China should halve CO2 emissions by 2050: U.S.

subscribe

China should roughly halve its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to keep the world on a safe climate path, the head of the U.S. delegation at UN climate talks in Barcelona.

Jonathan Pershing also urged China, which has overtaken the United States as the top emitter, to clarify its goals for curbing its greenhouse gases as part of a new UN pact due to be agreed in December in Copenhagen.

Leading industrialized countries agreed at a summit in Italy in July that the world must halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to avoid the worst effects of climate change, and promised to cut their own emissions by 80 percent.

China should cut by about 50 percent, which would allow for somewhat lower targets for poorer countries and give them room to grow their economies, Pershing told Reuters on the sidelines of the 175-nation talks in Barcelona.

"If you put China in there at a 50 percent reduction, if we're a bit higher, that gives lesser developed countries a bit lower. If they are in that middle band, plus or minus some percentage, that seems about right."

China would be on course to meet that goal if it repeated its present energy efficiency five-year plan into the future, he added.

"They're doing pretty well," he said. Beijing has not set a 2050 goal for its emissions, saying that it needs to put priority on ending poverty. The United States has not made a formal demand of China.

Pershing also said that the United States has not ruled out use of border tariffs if Washington feels that foreign exporters are getting an unfair advantage under a deal in Copenhagen under which carbon curbs push up U.S. energy costs.

"We cannot rule them out," he said. "The answer is that there is no decision."

The United States was "not opposed" to a legally binding climate treaty, under the UN process, Pershing added.

Related News

Energy experts: US electric grid not designed to withstand the impacts of climate change

NEW YORK - As heat ramps up ahead of what forecasters say will be a hotter than normal summer, electricity experts and officials are warning that states may not have enough power to meet demand in the coming months. And many of the nation's grid operators are also not taking climate change into account in their planning, even as extreme weather becomes more frequent and more severe.

Power operators in the Central US, in their summer readiness report, have already predicted "insufficient firm resources to cover summer peak forecasts." That assessment accounted for historical weather and the latest NOAA outlook that…

READ MORE
power lines

Latvia eyes electricity from Belarus nuclear plant

READ MORE

smart grid headquarters

Tunisia moves ahead with smart electricity grid

READ MORE

fusion reactor iter

Why the promise of nuclear fusion is no longer a pipe dream

READ MORE

sdg&e

As peak wildfire season nears, SDG&E completes work on microgrid in Ramona

READ MORE