As Al Gore pointed out on Twitter, both the United States of America and the People’s Republic of China unveiled huge efforts to curb greenhouse gases emissions on the same week, or rather on two consecutive days.
About the US, Climate Progress has this to say : ” On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced new regulations to curb carbon dioxide emissions from America’s existing power plants. “
The Climate Progress article continues, stating that it is ” the most significant step taken by any U.S. president to address climate change. ” No less !
Yes ! Finally President Barack Obama did something meaningful on climate change. I for one was considering that his great speeches would remain… well, just speeches because of the Big Business pressure.
Regarding China, Reuters reported that ” China, the world’s biggest emitter of climate-changing greenhouse gases, will set an absolute cap on its CO2 emissions from 2016. “
The news agency brings more details :
The target will be written into China’s next five-year plan, which comes into force in 2016, He Jiankun, chairman of China’s Advisory Committee on Climate Change, told a conference in Beijing.
“The government will use two ways to control CO2 emissions in the next five-year plan, by intensity and an absolute cap,” he said.
About China, we have seen for the past few years that it the country is determined to do something about its dreadful air pollution and greenhouse gases emissions. This latest move is just further proof…
To conclude, I would like to point that collectively the European Union is also a major greenhouse gases emissions. While it has done a lot in the past – to the point of being a leader on that matter – it has slowly but drastically reduced its ambition.
The latest proof of that is that it recently refused to increase its efforts and commitment for 2020 as it emissions are already nearing the levels needed for that date. Indeed, to the latest data collected by the Environmental European Agency, GHG emissions in 2012 were already near the levels needed for 2020.
Wake up old Europe, or you might lose a great opportunity to keep your status…