China Will Surpass 2020 Goals for Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Here’s How…
Who can forget the photos of people in Beijing wearing face masks due to the poor air quality? Or the artist who created a brick made with toxins vacuumed from air pollution? Well, that’s all changing. By embracing green energy and reducing carbon production, China expects to surpass its 2020 goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
The top two contributors to world greenhouse gas emissions are China and the United States totaling nearly 39% between them. As of 2013, China produced over 25% of the world’s emissions while the US followed around 14%. To improve air quality, fight climate change, and basically save the entire world as we know it, it’s crucial for both countries (and the rest of the world) to make major changes.
At the signing of the Paris Climate Agreement (PCA), nations around the world made specific pledges to reduce their carbon footprint and increase clean energy production by 2020. The US pledged to reduce emission levels by 17% but has since backed out of the agreement entirely. Now that Syria and Nicaragua have signed on, the US is the only country not participating in the PCA.
As the largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions, China ambitiously pledged to reduce their Co2 levels between 40-45% by 2020. They also vowed to increase non-fossil fuel energy sources at least 15% by 2020.
Now, it looks like they will surpass that number. China announced last week that they have decreased their carbon emissions by nearly 22%.
At the beginning of 2017, the Chinese government canceled plans to build 103 coal plants. They also shut down coal mines and reduced coal jobs by about 1.3 million. Furthermore, China has embraced clean energy projects from wind, nuclear, and hydro sources. In fact, energy from these sources rose to nearly 22% over the past year.
China’s National Energy Administration (NAE) made a commitment to invest $361 billion into clean energy. By 2020, these energy sources will account for about half of China’s energy production. Not only does this help the environment, but it also helps create stable jobs — over 13 million to be exact.
So, how does the US match up? It doesn’t look so good. Although US greenhouse gas emissions appear to be at a 25-year low, the future doesn’t look as good due to regulation rollbacks. On one hand, US renewable energy set a record in March of 2017: 10% of total energy output. However, that’s nothing special when you consider China is about to hit 50% by 2020.
By reducing reliance on fossil fuels and investing in alternative energy solutions, China has become the world leader in clean energy. Now, they’re setting goals for 2030 and onwards.
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Randi Nord lives in Pontiac, Michigan. She is the co-founder of Geopolitics Alert Independent World News.