US President Barack Obama may be using China as Republican climate control. The American leader struck a deal with counterpart President Xi Jinping to limit carbon emissions. It's not perfect, but could be a fillip to both renewables investing and more global action against pollution. Making it harder for the GOP to derail Obama's environmental agenda, though, may be its biggest advantage.
The deal, announced Wednesday after months of secret negotiations, sounds like a breakthrough: the US will cut its emissions by up to 28 per cent by 2025. China's emissions will peak five years later, according to the agreement. The Asian superpower will also increase its portion of global carbon-free energy to 20 per cent. Really though, it just reinforces paths that each country was on already. The treaty is also not binding on either party.
But that doesn't make it useless. Obama and Xi boasted their deal will "inject momentum" into global climate talks ahead of next year's United Nations meeting in Paris. That's possible. A commitment from the world's two largest greenhouse gas polluters can't hurt efforts at a broader agreement.
The mostly symbolic handshake might have other, more concrete effects. Unless it makes major advances in energy efficiency, China will need to build renewable or nuclear capacity equivalent to the entire current US grid to hit its new target. That should reassure investors that the recent spike in global solar installations isn't just a fad. American and Chinese wind and nuclear turbine producers may benefit too.
Xi and Obama struck two other deals this week, reducing duties on information technology products as well as extending the duration of tourist and business visas. That should benefit both economies.
US Republicans, who will control Congress next year, loathe Obama's climate agenda. The incoming Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, has already criticised the China deal as part of the president's "ideological war on coal". Taking issue with the new agreement, though, would mean endangering the deals on trade and visas. The potential diplomatic and economic consequences of opposing the China compact could keep GOP fury at bay.
The deal, announced Wednesday after months of secret negotiations, sounds like a breakthrough: the US will cut its emissions by up to 28 per cent by 2025. China's emissions will peak five years later, according to the agreement. The Asian superpower will also increase its portion of global carbon-free energy to 20 per cent. Really though, it just reinforces paths that each country was on already. The treaty is also not binding on either party.
But that doesn't make it useless. Obama and Xi boasted their deal will "inject momentum" into global climate talks ahead of next year's United Nations meeting in Paris. That's possible. A commitment from the world's two largest greenhouse gas polluters can't hurt efforts at a broader agreement.
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Xi and Obama struck two other deals this week, reducing duties on information technology products as well as extending the duration of tourist and business visas. That should benefit both economies.
US Republicans, who will control Congress next year, loathe Obama's climate agenda. The incoming Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, has already criticised the China deal as part of the president's "ideological war on coal". Taking issue with the new agreement, though, would mean endangering the deals on trade and visas. The potential diplomatic and economic consequences of opposing the China compact could keep GOP fury at bay.