Does Obama's carbon emissions pledge go far enough?

The White House has pledged to cut carbon emissions by up to 28 per cent but some commentators warn that the plan does not go far enough.

Washington's formal, five-page proposal to the United Nations is intended to be part of a global agreement on climate change. The White House said the new plan "would build on the historic progress we've already made to cut carbon pollution and protect public health by reducing emissions 26 to 28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2025."

The US and other nations are due to meet in Paris in December to try to forge a global deal. "This is a big year for climate change," said Todd Stern, special envoy for climate change at the State Department. "This submission is ambitious and achievable," added White House senior adviser Brian Deese.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Some organisations and commentators say Obama's pledge does not go far enough. Oxfam said Washington must make deeper emissions cuts to help keep warming below 2C and "avoid catastrophic climate change".

Birgit van Munster, of the Homo Sapiens Foundation, said: "If all humanity follows the example [of the first countries to submit pledges] we will be more than 700% over the likely emissions limit [needed] to limit global warming to less than 2C, and if this trend continues humanity will proceed to go beyond 5C, the end of human life on earth as we know it."