The United States — the first historical responsible for climate change — and China — which is currently the largest emitter of greenhouse gases on the planet — have fully recovered dialogue on the fight against global warming. They have done so with a statement released hours before the meeting this Wednesday in San Francisco between the president of the United States, Joe Biden, and that of China, Xi Jinping. Both countries maintain that they intend to “accelerate” the deployment of renewable energy during this decade to drive “the substitution of coal, oil and gas generation.” The goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which are responsible for climate change, so that they reach their peak during this decade. In addition, they reaffirm their support for the Dubai climate summit, COP28, which starts on November 30, to come out with a commitment that global renewable power will triple between now and 2030.
Although the declaration does not establish specific goals, what both powers do is essential for the future in the coming years of the climate crisis that is already hitting the planet. Because both accumulate around 38% of all the greenhouse gases expelled by the world economy and because their policies drag down many other countries. In the statement released by the US State Department on Tuesday, it is announced that both nations are launching a working group to accelerate climate action during this decade. And that, during COP28 in Dubai, they will promote the holding of a mini-summit on methane, a powerful greenhouse gas closely linked to livestock farming and the fossil fuel industry.
But the gas that is always at the center of climate negotiations is carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. The joint statement by the US and China states that in the next climate plans, which they must present to the UN in 2025, both powers will include not only commitments regarding CO₂, but also on all greenhouse gases. This is important because, until now, China’s climate promises had only included carbon dioxide and left out the rest of the gases that also contribute to overheating the planet when they accumulate in the atmosphere.
“This statement confirms that the United States and China have restarted their collective efforts to combat the climate crisis after a pause of months,” said David Waskow, international director of the climate area at the World Resources Institute. “As the two largest emitters in the world, the United States and China have the sole responsibility of accelerating climate action,” emphasizes this expert, for whom the most striking part of the text is “the commitment of the two countries to include all emissions of greenhouse gases, including methane, in their upcoming national climate plans.” “This announcement is an important step because China is the largest emitter of methane in the world and serious actions to stop this gas are essential to stop global warming in the short term,” says Waskow.
Record concentrations
There are three greenhouse gases that are of most concern in the fight against climate change. CO₂, methane and nitrous oxide. About 64% of the current warming of the climate is due to carbon dioxide that has accumulated in the atmosphere. This gas has always been present in the atmosphere and has made the planet habitable. But since the Industrial Revolution, human beings began to base their economic development on fossil fuels, which when burned to produce energy release the carbon they store. This accumulates largely in the atmosphere, increasing the greenhouse effect and temperatures.
Information is the first tool against climate change. Subscribe to it.
Subscribe
This Wednesday the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has made public the annual balance of the concentration of the main greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which has once again set a historical record. In the case of CO₂, you have to go back between three and five million years to find an accumulation like the one now, the WMO has explained. And at that time the temperature of the planet was between two and three degrees warmer than now and the sea level between 10 and 20 meters higher.
The second of these gases is methane, which is responsible for around 16% of current warming. It is also at record levels never seen by humans. “Approximately 40% of methane is emitted into the atmosphere from natural sources (e.g. wetlands), and around 60% comes from anthropogenic sources (e.g. ruminants, rice cultivation, fossil fuel exploitation, landfills and burning of biomass)”, indicates the WMO. The third guest in this story is nitrous oxide, another powerful greenhouse gas that also depletes the ozone layer and is responsible for around 7% of current warming, always according to data provided by the World Meteorological Organization. It is also at record levels and approximately 40% is of anthropogenic origin (such as the burning of biomass and the use of fertilizers).
These three gases are mentioned in the joint statement by China and the United States. This text, which has important value in a context of tensions between both powers, is the result of the work of the United States special presidential envoy for climate, John Kerry, and China’s special envoy for climate change, Xie Zhenhua, who In recent months they have held several meetings. These politicians are two old acquaintances from the climate negotiations. Both played a fundamental role in the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015. And in the most tense moments between both countries they have continued to maintain contacts, as happened, for example, at the 2021 climate summit, held in Glasgow, when they closed also a collaboration agreement despite the tensions between the two countries.
The statement made public now comes very close to the Dubai summit, which is expected to be difficult. That event will surely close with the call to triple global renewable power this decade. But problems will arise when references are made to the end of the use of fossil fuels. The text from China and the United States mentions the objective of promoting renewables to accelerate the “substitution of coal, oil and gas generation.” Although it is already progress, there is not much concreteness and it leaves the battlefield open for the Dubai event, where the representatives of the almost 200 countries participating in the climate change negotiations will be.
It is also very likely that at the summit there will be a lot of talk about the capture and storage of carbon dioxide, to prevent emissions from ending up in the atmosphere. This is an escape route for the fossil fuel sector; But this technology, in addition to being expensive, has not taken off. China and the United States, in their statement this Tuesday, have maintained that they have set the goal of “advancing at least five large-scale cooperation projects for carbon capture and storage” during this decade for industrial and energy activities. In any case, Waskow of the World Resources Institute notes: “While carbon capture technology is likely to be necessary to decarbonize some industrial processes, such as cement production, it will constitute only a small part of the total carbon reductions. emissions necessary to maintain our climate goals.”
You can follow CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENT in Facebook and xor sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
_
#China #commit #accelerating #renewables #replace #fossil #fuels