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Updated 11.10 am
THE UNITED STATES and China have formally joined the Paris climate agreement in a major stride forward for the global accord.
“We need to take an innovative approach to climate change,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said shortly after his counterpart Barack Obama arrived in the eastern city of Hangzhou which is hosting the G20 summit.
China’s decision to sign up to the plan cam a number of hours before the US announced the same.
US President Barack Obama described the Paris agreement as the ’moment we decided to save our planet.’
The accord sets ambitious goals for capping global warming and funnelling trillions of dollars to poor countries facing an onslaught of damage as a result of climate change.
It will come into effect 30 days after at least 55 countries, accounting for 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions, have ratified it.
China is responsible for around a quarter of the world’s emissions, with the US in second place on more than 15%, so their participation is crucial.
China’s legislature, the National People’s Congress, voted to adopt “the proposal to review and ratify the Paris Agreement”, the official Xinhua news agency said.
Campaigners have welcomed the move.
“China and the US, the two largest developing and developed country economies and emitters, joining the Paris Agreement shows that the global community can come together to address the threat of climate change,” said Alvin Lin of the US-based Natural Resources Defense Council.
Both countries are transforming their economies to grow through clean energy rather than fossil fuels, so their citizens can benefit from a cleaner environment and be competitive in the green economy.
Pressure on G20 leaders
The two giants are expected to use the summit, a gathering of the world’s leading developed and emerging economies, to pressure others to do so.
“Xi and Obama should seize the opportunity to lead the world’s 20 wealthiest nations by joining and building on the Paris agreement,” said Greenpeace East Asia’s senior climate policy adviser Li Shuo.
It is time for the Paris accord to “move from agreement to action”, he added.
“Political ambition must keep up with rising sea levels faced by vulnerable communities around the world.”
The Paris pact calls for capping global warming at well below two degrees Celsius, and 1.5 C if possible, compared with pre-industrial levels.
Until Saturday only 24 of the 180 signatories had ratified it, including France and many island states threatened by rising sea levels but who only produce a tiny proportion of the world’s emissions.
For China, ratifying the agreement fits with Beijing’s domestic political agenda of being seen to make efforts to clean up the environment, after years of breakneck industrial development led to soaring air, water and ground pollution.
The scourge is estimated to have caused hundreds of thousands of early deaths, and is the source of mounting public anger.
Under the Paris accord, Xinhua said, China will have to cut its carbon emissions per unit of GDP by 60-65% from 2005 levels by 2030 and increase non-fossil fuel sources in primary energy consumption to about 20 percent.
Neither of those requirements implies a commitment to cut absolute levels of emissions, although China is also obliged to have them peak by 2030.
During the negotiations over the Paris deal Beijing stressed the concept of “differentiated responsibilities” — the idea that developed countries should shoulder the lion’s share of the burden as they have polluted most since the Industrial Revolution.
China previously committed to its emissions peaking “around 2030″, a declaration made on an earlier visit by Obama, when he announced a target for the US to cut its own emissions 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2025.
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Good news.
Ahh the regular announcement of a pledge to reduce carbon emissions at some point 15 – 20 years in the future, followed by the self congratulations, maybe they can now also award Barack Obama with the nobel prize for environmental action, just for the crack!
Its all just an excuse to hike tax. I have yet to see how a €30 bag of coal burns cleaner than a €20 one.
Because fewer people will pay €30 for a bag of coal, so less is burned. It’s not rocket science.
The electric car market is going to take off big time in the next few years.
I hope not they are terrible to drive cars
why are they terrible to drive?
Why,have you driven one. The only feat I would have is how long the battery would last.
The electric car market would have taken off years ago if car manufacturers and oil companies hadn’t bought out patents and closed them down.
David -the new Tesla is the fastest Road going car available, 0-60 in 2.5 seconds. The acceralation available to Evs is constant and impressive. Probably not fair to use a 100k vehicle to demonstrate they are great to drive though.
I think the tipping point has been reached Undie. Oil companies have been getting slammed and all the major governments and car manufacturers are ploughing billions into electric vehicles.
Wouldnt mind one of these http://www.broadsheet.ie/2016/09/01/hot-wheels-17/
300km range will be the tipping point here, gets you between any two cities will a bit to spare (more or less) and they’re on the way at the end of 2017. Way nicer to drive than any petrol or diesel car too!
Battery technology is improving all the time. We’re not quite there yet, but in a few years the range will be very impressive.
@Undie
Whatever about oil companies, why would car manufacturers try and halt the development of electric cars instead of investing in it?
Good news for planet earth. Hopefully this is the turning point and more nations will go towards clean sustainable or large scale renewables technology.
Oink oink, flap flap…
Quack quack, woof woof,,,
There’s a typo in the 3rd paragraph. Please fix it. Not sure what cam is but think it should say came. In regards to them signing up great. About flipping time
“Global Warming” ,(or “Climate Change” as it was rebranded in about 2007 as after the earth refused to co-operate and warm up) is just scam. I remember RTE made a documentary in 1995 in which “experts” claimed with all seriousness that by the year 2000 Ireland would be so warm that we would be growing grapes and that the river liffey would have dried up. Please repeat this RTE so I can have a good laugh. As you may be aware, the current year is 2016, vineyards are not a common feature of the Irish landscape, and the liffey is still happily flowing through Dublin. This was followed a few years later by more “experts” telling us that the ice on the South and North poles would have melted by 2013. But don’t worry although that date has passed, the ice will definitely have melted by 2025. Or 2040. Absolutely. Yes really. Definitely. You can believe me. I’m an “expert”. In 547 AD Cosmas of Alexandria expounded the theory that the earth was flat, and if you sailed off into the Atlantic ocean you would come to a halt at a big wall. The modern equivalents of Cosmas are the “Global Warming” and “Climate Change” scientists.
When Manhattan is under water we might see some action from the U.S. on global warming
When the Midlands are under water again the Irish will do nothing..
was bound to be some meaningless announcement for the g20 summit, its simply laid on for media purposes, the last earth summit in paris was supposed to usher in all sorts of measures to help with environmental issues most of which have since been rowed back on once the media glare was gone and this will be the same, i read naomi kliens “this changes everything” last year and it was a sobering read, people need to wake up
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