China, world's top carbon pollutor, likely to overdeliver on climate goals. Will that be enough?
apnews.com
Experts say China is likely to exceed its modest climate goals, but question if it will be enough to help the world curb warming.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/45227919

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For the first time, China set a specific target for reducing emissions. However, it falls short of what analysts say is needed to meet the Paris goal of limiting average global temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), and ideally to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit), compared to the 1850s.

Xi announced in a video message to a U.N. climate meeting in September that China would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 7% to 10% by 2035, and would strive to do even better than that.

Modeling by multiple climate experts shows that China would need to cut emissions by around 30% for the world to be on track to the Paris goal.

“This is disappointing as China has the opportunity to decarbonize faster,” Norah Zhang, an analyst at Climate Action Tracker, said after Xi’s announcement.

Previously, China had not pledged to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions. Instead, it promised to reduce its emissions relative to the size of its economy — so they could still grow but at a slower pace than the economy. Its goal has been to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030.

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  • SaveTheTuaHawkEnglish
    93·
    2 days ago

    The world cannot dump all their high volume manufacturing on China and then turn around and blame them for the pollution. What the west is effectively doing is transferring their pollution output to China.

    • Hotznplotzn@lemmy.sdf.orgOPEnglish
      51·
      2 days ago

      The world cannot dump all their high volume manufacturing on China and then turn around and blame them for the pollution.

      I could elaborate a lot on that. This view is oversimplified to a degree that it is outright false.

      However, it is not necessary to engage in such a discussion as it is not relevant here when we look at the data and how it is calculated.

      According to the scientists at the Climate Action Tracker (CAT) cited in the linked report, China is behind by any metric, including by what the CAT scientists call a country’s “fair share.” This reflects the “common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in the light of different national circumstances”, as stated in the Paris agreement (Article 4.3),

      Here you can find China’s CAT rating. As you can see, China’s ‘policy and actions against fair share’ is rated as insufficient, with its overall rating highly insufficient.

      As you can also see in the CAT rating, no country is on track, but China is among those countries most behind by any comparative standards.

      [Edit typo.]