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China commits to ‘carbon intensity’ reduction

Daniel Cressey; cross-posted from The Great Beyond

road to copenhagen.jpg China has announced it will reduce its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by between 40 and 45% of 2005 levels by 2020.

“Appropriate handling of the climate change issue is of vital interest to China’s social and economic development and people’s fundamental interests, as well as the welfare of all the people in the world and the world’s long-term development,” says the country’s State Council (Xinhua).

The Chinese announcement came barely hours after US President Barack Obama announced he would put a 17% below 2005 levels by 2020 offer on the table at the forthcoming Copenhagen climate talks. However, Obama’s offer on emissions was for absolute emissions, not the ‘carbon intensity’ measure linked to GDP levels that China prefers.

China’s pledge doesn’t actually mean that they will have to cut their carbon emissions. If the country’s economy grows enough then the target could be hit, provided industry becomes more efficient in its use of fossil fuel produced power, even if total carbon emissions actually rise.

“In 2020, the country’s GDP will at least double that of now, so will the emissions of greenhouse gases. But the required reduction of emissions intensity by 40 to 45 percent in 2020 compared with the level of 2005 means the emissions of [greenhouse gases] in 2020 has to be roughly the same as emissions now,” Qi Jianguo, of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told Xinhua.

Still, the UN’s top climate official Yvo de Boer said the moves by America and China “can unlock two of the last doors to a comprehensive agreement” (AP, Bloomberg).

Comments

  1. Report this comment

    Phil Henshaw said:

    Maybe this is a break in the log jam…

    The strange fact, that points to our need to deeply rethink how to slow down ALL kinds of environmental impacts, is that reducing carbon intensity does not reduce carbon emissions. China’s carbon emissions have been increasing ever faster as they have repeatedly reduced the carbon intensity of their economy.

    The curious fact is that this is exactly what has been happening for ALL our impacts, all along, and is what got us into this dead end trap we now find ourselves in.

    I know a lot about it, from using physics to study the systems of change. There are still ways to turn our direction until going up that ever steeper slope of natural resistance brings us to a standstill. There won’t be after that, is the problem. see http://www.synapse9.com

    We must address the tough questions to survive here, and can if we show a little interest in watching the momentums of change.

    The strange fact, that points to our need to deeply rethink how to slow down ALL kinds of environmental impacts, is that reducing carbon intensity does not reduce carbon emissions. China’s carbon emissions have been increasing ever faster as they have repeatedly reduced the carbon intensity of their economy. The curious fact is that this is exactly what has been happening for ALL our impacts, all along, and is what got us into this dead end trap we now find ourselves in.

    I know a lot about it. There are still ways to turn our direction until going up that ever steeper slope of natural resistance brings us to a standstill. There won’t be after that, is the problem. We must address the tough questions to survive here, and can if we show a little interest in watching the momentums of change. This dilemma is actually a great opening to lots of other ways to understanding what our core problem is and how to fix it. Find something on my site you find curious, and let me answer your questions.

    http://www.synapse9.com

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