China vows first emissions cut, sidelining US
The US, the world’s No. 2 emitter, did not attend the New York summit
What happened
Chinese President Xi Jinping Wednesday told a United Nations climate summit that his country would reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by between 7% and 10% over the next 10 years and ramp up its solar and wind energy capacity so that renewables account for more than 30% of domestic energy consumption. It was Beijing’s first commitment to cut emissions, though climate experts called it an insufficient target from the world’s largest producer of heat-trapping gases. The U.S., the world’s No. 2 emitter, did not attend the New York summit.
Who said what
“Green and low-carbon transition is the trend of our time,” Xi said via video. “While some countries are acting against it, the international community should stay focused in the right direction.” That was a “veiled rebuke” of President Donald Trump, Reuters said. The U.S. president told fellow world leaders on Tuesday that “windmills are pathetic,” climate change is a “con job” and if they “don’t get away from the green energy scam, your country is going to fail.”
China burns more coal than any other country but has also “emerged as the dominant manufacturer of clean-energy technologies,” The Wall Street Journal said. “Trump wants fossil fuels,” political scientist Ian Bremmer said to Reuters, “but letting China become the world’s sole powerful electro-state is the opposite of making America great again.”
What next?
China’s pledge could give a moderate boost to the U.N.’s COP30 climate negotiations in Brazil in November. “The U.S. going AWOL has lowered the bar for what will count as ambitious enough to qualify as sufficient,” energy analyst Lauri Myllyvirta told The Washington Post.
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