent by 2030.
[…] “We emphasise the importance of the fact that China has made commitments beyond its responsibility as a developing country”.
If, in addition, it uses the occasion of the Brussels meetings to announce its formal contribution to United Nations climate talks in Paris beginning on November 30, that would be highly symbolic and would mean that more than half the world’s emissions were covered by pledges for action. These commitments will be enforceable on the national level.
“China’s climate commitment sets it on a clear path to transition away from heavily polluting coal to cleaner and sustainable energy sources like wind and solar”. “China’s commitment was made possible by its ambitious clean energy policies and investments enacted over the past decade”. The submission follows news that China’s coal consumption declined for the first time previous year (by 2.9%). “I think that’s terrific and is a good sign”, Erika Rosenthal, an attorney with Earthjustice’s global program, said.
While China could provide affordable equipment, he said emerging economies would also need more advanced technologies and Beijing was therefore looking to “form joint ventures or co-operatives” with the developed world.
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Paris is in particular hoping that Chinese companies will order the Airbus A330 and A330-Neo in return for Airbus investment in a centre at its Tianjin base which will allow China to “customise” the A330s they buy.
