Does Obama's carbon emissions pledge go far enough?
Experts say the US policy on climate change is potentially 'catastrophic'
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.
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.
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."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
'The Hum': the real-life noise behind The Listeners
In The Spotlight Can some of us also hear the disturbing sound that plagues characters in the hit TV show – and where is it coming from?
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
The Week Unwrapped: Are we any closer to identifying UFOs?
Podcast Plus, will deals with Tunisia and Kurdistan help Labour? And what next for the Wagner Group?
By The Week Staff Published
-
Quiz of The Week: 16 - 22 November
Have you been paying attention to The Week's news?
By The Week Staff Published
-
Shell’s North Sea oil U-turn: ‘a first victory in a longer war’?
Speed Read Controversy after oil giant pulls out of proposed Cambo project
By The Week Staff Published
-
Fires, floods and storms: America’s ‘permanent emergency’ has begun
Speed Read This summer of climate horror feels like the ‘first, vertiginous 15 minutes of a disaster movie’, says The New York Times
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Hot air and empty rhetoric: is the UK acting too slowly on climate change?
Speed Read ‘Every day, new evidence accumulates that humanity is on an unsustainable path’
By The Week Staff Published
-
Germany floods: what led to this ‘once-in-a-century’ disaster?
Speed Read Nearly 200 people died in Germany and Belgium; hundreds are still unaccounted for
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Penguin colony at risk as Somerset-sized iceberg bears down on British overseas territory
Speed Read Several species face starvation if the icy giant blocks access to feeding grounds
By Aaron Drapkin Published
-
‘Full of hot air’: climate experts exposed as academia’s most frequent flyers
Speed Read Study results trigger calls for environmentalists to ‘look in the mirror’
By Chas Newkey-Burden Last updated
-
Mystery of millions of migrating birds dropping dead from US skies
Speed Read Some experts believe the West Coast wildfires may be to blame for ‘unprecedented’ mass bird deaths in New Mexico
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Americans warned not to plant mystery seeds being sent to homes nationwide from China
Speed Read Officials say the unsolicited packages have been mailed to residents in at least 27 US states
By Joe Evans Published