US, China Build on Climate Accord

“And it’s going to take the political leaders at every level doing more and more”, Brown said. The commitment to cutting 1.2 gigatons of carbon dioxide by Beijing and other Chinese cities is “roughly the same emissions as Japan and Brazil”. Signatories commit to either reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 to 95 percent below 1990 levels by 2050 or achieve a per capita annual emission target of less than 2 metric tons by 2050.

The White House said the pledges are one of the first steps toward implementing last year’s pact, in which the United States promised to cut its greenhouse gases 26 percent to 28 percent, and China agreed to stop increasing its emissions by 2030, the first time China has ever said it would limit its greenhouse gases.

In November 2014, Presidents Obama and Xi Jinping made the Joint Announcement on Climate Change, a historic agreement that could keep 640 billion tons of carbon emissions out of the atmosphere this century. All the cities will sign a pledge to slash emissions parallel to whatever deal is worked out among nations in Paris. The agreement – which would likely take some of those goals further – is expected to be signed today by officials from individual Chinese and USA cities.

The presidents will speak about local weather change extra once they meet throughout Xi’s go to to the White Home in two weeks and should discover a approach to sharpen their deal.

“The commitments that the Chinese and American cities are taking… are a very important component of our broader efforts to deepen climate cooperation and to show that… the two largest emitters in the world are taking seriously our obligation to meet the ambitious goals that we set out past year”, said Brian Deese, a senior adviser to Obama.

“When it comes to climate change, in Connecticut we’ve been dedicated to tackling this issue, and committed to constant innovation because of the ramifications of inaction”, Malloy said a prepared statement. The state, provincial and local governments of the two nations announced several other commitments as part of the new declaration.

Reprinted from Climatewire with permission from Environment & Energy Publishing, LLC. The FlexLab allows researchers to test different aspects of building energy use, including from lighting, heating, and cooling equipment, under real-world conditions. C40 now connects more than 80 of the world’s greatest cities, representing over 600 million people and one quarter of the global economy. By sharing their experiences, the two cities hope to transform their built environments and replace outmoded forms of urban development to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, especially from the transport sector. DOE selected ten of these Champions to receive more than $800,000 in technical assistance that will help these communities address their most pressing climate challenges. Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles, Connecticut, Portland, Seattle, Houston, Salt Lake City, Des Moines, Carmel, Indiana, Pinecrest, Florida, Miami-Dade County, Boston, San Francisco, and Washington joined the action to cut greenhouse gas pollution.