India is under pressure to come forward with more assertive action indicating it is going to take part in a mandatory regime of greenhouse gas reductions. It has, unfortunately, been saying much the opposite: that it will not sign up to quantifiable emission reductions. (See last post below.) China and India have been marching, if not shoulder to shoulder on this, in very close coordination.
US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Energy Secretary Steven Chu were in China recently and climate change was at the top of the agenda. Both are Chinese Americans. The ostensible purpose of the two secretaries’ visit was to advance work on clean tech. Much of the context of these efforts, however, are the looming climate crisis and the international talks on confronting it. Locke said, in remarks in Beijing, “Widespread deployment of energy efficiency and clean energy technologies is also the only way our economies can continue to grow while preventing the catastrophic effects of climate change. And as the two biggest emitters of carbon dioxide, the United States and China have a special responsibility to take action.” The key words here are “responsibility” and “action.” Locke drove the point further: “We all share the same atmosphere and if we do not act, we’ll all suffer from the coastal flooding, unpredictable weather, and agricultural damage that is undoubtedly in store if we don’t change the way we use energy. As inhabitants of this planet, we will rise or fall together.”
Chu toured “America House,” a zero-energy green building demonstration project, and said, as reported by DOE here, “Making buildings more efficient represents one of the greatest, and most immediate opportunities we have to create jobs, save money, save energy and reduce carbon pollution.” Chu also took a hard line on China’s emissions. Chu told the Chinese that “China’s greenhouse-gas emissions growth is on course to wipe out gains from Western conservation efforts unless the nation intensifies clean-up efforts,” according to the “WSJ” here.
EU ups pressure on China to agree emissions cuts is the headline from EurActiv last week. A high-level EU environmental delegation that included EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas and the Spanish and Swedish environment ministers visited China from July 11 through 14. They called on all developing countries to curb their emissions by 15-30% from business-as-usual levels by 2020. The EU ministers met with the head of China’s Climate Change and Coordinating Committee, Xie Zhenhua, and Environmental Protection Minister Zhou Shengxian.
China, India and the other rapidly industrializing countries must move toward the realization that they have a huge responsibility and, frankly, they have huge opportunities. If they want to continue down the path of high-pollution, high-carbon, high-cost economies, then there will be consequences not only for the Earth’s climate system but for their economies as well.
