U.S. Officials Praise China Emissions Efforts
China is taking steps to address global warming, increasing the possibility for a new climate change agreement later this year. On Tuesday, the U.S. and China signed a memorandum of understanding. The document outlines a course of action for improving cooperation between the world’s two leading polluters. The U.S. and China are among almost 200 countries which face pressure to meet a December deadline to reach agreement in Copenhagen in a global effort to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and make the shift to clean energy investments. Meanwhile, advanced and developing nations are at conflict struggling with issues such as financial and technological assistance.
Experts believe that collaboration between China and the U.S. is critical for successful negotiations on the climate agreement in December. However, government officials from both countries implied that the two nations are still a long way from resolving the differences over how much to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions. For instance, during the meeting the Chinese were reprehensive of raised concern an act recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. The act allows the government to assess “carbon tariffs” on imports from countries that fail to meet U.S. greenhouse gas standards.
Combined, U.S. and China are responsible for 42 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions of the world, and China recently topped the United States as the biggest emitter. However, as a new study reveals China is not entirely to blame: The study reports that the recent increase in the country’s emissions was caused by the manufacturing of goods for industrialized nations from the west.
The signing ceremony was part of a two-day meeting in Washington that ended on Tuesday. It was led by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner from the US, and Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo and Vice Premier Wang Qishan.
The Chinese initiative to take action to help curb global warming is much praised by U.S. officials as China’s greenhouse-gas emissions increase threatens is to wipe out the conservation the efforts of the western nations.
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