Voices on Japan’s and China’s emission targets

Various : Japan, a major emitter of greenhouse gases and an important player in the global warming debate, announced last Wednesday that by 2020 it intended to reduce emissions 15 percent from 2005 levels says the New York Times . The goal immediately criticized as inadequate by environmentalists and industry officials.

Meanwhile, Xie Zhenhua, China’s special representative on climate change says that China’s adoption of energy efficiency targets is “achieving remarkable progress.”

China has reduced its energy consumption per unit of GDP by 1.79 percent, 4.04 percent, and 4.59 percent respectively for 2006, 2007, and 2008, which strongly suggests that by 2010, China would have met the 20 percent cut in emissions set by the national government in 2005 Xie adds.

However the Chinese economy has grown on average by 15% per year over the last five years, indicating that China’s CO₂ emissions have increased despite improvements in efficiency.

China must be far more ambitious in tackling climate change if the international community wants to prevent calamitous levels of global warming, suggests David Sandalow, US assistant secretary of state for energy .

Sandalow said the continuation of business as usual in China would result in a 2.7C rise in global temperatures by 2050 even if every other country slashed greenhouse gas emissions by 80% writes in the Guardian .

“China can and will need to do much more if the world is going to have any hope of containing climate change,” said Sandalow, who is in Beijing as part of a high-level negotiating team that aims to find common ground ahead of the crucial Copenhagen summit at the end of this year.

The news is not encouraging says climate consultant Elizabeth Balkan . " Amassing all the parts from the past week, it appears that China is no more willing to commit to reductions than it indicated previously, while the US may be backing away from this request altogether,” she summarizes. “If this is the case, the ground on which meaningful climate commitments may be achieved...may not yield the favorable results hoped for by many.”

Paul Guinnessy