China has been asking developed countries to commit themselves to cut by 40 percent their greenhouse gases emissions by 2020 at the Copenhagen talks in December. We have seen previously that such targets are reachable.
Meanwhile, the People’s Republic is increasingly working on slowing its own carbon emissions by using all means, from energy efficiency to nuclear power and renewable energy sources.
As Andrew Revkin noted on Dot Earth, China is willing to cooperate with the United States on clean energy and climate change mitigation. This is great news as they are the two main polluters.Here is a short extract of this article:
Cooperation between the United States and China is critical to enhancing energy security, combating climate change, and protecting the environment and natural resources through pollution control and other measures.
Both countries commit to respond vigorously to the challenges of energy security, climate change and environmental protection through ambitious domestic action and international cooperation.
Toward this end, both countries intend to transition to a low-carbon economy, carry out policy dialogue and cooperate on capacity building and research, development and deployment of climate-friendly technology.
Both countries resolve to pursue areas of cooperation where joint expertise, resources, research capacity and combined market size can accelerate progress towards mutual goals.
To put things on perspective and explain why China is working so aggressively on alternatives to coal, this article from TreeHugger helps us understand how coal costs China $13 billion (9 billion €) per year.
To conclude, the UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki Moon is confident that the country “wants to seal a deal in Copenhagen in December and that China will play an active and constructive role in the negotiations.” (source)
It’s high time for the United States to begin an Apollo program-like that would enable the country to cut by 40 percent its carbon emissions by 2020. As I noted yesterday, I believe it to be feasible.
The European Union on its part should follow the lead of the United Kingdom, which recently committed itself to 34 percent reductions by 2020.
What do you think ? Can we make it or are we setting ourselves up for deadlock as TreeHugger believes ?
[Photo credit: Flickr]