Xi suggested US not rising to the climate challenge in his UN speech, but critics say new cuts fall ‘far short’ of what is necessary

China announced its plans for future cuts to greenhouse gas emissions on Wednesday, producing a scathing response from experts who said they were much too weak to stave off global catastrophe.

The world’s second-biggest economy is also the biggest source of carbon dioxide by far, and its decisions on how far and how fast to shift to a low-carbon model will determine whether the world can stay within relatively safe temperature bounds.

China’s plans are to cut emissions by between 7% and 10% of their peak by 2035 – a long way from the 30% cut that experts said was feasible and necessary.

Xi Jinping, the president of China, made the announcement at a summit of world leaders to discuss the climate crisis at the UN general assembly on Wednesday afternoon in New York.

  • AA5B@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    1 day ago

    Plus a little pollution.

    • Supposedly they were really affected by how bad the air was getting but their most available fossil fuel is coal
    • China needs huge growth in electricity, both to run manufacturing and to continue bringing a billion people up to developed world standards of living. But they don’t have much oil resources and don’t want to depend on outsiders
    • renewables and EVs are the future and they have a path to dominate those industries. Might as well go all in on new tech rather than try to compete with old tech incumbents