Earth Equity News

U.S. and China in a Clumsy Pas de Deux. Commentary by David Roberts, Grist, January 12, 2010. "The heart of the Copenhagen climate talks was a clumsy pas de deux between the U.S. and China, part of an ongoing dance with enormous consequences for the battle against climate change… The US is talking big talk in international negotiations but doing very little back home. Obama is achieving what he can via executive branch actions, such as boosting fuel-efficiency standards, but serious action awaits legislation... Even if it does pass, it's a fairly weak bill, with a tepid short-term target (putting carbon emissions 4% below 1990 levels by 2020), a plethora of loopholes, and in all likelihood a boatload of subsidies for oil and coal. China, by contrast, is a determined minimalist in international negotiations, as Copenhagen demonstrated, but it's taking extensive action back home. It has invested hundreds of billions of dollars in advanced research, clean-energy industries, and low-carbon infrastructure from smart grids to high-speed trains. It is striking bilateral deals with the US that would allow it to benefit from American energy research and learn from the EPA about how to track emissions. Reports from inside China say the government expects to easily exceed its 45% intensity target…

"In short, the US is over-promising and under-delivering; China is doing the opposite. The US can look forward to being vilified as a destroyer of hope, while China can look forward to eating America's lunch on the most important growth industry of the 21st century. By now, members of the international community should have learned two things. One is that targets, timelines, and declarations don't mean much in the absence of national commitment to real action on the ground. The other is that national efforts to combat climate change are an economic and political advantage, not something to be accepted grudgingly at the end of a protracted game of You Go First. There are increasing indications that behind its placid, implacable, and often maddening facade, China has learned those lessons. I'm not sure the US has."