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Jun 30, 2015
Credit: Justin Worland
The United States, China and Brazil all made new commitments to combat climate change Tuesday, in advance of a landmark United Nations conference on the issue in December.
The U.S. and Brazil pledged to increase production of electricity from renewable sources to represent 20% of electricity production by 2030. That’s three times as much renewable energy as the U.S. currently produces and twice as much as is produced in Brazil, according to the White House. Brazil also announced new measures to curb deforestation. The U.S. said earlier this year that it plans to reduce carbon emission by 26% to 28% below 2005 levels by 2020.
Brian Deese, senior climate change adviser at the White House, told reporters on a conference call that the joint announcement “substantially elevates and builds” on climate progress and “should provide momentum moving into our shared objective of getting an agreement in Paris later this year.”
Tuesday’s commitments are intended to position the China, the U.S., and Brazil as leaders in combatting climate change ahead of December’s climate change conference in Paris. Many environmental activists hope that the gathering will lead to a binding agreement to significantly reduce carbon emissions to combat climate change.
In a separate announcement, the Chinese government said it would aim to have carbon emissions peak in 2030. By that date, the country hopes to see a nearly two-thirds reduction in so-called carbon intensity—a measure of the amount of carbon emissions per unit gross domestic product, compared to 2005 levels.
“China’s carbon dioxide emission will peak by around 2030 and China will work hard to achieve the target at an even earlier date,” Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Tuesday in France, according to The Guardian.
China said it would increase the share of non-fossil fuels as part of its primary energy consumption to about 20% by 2030, and peak emissions by around the same point, though it would “work hard” to do so earlier.
The announcement from the U.S. and Brazil came during a meeting between Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and U.S. President Barack Obama. The Chinese announcement came following a meeting of Li and French President Francois Hollande.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and U.S. President Barack Obama hold a news conference at the White House June 30, 2015.
French President Francois Hollande and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meeting in Paris, June 30, 2015
A landmark U.S.-China deal announced by Barack Obama and Xi Jinping in Beijing, November 12, 2014.
China’s pledge is expected to give an important boost to efforts to reach a global deal on reducing emissions beyond 2020 in Paris.
China’s pledge largely reflects commitments it made in the landmark US-China Joint Announcement on Climate Change by Barack Obama and Xi Jinping in Beijing on November 12, 2014.
Mohamed Adow, Christian Aid’s senior climate change adviser, said China’s pledge is a “huge step”. Ahead of the talks in Copenhagen in 2009, China and the US were criticised for holding back progress, and “now China is leading the way. It shows that China is starting to do its bit. This is a new era for climate politics,” said Adow.
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Aslicnova Renewables
151 Chin Swee Road #14-01, Manhattan House, Singapore 169876
ph: +65 6235 0898
fax: +65 6734 9798
alt: +65 9675 1783
sales