China Promises to Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions

China today announced its first-ever target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, just one day after U.S. President Barack Obama pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States approximately 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. China said that it plans to reduce the intensity of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020 by 40 percent to 45 percent compared to 2005.

Some news organizations are leaving out any mention of the tie to the GDP, and reporting that China intends to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent to 45 percent below 2005 levels by 2020–but that’s not what the Chinese have promised. The GDP reference is critically important, because China is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. As its GDP increases, so will its output of greenhouse gas emissions.

By creating a dependency between its GDP and its emissions goals, China is attempting to start controlling its emissions without doing serious damage to its growing economy. So while China’s new goal will certainly slow the growth of greenhouse gas emissions, and may even manage to hold them at current levels, it is unlikely to reduce them.

That’s not to say China is setting itself an easy task, because it’s not. While managing a rapidly growing economy, China will also be increasing its use of renewable and nuclear energy–Chinese leaders want 15 percent of the nation’s total energy consumption in 2020 to come from sources that don’t burn fossil fuels–and expanding its forest area by 40 million hectares over 2005. The government will have to create new laws, regulations, taxes and fiscal policies to help achieve its climate goals, which will affect everything from domestic development to international trade.

It’s worth noting that China’s decision to set an aggressive goal to control greenhouse gas emissions was a voluntary action. As a developing country, China is not required by any current international law or treaty to set binding targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to setting specific targets for reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, China also announced today that Prime Minister Wen Jiabao will attend the Copenhagen climate talks in mid-December.

The China and U.S. announcements, coming so close together, have created a lot of excitement among people who are working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow or reverse global warming. Together, China and the United States account for approximately 40 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. By committing themselves to specific targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, China and the United States may have reignited the hopes of many people around the world that an effective global climate treaty is still possible.