The media are abuzz with the news that the United States and China have agreed to their first-ever joint carbon emissions reduction plan. The plan, as outlined by the White House, will cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 28 percent of 2005 levels by 2025, while China said it would hit peak carbon emissions “around 2030.” This plan has been hailed by the New York Times as “an enormously positive step in the uncertain battle against climate change.”

The Times is right — but only in its use of the word “uncertain.”