China Pledges More Aggressive Climate Action in Joint Statement with US (axios.com) 35
China vowed more aggressive steps on emissions Wednesday in a joint announcement with the U.S. -- a move that signals an easing of tensions evident at the COP26 climate summit. From a report: The two nations' joint statement calls for "accelerated actions in the critical decade of the 2020s," as well as cooperation on measurement and reductions of the powerful greenhouse gas methane. The statement also represents a rhetorical pivot from China, even though it does not explicitly change China's existing pledge under the Paris agreement to have its emissions peak before 2030 -- a stance that has disappointed advocates who want more aggressive action. "Climate change is becoming increasingly urgent and severe," Xie Zhenhua, China's top climate negotiator, said via a translator at a briefing in Glasgow, warning of an "existential crisis." China accounts for nearly a third of global energy-related CO2 emissions in particular. Its emissions path is key to whether the temperature-limiting goals of the Paris agreement can remain within reach.
US can ban crypto like china! (Score:2)
US can ban crypto like china!
Let's see them... (Score:3, Interesting)
..develop a safe nuclear power standard that can be used around the world
One child policy (Score:2, Insightful)
China has done a lot for climate change with their one child policy.
Re: (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re: One child policy (Score:2)
Re: One child policy (Score:3)
I would argue you have it backwards, a better standard of living is causing people to have less children. Not B is causing A.
Re: (Score:2)
It's down to education. Bangladesh is a great example. In the 1960s the fertility rate was 8-9. There was a campaign to educate women about fertility and how to control it, and now the rate is around 2.6 and falling towards net zero (2.4).
Uh, yeah... (Score:5, Informative)
Well, in 2014 there was a summit where nations pledged to end deforestation by 2020.
In 2021, they again pledged to end deforestation by 2030.
Guess what's gonna happen next time they gather?
Re: (Score:1)
Reality does have that fun way of getting in the way of grandiose speeches, doesn't it?
On an even more funny part, the most truthful politicians today apparently come from Indonesia. They already announced that they will not allow goals of stopping deforestation that they agreed to at the summit to interfere with economic development, which will come as a priority. And Indonesia is one of the bigger "slash, burn and turn into agricultural land" practitioners today.
The rest will likely follow.
Ignore what they say (Score:3)
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At the same time China has been the absolute leader in building new wind power [theguardian.com] and also in building Solar [arstechnica.com] and that's more important than anything else right now.
Initially some of their solar has been limited in use due to lack of transmission, which forces them to start fixing things. Now they are building lots more of that [power-technology.com] and they are also starting to build storage [rechargenews.com].
Given that renewable is already the cheapest energy source, that's a strategy that's going to mean that China remains the cheapest place for
Shady (Score:2)
Did China have their fingers crossed behind their back when they made this deal?
Re: (Score:2)
China is not worse than most: grand words and little action.
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does not explicitly change China's existing pledge (Score:1)
So no ACTUAL reductions in anything; just some diplo happy talk so the progressive echo chamber can have a validation headline.
"Yay besty friend and alt energy hero China."
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Yeah. Right (Score:1)
The ONLY way that China is going to drop their emissions is when the west gets smart and starts charging a tax on ALL consumed goods/services based on where the worst part comes from. And yes, this is coming. Western Government will finally realized that none of the others will drop their emissions UNLESS they are forced to.
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So far, China has done NOTHING. Their coal use, emissions, etc continues to climb. Even when they signed the treaty to ban CFC production, the Chinese government looked the other way.
China has installed 1/3rd of all the world's solar power capacity, over twice as many solar panels as the US.
Yes, China's emissions continue to rise. They are a rapidly developing country with an incredible number of people moving in to urban societies and shifting towards middle class lifestyles. The US emits twice as much CO2 per capita than China. Saying that China can't increase its emissions while still emitting at twice the rate would be the height of hypocrisy.
All of that said, China has made substan
American Hypnocracy (Score:2)
Haven't seen the last 4 years of news have you? Half of Americans don't see hypocrisy or otherwise fail to realize what is WRONG with it. It's been a growing problem but it hit a peak and doesn't seem to be improving other than a small number more are dying from stupid as they draw out the pandemic... encouraged by their leaders (foreign and domestic) who know they still retain power even if many of their voters die due to the gamed voting system which they can just overthrow when they lose.
Re: (Score:2)
You sit here claiming that China has installed all of this large amount of solar. How much is it?
China does not even rank in the top 20 nations for solar power in terms of per capita [visualcapitalist.com]Per capita, America is more than double what China is. In point of fact, America is #9 in the world.
SO, how about wind generation per capita? In America had ~ 1,000 kwh/ capita, while china was ~ 300 kwh / capita. [ourworldindata.org] IOW, America has a great deal more solar/wind in terms /
That's weird... (Score:2)
"China is planning to build 43 new coal-fired power plants," according to https://time.com/6090732/china... [time.com]
In what time frame? The article doesn't say, but elsewhere I've heard that China will start up a new coal plant approximately once a week, which implies that the "43 new plants" will be built in a one-year period.
Wait till the "surprise"... (Score:2)
Here we go again. Wait till the "surprise", which is no surprise...
Montreal Protocol:
https://www.bbc.com/news/scien... [bbc.com]
the best jokes (Score:2)
The best jokes start with the phrase "China pledges."